Week of September 18

Thursday Thoughts September 18

 

 

Tomorrow we will complete the sixth week of school.  Some of you may be thinking, man the time has flown by; while others (5th grade teachers especially) may be thinking this has been the longest six weeks ever.  Either way, I agree with you.   We are now at the point where the newness has worn off, we know our kids and we know what they need.  We are remediating, challenging and exposing students to new things daily.  At today's principals' meeting, I learned of the district's technology device roll out plan for the next 3 years.  I will share details with you on Tuesday, but I can tell you now that the roll out will happen in cohorts.  The decisions made will be contingent on each school's readiness to receive and implement the technology.  Essentially, our ability to receive classroom sets of devices will be determined by our current capacity and ability to utilize what we have.  I can truly say that I am so proud of the work that you have done and continue to do in the area of technology.  In three short years, we have grown by leaps and bounds and I truly believe that YOU are the most important tool that students will come in contact with here at MBES.

Staff Spotlight

This week I would like to shine the spotlight on Susan LeBaron.  Susan has been determined to make this year's school start as smooth as possible.  Not only did she have the normal challenges of the dismissal process, the after school program rosters and the management of the green cards, but she also had to master the new visitor sign in system in a matter of a few days.  I can truly say that Susan has gone above and beyond in dealing with the glitches in the system and bypassing Fulton County to get answers directly from the vendor.  Susan's attendance is impeccable and quite frankly, she keeps a cool head amidst the hustle and bustle of the daily front office commotion.  I appreciate Susan's willingness to learn new things and her ability to make adjustments as needed.  Susan, thank you for your committment to MBES. 

4C's: Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, Critical Thinking Skills (Thanks Leigh for sharing this article)

 

Using Webb's Depth of Knowledge to Increase Rigor

September 4, 2014

Gerald Aungst

Supervisor of Gifted and Elementary Math / Cheltenham School District

 

The word "rigor" is hard to avoid today, and it provokes strong reactions from educators. Policymakers tout its importance. Publishers promote it as a feature of their materials. But some teachers share the view of Joanne Yatvin, past president of the National Council for Teachers of English. To them, rigor simply means more work, harder books, and longer school days. "None of these things is what I want for students at any level," Yatvin says. Part of the problem is that we have adopted the jargon without a clear understanding of what we really mean.

Calculating Cognitive Depth

For classroom teachers, the more important question is one of practice: how do we create rich environments where all students learn at a high level? One useful tool, Norman Webb's Depth of Knowledge Levels, can help teachers meet that challenge. Depth of Knowledge (DoK) categorizes tasks according to the complexity of thinking required to successfully complete them.

Level 1: Recall and Reproduction

Tasks at this level require recall of facts or rote application of simple procedures. The task does not require any cognitive effort beyond remembering the right response or formula. Copying, computing, defining, and recognizing are typical Level 1 tasks.

Level 2: Skills and Concepts

At this level, a student must make some decisions about his or her approach. Tasks with more than one mental step such as comparing, organizing, summarizing, predicting, and estimating are usually Level 2.

Level 3: Strategic Thinking

At this level of complexity, students must use planning and evidence, and thinking is more abstract. A task with multiple valid responses where students must justify their choices would be Level 3. Examples include solving non-routine problems, designing an experiment, or analyzing characteristics of a genre.

Level 4: Extended Thinking

Level 4 tasks require the most complex cognitive effort. Students synthesize information from multiple sources, often over an extended period of time, or transfer knowledge from one domain to solve problems in another. Designing a survey and interpreting the results, analyzing multiple texts by to extract themes, or writing an original myth in an ancient style would all be examples of Level 4.

Photo Credit: Expert Infantry.

Recently, educators have begun applying Webb’s DoK to help them design better instruction. Try this exercise to better understand the cognitive depth of the tasks you are using in your classroom and improve the rigor of your instruction:

1. Keep a list or collection of every task you ask students to do in a day (or in one subject for a week), including classwork, homework, and projects.


2. Sort the tasks into categories according to the four DoK Levels. Some resources which may help:
   • This DoK “wheel” (PDF, 34KB)
   • These examples of DoK levels for four content areas (PDF, 39KB)
   • These examples of using DoK in the fine arts (PDF, 102KB).


3. Work with a team of colleagues to review the groupings. Many tasks are easily categorized, but some will require deeper discussion to clarify your understanding of the levels. Strive toward consensus. A few pointers:
   • The verb does not define the level. Instead, consider the cognitive effort that a student will use to complete the task. The verb "describe," for example, could be any level, depending on the kind of description.
   • It is common to find tasks that seem to fall in between levels. When in doubt, assign the higher level.
   • "Extended time" alone does not make a task Level 4. Lower-level tasks that are merely repeated over a period of time are still lower level.


4. Analyze your groupings. What patterns do you see? Is there a reasonable distribution of tasks across the four levels? Do you notice anything unexpected?


5. Rewrite a Level 1 or Level 2 task to be at least Level 3. These question stems are helpful in creating good tasks (PDF, 28KB).

Apply as Needed

You may be asking at this point, "Well, what is a reasonable distribution? How often should I be doing tasks at each level? What's the right sequence?"
DOK Levels are not sequential. Students need not fully master content with Level 1 tasks before doing Level 2 tasks. In fact, giving students an intriguing Level 3 task can provide context and motivation for engaging in the more routine learning at Levels 1 and 2.
DOK levels are also not developmental. All students, including the youngest preschoolers, are capable of strategic and extended thinking tasks. What they look like will differ, and what is Level 3 to a kindergarten student may be a Level 1 task for a middle schooler. All students, however, should have opportunities to do complex reasoning.
To find the right balance, ask yourself these questions:

• What kinds of thinking do I want students to do routinely?
• If my own child were participating, what would I want him or her to be doing?
• What's the most effective way to spend the limited classroom time I have?

Decide for yourself how often you should focus on tasks at each level so that students gain the most from the learning opportunities you design.
Regardless of how you define "rigor," the important thing is that students are thinking deeply on a daily basis. Webb's Depth of Knowledge gives you a framework and common language to make that happen in your classroom.

 Technology Tidbits

https://create.kahoot.it- a free way to create fun quizzes for your students for a pretest or quick check.  Students will need a device or computer to use.  It is a powerful classroom engagement tool and definitely worth setting up a free account.

News & Notes

Dr. Avossa will be proposing the school calendar for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 school years to the Board soon.  Some of the proposed changes include teacher work days AND professional development days disbursed throughout the school year instead of front loading them on "pre preplanning" days.  I will let you know when the drafts are ready for public comment.