Collaborating Online for Rigor and Relevance CORR · Collaborating Online for Rigor and Relevance | Successful Practices Network 5 Email reminders: If you would like to email your

Collaborating Online for Rigor and Relevance

CORR

A Guide for Facilitators

Version 1

© 2006 Successful Practices Network 1585 Route 146 ● Rexford, NY 12148

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CONTENTS

Introduction 3 Getting Started 4 Discussion Board 5 Develop Section 8 Apply Section 9 Learning Styles 10 Checklist of things to do 11 Assignments 12 Description handout 13

Collaborating Online for Rigor and Relevance | Successful Practices Network

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Introduction The Successful Practices Network has developed a 30-hour staff development tool for the Rigor/Relevance Framework®. Called Collaborating Online for Rigor and Relevance (CORR), this tool is designed to take teachers through several steps to create high-quality lessons that reinforce the use of the Rigor/Relevance Framework®. Each group of teachers will be guided through the online experience by a facilitator. This guide was developed to describe the roles and responsibilities of the facilitator. Overview The purpose of CORR is to have teachers work together in an asynchronous mode to develop high-quality lessons. Teachers produce better lessons when they collaborate. Because of so many significant time limitations, this project allows teachers to work together at convenient times through the use of an online management system similar to those used for online professional development. Ten topics have been designed to provide teachers with adequate background knowledge, to increase collaboration, and to create a finished product. There are five components within each the 10 topics of the CORR structure:

Connect stimulates interest and connects the teacher with the current topic.

Explore provides background information that teachers can read or listen to. The section includes articles, links to Web sites, video, and audio.

Share is a discussion section that starts with a question related to the topic. Teachers contribute to the online discussion and share ideas to shape each others perspective. Apply is the section in which teachers will apply what they have learned. These are engaging activities that allow teachers to play a little and reinforce their knowledge. Develop is the section in which teachers will create a product or project required in each respective topic. Each topic will end with something specific that teachers will develop.


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Getting Started You’ve agreed to facilitate a group (or groups) through a 30-hour staff development experience. The following will provide you with a clear understanding of how to get started as well as define your role and responsibilities. 1. Web site. The Web site address is: http://rigor-relevance.com. It is highly recommended that you bookmark this page. (This is different from the International Center’s www.leadered.com and the Successful Practices Network’s (www.successfulpractices.org Web sites.) 2. Get Access. To obtain your username and password, please contact Ashley Terwilliger at [email protected]. The first time you log on, you will be prompted to change your password. If you forget your password, contact Ashley so she can reset it for you. 3. Log on to the site. You will see the username and password field on the left side toward the bottom of the page (see figure 1).

Figure 1: Log on with username/password.

4. Your Profile. A profile was created for you to include your name, email address and location. You may edit your profile information at any time. The tabs at the top of this page will allow you to edit your information. Please update your location as necessary. If you have a small image of yourself you’d like to include (instead of the default silhouette, you may also include this).


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Email reminders: If you would like to email your group every time you post a discussion board message, select email activated: ENABLE. If you DO NOT want to have emails automatically sent to group members, every time you post to the discussion, select DISABLED. Disabled is the default set by the Network.

5. Access the Course. Click on the title of the course, “Quadrant D Lessons.”

Figure 2: Access the site materials

6. Review the Topic Outline. You’ll see the words, “Topic outline” near the top of the page. Scroll down to see the list of all 10 topics. Each topic includes five components: Connect, Explore, Share, Apply, and Develop. Visit the five components of the first topic, “Why Rigor and Relevance,” to become familiar with the layout and navigation of the site.

Figure 3: Topic Outline

Share: The Discussion Board


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1. Images. Your first task will be to use the cartoon images, which you should have received via e-mail, to create three discussion topics in the Share component under the “Why Rigor & Relevance” topic. If you did not receive the images, e-mail [email protected] (See figure 4).

Figure 4: Add a new discussion topic

2. Steps for adding a new discussion topic:

a. Click the “Add a new discussion topic” button. b. Include a subject line and a message. You must include a message when

sending the images otherwise the message will not post. c. Click the “Browse” button near the bottom of the discussion message box to

locate and upload the image. d. Click “Post to Forum” button.

