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 Deve

lop...

Mechanics

Organiza

tion0

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

Aver

age

Scor

e on

6-P

oint

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

Aver

age

Scor

e on

6-P

oint

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.