As a teacher in kindergarten, I consider that is very
important to include formative assessments in the lessons to check the students
understanding, especially before the students start their independent work. In
this blog I am going to share some examples of formative assessment in a math lesson
in kindergarten.
The objective of the lesson is:
Students will be able to
identify the total in an addition problem using their fingers.
Ask the students to show with their fingers the
total of an addition problem. This formative assessments could be implemented at
the beginning of the explanation to check the previous knowledge of the students.
The teacher can observe the students responds to introduce the topic. Also, the
teacher can observe if he need use more time in the explanation because the majority
of the students had difficulties to use their fingers to solve the problem.
After the explanation, the teacher can invite the students to solve some addition problems using their fingers with a partner and record the results in a small white board. This formative assessment help the teacher to check the understanding of the students. When the students finish, the teacher invite some students to share the results and explain the process to obtain it. The teacher can observe the students work and re-teach some concepts if it is necessary. Also, the teacher can observe if the students are ready to work independently.
During the independent work the teacher could use the observation of student’s work as a formative assessment. The teacher could have a class list while he/she observes the students and checks if the students reach the objectives. The information collected with this information is useful to plan next actions, for example create a small group to practice more or plan some activities to reinforce previous skills learned.
The
initial preparation of our class lessons can be a journey in which we do not
know where to begin. For this reason, we need to get familiarized with specific
terminology such as the words: standards, unpacking standards, backwards
mapping and objectives to make our journey of planning easier. Also, it is
important to realize that each lesson that we plan is not independent from
other lessons, but there is a relationship between each lesson which aligns to
achieve a final objective.
Teachers
are expected to help students meet standards that are part of a curriculum created
by a school, state, or national entity. In my case, I am a kindergarten teacher
in the District of Columbia Public Schools and we follow the common core standards
http://www.corestandards.org/. The
first step in the planning process is to identify the standards for the grade
and the teaching area I have been assigned to teach. For example, I would like
to teach addition and subtraction in kindergarten, so one of the standards
related to this is teaching students to “Represent
addition and subtraction with objects, fingers, mental images, drawings,
sounds, acting out situations, verbal explanations, expressions,
or equations.”
Picture by: http://www.corestandards.org/
Once you identify
the standards, next is to translate them into lessons, which is the process of unpacking
standards. This concept assist teachers in the planning of lessons and
identifying strategies that address the standard. Also, unpacking standards
helps teachers to have clear understanding about what the standard actually
means. This unpacking process requires you to identify what students need to
know and what they need to do to demonstrate that they are meeting the standard.
Initially, we can focus in the verbs of the standard, these help you to identify
what students need to do to meet the standard. In the example of the addition and subtraction for kindergarten, the
verb is to “represent”, so students need to represent addition and subtraction.
Moreover, the nouns in the standard helps you know the content that students
should be learning. Going back to the same example, the nouns make reference to
the different strategies to add and subtract that students needs to learn such
as how to use “objects, fingers, mental images,
drawings, sounds, acting out situations, verbal explanations,
expressions, or equations” to represent addition
and subtraction.
After this deep
understanding of the standard, we need to continue planning, and more specifically
proceed to next step: backwards mapping. This approach of backwards mapping,
which was designed by two educational experts Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe,
proposes to begin planning with what students should know and be able to do at
the end of a lesson or unit. So, we begin stablishing what is the desired
result, this could be the standard that students need to accomplish. Then, we determine
how to know if students are meeting the goal or standard, the assessments. Finally, we plan learning experiences or
activities that will help students meet the goal or standard. In my opinion
this approach helps you to clarify the route to follow in the planning and to
include the crucial knowledge and skills to reach the standard.
After the process mentioned above,
we proceed to the small part of the unit, the planning of the lesson. Now, it is
time to define the objectives of the lesson, which are tied to the standard and
should motivate student learning. The objectives identify what a student will be
able to do as a result of our instruction, so these are focused in the students’
outcomes. When writing the objectives, it is very important to use a clear and adequate
language taking into account the age of our students. Also, many teachers use
the mnemonic acronym SMART as a guide for the design of the objectives. SMART refers
to Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Target to learner. Having
strong objectives affect the quality of students’ work.
This blog post describes the backwards mapping for a math standard in kindergarten.
