A310-G

INQUIRE: Examining Instruction

into

ACT:Developing and Action Plan

Thursday January 13, 2011

We’ve heard you want more…

• Examples of what the work looks like• Time to ask questions• Time to build small-group skills• Variety in grade-levels addressed• Clarity about the assignment

Revised Schedule – see online Syllabus

Adjustments to Schedule

Assignment

• PowerPoint Presentation of your Data Overview Meeting (includes agenda slide & charts)

• Word Document containing the Facilitator’s Notes corresponding to your PPT (see Draft #2 agenda distributed on Monday)

If you are including your Facilitator’s Notes in the Notes section of your Data Overview PowerPoint Presentation, please email Marcia.

Questions about Assignment

Objectives for Today

• Understand how to bridge from a Learner-Centered Problem to a Problem of Practice.

• Understand how to describe teaching and learning using evidence.

• Understand what is involved in creating an action plan.

Agenda for Today

Step 5: Examining Instruction

Learning Objective

Understand how to bridge from a Learner-Centered Problem

to a Problem of Practice.

Restating the Problem

PRIORITY QUESTION

EDUCATIONAL QUESTION

LEARNER-CENTERED PROBLEM

PROBLEM OF PRACTICE

Examining Instruction

1. Link learning and teaching2. Develop the skill of examining practice3. Develop a shared understanding of effective

practice4. Analyze current practice

1. Link Learning and Teaching

• Helping teachers take responsibility for student learning

• Strategies from moving the conversation from students to parents– Affinity Protocol– Why-Why-Why Protocol

2. Develop the Skill of Examining Practice

Relentless Focus on Evidence– Artifacts– Observations– Self-Reports

Intentional Collaboration– Learning to See – Key Elements of Observing Practice

3. Develop a Shared Understanding of Effective Practice

Relentless Focus on Evidence

Intentional Collaboration

4. Analyze Current Practice

• Collect instructional data (our next session)

• Stating a problem of practice (the session after that)

Observing Practice

Learning Objective

Understand how to describe teaching and learning

using evidence.

Whole-Class Norms

• Ask Questions.• Listen & Learn from Others.• Disagreement is OK.• Be mindful of the ladder of inference.

Notice evidence of norms in our

conversations today

Ladder of Inference*

Judgment

Inference

Description* Developed by Chris Argyris

Observation Protocol*

• What is the teacher doing?• What are the students doing?• What is the task?

* City et al, Instructional Rounds in Education

Transition to Larson 214

• Sit in same third of the room where you were on Tuesday

• Mix it up at the tables so you are working with different people

Stating a Problem of Practice

A Problem of Practice (PoP) is…

• … a statement about practice, not a question.

• … based on evidence we found when examining instruction.

• … directly related to our Priority Question and Learner-Centered Problem.

• … specific and small.

Example 1Priority Question Writing: How do students use evidence

from text to support their argument?

Learner-Centered Problem

Students include quotes, but do not explain how quotes support their argument.

Problem of Practice As teachers, we do not explicitly model how to use quotes to support an argument.

Example 2Priority Question Reading: What strategies do students

use for comprehension?

Learner-Centered Problem

Students don’t look for connections to their own lives as they read.

Problem of Practice As teachers, we do not give students sufficient opportunities to practice writing about the connections they have to their reading.

Example 3Priority Question Math: How do students approach word

problems?

Learner-Centered Problem

Students translate word problems into equations and solve without thinking about what the problem is asking.

Problem of Practice As teachers, we ask students to memorize a list of words/phrases and what they mean mathematically (“more than” means addition). This promotes a translation-style approach.

Questions about Problem of Practice?

Step 6: Developing an Action Plan

Learning Objective

Understand what is involved in creating an action plan.

Action at Last!

PRIORITY QUESTION

EDUCATIONAL QUESTION

LEARNER-CENTERED PROBLEM

PROBLEM of PRACTICE

ACTION PLAN

6. Develop an Action Plan

• Decide on instructional strategies• Agree on what the plan will look like• Put the plan down on paper.

Putting the Plan Down on Paper

Objective of our Action PlanStatement of our solution to our problem of practice

What Who When

•Specific tasks that people will do • Names of who will do the tasks

• Dates by which tasks will be completed

Horizon SchoolData Wise Journey Presentation

By the Horizon Data Team and Horizon 4th Grade Team

December 16, 2010

Steps 1& 2: PREPARE

Steps 1&2: PREPARESet norms for our work togetherLearned about the Data Wise Improvement

ProcessReviewed the Educational Question that

the Data Team identified based on work from the Getting Started with Data Wise course

EDUCATIONAL QUESTIONHow are our students performing in

English Language Arts?

Step 3: Create Data Overview

EDUCATIONAL QUESTION

Step 3: What we didData Team created data overview focused on our

current 4th graders

Together, we discussed overview using the “Visual Thinking Strategies” protocol. This focused our conversation on:

What do you see?

What do you see that makes you say that?

What more can you find in the data?

