Stephanie
Forum Replies Created
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@Laura Depending on the size of your group, having a one on one conference to explain your scoring on the rubric can be really helpful too. I do this when I teach writing. We get together and I explain why I made the marks I made, they defend their work and take notes on improvements that can be made. I then give them time to make the necessary improvements and adjust scores accordingly. That last part is HUGE...we get that grace professionally, why not extend it to them as well!
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@Maria (Dede) Oh Dede! Flipgrid was my GO-TO during remote learning last year! It's amazing and FREE!
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I had a teacher in high school who put this as the last question on every test: What did you learn from this (lesson/unit/lab/etc.) that you'd like to tell me about? She then assigned up to five points based on your answer. I thought it was a great way to show us that learning was the goal, not just remembering for a test. That being said, she could have better accomplished this with the informal assessment and workshop practices you mention. Grades can be such a problem with this kind of learning. It's a struggle for sure.
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I like the rubric approach to assessing reports and I think that you can write rubrics in a way that are appropriate to all ability levels. Since my class doesn't use letter or percentage based grading, my rubric generally place students in one of four categories: below expectations/approaching expectations/meeting expectations/exceeding expectations. With these categories the grading is then subjective on my expectations for each particular student based on previous observation and assessments. So an "exceeding expectations" score may not be the same for any two particular kids. side note: The video from the Maumee Valley kids is unavailable but I had to brag on them anyway...that's my daughter's school!
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As an advocate for gifted learners, let me caution you on the strongest/weakest pairings. Grouping your weakest kids with the strongest doesn't benefit as much as you think. The strongest kids are not usually the best at explaining how they arrive at their conclusions and will often steamroll the weaker kids and just do all the work for both of them. It's more advantageous to group kids in the high-middle category with the weakest kids, as these pairings often end up more productive on both ends. There's some interesting research on grouping in this way; look up the work of Dr.Dina Brulles and Susan Weinbrenner! https://www.aasa.org/content.aspx?id=17446
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I think that formative assessments are key when you have such a diverse range of abilities. The only thing I may add is to offer a set of tiered goals. Maybe the top tier kids could follow through to submitting their findings to a publication whereas the bottom tier group could show their work on a slide show or something...There's no reason they all need to be working towards the same goals and inquiry based teaching is perfect for that sort of flexible structure.
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My classes operate on a standards based assessment profile, so I don't give traditional letter or percentage based grades but rather I assess performance based on pre-vs-post assessment growth and on student participation. It works well with the inquiry based approach. While we haven't worked with citizen science projects yet, we do participate in an inquiry based math program. At first, I found challenges in allowing students enough time to explore the activities and materials before I step in with explanation, but we've figured that out in the ten years we've been working with this specific program. My challenges with assessment are mostly clerical challenges on my end. I can get so into sitting and watching kids explore and discover that I forget to keep records of participation and discoveries. It can also be a challenge to get the kids to a place where they FULLY explain their thinking when recording observations and conclusions. I still have the odd kiddo who will just write down the answer and refuse to use their words to show me how they got there. I think I may use the lemon lesson from earlier in this course as an introduction not only to making observations for science, but in writing clear explanations for math as well!
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That sounds interesting. Is it only Maine-specific? I wonder if there is something similar for the Great Lakes? Lake Erie is not doing so well. :(
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My husband worked with the GLOBE project several years ago. We still have the kit in the basement...I might have to check that out!
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I researched Ebird. Ebird is a citizen science project managed by Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Through Ebird, registered users can document bird sightings and locations. This data can be accessed by registered Ebird users, regardless of whether or not they have made any observations. Since the project is free to use, it's data is *essentially* available to anyone. Students with a registered account could submit an access request as easily as their teacher could. Students could conceivably use this data to investigate how many of the birds commonly spotted in our geographic location are showing up at our feeders, to predict the best days to spot specific migratory birds in our area, or to analyze what factors may result in higher or lower counts than expected through data analysis (ie: perhaps our location by the train tracks or airport is to blame for lower concentrations of some birds that the data suggests)
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@Pam It might even be worth it to incorporate some sort of mindfulness activity or yoga stretches with the kids before you ask them to sit and listen...could help with the calming portion.
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I love the bit about it's okay to not have the right answer...learning to embrace that struggle is so important. I think so much of learning is finding peace with struggle and being calm enough to work through it. What a terrific lesson for your students!
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I think that's the key really, practice... kids need to see how this works mostly because in our schools up to now so much of what they are asked to do is sit and listen. Questions are not always encouraged. As with anything we learn, we have to practice how to do it before we can become proficient.
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I think the idea of "sit spots" could translate to your ELA instruction as well. Think of the poetry and art that could come from these observations! If you don't already have a cross curricular unit going with the art/ELA teachers then you should absolutely consider doing so.
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@Kate I teach Sketchnoting as a notetaking skill to my 5th grade early in the year. Some choose to use it and other do not but this sounds very similar to what you're talking about.
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I think the biggest way we can encourage and foster curiosity and questioning in students is to set up our learning spaces as places where risk is rewarded and not penalized. So often we SAY we want kids to be curious learners but we have to plow ahead through a heavy curricular schedule and we don't build time into our day to allow for it. Classroom practices such as worksheet learning, closed questioning, and test prep focus can foster passive learning and rewards memorization and compliance rather than curiosity and risk taking. By setting up a space where they are free to explore and question and by modeling that in the way we lead the class we can create spaces where kids are willing and eager to let their curiosity fly. I love the idea of the I Wonder boards but this needs to extend beyond science instruction. Inquiry has a place in ELA, math, social studies...all areas!
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@Martha That's not a bad idea. With only one meeting per week with each group I'm struggling to make sure we go in depth but that we also don't get overloaded with material. My kids are usually really excited to get outside. I think the challenge will be getting them outside when it starts turning colder.
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@Maria (Dede) Man I struggle with that! I like it when things go smoothly but there are so many lessons to be learned from those oops moments when things don't go as planned. I think having a "debriefing" session at the end of these units would be beneficial as well.
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What a terrific resource! I am hopeful that I can scrounge up some older ipads from classrooms but binoculars would be awesome!
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Waaaaaay back when I first started teaching there was this program we were trained in called Talents Unlimited. The first part of any investigation was to come up with "many varied and interesting questions about..." whatever we were investigating. In primary school, we would have kids illustrate their questions on a page and we'd bind them into a class Big Book where we'd record the answers we found about the questions on the back of the pages. While this might be a bit much for middle or high school, I'll bet a few of them would get a kick out of it as long as you didn't do it too often!