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SBL is based on backwards design. That is, after the KUDs, Learning Targets and Scales have been designed, the next step is to build the summative assessment. Its purpose is to assess what students know, understand and can do with the unit's learning goals and targets. Because these goals are transparent to students, I can share this summative early on with my students so they know what is expected of them. Once written, I can use it to design practice and instruction that supports it.
The crux of my role is to provide a learning process with practice opportunities and low-risk, frequent, and timely feedback. I will differentiate learning methods, formative assessments and feedback, because every human can learn, but (thankfully!) not in the same ways. All of us must make mistakes and fail in order to learn. (Babe Ruth had more strike-outs than anyone before setting his home run record. I've lost more games of Candy Crush Saga than anyone I know.) No one is born all-knowing because knowledge comes from experience. Hence, we must establish a climate of growth mind-set for our learners.
My goal is to have all learners be challenged appropriately through practice, formative assessment and feedback, engage with perseverance, and succeed in meeting their targets. It is my PLP goal to provide regular assessments and feedback in my algebra class. I use check-ins, quizzes, presentations and discussions to assess, and feedback is both self-assessed by the student, written comments, and conversations with me.
The crux of my role is to provide a learning process with practice opportunities and low-risk, frequent, and timely feedback. I will differentiate learning methods, formative assessments and feedback, because every human can learn, but (thankfully!) not in the same ways. All of us must make mistakes and fail in order to learn. (Babe Ruth had more strike-outs than anyone before setting his home run record. I've lost more games of Candy Crush Saga than anyone I know.) No one is born all-knowing because knowledge comes from experience. Hence, we must establish a climate of growth mind-set for our learners.
My goal is to have all learners be challenged appropriately through practice, formative assessment and feedback, engage with perseverance, and succeed in meeting their targets. It is my PLP goal to provide regular assessments and feedback in my algebra class. I use check-ins, quizzes, presentations and discussions to assess, and feedback is both self-assessed by the student, written comments, and conversations with me.
Learning is... |
By definition, learning occurs when the brain has received input and processed and analyzed it through critical thinking. The evidence that this has occurred is through a variety of output methods in which the input has been transformed by the thinking process. When input = output, all that has been shown is that a student can memorize or regurgitate data.
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"You will pass a difficult test that will make you happier."
Summatives
My summatives are designed to provide an opportunity for students to demonstrate mastery of the unit. Standards and targets are printed on the exam. I seek the balance of ease of grading without informing the student how to answer a question.
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Algebra Unit 1A Summative - new - area problems are used with permission from Ben Epstein
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"YOU will fall down seven times, stand up eight times."
Formatives
More formal than daily feedback in other forms, students are assessed every few days. The standard(s), scales and targets are listed, and these match closely to activities and practice. Quizzes are returned in the next class.
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Rigid Transformations Quiz - an example of a quiz including targets for the new standard and the previous one, so students have multiple formative assessment opportunities to correct misunderstandings and mistakes from previously learned standards. Students are given explicit instructions for what they can choose to do to achieve a 4. As with daily check-ins, the results drive my planning and intervention decisions.
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Algebra U1 F.A. I can create an expression to generalize a pattern using a variable. - written at pre-service.
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"The object of your desire comes closer."
Feedback
Feedback comes in many forms every day. It's my responsibility as a teacher to provide risk-free feedback. The check-in type of feedback allows student and teacher to communicate privately. Both of us can develop plans from this info. (I see students during Core time.)
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"Transformations Your Way" - in this 3-part activity, each student writes a transformation, attempts to complete another student's transformation, and then has a dialog about the process. This is a wonderful activity; students get to make their own transformations, and if they don't do it correctly and completely, they find out quickly!! This time, student pairs were made randomly and with anonymity until part 3, so it also served as a fun mixer. In our debrief plenary, students shared the miscommunications and errors they'd made and found (critiquing other's reasoning). The activity reinforced the first two unit standards of geometric communication and writing transformations, which were on the check-out afterwards, and then the quiz.
Rigid Transformations Check-in - this check-in is an example of one method of daily feedback. Students self-assess, then leave their work for me to view each day. Students use colored highlighters to indicate levels of confidence and understanding.
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