A Quick Formative Assessment Activity

Find Someone Who…Review

I found this great formative assessment activity in the Judith Dodge Scholastic text entitled 25 Quick Formative Assessments a for Differentiated Classroom.  My thoughts on the activity are listed below.

Summary:

The Find Someone Who…Review is a kinesthetically-based learning activity that can be formatively assessed by teachers.  In this activity, each student is given a copy of a Find Someone Who…Review worksheet containing nine questions reviewing content that was (ideally) already learned by the class, thus the term “review.”  Students are then given ten minutes to move around the classroom, finding classmates to answer the questions on their worksheet.  The students are also advised that each answer must come from a different student, who then initials his/her contribution.  The teacher should move about the room while this activity is taking place, checking for understanding and perhaps making use of a checklist to document his/her observations. When the students have finished obtaining their answers, they return to their seats, where they each write a brief summary of their Find Someone Who…Review experience, which can help them reorganize/collect their thoughts, reflect, and revisit the information yet another time. 

Materials:

            Copies of the teacher prepared, nine-question worksheet (template).

            Blank paper, for reflections.

            Writing implements.

Strengths:

            This activity has a lot of strengths going for it.  If the nine questions effectively review what was just learned, then the students would have a chance to discuss the concepts and put the answers into their own words.  Essentially, they will have an opportunity to teach the content to a fellow classmate.  Another strength is that the students will be up and out of their seats, moving about the classroom.  This can really help students who tend to daydream or lose focus while being asked to sit quietly at their desks, completing a review independently.  This activity also teaches students to hone their listening skills, as they are asked to actively listen to each other as they obtain the correct answers.  There is also a social component to this activity, which is a positive, in that it asks the students to interact and work together toward a common goal, which can foster a sense of teamwork and unity/community. This activity lets kids be taught by other kids in a one-on-one dynamic, where the focus is not on any one student.  This can encourage students to ask questions that they might not be as comfortable asking the teacher in front of the entire class.  Finally, this activity is versatile, in that it doesn’t have to be used only as a review.  This same activity could be modified by removing the “review” portion of the name…making it Find Someone Who…It could then be used as a great ice breaker for the first day or week of classes.  In this case, the template could be modified to include questions about the students themselves!

Data Generated:

            As the students are telling their answers to each other, the circulating teacher can listen, observe, and implement a checklist for recording notes.  Through this formative assessment, the teacher will gain an idea of who can answer the nine review questions.  Another piece of data that can be obtained through this activity is learning how the students interact socially with one another.  Teachers can learn how students listen:  are they just getting answers or are they actively listening and evaluating the answers given.  Teachers can also generate information as to which students can recognize a mistake if they hear one during the activity.  Finally, when the teacher collects the worksheets, he/she can tally the number of responses that each student gave and determine their accuracy, since all answers have been initialed. 

Challenges:

            One challenge a teacher might face during this activity is that all the students will be up and out of their seats, which means there could be a classroom management issue.  A teacher would need to model how to talk in a “12 inch voice.”  The teacher should also explain and model how to disagree without insulting someone, etc.  Also, this activity could be a challenge for a shy student, someone who is anti-social.  It could also present some anxiety for students who don’t know the answers.  One way to avoid these potential problems would be to talk first about what the students could do if they don’t know an answer, possibly suggesting that they can tell their classmate to ask another student.

Students for whom this assessment would be the most helpful:

            This activity would be most helpful for students who either don’t know the answers or need another review of the answers they do know.  For these students, they would be getting the information from a new, different source: a classmate.  In addition to that, the activity would benefit students who tend to lose focus during less kinesthetic lessons.  These students would probably benefit not only from the movement this activity provides, but also from the one-on-one component, which can help kids focus, as opposed to whole class instruction from the teacher. 

