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| Gratuitous 80's reference to keep up with the trend. |
The Ties that Bind
The name of the blog is "Widening the Hoop," so I want to show you how a standards-based approach is tied to other elements of our District's school improvement efforts.in order to illustrate how the standards-based approach is merely part of our journey as opposed to "one more hoop we have to jump through."
This post will focus on the connection between a standards-based approach and Domain 3 of our Teacher Evaluation Document--specifically, the importance of the students' role in the learning process. As you are aware, many of the Distinguished level descriptors in our Evaluation document suggest some level of involvement/responsibility on the part of the student in monitoring the classroom environment and their own learning progress.
What I have attempted to do is explain how these established, effective teaching descriptors connect with practices typically found in a standards-based classroom. Below, I have listed descriptors from the Distinguished category for some elements in our Teacher Evaluation document. The last column, then, is how I see the standards-based approach connecting to our document.
Distinguished Teaching Characteristics
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Component/Element
|
Distinguished Category Descriptor
|
Connection to Standards-Based Approach
|
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3b Discussion
Techniques
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Students assume considerable responsibility for the
success of the discussion, initiating topics and making unsolicited
contributions.
|
In a standards-based approach, students are responsible
for monitoring their own learning. A discussion may offer evidence
about the students’ level of understanding, so student involvement is important.
|
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3c Presentation
of Content
|
Students initiate connections to knowledge, experience and
school culture.
|
Connections are a big part of understanding. Can students
describe how new learning connects with old? Can they explain how new
learning fits into broader contexts?
|
|
3c Activities
and/or Assignments
|
All students are cognitively engaged in the activities
and/or assignments in their exploration of content. Students also initiate or
adapt activities and projects to enhance understanding.
|
Just as we need to communicate the standards in a way that
all students can understand, we need to look for ways to structure activities
that offer flexibility to students as they pursue mastery of the CLSs.
|
|
3c
Instructional materials and resources
|
Students contribute to or initiate the choice, adaptation,
or creation of materials to enhance their own purposes.
|
Students all have different strengths and weaknesses.
Assignments should regularly provide some flexibility for students to build
on their own individual skill sets.
|
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3d Quality:
accurate, substantive, constructive, and specific
|
Students regularly use feedback to enhance their learning
experiences.
|
Obviously, the feedback referred to here is about how students
are doing on a particular CLS. Once a student receives that feedback, there
is an immediate opportunity to practice with this feedback. This is not just about redo’s.
It’s also about additional learning experiences.
|
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3d Timeliness
|
Students are empowered to make prompt use of the feedback
in their learning.
|
The use of our evaluation document is ONLY for the purpose of drawing on our common understanding of distinguished teaching behaviors. I don't intend to imply that a person can only be distinguished through the use of a standards-based approach. For example, a teacher can give high quality feedback without using a true standards-based approach. All students can be cognitively engaged without the overt focus on standards.
What I would suggest, though, is that the standards-based approach--when implemented correctly--naturally leads our students into these roles where they are more responsible for monitoring their own learning. I think we can all agree that this is a characteristic of distinguished teaching.