Established Goal:(Common Core Standard for Math in
kindergarten CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.OA.A.1)
Represent addition and
subtraction with objects, fingers, mental images, drawings, sounds, acting out
situations, verbal explanations, expressions, or equations.
Understanding(s):
Students will…
Use addition and subtraction to solve problems in different
ways.
Represent, relate, and operate on whole numbers, initially
with sets of objects and eventually with actions and drawings.
Choose, combine, and apply effective strategies for working
with numbers.
Understand addition as putting together and adding to, and
understand subtraction as taking apart and taking from.
Essential Questions:
How can I find the total when I put two quantities
together?
How can I find what is left over when I take one quantity
away from another?
How can I represent and solve problems using objects,
pictures, words and numbers?
How can I use models to represent addition and subtraction?
What happens when sets are joined or separated?
Knowledge:
Students will know...
Quantities can be joined (put together; composed).
Quantities can be separated (taken apart; decomposed).
Composing quantities will give us more than we started
with.
Decomposing quantities will give us less than we started
with.
We can model joining and taking apart sets of objects by
drawing pictures, using manipulatives, and acting it out.
Number models help us solve problems.
Skills:
Students will be able to...
Use
manipulatives, drawings, and numerical expressions to represent addition.
Use
manipulatives, drawings, and numerical expressions to represent subtraction.
Use numbers
to represent quantities and to solve quantitative problems involving joining
and separating situations with objects.
Assessments: Formative:
During the lesson, the teacher will present
addition and subtraction problems for students to resolve in small whiteboards
for each student. This formative assessment will help the teacher to check
understanding of the students.
During the lesson, the teacher will present addition and subtraction problems for students to resolve in small whiteboards for each student. This formative assessment will help the teacher to check students' understanding.
During the independent work, the teacher will observe
the student's work and will ask to some students about their work, for example using
questions like “How do you find the result? Show me”.
Summative:
Each lesson will include a worksheet for independent work of
students. These worksheets will be aligned to the objective of each lesson.
These will help the teacher to know the level of each student and prepare some modifications
or interventions to help lower and higher level students.
At the end of the unit, students
will take an assessment which include the following questions:
First part - Addition
1.If I have two chips, how
many chips do I need to complete 5?
2.3+2= ___
3.If I have six dots, how
many do I need to complete 10?
4.7+2=___
5.Juan has 4 apples and
Liz give him 3 apples more, how many apples does Juan have in total?
Second part -
Subtraction
1.If I have 4 chips and I
take away 3, how many chips do I have left?
2.4-2= ___
3.If I have 9 chips and I
take away 4, how many chips do I have left?
4.8-4= ___
5.Martin had 6 cookies and
he ate 2 cookies, how many cookies have Martin now?
Learning Plan:
Activity 1: Understand addition as putting together and
adding to, and understand subtraction as taking apart and taking from.
Activity 2: Find the missing number to complete 10 using a
ten frame.
Picture by: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com
Activity 3: Using fingers to solve addition problems.
Picture by: http://www.special-and-determined.com
Activity 4: Add the dots in two dices and record the equation.
When we start
the school year, we work with students to build the classroom rules, which will
help us to guide the actions in the class. But immediately a question arises on
how can we apply these rules and procedures in class? Consequences are the
other side of rules and procedures (Marzano, 2007), these are the response when
a student or students either follow or break the rules. Consequences can be positive
or negative, a combination of both could be more effective rather than focusing
in only spectrum. Rules and consequences should be established at the same time
and are typically addressed routinely and frequently.
“If you break it, you fix
it” is one of the consequence that I use in my classroom. For
example, when a student disorganizes the class materials, the consequence is
that s/he must organize them back.
When the
students are following rules and procedures it is important to give students a positive
consequence that reinforces the action. One kind of reinforcement is the use of a
verbal o non-verbal acknowledgement to students who follow the class’ norms or execute
successfully a task. The acknowledgement could be provided in by expressing approval
or another non-verbal gesture.
For
example, students are working in groups and the teacher say “I noticed that X group is working quietly
and all of the students are focused in his work”, the teacher’s message recognizes
the work of a specific group of students while helping the rest of the students
to remember the expected behavior at this moment.
