What this category means to me- Its my job as a professional and teacher to my ninth graders and their parents that I have clear expectations in regards to what I want them to DO. This is why KUDS, Learning Targets and associated Learning Scales are so important. For example, I used t to teach my students to write a LEAF paragraph and then ask one to write one on their own, at home. They would turn it in and sometimes it was their work, sometimes it was a friends, and other times, I could tell the parents had had a hand in the drafting. Well, for one thing, now I teach the L, then E, the A and the F separately and students do not move on until they have mastered the lead. Plus, I have them, write and revise IN CLASS so that I can see how they are learning from their trial and error mistakes. When I communicate via the learning target and scales what my expectations are, students have specific, immediate feedback that they can use to polish up that skill so they can move onto the next.
Why it's important to learning- A clear purpose is a key to a "good class". A teacher can have a clear agenda of six different "topics", but if they students do not know WHY they are learning the skill/content or the HOW they will apply or use these transferable skills, then we are not getting the "buy-in" we need from students in order to see their best work. It may be okay for a mother to say to a child "because I said so!" when asked "why do I have to do this," but as educators, we need to see ourselves as coaches. If a player asked "Coach, why are we doing this drill today?", chances are the Coach has a specific play in mind for an upcoming game and she wants her players to be well-versed in the skill and strategy. The same scenario on should hold true for teachers . When a student asks me "What's the deal with you and leads? We have been working on them for two weeks." I can give a true reply which states that writing a good lead is like pouring a good foundation for a house. You need a statement which is clear and can hold its own against scrutiny, just as a foundation should be able to weather most storms. Its my job to engage and get my students involved in purposeful writing. In order for them to do that, I make sure to make my purpose clear in order for them to know that if they follow through with the practice, take risks and practice some more, they WILL be able to write a solid academic essay when they leave my class.
How what we know about the brain supports it.- In the Jenson text, I read something at the end that stuck with me in regards to how communicating student assessment can be so tricky and not as black and white as we would all like it to be. He writes " if learning is what we value, then we ought to value the process of learning as much as we value the result of it...The human brain survives on effectiveness, not efficiency" (Jensen 152). I see communicating my students' progress via Learning Scales and Targets on a Standards Based Report a vehicle for me to let students and parents SEE how well the student brain is working. This is also why I now totally embrace the idea of separating Habits of Learning and actual skill acquisition. Thisisthe fairest way to provide clear feedback as to how a student is "doing" in my class. For example, if I was a parent of a freshman who REALLY struggled with analysis, I want to know that. I also would like to know that he was consistently coming for help, reworking language, etc, yet is STILL only scoring a 2.5/4. This would be a red flag for me, but if his excellent habits were incorporated, it might look like he "gets it," when he clearly does not. ***Side note*** I found my kindergarten report card over the weekend after my mother gave me an old photobook. It was from 1983. It had three category headings to denote progress of all of the "skills" which were "practiced" in kindergarten. They were: Usually, At times, Seldom. I had all U's all three grade report sessions and the following were the teacher comments under each marking period (handwritten in cursive, of course!) Quarter 1- Michelle is making good average progress. Quarter 2- Michelle's progress continues to be good. Quarter 3- Michelle is working well at an average level. You can't make this stuff up. These comments and the "U's" I earned were not helpful at all in terms of giving my parents insight as to how I was developing academically and socially, especially since they were the SAME skill targets listed for each quarter! What it showed me NOW as I look back is that I must have been incredibly bored after Quarter 1, as I apparently just stopped learning anything new. Oh, and that I was clearly very average. Awesome. I will say that for my own children's sake, boy-oh-boy am I glad that times are a changin'!
Student Skill Progression Tracking System We have been using the JumpRope program as a means to track student skill progression. We have categories which are JUST practice and these are not figured into the "grade", but serve as an effective way for us to create purposeful groupings and see any trends that pop up. We have several mini-summatives at this point in the year that address with the foundational skills needed to move forward. These skills are in categories of Reading, Writing and Communication, so what we have decided to do is simply used "weighted" grading for this intro unit to denote the significance of the Learning Target and how much time we spend practicing the skill. At some point in the year, we will be ready to move to Most Recent as a means to determine a "grade". The Learning Targets and the growth we report out in our Unit Based Grade reports represents ONLY these mini-summatives. We do not count practice OR habits in the Unit Based Grade Report.
Habits of Learning While we stress the importance of Habits of Learning as foundation skills necessary to really and truly grow when it comes to academic skills, we report out on habits of learning separately and the score IS NOT factored into the assigned "grade" in any way.
Reporting Student Achievement We use JumpRope and Unit Based Grade Reports to report out on student achievement. We separate the academic Learning Targets and the Habits of Learning target. This Unit Grade Report is sent home to parents and students.