From: Advancing Formative Assessment in every Classroom
"Just as a windmill intentionally harness the power of moving air to generate energy, the formative assessment process helps students intentionally harness the workings of their own minds to generate motivation to learn." p. 5
"Propelled by the formative process, students understand and use learning targets, set their own learning goals... and assess their own learning progress. And as students develop into more confident and competent learners, they become motivated to learn, increasingly able to persist during demanding tasks..." p. 5
Three central questions guide the formative assessment process:
1. Where am I going?
2. Where am I now?
3. What strategy can help me get to where I need to go?
This sounds a lot like Personal Mastery...
1. Vision
2. Awareness of one's current reality
3. Taking actions that move us closer to the vision
It sounds like Covey's private victory as well:
1. Begin with the End in mind
2. Be Proactive
3. Putting first things first
"Students are operating in the dark as well (as the teachers). Without the benefit of knowing how to assess and regulate their own learning." p. 9
"Students become self-regulated learners and data-driven decision makers. They learn to gather evidence about their own learning and to use that information to choose from a growing collection of strategies for success." p. 10
to be continued...
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Reflective Practice is Missing
Reflective practice is an important discipline- Dr. Korach dedicated one of our whole classes towards this discipline. I remember Dr. Sergiovanni stressing this in our graduate work- we even had assignments to journal through our practicums in undergraduate courses.
So why is it important? What does it take to make time for reflection in our schools? Is it valuable to have students participate in this practice?
In my dissertation we will explore this. Covey, Senge, and Baldrige are all impacting education today and they stress Personal Mastery. Do these systems increase a student's level of Personal Mastery?
Covey developed a Franklin Planner, Baldrige uses data folders, and people like Stiggins and Marzano believe in student-involved recording of formative assessment.
Many great leaders in history write about the power of our thoughts:
"I think therefore, I am."
"As a 'man' thinks in his heart so is he."
What tools are we using in schools to provide opportunity for such thinking to develop? Is there room in the age of accountability for reflection?
LATEST THOUGHTS ON POTENTIAL METHODOLOGY
I could create a student survey that measures Personal Mastery and Covey's Private Victory.
This survey could then be sent to Baldrige, Leader-in-Me, and Traditional Classrooms. I could analyze the results to see if Personal Mastery levels are higher in classrooms where systems are in place that pay attention to Personal Mastery.
After the analysis I could develop interview questions based on the themes that emerged from the survey. I could then identify the sites with the highest levels of Personal Mastery and interview school leaders and teachers there... compile themes and maybe a grounded theory.
I will share this with my advisor then see what happens next...
So why is it important? What does it take to make time for reflection in our schools? Is it valuable to have students participate in this practice?
In my dissertation we will explore this. Covey, Senge, and Baldrige are all impacting education today and they stress Personal Mastery. Do these systems increase a student's level of Personal Mastery?
Covey developed a Franklin Planner, Baldrige uses data folders, and people like Stiggins and Marzano believe in student-involved recording of formative assessment.
Many great leaders in history write about the power of our thoughts:
"I think therefore, I am."
"As a 'man' thinks in his heart so is he."
What tools are we using in schools to provide opportunity for such thinking to develop? Is there room in the age of accountability for reflection?
LATEST THOUGHTS ON POTENTIAL METHODOLOGY
I could create a student survey that measures Personal Mastery and Covey's Private Victory.
This survey could then be sent to Baldrige, Leader-in-Me, and Traditional Classrooms. I could analyze the results to see if Personal Mastery levels are higher in classrooms where systems are in place that pay attention to Personal Mastery.
After the analysis I could develop interview questions based on the themes that emerged from the survey. I could then identify the sites with the highest levels of Personal Mastery and interview school leaders and teachers there... compile themes and maybe a grounded theory.
I will share this with my advisor then see what happens next...
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Attended Donna's Defense
Yesterday a colleague from my cohort invited me to her defense. She ended her coursework a year a head of me to technically I could be in her shoes next year. I am grateful she allowed me to see this event. It was like a huge presentation. She shared her findings and then the professors asked many technical questions about the decisions she made in her research. Everything from the selection of the sample to the selection of her themes.
I felt so proud of her! She is a doctor now!