Acknowledging a positive
action that is taking place within a specific group in the classroom may help
to send a signal to students who need to improve their behavior and are not
following the norms, redirecting and motivating students towards accomplishing
the expected task or procedure in order to also be noticed by the teacher in a
positive manner.
Also, we can complement the verbal or non-verbal
recognition with a tangible recognition. This consequence is appropriate when students
are consistently following the rules and
it goes beyond a verbal reinforcement; therefore, a student or the students can
receive a tangible incentive from the teacher. Some teachers use virtual platforms
like www.classdojo.com, where students receive
points when they follow the rules, so students who collect a certain number of
points receive a material recognition of this accomplishment, for example a
letter for the parents.
The “Sun” symbol is a form of tangible
recognition that I use in my kindergarten class. When a student constantly follows
the rules and procedures, his or her name are posted in a “Sun” in the
whiteboard. A name of a student in the “Sun” symbolizes an acknowledgement to a
student who follows the rules in the class and sets an example to other peers.
If a student completes a week “in sun”, s/he receives a small incentive.
The acknowledgement of a good behavior can
be extended to the parents if a student has received verbal and tangible recognition
and continues demonstrating an exemplary behavior. Teachers can write a note,
send an email or call the parents to inform and congratulate them for the student’s
behavior.
As I mentioned before, consequences are
both positive and negative. Teachers need to be aware of potential problems and
quickly respond to those situations which are at the core of effective
classroom management. Robert Marzano defines this type of approach by teachers as
withitness. Some of the actions that
constitute withitness are: be proactive about potential problems, occupying the
entire room physically or visually, noticing potential problems as quickly as
possible, and using a series of graduated actions (looking at the suspected students,
moving in the direction of students and stopping the class and confronting the
behavior.)
Inappropriate behavior requires an explicit
and concrete consequence. There are multiple examples of this kind of
consequences but I would like to focus in two: Time-out or break and overcorrection.
Time-out is a space of time giving to a student to reflect in his or her
actions and try to find solutions to improve the behavior. In elementary
schools, as it is my case in kindergarten, some students require a break to calm
down and reflect. For example, a student is constantly talking and distracting
other students in her/his group, the teacher tries to redirect many times but
the student continues talking, as a consequence, the teacher request the
student to continue his/her work in a different space in the class. The
overcorrection is other kind of explicit and concrete consequence that involves
engaging students in activities that overcompensate for inappropriate behavior.
For example, a student knocks down a box of pencils from another student, so
the student that behave negatively must offer
an apology to his classmate and collect the pencils, leaving everything in
order.
Another type of consequence for students breaking
the rules is the use of group contingency
that involves holding the whole class responsible for the behavior of any and
all members of the class. I say to my kindergarten students “you are a
community and as community you need to be responsible of your behavior and help
other friends who need support”. I have a chart to collect points that the whole
class receive when they follow the rules as a group, so within the group they need
to help each other to follow the rules and change their behavior to avoid losing
points as a class. Similarly to the group contingency, a teacher can use home contingency to involve parents. Home
contingency involves meeting with parents with the purpose to agree on a specific
course of action to improve negative behaviors that are to be stopped in class
and the specific positive behaviors that are to be exhibited.
When a situation with the student is out
of control, this situation is referred as high-intensity situations. Teachers should
be able to contact the principal or assistant principal for help, but teachers
need to be prepared to take some actions. The first step is to recognize that
the student is so upset that he/she is probably out of control. Then the teacher
should step back and calm down. After that, listen to the student and plan the
next actions. When the student clams down, the teacher can communicates a
simple request intended at diffusing the situation, a good idea is to go
outside the classroom to talk.
Finally, the teacher should find an
overall plan for improving disciplinary behavior. The information collected
from the student about her/his behavior should be used to build the plan. The teacher
could determine that the student needs more support and start a RTI (Response
to Intervention) to build a collaborative plan of intervention.
Resource: Marzano, Robert J. The art and science of teaching: a
comprehensive framework for effective instruction. Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development. Alexandria, Virginia USA. 2007
In this
video, the teacher sets high performance expectations, so the students respond
to this by working with high standards and giving their best effort to achieve
quality work.
First,
high standards are including in the lesson. Students are learning about energy
and motion and they transfer this knowledge to build a model of a roller
coaster. The content is challenging them and they are applying this
knowledge in a practical experiment.
