Next Steps...

During our last Professional Development we took a moment to reflect and assess our progress. We determined what we were doing with fidelity, things we were moving toward, and things yet to be done or to re-think. It was through that each team shared what they felt were the next steps to continue our growth and progress toward our problem of practice.

It was interesting to see the feedback. There were two areas that were most commonly addressed... student learning in the way of students taking ownership through challenging themselves and their peers, goal setting and peer to peer feedback. The other are was in collaborative planning... having critical conversation and examination of student work and the teacher model, and use of planning documents to help push forward intentional and purposeful planning of content-rich work.

In the book "Visible Learning for Literacy: Impact" by Fisher, Frey and Hattie it states that of all the instructional strategies that garner more than a year of growth in students was in the area of self-reported grades/student expectation (goal setting, student led discussions, peer to peer feedback) and collective teacher efficacy (highly effective teams that plan for the why, focusing on thoughtful literacy-rich work including questioning, student led discussion and data driven decisions).

I came across a brief article while doing more research on this matter of student self-reported grades/student expectation and collective teacher efficacy. It is a great article that mirrors our conversations about growth mindset and that the teacher matters...

The article entitled: "John Hattie's Eight Mind Frames for Teachers" was a great read. As we continue to fine tune, monitor our progress and grow together, this is an excellent read that aligns with our next steps.

Where do you find yourself as you read these eight mind frames? What in your thinking aligns with Hattie's work? What do you find yourself pondering or being challenged to think differently?

Please post your thoughts and ideas below!

Creating Space for Making Thinking Visible

Whether your content is ELA or Math. Capturing thinking in student journals is not only effective but provides a way to archive individual student progress. 

Journaling is the space where we can fill in the gaps from a scope and sequence or a scripted lesson plan. It is where the thinking becomes real and personal for each learner. 
In Math we use the tool of journaling through our Problem Solving Block. Vertical conversations have brought consensus that we all want students to be able to show a complete solution and show that they understand the problem. From there we continue to strive for thorough explanations through words and models K-2 and explanations with justifications 3-5. We know that this is where the meat of what students learn is applied with rigor and depth.
Problem Solving Block questions are designed to spiral in previous learning, see where students are with upcoming new concepts, provide emphasis to current content and/or create opportunities to reteach where concepts may need more instruction or clarification with ways it can be presented. With the autonomy of this time and the journals, comes in the importance of planning and collaboration. Planning moves from the what to the why and how. Planning begins to evolve from not just what lesson we are teaching, but drives deeper into what do we want the learner to know (learning target), what questions are we asking and hoping to hear students asking, and what activities/tasks will best elicit the data that tells us that our students KNOW IT!

Another idea to consider is how can we move beyond just the look fors... as teachers model in their Problem Solving Journals, how can we enhance the literacy rich focus of our Problem of Practice. The following article from blog The Cornerstone for Teachers "Everything You Need to Know About Math Journals" by Angela Watson affirms so much of what we are already doing. The portion that talks about 'Why math journaling?' is powerful where it states: 

"-Kids have the opportunity to reflect on their strategies and assess their own learning

-Students practice putting their knowledge into words both verbally and in writing

-Instructional focus is shifted from computation to problem solving and real-life application

-The teacher gains insight into children’s abilities, opinions, understandings, and misconceptions

-It creates a documented portfolio-like record of student growth and progress"

Furthermore, the portion "What do students write about?" suggests a move beyond what are presently being done where the focus is mostly on strategies and processes. How powerful might it be to take a moment every few weeks and address not just the processes, but the attitudes and learning. Reflection, as we know, can be the most powerful of all teachers.

In the coming weeks there is a focus on the following look fors in math problem solving block time: 

¨ Daily Problem Solving in journal with explanations (K-2) and justifications (3-5)

¨ Student discourse and use of talk moves by teachers/students with high level questioning

¨ Alignment of quality instruction from class to class within the same grade level

¨All components of the Stepping Stones Journal complete (Step Up and Step Ahead for deeper thinking)

Beyond this, what can we do with our journals, in ALL content areas to make student journals a piece of the learning that students own and value. A space for making thinking visible? Please share your comments below.

-Kirsten and John