Figure 5: Composing a discussion topic

3. Accessing the Discussion. Once you post your message to the forum, you will see a link to the message. Click on the subject text (in this case, “test,” see figure 6). If you click on the name of the person, you will see his/her profile information. You also will be reminded of the group number, number of replies, and number of messages unread.

Figure 6: Accessing messages on the forum

Enter subject line here

Enter message here

Click browse to upload image


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When you click on the discussion subject line (in this case, “test’) you will be able to view the messages (see figure 7).

Figure 7: Sample discussion message

4. Replying to the Discussion Messages. It is expected that, a few times a week, you will read and reply to the posted messages. You should also encourage the participants to do the same. A good rule is to respond to at least two other people, and to always answer those who have reached out to you. 5. Discussion Format. A format problem may arise when reading discussion messages. In the format shown above, the replies are in “nested” format. To view the discussion differently, click on the drop-down menu for a list of choices. (see figure 8).

Figure 8: Discussion display menu

6. Navigating Back to the Topic Outline. From a discussion message, you will use the breadcrumbs.

Figure 9: Breadcrumbs

You have two choices:

A. You can click on “Share” to go back to the page where the discussion task began. If you are here (see figure 10) you can then navigate to the other pages within this topic.


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Figure 10: Navigation within each topic

B. If you click on CORR101, you will be linked back to the topic outline page.

Figure 11: Navigating back to the topic outline

Apply Each topic also includes Connect, Explore, and Apply components. In some cases, the Apply section will include an interactive section in which participants can test their understanding. Participants are not expected to submit any information or scores from these exercises, they are not graded. Develop Your next role will be to provide feedback for assignments in the Develop sections, which include two types of activities:

A. Workshops (topics 1-3): The learning management system, Moodle, created a space where participants can submit assignments that can be viewed by the facilitator and other participants in the group.

As a facilitator, it is important that you provide feedback to each participant. Participants have the option of providing feedback to their peers.


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Figure 12: The Develop section

Accessing Assignment Description: Click on “Show Workshop Description” to access the assignment (this is what the participants will see).

You will begin to see a list of names, submission title, date, etc. once participants start submitting their assignments. Click on the title of the submission to access their work. You will see an “Assess” link, when there are assignments ready for your review. The assignments are not graded but a value has to be entered. Enter a generic value (0 – 100) for all students.

B. High Rigor/High Relevance Template (topics 4-10): An electronic template was

developed for CORR. This template is accessible through the Develop links for topics 4-10. The Develop section under Topic 4 (Teaching for High Rigor/High Relevance/Develop) requires that you log in to the template and start thinking about the lesson focus. This will redirect you and participants to a website outside of Moodle. To get started with the template, participants will have to create a unique login account. Each facilitator will have an account created for them by the Network. This information will have been sent to you when you started the course. Participants will need to identify your group number. If you do not have a group number, please email Ashley at [email protected] to request a group number. Over the next few weeks, participants will work on their lessons, revising and updating them based on your feedback. When they click on the Develop section of each topic after registering, they will be prompted to log in with the username and password they identified.


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Figure 13: Registering Name to access template

When participants work on their lesson, the information will be stored in the text fields.

Figure 14: The Template

To Review Lessons When you are ready to review and evaluate the lessons of your participants, log into the Lesson template through the Develop section (Topics 5 – 9). Once you’ve logged in you’ll be presented with a list of the participants who have started their lesson template. By clicking on each participants name you’ll be taken to a copy of their lesson. (If you do not see their name, please contact Ashley and she will check to ensure that the lesson was created in the correct group.)


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Figure 15: Accessing Lessons as a Facilitator

Once you’ve reviewed the lesson, you should leave a comment for the author with any recommended changes, updates, etc. On the toolbar at the top of every lesson, you’ll click on “View this Lesson’s Comments.” Once there you’ll have a text box to leave comments and notes for the author.

Click “Post Comment” and when the participant views their lesson they will be able to view the comments and make adjustments based on those comments. They may also comment back and have a running dialogue with the facilitator. Once a lesson has been completed to the satisfaction of the facilitator, participants should be encouraged to submit their lessons to the Network for feedback. Please review with participants necessary components that need to be included (listed below.)