Students
are motivated to be problem solvers. They are giving their best and working hard
to find solutions. They work collaboratively to create the roller coaster; they
are part of the trial, error and solution. Students are in task individually
and in groups, each student has a specific role and responsibility.
Also,
students are involved in the whole process of the lesson, but most important is
that they are working to produce a quality work. They working in draft of your
work, also they use computers to check your ideas and made modifications, they
made test to improve their models. Also they work collaboratively and share
your opinions.
In
this video, we can observe a Math class in Chinese (probably in and bilingual
school). The students in this class are participating actively in math problems echoing the song that the teacher is singing. I think that the
level of the academic content is challenging the students, it is promoting high
expectations for students.
Complementary,
the article about math curriculum in China emphasized in the rigor established
by parents and teachers to have high expectations from early on. The goal of
Math education in China is to develop conceptual and procedural knowledge
through rigid practice. They have many time dedicated to math, around 15 hours
per week in and out the classroom.
The
last video is about Whole Brain Teaching methodology in the classroom. In this
video the students are participating in different routines that are clear and
involve the whole class. The method used to communicate and guide the students
is very interactive and require the participation of the students, also use
different forms of communication like body language, songs and visuals. "Whole
Brain Teaching" is a great example of how the routines and motivation of
students helps to reach high expectations.
Reflections on the videos and how to Implement in kindergarten.
As
a Kindergarten teacher, I think that three elements are important to promote
high expectations for students. The first element is stablish clear routines,
norms and consequence in the classroom. Kindergarten students needs more
support to learn the adequate behaviors in the classroom and they are learning
to follow procedure like routines and norms. The behavior affects the learning
process, for this reason we need an adequate behavior to produce a quality
learning environment with high expectations for students. The second element is
provide a content that challenge all students. Teachers needs to include the common
core standards for the different areas of knowledge and differentiate this for
the needs of the students. If each students fells challenging for the content,
students are more involve and the learn more. Finally, the last element is
promote quality work in the class. Teachers can show examples of how quality
work looks like and promote perseverance of students to reach their best. A
quality work always is accompanied by an effective system of formative
assignments that include rubrics, peer review, teacher feedback, etc.
Creating a positive climate in your
classroom will allow your students to feel comfortable, safe and engaged. This
climate give the students a special environment to learn.
Positive climate is a combination of classroom
culture and teacher leadership. The classroom culture include many factors like
teacher-student interactions, class room structure, Social and Emotional Safety, positive
behavior management techniques and community building. Also, teachers play an
important role to build a positive climate. Teachers bring cultural
understanding and self-awareness to the classroom and they are a social justice
leader. Being a teacher leader in positive climate means embracing the opportunity
for ongoing reflection and growth.
As Robert Marzano specified in his book The Art and Science of Teaching “Arguably
the quality of the relationships teachers have with students is the keystone of
effective management and perhaps even the entirety of teaching.” (Marzano,
2007) the relationship teacher-student is fundamental to create a positive
climate in the classroom. Know your students, build a sense of community and
use a positive teacher language among others are the keystone in this purpose.
To know more about teacher-student interaction, we recommend see the
presentation about this topic in the following link: http://prezi.com/_dut7uxolfrn/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy
In a positive climate of learning the structure of the classroom
is student centered. Classrooms reflect the multicultural backgrounds of
students and showcase the diversity of our society. For instance, some walls
could show pictures of students or short phrases in different languages that
students speak. The norms and expectations are clear, just as the students are
encourage to participate. Also, in the class student and teachers use gender sing
gender-neutral practices. A positive classrooms environment represent the diversity,
the positives relationships, promote communication and dialogue between teachers
and students. Social-emotional learning, respect and
safety are as important as literacy and critical thinking skills in positive
learning environment. Students need to feel both physically and emotionally
safe to learn. Teachers should include in the curriculum teaching of
social-emotional skills, bullying prevention and community building. In a positive
climate in the classroom, students understand and appreciate differences, also
they know different forms to solve problems and conflicts with others.
Discipline and behavior management are
central to positive classroom culture. Behavior management practices should
support safe and build community. The discipline problems could use as an
opportunity of growth. A positive behavior management reflect fairness, equity
and cultural awareness.