Link to a demonstration of a Find Someone Who…Review:

http://www.theteachertoolkit.com/index.php/tool/find-someone-who       

Some Thoughts on Bullying in the School Setting

I think it’s stating the obvious to say that bullying is a complex problem facing schools today.  As such, complex, integrated solutions are needed.  I won’t pretend to have all the answers, but in reflecting on a recent paper that I wrote for my EDU 414 class, I do have a few ideas that I’d like to share on this sad and all too common behavior.  First, I believe that teachers need to be more alert and strive to really connect with their students.  If an educator can get a sense of a student’s personality, they can better pick up on the behavior variances that might allude to a deeper problem such as bullying.  Secondly, I think that teachers and parents should try to help victims develop the skill set needed to stand up for themselves and be strong in the face of a bully.  Also, on an administrative level, if bullying has become a problem for a school, principals should consider mandating hall monitoring between classes, as many of the bullying incidents occur during that time.  In addition, teachers covering the lunchroom should be encouraged to refrain from too much socializing with one another.  Instead, they should monitor the cafeteria carefully, “table hovering,” if needed.  Finally, many schools have cut back (or cut out entirely) the position of bus monitor.  A lot of bullying behaviors take place on the school bus, while the bus driver is busy driving, and there is no monitor available due to these budget cuts.  Reinstating bus monitors can help make a child’s ride home a safe one.  

PALS : Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies

Looking for an interesting reading strategy for use in grades two through six?  You might be interested in trying PALS.  This acronym stands for Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies.  It is used in addition to, as opposed to in place of, the regular reading program that is implemented within your classroom.  This three-part strategy takes a little over a half hour each session and may be used two to four times each week.

The first thing a teacher needs to do is assess his/her students’ reading abilities and list them in order, from highest to lowest.  The list is then divided into two parts:  the top half of the class and the bottom half of the class.  Students are then paired by matching the first person from the top half with the first person from the bottom half, the second with the second, and so forth.  If the class should have an odd number of students, there can be one group of three.  These pairs work together for three or four weeks, at which time the students are reassessed and new pairs are made.

The pairs work together on three different strategies.  The first is called Partner Reading with Retell and should take about 12 minutes.  The better reader begins by reading an assigned passage.  Then the lower reader reads the same passage, benefiting from hearing it read by his peer.  Once they have both read, the lower reader summarizes the passage with help from his partner, if needed.  Reading fluency and summarization are the two skills covered during this first strategy. 

Next, they move on to Paragraph Shrinking.  This part should take about ten minutes.  Here the better reader reads as much of an assigned passage as possible in five minutes.  He then identifies the main character and summarizes what was read in ten words or less.  Then the lower reader picks up where his partner left off, following the same procedure.  The comprehension skills targeted here are identifying the main character and the main ideas and summarizing. 

Finally, the students play Prediction Relay.  In this ten minute strategy, which targets the skills of making predictions, identifying the main ideas, and summarizing, the better reader predicts what will happen, reads the next half page, and assesses whether the prediction was a good one.  Then his partner does the same.

The PALS strategy is successful because it works for students of all academic abilities.  It is also cost effective and is easy to implement.  Most important, children enjoy it, because they are working together and having fun.

The Power of Picture Books

              My EDU professor recently finished a lecture on picture books.  He started his lecture by asking us to think of the picture books we read as children that were memorable.  Personally, the stories that I found the most memorable were the ones that contained illustrations that captured my imagination and added a whole new dimension to the text/ plot.  The first one I can recall is Where the Wild Things Are, written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak.  I can still envision the “wild things”…their faces, their teeth, etc…which really brought Max’s visit to the island of the wild things to life.  It’s no surprise that this picture book sold over ten million copies in the United States alone.  Later, when we were reading fairy tales in the upper elementary grades, I recall reading the Paul Zelinsky retelling of Rumpelstiltskin and being awestruck by his illustrations.  His paintings, which were actually oil paints layered over watercolor underpaintings, dominated the book and inspired me to take up painting.  Picture books like these grabbed my attention, and through their strong visual component, held my attention.  These books helped to instill a love for reading in me that carried over to chapter books without illustrations in the later grades, and finally resulted in my love of reading today.

Why Do You Read?

Why Do You Read?

            My EDU professor posed this question to my 307 class this semester, and I thought I would attempt to answer it here on my blog. 

