Week 4: So What Do They Really Know?

So it's the end of week 4 and I've just wrapped up my reading of Tovani's So What Do They Really Know?

So much of this book resonated with me! I struggle daily with the decisions I make, especially now that I am in more of a traditional school that requires weekly percentage based grades be entered in an online grading book. I definitely miss the days when my narrative reports, portfolios, and mastery-based grading were the norm! But reading Tovani's book helped me to think about why my beliefs matter, and gave me the extra push I need to continue assessing and grading in a way that I feel accurately shows my learners' understanding and progress.

Here are some highlights that spoke to me from the last three chapters!

Chapter 5
Favorite quote:

The inability to annotate something related to the reading alerts learners that their minds have wandered, which gives them an opportunity to go back and reread before their thoughts stray to far from the text.

 There were several great quotes in this chapter, but this one in particular brought some important reflections about my own learners. Often, I find that they don't even seem to realize that they have checked out, let their mind wander, or are confused about the text. I've used annotations to look at mentor texts for writing, and when we look at a shared poem or other small text -- but not to the extent that I would like. In Tovani's classroom, she pairs an anchor text that the whole class reads with several shorter texts that students can choose from -- this is how she offers choice in her classroom. I'm still struggling to find a way to have more texts we can annotate together, as my learners are reading novels during their independent reading time. This is something I need to think through. I would love to offer more engaging texts to go alongside their Texas history textbook, but these have been difficult to find. One thing I think might work is offering texts that are companion pieces to the read alouds from class. We just finished Applegate's The One and Only Ivan, which appealed to everyone in class! During the reading, I found several articles about the real Ivan -- the gorilla the book is based on. We did annotate one of these texts together, which proved to be a wonderful learning experience. In the future, a little more forward planning could help me be better prepared to offer this type of companion piece texts -- and I can let them do some annotating on their own, after some modeling, of course! I'm eager to see how this works in my 4th grade classroom.

Chapter 6
Favorite quote:

Conferring is a talent that can take years to develop. Don't get discouraged, though. To kids, even a teacher who confers badly is better than one who doesn't do it at all.

This is a quote I want to pin in every teacher's classroom all around the globe. I can't even begin to recall the many conversations I have had with teachers of all grade and experience levels about the difficulties when conferring. They are afraid to say the wrong thing, not sure what to say, not sure how to be effective. But the truth is, any help is better than no help at all -- as long as we are mindful that the learner is a person first -- each of them deserves the same amount of kindness we would give a friend in the same situation. When I talk to a friend about a book or a piece of writing, I listen first and comment second. I nudge for more information. I encourage. I give a snippet of advice. And that's pretty much it.

That's how I think about conferring with learners, both as readers and writers. I want to know what they think, where they struggle, what questions they have, and where they want to go next. I can't know these things unless I am clued in to what they are thinking, and this means meeting with or offering feedback to my learners daily.  The "History of the Mob" graded social studies test that is shared on page 124 just about broke my heart. Whenever I sit and talk with a child, the most important thing in my mind is, "First, do no harm."

I often find myself guilty of something mentioned in this chapter, though. Not wanting to interrupt a reader that is "in the zone" I will look over his or her shoulder, see where they are in the reading and what they are writing, but not stop to talk. This is my area to work on! I also think I could use some purposeful thought when it comes to planning some mini-lesson time during conferences. I often bog myself down with worry about how to find time for mini-lessons on all the skills I feel are needed by my learners -- but I can reduce my own stress by doing some of these lessons as conferences with the students that need it most.

Chapter 7
"Grading is Killing Me" is such a fitting title for a chapter on grades! I feel this way all the time. I struggle with assigning numbers to writing, toil over how to best reflect the progress of my readers in a grade, and wind myself up into knots every time I sit down to grade. This chapter gave me some great points to remember as I plan for assessments and grading.

Favorite quote(s):

When the top consideration for grading is how easily it can be managed, we lose what matters most -- understanding and the ability to think critically.

Art Costa, founding director of the Institute for Habits of Mind, has said: "What was educationally significant but hard to measure has been replaced by what is educationally insignificant and easy to measure. So now we measure how well we've taught what isn't worth learning."

These two statements, along with the following information on how Tovani assigns grades throughout the year, were the exact words I needed to read this year. Learning matters. Growth matters. Understanding matters. And recording that progress in the most accurate way possible? Yeah, that matters too.

So when I'm questioned about my grading policies and beliefs, I'm pointing to these quotes. And I can tell anyone asking that I grade in the beginning of the year for how my learners "attempt and complete" the work. It was refreshing to read this section! I nearly flung the book at my husband and shouted, "I do this!! At the beginning of the year I was in tears and frustrated and this is what I came up with! Woohoo!"

Grading is still a struggle, and it will continue to be. But at least now I feel a little more confident about my practices. And I have a plan to carry me forward throughout the rest of the year.

Final Thoughts
Much of the material in this book is aimed at middle and high school teachers. With a little thought and creativity, I believe that these same principles work in the elementary classroom. In fact, Tovani herself says that many of her assessment beliefs came with her from her years in the elementary classroom.