Teachers are the role model to build a
positive climate in the classroom. They need to develop skills and attitudes to
build bridges between cultures, promoting empathy, flexibility, listening
without judgment, appreciation for multiple perspectives and cross-cultural communication.
Culturally aware teachers model how we can build a positive climate.
Teachers can be social justice leaders
modeling proactive responses to bias, discrimination, exclusion and bullying.
They can sends the message that student safety is a priority and we need to speaking
up and responding. For example, teachers can share live experiences that help
students to learn their active role to build a positive environment of learning.
Building a positive climate in the classroom
requires reflection and steady growth by teachers. Teachers can continue learning
strategies participating in professional development activities, joining groups
of study or research. Also, evaluate and follow up the strategies implemented
in the classroom by teachers is a great opportunity to learn a build more
effective responses. Teachers can create alliances that support new strategies,
for example with NGO or governmental entities.
In conclusion, build a positive climate in
the classroom require an action in the classroom and a commitment of teachers
to ensure a comfortable, safe and engaged environment to learn.
This post includes an
interview about the RTI process and a reflection about it.
Interview to School
Psychologist of Oyster Adams Bilingual School Primary Campus about the special
education referral. http://oysteradamsbilingual.org/
How
is a student identified for special education referral (Response to
intervention-RTI)?
All educators in the
school and parents can refer a student to start a Response to Intervention-RTI
process. Then, the team of educators (problem solving team) looks at the data
of the student who has been identified as struggling via the screening process,
and finds the gaps between current performance and expected performance. The
team discusses why this gap occurring.
Who takes responsibility for the progress of
the child before and after the referral?
RTI is not a “program”
or “service” outside of the general education classroom. Rather RTI requires
all educators in the school (teachers, special educators, counselors, social
workers, administrators, coaches, etc.) to provide students with what they need
to make progress.
What is the school administration's directive
for special education?
RTI is an approach to
instruction that clearly identifies the specific need of all students and
develops different levels of interventions to meet these need. At Oyster Adams,
level 2 + 3 of RTI are sometimes referred to the TAG program (Targeted Academic
Growth). TAG is managed by me (school psychologist, TAG lead and
administrators, who in turn, work closely with TAG and classroom teachers.
Once the cause of the
problem has been identified by the problem solving team, the team selects one
or two measurable objectives that are likely to close the gap. Base on the
objectives, the team need to decide what intervention will be provided, how
often, who will provide the intervention, where will be provided, and how will
it be determined if the students is responding to the intervention. During the
intervention/s TAG and classroom teacher will be careful to monitor student
response to intervention.
A student who was
flagged by universal screening could continue in Tier 1, with some
modifications to differentiate instruction, or move to Tier 2. The goal of Tier
2 intervention is to remediate academic skill deficits with the idea that, in
doing so, students will be successful in the Tier 1 program without support. If
the students not respond Tier 2 intervention, he may need more intense support
and move to Tier 3. Likewise, students who have received Tier 3 intervention
respond well and be moved to Tier 2 or Tier 1. The movement across tiers is
fluid and should always be made throughout the decision-making process.
What
is the level of parent involvement in referral process and special education?
Parents are involved
during the whole process; they always receive the information of the process.
Sometimes, the team provide activities for the parents to work in home.
Interviewed by Jaime Solano
Reflection:
After the interview I was able to understand that the
process of RTI support the teachers with specific students. A group of specialist
in the school help the teacher to find the best way to help the student.
Sometimes, we as teachers have limited vision of our students and it is difficult
to find new approaches to support students with needs, therefore the groups of
persons involved in the RTI process provide a new perspective that present more
possibilities.
During the whole process of RTI, the data and follow up is
very important. All records of the students play and important role in the
decisions because the data shows the needs. Also, the data is needed in the
whole process, in the beginning to identify the problem and then to monitor the
progress.
The participation of the parents in the whole process is
crucial. The parents have to be informed about the child and the interventions
planed. The parents can take an active role in the process and support the team
to find solutions and implement the plan, parents can continue working with the
child at home and support him/her during the process.
Finally, I would like to said that the RTI process might
seem difficult and complicated, but it is very useful for students and
teachers. This process probably needs a commitment by the teacher, but this
will help the students.