Poetry Formal/In-formal Eng-

lish

Nonfiction Vocab/Concept Development

Dramatic Lit-erature

Style and Language

Fiction Understanding a Text

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

CHART 1: How did our current 4th graders perform in READING last spring?3rd grade State Comprehensive ELA Assessment: Spring 2010

Average Percentage Correct by Standard(n=103)

State Standard

Aver

age

Perc

enta

ge o

f Cor

rect

Ans

wer

s

Sentence Stru

c...

Support

Word

Choice

Overall Develop...

Mechanics

Organization

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

CHART 2: How did our current 4th graders perform in WRITING this fall?District Writing Prompt: September 2010

Average Score by Strand(n=109)

Strand

Ave

rage

Sco

re o

n 6-

Poin

t Sca

le

Sentence Structure Support Word Choice Overall Development Mechanics Organization0

1

2

3

4

5

6

CHART 3: How does our current 4th graders’ WRITING performance differ from their performance last May?

District Writing Prompt: May 2010 compared to September 2010

Strand

Ave

rage

Sco

re o

n 6-

Poin

t Sca

le

May 2010 (n=101) September 2010 (n=109)

Step 3: What we accomplishedIdentified the Priority Question that we want to

dig into:

PRIORITY QUESTIONHow do students use sentence structure in

their writing?

This question was important to us because We wanted to understand why this is an area of

relative weakness for our studentsWe believed this could be an area in which we could

foster higher order thinking in our students

Step 3: ReflectionsFollowing the Visual Thinking Strategies

protocol forced us to describe the data first instead of jumping to conclusions.

Having the data overview focused on one educational question made examining the data manageable.

Sticking to the time allotments in our meeting agenda ensured we completed our task of identifying our Priority Question.

Step 4: Dig into Student Data

PRIORITY QUESTION

Step 4: What we didExamined 20 writing samples from the September

2010 district writing prompt for 4th graders

Discovered that: About 2/3 of sentences were simple

I play basketball every day.Compound sentences only used connectors “and” and

“but” I like reading, but I don’t like math.

Five students used complex sentences; these students only used connector “because” I like school vacation because I get to sleep late.

Step 4: What we accomplishedIdentified the Learner-Centered Problem

that our team wanted to address:

LEARNER-CENTERED PROBLEMStudents’ sentence structure is not as sophisticated as it could be. Students

write mostly simple sentences, and when they do use compound or complex sentences, they draw on a limited

repertoire of connector words.

Step 4: ReflectionsWe were concerned that 20 writing samples

would not feel representative of all students, but we found that we had a good understanding after 10.

Removing student names from the samples helped us avoid making assumptions.

We found it difficult to use only descriptive language when discussing the samples. We had to keep reminding one another “what did you see that makes you say that?”

Step 5: Examine Instruction

LEARNER-CENTERED PROBLEM

Step 5: What we didEach member of our team described

opportunities in his/her classroom for students to build skills in sentence structure. These included:Weekly writing in journals, lab reports, math

learning letters, biographiesPeer editing against the six-point rubric every

week1:1 teacher feedback using rubric every weekMini lesson on sentence structure

Step 5: What we accomplishedIdentified the Problem of Practice that our

team wanted to address:

PROBLEM OF PRACTICEWe do not explicitly teach students how to

vary their sentence structure or show them how doing so can be a powerful tool

for shaping the tone of their writing.

Step 5: ReflectionsFocusing on something specific like sentence

structure helped us:Feel less overwhelmed

Stay on task during meetings

Have a detailed discussion of about instruction around this skill.

Step 6: Develop Action Plan

PROBLEM OF PRACTICE

Step 6: What we didMet to discuss concrete and immediate steps

that we could take to improve students’ sentence structure skills.

Step 6: What we accomplishedObjective of our Action PlanStudents will analyze mentor texts to determine how sentence structure shapes the tone of the author’s writing and apply what they learn to their own writing.

What Who When

• Select mentor text

• Practice analysis of mentor text

• Write lesson for student analysis

• Write assignment for student writing

• Implementation and observation

• Max & Kari

• Data & Instr Team

• Data & Instr Team

• Data & Instr Team

• Data & Instr Team

• By Nov 11 Meeting

• Nov 11 9:15-10:15

• Nov 11 9:15-10:15

• Nov 11 9:15-10:15

• Nov 18 9:45-11:45

Step 6: ReflectionsBecause our Problem of Practice was very

specific, it was relatively easy to develop a very focused action plan for addressing it.

By involving everyone in brainstorming solutions, we came up with an instructional strategy that captured our best collective thinking.

Being clear about who was going to do what when ensured that we would not lose momentum.

Questions about Action Plans?

Reflection

Objectives Revisited

• Understand how to bridge from a Learner-Centered Problem to a Problem of Practice.

• Understand how to describe teaching and learning using evidence.

• Understand what is involved in creating an action plan.

Today’s Activities

Taking Stock of your Learning

• Revisit what you wrote earlier today about ACTION

3 minutes

Plus/Delta Protocol

• On first notecard, please write at least one plus

• On second notecard, please write at least one delta