This experience gave me motivation to keep plugging away.
I felt so proud of her! She is a doctor now!
This experience gave me motivation to keep plugging away.
Methodology Options part2
Talked with Dr. Korach and Dr. Brookhart (2 members of my committee) and we tossed around a few ideas for the study.
Grounded Theory Option: Looking for sources of Personal Mastery in students through interviews, observations, and surveys. The part that is hard for me is giving up the data folders I designed.
Experimental Design Option: Studying the impact of data folders on a few classrooms. Looking specifically for personal mastery. In Leader-in-Me schools they will be following the work of Covey which uses the Covey planner for developing habit 3. This will just be a test of a potential scholastic planner.
Phenomenology Option: Studying the impact of the data folders. This time there is no theory coming into the study- just report the findings after I interview and survey.
Though I would like to already have decided this methodology a long time ago- I am still working on the first chapter which is the introduction- so the timing is OK. I am feeling a stronger sense in my gut to go with options 2 or 3.
Grounded Theory Option: Looking for sources of Personal Mastery in students through interviews, observations, and surveys. The part that is hard for me is giving up the data folders I designed.
Experimental Design Option: Studying the impact of data folders on a few classrooms. Looking specifically for personal mastery. In Leader-in-Me schools they will be following the work of Covey which uses the Covey planner for developing habit 3. This will just be a test of a potential scholastic planner.
Phenomenology Option: Studying the impact of the data folders. This time there is no theory coming into the study- just report the findings after I interview and survey.
Though I would like to already have decided this methodology a long time ago- I am still working on the first chapter which is the introduction- so the timing is OK. I am feeling a stronger sense in my gut to go with options 2 or 3.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Phillip Schlechty Quotes
These quotes are from a book titled, Working the Work.
"As leaders, great teachers understand that the needs and interests of those they want to follow them, the students, must be central to their concerns."
"Teachers must also ensure that those they lead respond to ends that may not be immediately appealing to students, though essential to the functioning of a democratic society."
"Sometimes it is helping those being led to see directions they might go that they would not otherwise have thought of and then inspiring them to go in those directions."
"Authentic engagement. The task, activity, or work the student is assigned is associated with a result or outcome that has clear meaning ... and value to the student."
"As schools are now organized, student success, especially success in doing well in an environment that places emphasis on high test scores, does not require authentic engagement."
"Beliefs shape visions, and visions drive missions."
"Control is not possible without understanding. Assessment is critical to understanding."
"the level and types of student learning are directly influenced by the effort students expend... the efforts students are willing to expend on tasks is determined by the level and type of engagement the tasks generate... the level and type of engagement depend, in a large measure... on the extent to which qualities that are built into the tasks are... most responsive to the needs and motives students bring to the tasks."
"The fact is that engagement precedes learning."
"For standards to motivate, they must have meaning and perceived value to those to whom they are being applied."
"What is real to children may be very different from that which is real to adults and that it is the reality of students that determines the kind of work they will find engaging."
Now this is primarily about engagement- however I am beginning to see lots of personal mastery woven between the lines here.
"As leaders, great teachers understand that the needs and interests of those they want to follow them, the students, must be central to their concerns."
"Teachers must also ensure that those they lead respond to ends that may not be immediately appealing to students, though essential to the functioning of a democratic society."
"Sometimes it is helping those being led to see directions they might go that they would not otherwise have thought of and then inspiring them to go in those directions."
"Authentic engagement. The task, activity, or work the student is assigned is associated with a result or outcome that has clear meaning ... and value to the student."
"As schools are now organized, student success, especially success in doing well in an environment that places emphasis on high test scores, does not require authentic engagement."
"Beliefs shape visions, and visions drive missions."
"Control is not possible without understanding. Assessment is critical to understanding."
"the level and types of student learning are directly influenced by the effort students expend... the efforts students are willing to expend on tasks is determined by the level and type of engagement the tasks generate... the level and type of engagement depend, in a large measure... on the extent to which qualities that are built into the tasks are... most responsive to the needs and motives students bring to the tasks."
"The fact is that engagement precedes learning."
"For standards to motivate, they must have meaning and perceived value to those to whom they are being applied."