I'm thankful I came across this book through the Stenhouse Summer Blogstitute. This school year is challenging everything I believe in -- I need a staple of strong mentor teachers to look to so that I can continue to say, "Yes! That's exactly why I am doing what I do!"

This is definitely a book I will go to again and again, whenever I find myself getting lost in the politics of school. We all need a little affirmation to keep us headed in the right direction. Encouragement isn't just for our learners -- we need it too!

Week 2: So What Do They Really Know?

Guys! I have to tell you that I love this book. (Okay, if you haven't been following along, I'll tell you -- Cris Tovani's So What Do They Really Know? Assessment That Informs Teaching and Learning)

Go check out Book Journey for more reading awesomeness!

I'm finding a good balance between moments when I think, "Yes! Why haven't I thought of that before? I'm doing that tomorrow!" and "Woot! Tovani and I could be teaching BFF's! I do that all the time!"

Okay, I never promised you a well-structured stuffy book review when I said I wanted to use this for a book study. Suffice it to say, when I'm excited about something, it shows!

Chapter 3
Favorite quote:

Whether learners are struggling, gifted, or in between, they all deserve a year's worth of growth.

I think she may have written this quote just for me. This year I have two classes -- my morning class consists mainly of students that struggle in several areas, receive Special Education services, or are somewhere in the middle of the RTI process. My afternoon class has students that are typically high achieving and/or in the Gifted and Talented program. And of coure I have my kiddos that are sitting right in the middle academically but each have their own set of special gifts and skills.

So. Yeah. I wholeheartedly believe they each deserve every ounce of growth I can help them achieve. I work hard to make sure none of our time or efforts are wasted.

I enjoyed the overview of the workshop model -- I mean, sure, I've seen it before. I believe in its effectiveness. But the truth is, as I get busy with meeting timelines and upcoming tests and the system in which we all must live, I often start to veer off-course. This was a good reminder of why I believe in this mode of instruction: the students do the work! It makes sense that when students are the ones working, they are the ones learning! I need to make sure I give them enough time each day to do the hard work of learning.

The curriculum flow map she shares on page 43 was also helpful to me. Since this is my first year as a departmentalized teacher, I'm really struggling to reign in my schedule and routine! I have less than two hours each day with my guys for reading, writing, and social studies. Although the system she has in place for her high school students won't quite work for me in 4th grade, I do want to try making a special bookshelf or area in the room where I can include supplemental texts for students to read and share in a similar way.

So my first goal is to stay on-track with the time to work that I give my students! I'll report back on how I do this week in my next reflection.

Chapter 4
The first thing that popped out at me in Chapter 4 was the learning targets and assessments table. In my school district, we have to post daily objectives and products. The objective is what we will learn together and the product is how the student will show their learning before they leave class. I like doing this because it keeps us all on track, so it was neat to see it in Tovani's book!

I haven't used the inner voice sheets yet, and honestly, I'm not a big fan of making that many copies. We do have reader's notebooks and my students keep notes about their reading, but I call it our reading palette. Whenever I do a read aloud they keep notes, but it looks a little different from the Figure 4.2 on Annotation in Chapter 4. My class creates a table with 4 boxes. Each box is for a different thing, and sometimes I vary what I have them title the boxes, but normally it looks like this:

•  Questions
• Connections
• Predictions/Thoughts on what is happening
• Word Love (a place to capture words, phrases, sentences that their writing ear appreciates)

Alternatively, I tell my kiddos to sketch pictures with captions of what they see in their mind as I read. So I guess we are doing something similar to her inner voice sheet! I go back and forth on having them do this during their own reading, because I really want them in "the reading zone" (gotta throw out a little Atwell love, of course). I felt better about this after I read about her work with Raymond, who didn't want to stop and write while he read. She struck a compromise with him and he writes a little during the last five minutes of reading time. This way he gets to stay in the zone, and she can still get an idea of where he is as a reader. Great balance!

The other part that jumped out at me in this chapter was about debriefing. I am guilty about cutting out the debriefing when we are running short on time. In the future, I'm making a note to myself to try partner debriefing! In the beginning of the year my students hadn't experienced much time working cooperatively with other students, so we have worked very hard to get to a place where we can have conversations about our learning. I think we are ready to try debriefing this way! We also have a Twitter Wall for exit tickets, but I think I need to be a little more deliberate in what I ask them to write each day before they leave. I like Tovani's idea to have students write one question they still have before leaving. Another idea to try this week!

And here's my favorite quote, although it may not seem very important to anyone else!

The evidence I collect isn't very fancy.

This seven word sentence says so much! My evidence is not fancy -- I have sticky notes, pictures, audio clips, scribbled bits of conversations, conversation calendars, conferring notes saved in Evernote -- just bits and pieces of our days, held digitally and on paper. But this is real. Real kids, real moments, real work, real learning.

It doesn't have to be fancy for it to matter. Just keep it real!

Week 1: So What Do They Really Know?

This summer, I followed the Stenhouse Summer Blogstitute. A variety of amazing authors posted on their blog each week and readers were asked to respond in the comments. If the wealth of information shared in the blog posts wasn't enough of a reason to follow, anyone that shared a comment each week was entered into a drawing to win five (5, people!!) Stenhouse titles.

