Easing Back into the Fray

/ Catherine Cabiness-Atkinson, Ed.D. / Leave a comment
Tilting at Windmills?
Monday morning back from a holiday is just as hard on the teachers as it is on the students.  As a veteran teacher, I know that it’s best to ease back into the routine.  We started a new unit today which was a perfect introduction back into a schedule ruled by bells.  The task for today was for students to analyze a secondary source and compile notes utilizing the Thinking Tools:  details and unanswered questions.  Today’s task focused on giving students the choice to work together or independently (my morning classes were half asleep) as they used their analysis skills and background knowledge to make inferences about life on the manor in feudal Europe.
I usually tweet this…but today I really should have done it…I really should have recorded their conversations because they were so interesting, thought-provoking, and in some cases, downright hysterical.  In analyzing a picture of manor life, most students struggled with an object that looked like an elephant (not likely in Europe), a rock (not a significant factor for describing a place), or a person taking off their clothes (to which they wondered…why is someone taking their clothes off in the middle of the manor?!?!).  Then there was an object in quadrant two…is it a guy doing pull-ups (seriously?), committing suicide (well, we did just finish our study on the Bushido Code), or was someone hanged for a crime (what kind of crime required hanging as a punishment? how long did they leave the guy hanging? what is that hanging thing called?!).  One of these days, I’m going to record their conversations because the pictures on Instagram only told half the story.  When students verbalize their thinking, it is truly something to behold…

The Awesomeness of the Single Point Rubric

/ Catherine Cabiness-Atkinson, Ed.D. / Leave a comment

This year my department has gone fully-blended which means that our assignments and projects have gone digital.  So instead of students handing in a notebook at the end of the unit, they work on digital assignments throughout the unit.  My US history colleagues had a horrible experience with their first digital notebooks (incomplete work, incorrectly done assignments, little to no work effort) which allowed me to tweak the process for my World History kiddoes.

And this is why I love Twitter.

I was pondering how I was going to approach the digital notebook assignments with my 7th graders…thinking about how I could make sure that they were 1) doing the assignments and 2) completing them with integrity.

Enter the Single Point Rubric.

It was so unexpected…yet timely.  Someone in my PLN retweeted a link to a site that explained the awesomeness of the single point rubric.

I was all over it.  I created one that morning and by the next day, my colleague and I tried it out with our students.  Each student filled out a single point rubric for one of their peers. What was interesting was…I thought that they would simply give a plus, check, or minus for each category and then leave some sparsely written feedback.  But what actually happened is that they were verbally giving feedback while also writing very specific feedback.  It was so cool!  Students were defending their work but their peers kept referring back to the rubric.  In hindsight, I should have recorded their conversations…at least for posterity’s sake!

That was a couple of months ago.

Since then, my students have used a single point rubric several times for peer review and now self-reflection.  I use the same rubric for my own feedback.  Though I really love listening to their discussions as they still continue to verbally provide feedback while also writing it down…what I love more is seeing that my students are now more conscientious about doing their very best because they know that their peers will be reviewing their work.

And the best part?  The digital notebook assignments are solidly crafted.  My students are redoing their work while also helping each other in the learning process.  Who could ask for more?

Personalized Learning…It’s Possible.

/ Catherine Cabiness-Atkinson, Ed.D. / Leave a comment

About eight years ago, my district eliminated advanced classes for history.  This meant that gifted students were placed in the general education population which posed a problem because the question now became…how do I differentiate for all the various academic levels in the same class?

[Enter technology]

When I started my master’s program in 2008 little did I know that technology was going to be part of the solution to help differentiate learning in my classroom.  I was creating lessons that utilized a variety of technology tools that I could incorporate into my lessons that would allow me to create a learning environment that was closer to what I defined to as personalized learning.

[Flash forward to 2011]

I was graciously given a class set of iPads by my principal because through our conversations I was able to convince her that technology was going to enable me to provide learning opportunities that would help all levels of students in my mixed ability classes.

It’s a work in progress and it is by no means near completion…

But we’re happy with the results thus far.

[Backstory]

Our district brought in Robert Marzano as a guest speaker.  From there we were encouraged to utilize his idea of learning scales.  My department (true to form) took the idea and ran with it.  We created learning scales for all of our units:  world and US.  That was in 2011.

[Flash forward to today]

Each member in my department now has their own set of iPads.  Our principal purchased licenses for Haiku Learning.  We’ve changed our units so that we are offering our students opportunities to work in a blended learning environment.  With that, we’re able to create tasks that are required and optional.

[Backstory]

Level 3 tasks which fall under the describe/define category of Bloom’s are required.  It’s the bare basic concept attainment for our respective curricular areas.  Level 4 tasks are analysis and Level 5 tasks focus on evaluation and/or creation.  Levels 4 & 5 are optional. Students who complete Level 3 tasks will earn the equivalent of a C for that unit.  Students who complete Level 4 tasks have the potential to earn the equivalent of a B for that unit.  Likewise, students who complete Level 5 tasks have the potential to earn the equivalent of an A for the unit.  Level 4 does not count if students do not demonstrate mastery of Level 3.  Level 5 does not count if students do not demonstrate mastery of Levels 3 and 4.  Students choose their level of learning.  It’s just one part of the personalized learning that occurs in our classes.

[Flash forward to today]

In Haiku Learning, we’re able to create leveled tasks for students.  Not only do they have a choice in their learning level, but they also have a choice in how they want to demonstrate their learning.  Students who are interpersonal can choose to work with a partner.  Students who are artistic can choose to use creation apps like Paper 53 or Notability.  Students who are musically inclined can use Garageband or Songify.  The point being…the integration of technology into our classes has given us the means to offer our students a personalized learning experience.  We can create differentiated lessons and activities, but students also have a choice in their learning.  It’s been a crazy first month of school and I’m totally pooped but it’s been fun.  I love watching my students get excited when looking at the various options that they can choose from.  I don’t think that students often get a choice in how they learn but we’re trying our best to make that happen in our classes.  And for that…we’re super thankful that our administration believes in our vision because we’re not done yet.  =)