"What is real to children may be very different from that which is real to adults and that it is the reality of students that determines the kind of work they will find engaging."
Now this is primarily about engagement- however I am beginning to see lots of personal mastery woven between the lines here.
John Dewey Quotations
"The older methods set a premium upon passivity and receptivity..."
"There is, I think, no point in the philosophy of progressive education which is sounder than its emphasis upon the participation of the learner in the formation of the purposes which direct his activities in the learning process, just as there is no defect in traditional education greater than its failure to secure the active co-operation of the pupil in construction of the purposes involved in his studying."
"There should be brief intervals of time for quiet reflection provided for even the young."
"Education is essentially a social process."
"Control of individual actions is effected by the whole situation in which individuals are involved."
"The most important attitude that can be formed is that of desire to go on learning."
"Every experience is a moving force...it is then the business of the educator to see in what direction an experience is heading."
"The mature person ... has no right to withhold from the the young on given occasions whatever capacity for sympathetic understanding his own experience has given him."
"The traditional scheme is, in essence, one of imposition from above and from outside. It imposes adult standards, subject-matter, and methods upon those who are only growing slowly toward maturity... the very situation forbids much active participation by pupils in the development of what is taught."
"The road of the new education is not an easier one to follow than the old road."
from Experience and Education (1938)
Many of these quotes support the direction of this dissertation. If students are seeing school in a way that say a homeowner sees a contractor- someone who has expertise and can constribute to or vision- then there are many reasons to believe academic effort will increase. So are there systems that can be put into use to help students reflect and then to inspire them to own their academic growth?
"There is, I think, no point in the philosophy of progressive education which is sounder than its emphasis upon the participation of the learner in the formation of the purposes which direct his activities in the learning process, just as there is no defect in traditional education greater than its failure to secure the active co-operation of the pupil in construction of the purposes involved in his studying."
"There should be brief intervals of time for quiet reflection provided for even the young."
"Education is essentially a social process."
"Control of individual actions is effected by the whole situation in which individuals are involved."
"The most important attitude that can be formed is that of desire to go on learning."
"Every experience is a moving force...it is then the business of the educator to see in what direction an experience is heading."
"The mature person ... has no right to withhold from the the young on given occasions whatever capacity for sympathetic understanding his own experience has given him."
"The traditional scheme is, in essence, one of imposition from above and from outside. It imposes adult standards, subject-matter, and methods upon those who are only growing slowly toward maturity... the very situation forbids much active participation by pupils in the development of what is taught."
"The road of the new education is not an easier one to follow than the old road."
from Experience and Education (1938)
Many of these quotes support the direction of this dissertation. If students are seeing school in a way that say a homeowner sees a contractor- someone who has expertise and can constribute to or vision- then there are many reasons to believe academic effort will increase. So are there systems that can be put into use to help students reflect and then to inspire them to own their academic growth?
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Making Progress
The first chapter is almost ready to be examined by my advisor. At one point in the process I felt like all these authors and all these major points were cutting in line- they all wanted me to write about them next... I had to tell them to get back in the outline and have a little patience.
Now I am just wondering how close I am to having the right tone, voice, and level of professionalism. Here is a little piece of it:
The educational system in the United States of America empowers adults from the policy makers and politicians, parents and business leaders, to the teachers and administrators. These stakeholders share data, create action plans, and design accountability systems. Policies like No Child Left Behind have increased teacher stress levels and influenced decisions on time usage within the classroom (Costa & Kallick, 2004). If teachers feel the need to reduce instruction in non-tested curriculum like social studies curriculum, how will they find time to include student reflection (Newberg-Long, 2010)?
OK back to work!
Now I am just wondering how close I am to having the right tone, voice, and level of professionalism. Here is a little piece of it:
The educational system in the United States of America empowers adults from the policy makers and politicians, parents and business leaders, to the teachers and administrators. These stakeholders share data, create action plans, and design accountability systems. Policies like No Child Left Behind have increased teacher stress levels and influenced decisions on time usage within the classroom (Costa & Kallick, 2004). If teachers feel the need to reduce instruction in non-tested curriculum like social studies curriculum, how will they find time to include student reflection (Newberg-Long, 2010)?
OK back to work!
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