I was a lucky winner (yes, I did a happy book dance when I found out) and Cris Tovani's So What Do They Really Know? was one of the books I requested.

I could not be more pleased with my selection! After reading the first few chapters, I realized I wanted to share what I was reading with some of my teacher friends. And this little bloggy book study was born. This week I reread chapters 1 & 2, highlighting the points that stood out to me.

Chapter One
Here's a favorite quote from the first two chapters (found in chapter one):

"Teachers don't need any more numerical 'data.' What they need is validation to use the data that matters most--like student work and student talk--to help them figure out next steps for the learners in their educational care."

I connect to this book on several levels -- her sour taste for assessment along with the desire to really know her students quickly grabbed my interest. I feel exactly the same way. But I do like that right away she lets the reader know she doesn't feel like assessment deserves all the blame:

"I realized that assessment wasn't the enemy; it was the way it was being used to judge and punish instead of inform and help educators get smarter about teaching and learning."

 I also thought her comparison between multiple choice tests and open-ended questions was spot on! Just because a student can ace a multiple choice test does not mean they know the material. I think the same is true in reverse. Who hasn't been completely bewildered or frustrated when a student bombs a test over material they know?

If you know me at all, you've probably seen my eye-rolling sneer when the topic of standardized testing comes up. I abhor the district benchmarks, grumble about the STAAR, and shake my head at any assessment that barely skims the surface of what my students know and the progress they have made from where we began. I really identified with Tovani's thoughts on how she had mostly ignored the assessments she was forced to give, even while feeling it wasn't the best way to handle things. I often feel the same way. Finding a balance between the standardized testing students must take and my personal feelings on assessment is a difficult thing for me!

Chapter one ended with our first challenge -- write and define your definition of assessment. Again, this really challenges my over-analytic brain to make some concrete decisions! But if I have to put it in words, this is my working definition of assessment: any interaction or work example that shows a picture of what a student knows and understands at a given time. This can include what seems like an infinite number of possibilities. Audio clips, video, photographs, written work, blog posts ... really, anything that I can use to inform me on where my student is and what they need from me to grow -- that's assessment.

Chapter Two
You guys! I had a hard time narrowing down my favorite quote from this chapter, but here you go:

"When I know my students well, I am a better teacher."

This chapter involved a lot of fist pumping and excited book waving about in the air. I may have read sections to my husband and then stared at him all doe-eyed expecting him to engage me in deep, meaningful conversation about the importance of getting to know your students.

This did not happen.

Instead, I'll share here, because I know you guys will be much more excited. First of all, you need to know that I have been using the Conversation Calendars for about a month in my classroom. I love them! I started out letting students just write to me about anything they wanted. I was a little nervous, thinking they might not give me much to work with. I mean, I'm no Cris Tovani -- maybe those calendars are magical in her classroom, but in mine they were just going to be extra paper littering my classroom floor.

But wow -- I mean, honestly. Without the calendars, I wouldn't have learned that one of my students blames herself for her parents divorce. I wouldn't know the struggles one of them has every day with a difficult sibling. I wouldn't know many things. And they might not know how much I care. But every Tuesday and Thursday we write back and forth to each other and learn about one another and become a tighter community. It's golden. I just love it. Have I mentioned that already?

A couple weeks ago, I started asking them to write to me about the read aloud we're doing in collaboration with The Global Read Aloud. We're reading The One and Only Ivan and this is a book that practically begs for hours of rich discussion. It doesn't matter how much we discuss in class, everyone always has more to share. So we are sharing through the calendar and I am learning so much about them as people and as readers -- I know who is grasping the deeper themes and who is paying attention to word choice and figurative language. I can tell which of them could benefit from some note taking as I read (sticky notes, sketches, word captures, whatever works) and which do better to just sit and listen. It is  a magical thing, but not just in Tovani's room. It's working in mine, too. When we finish this book, I'll have students start responding to their own reading. I'm excited to see where that leads us.

I feel strongly that student-teacher relationships make all the difference in the success of every student. Brain research tells us that all humans need to be enveloped in a safe environment for learning to take place. I work hard to make my students feel secure enough to take risks and explore learning.

The challenges in this chapter really stuck with me. It's so important that we show our students that we see them -- not just that they are a body in our classroom, but that we acknowledge their importance in the universe, and we respond to it.

Tovani's student surveys seem like a great way to let students know that you are invested in their success.  Next week I plan to ask my students what they believe their role is as a reader. What do they think about all the reading we do? What importance do they put in it? I'm interested in those answers.

The challenge at the end of chapter two also included asking readers to make a list of student needs and to-do's. In my Evernote app, each student has a notebook with a list like this (created after my first read of this chapter). I love having this in the app, because anytime I learn something new about a student I can use my phone to enter new info into their note. Before reading about this, I always thought getting to know my students was something I was pretty good at. But having this ongoing list keeps it at the front of my mind, and I find I'm learning more about my students than ever before.

Next Week
For next week, read chapters three and four and be ready to share some more reflections!