I read for enjoyment.  I also read to acquire knowledge.  Maybe I can learn about a culture I don’t know much about or a period of history.  I read to become informed…informed about politics, and political platforms so I can make an informed decision when voting.  Similarly, I read when I am about to make a significant purchase, so I can make an informed choice.  I read for escapism, for stress relief.  I read because I appreciate writing as an art form, as something that can teach me something about myself or about the world.  But this question got me thinking about the reasons why a child reads during his/her elementary years.  Unfortunately, I think that in many cases, these children are not reading for enjoyment.  They are reading because they have to, because they are practicing reading and the strategies they can use to become better readers.  They are reading in a content area in order to acquire that content (science, history etc.)   I think it’s incredibly important to try to instill a love for reading in the classroom, especially in the elementary grades, as research shows that if a child leaves the elementary setting for middle/ high school without that love of reading, there is a good chance they will never develop it.  But how can we as educators, or hopeful educators, achieve this goal?  One way would be to try and substitute rich literature or high interest stories for the dry basals that can be all too common in many reading classrooms.  Another idea would be to try to supplement any content texts that might be a dry series of facts with more interesting sources.  Beyond these suggestions, I think teachers should always try to model their own “love of reading.”  Their modeling can help to create a reading (and writing) community within the classroom.  I plan to talk to my students about my own reading habits, including my own favorite books, poems, etc. with the hope that this modeling and my own enthusiasm for reading will influence my future students.

Phonics vs Whole Language

           This semester, my edu class at SCSU debated which is the better way to teach reading:  the whole language approach or the phonics approach.  As often is the case, I don’t think there was a clear-cut winner in this battle.  Before I weigh in with my own personal take on this comparison, let me first define both approaches.  The whole language approach to reading instruction emphasizes learning whole words by encountering those words in meaningful contexts.  In this approach, learners are expected to infer what they need to know while being immersed in literature.  The whole language approach still allows for "teachable moments," where educators react to children's needs/ requests for specific guidance.  Whole language is sometimes referred to as a “top down” approach. 

Phonics, on the other hand, focuses on the sounds that the individual letters or letter combinations make.  Once learned, the child can sound out words by putting together the sounds.  This approach is sometimes referred to as a “bottom up” approach.   Detractors of this approach believe that the English language has many words that do not follow the sounds that their individual letters make, and as a result, it could be frustrating to the student.  
            In terms of which is a better method for teaching reading, I believe it depends on the grade level.  I think that the upper elementary grades (3 thru 6 / even late 2 thru 6) can benefit more from a whole language approach.  Above grade three, immersion is extremely important.  Incorporating vast amounts of literature into a classroom fosters more of a constructivist experience, where students are inferring, comparing, predicting, etc.  And if they see a new word...there ARE context clues.  Detractors of whole language will say there is too much guesswork and too many situations where students are making "wild guesses"...but I see these as educated guesses by the late elementary grades.  Whole language encourages students to look at the big picture rather than zeroing in on patterns, sounds, and rules like phonics does.

All this being said, the early elementary school student does need to "unlock the alphabet" and learn the rules of reading from the bottom up.  So I agree with the assertion that phonics instruction is critically important in the early elementary grades. 

Cutting Back on the Arts and P.E. is a Bad Idea

School budget cuts to the arts and physical education have been a nationwide phenomenon over the last two decades.  As someone who grew up with a huge appreciation for the arts, as well as for team sports/physical education, I find this trend both saddening and perplexing.  It confuses me when school systems make these cuts, because it flies in the face of all the research on the importance of both the arts (music, visual arts, theater, etc.) and P.E.  Most academic research supports the value of the arts, finding students who participate do better in the academic areas and are more likely to stay in school than those who don't. Similar findings have been found for students who are physically active.  Exposure to the arts helps broaden students' knowledge bases, which helps their reading skills. I’ve even heard of successful scenarios where elective (specials) teachers have worked alongside academic teachers to help strengthen a lesson. For example, students might do a report on Beethoven in their language arts class and then learn about a symphony in their music class.  Unfortunately, many schools are cutting art/ p.e. in favor of math / reading simply because music and the arts aren't government-tested like reading, writing, and math are.  As a result, school districts are pressured to cut them first.  But this is a knee jerk reaction that doesn't take into account the big picture.  The facts continue to say that cutting the arts/ p.e. will only result in lower test scores in those aforementioned, core, “government tested” subjects. So I guess this blog post is more of a rant than any of my previous posts.  It’s actually more of a shout…STOP CUTTING BACK ON THE ARTS AND P.E. IN OUR NATION’S SCHOOLS!