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Other Considerations: 1. Timeline. Based on the needs of your group, you will set up a timeline of what’s due when. Use the assignment sheet as a guide (see page 12). The assignment sheet includes the topics of the all discussions and Develop sections. Each person will create ONE high rigor/high relevance lesson at the end of the 30-hour experience. 2. Learning Styles. Because we all don’t learn in the same way, at the same pace, the CORR site was developed to include variety. There are images, text, white papers, video, animations, Web links, and more. Participants can select what’s useful to them, and leave the rest. 3. Pacing: While some participants will finish the requirements in less than 30 hours, others will need more time. It is up to the facilitator to make sure everyone finishes within a reasonable timeframe and that the motivation is sustained throughout the course. 4. Giving Constructive Feedback When giving feedback on lessons as they develop, here are some helpful hints to consider:

o Are the concepts, knowledge, skills and behaviors based on a specific standard/benchmark/performance indicator from the curriculum?

o The performance task should include D quadrant student work (such as a presentation, brochure, poster, etc), the context (relevance) and the conditions (criteria that is expected in the work).

o Here’s a list of student work terms and key verbs to look for: Student Work o evaluation o newspaper o estimation o trial o editorial o play o collage o machine o adaptation o poem o debate o new game o invention

Verbs o evaluate o formulate o justify o rate o recommend o infer o prioritize o revise o predict o argue o conclude

o Encourage participants to describe the work in as much detail as possible. If it is

a presentation, what will the presentation include? (This should be articulated in the rubric/scoring guide as well). This description should be written with high expectations in mind.

o When the standards are included, look back to the student learning and performance task section to see if there is a connection. If not, redirect the teacher to adapt one or the other.

o Ask them to describe the lesson as it unfolds


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Final Steps At the end of the CORR experience, we encourage you to submit the lessons to the Successful Practices Network gold seal lesson service. To do this, each participant can use the “Submit Lesson to the Network” link on the bottom of their lesson template. Lessons should only be submitted after the facilitator has reviewed it and verified that it is ready to be submitted. In addition, please contact Ashley to reflect on your experience and to allow other groups to sign on.


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Facilitator Checklist TO DO Date 1. Understand overview and description of CORR. � 2. Contact Ashley Terwilliger to get my username/password. � 3. Become familiar with the site. � 4. Generate interest at my school/district. � 5. Email Ashley with list of names/email addresses. � 6. Post three images to Topic 1/Share. � 7. Received username/passwords for group from Ashley. � 8. Check Participant List in CORR. � 9. Set up timeline. � 10. Email timeline to group. � 11. Hold face-to-face meeting with group. � Everyone login Review timeline Review Topic 1 Post discussion message Describe expectations for discussion Describe Develop section 1-3; 4-10 12. Email or call Ashley with any problems/concerns. � 13. Regularly moderate discussion. � 14. Provide feedback to participants on Develop sections. � 15. Encourage participation through email reminders. � 16. Hold end-of-CORR face-to-face meeting (optional). � 17. Email Ashley with lessons to go through editing process. � 18. Organize a new group and start over again! �


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ASSIGNMENTS

TOPIC Share Apply Develop Due Dates

1 Why Rigor and Relevance

Three cartoons are included in the messages below. Create a new caption for them and share them with your group.

Memo advocating higher levels of rigor and relevance.

2 Rigor/Relevance Framework

How could you share with students the Rigor/Relevance Framework?

Poster display for classroom on rigor/relevance.

3 Identifying Levels of Rigor and Relevance

How does the role of the teacher change at different levels of rigor and relevance?

Example of high rigor/high relevance student work and assessment.

4 Teaching for High Rigor/ High Relevance

What are examples of real-world projects we can do in the school building?

Think creatively how to raise the level of instruction to make it more challenging and resemble the real world. Share your ideas on the discussion board below.

Selected lesson for this project.

5 Identifying Student Learning

What are some good examples of concepts or big ideas?

Provide suggestions in the discussion forum to share with colleagues about how the electricity lesson could have been changed to better align the activities and student work with the lesson objectives.

Defined student learning in concepts, knowledge and skills.

6 Writing Performance Tasks

How can you make sure students learn required content when doing projects?

Defines student performance.

7 Linking to State Standards

Are some standards more important than other standards and why?

Linked state standards.

8 Assessments for High Rigor/High Relevance

Is there a difference between grades and assessments?

Assessment scoring guide.

9 Writing Lessons for High Rigor/High Relevance

Will increasing rigor and relevance be easier or harder with heterogeneous groups of students, and why?

What are some of the characteristics that you would use to indicate that a lesson is high rigor/high relevance?

Draft of rigorous and relevant lesson.

10 Submitting and Revising Lessons

How do you know if you are teaching to a high level of rigor and relevance? What are the characteristics?

What are the next steps to expand rigor and relevance in your school?

Completed rigorous and relevant lesson.


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Collaborating Online for Rigor and Relevance The Successful Practices Network is pleased to offer a new service to schools and teachers in the Network. Many schools are excited about the Rigor and Relevant Framework as a simple but powerful tool for teachers to raise the level of their teaching. The Network is now offering online facilitated activities to assist teachers in developing high rigor/high relevance lessons. This new service is called Collaborating Online for Rigor and Relevance. CORR is designed to take teachers through several steps to create high-quality lessons that reinforce the use of the Rigor/Relevance Framework®. This online activity will take participating teachers through 10 steps to understand and apply the Rigor/Relevance Framework. At the conclusion of this activity, all teachers will create one high rigor/high relevance (Quadrant D) lesson. These lessons will be shared with all teachers in the school and all schools in the Network. CORR is designed to allow teachers to work in small groups to collaborate with other teachers in a school or district. For example, you might have a group of all elementary staff, or a group of 5th grade teachers, or a group of high school mathematics teachers. It is recommended that each facilitated activity include a maximum of 25 teachers. If a school has more than 25 teachers, you should set up multiple groups. Requirements The activity operates in a Web browser format. All participating teachers will need Internet access to complete the work. The 10 activities can be started and completed at any time. The project is designed to require 30 hours of work. It can be done all at once or over several weeks. It allows all teachers to work at their own pace and convenient time. Any timeline or due dates are set by the facilitator. The activities require a facilitator to guide teachers. The role of facilitator, which will require 40-50 hours, includes preparation, participation in teachers’ discussions, and reviewing teacher work. The facilitator should be comfortable working in the electronic environment and knowledgeable of the Rigor/Relevance Framework. Description The purpose of CORR is to have teachers work together in an asynchronous mode to develop high- quality lessons. In our experience, teachers produce better lessons when they collaborate. Because of so many significant time limitations, this project allows teachers to work together at convenient times through the use of an online management system similar to those used for online professional development. Participants in CORR will develop the following skills:

• Apply the Rigor/Relevance Framework to their instruction • Set expected levels of rigor and relevance for students • Design performance tasks for a given level of rigor and relevance • Design assessments for a given level of rigor and relevance.


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Each topic is designed to provide teachers with adequate background knowledge, increase collaboration and create a finished product. There are five activities in the CORR structure.

Connect stimulates interest and connect the teacher with the overall CORR project.

Explore provides background information that teachers can read or listen to. The section includes articles, links to Web sites, video, and audio.

Share is a discussion section that starts with a question related to the topic. Teachers contribute to the online discussion and share ideas to shape each others perspective. Apply is the section in which teachers will apply what they have learned. These are engaging activities that allow teachers to play a little and reinforce their knowledge. Develop is the section in which teachers will create the product or project required in each respective topic. Each topic will end with something specific that teachers will develop.

The course includes the following 10 topics:

• Why Rigor and Relevance • Rigor/Relevance Framework • Identifying Levels of Rigor and

Relevance • Teaching for High Rigor/High

Relevance • Identifying Student Learning • Writing Performance Tasks • Linking to State Standards • Assessments for High

Rigor/High Relevance • Writing Lessons for High

Rigor/High Relevance • Submitting and Revising

Lessons

CORR Homepage Sample

Accessing CORR The CORR project is accessible through the Web address http://rigor-relevance.com. At the site you can read descriptions of the project.

Documents

Collaborating Online for Rigor and Relevance CORR · Collaborating Online for Rigor and Relevance | Successful Practices Network 5 Email reminders: If you would like to email your