Teaching to the Standards

Teaching to the Standards

I. Background Information

Title of activity: Teaching to the Standards

Time: 3 hours

Focus of activity: To illustrate how to use EFF Tools, including the Standards, to design a learning activity; this activity follows the entire plan/teach/assess cycle so that participants can see how the process actually works

Purpose of activity: Illustrating teaching and learning with the EFF standards

Target audience: Teachers and program directors

Format: Step by step activity that moves back and forth from large group discussion to individual (or small group) reflection of own experience

Materials: Handout of EFF Teaching/Learning Cycle (see pages 8 - 9 for a copy of steps)

Key discoveries: This step by step process models how teachers can begin to develop classroom activities that are more purposeful, constructivist, and contextual while at the same time using a standard. This new cycle is similar to the plan - teach/learn - assess cycle, except that we’re making a conscious effort to illustrate that assessment is an integral part of the process, not just something done at the end of the learning.

Facilitation notes: The example that is being discussed in the following is from a Level 1 ESL class, but the principles can be applied to any teaching/learning situation.

I used this example in professional development situations in various programs in both Washington and Hawaii. It has been a very helpful example for the following reasons:

1. It's simplistic 2. It naturally developed in an ESL class as a result of class discussion around a real-life need that the learners had, so goal setting was very meaningful. 3. The learners had ownership in the learning activity because it had come from them and their needs. As a result, they were very motivated to obtain the necessary knowledge and learn the necessary skills to meet their need. 4. The class was assessing progress throughout the activity so it didn't seem like a separate, unrelated thing. An example like this lends itself to a staff development situation because all the material is there to illustrate purposeful, constructivist and contextual teaching.

II. Description of Activity

Description:

Step 1: Explain to the participants that you are going to illustrate the ten steps of the EFF Teaching/Learning Cycle. While each of the steps is sequentially described in the cycle, sometimes in an actual classroom, teacher may vary the steps somewhat.

Hand out the EFF Teaching/Learning Cycle with the ten steps listed and blank boxes for the guiding questions and sample tools. Explain that, as you describe each step of the process, you will give them time to consider what questions they will need to address in order to accomplish each step. Also, you want them to think about what kinds of tools can be used to help make each step easier to achieve.

Step 2: Explain that the first step of the cycle is Determine individual goals and purposes. This step is often begun as part of an intake or orientation. It is critical to encourage students to continue to revisit and revise their goals and purposes.

Ask participants to look at the first step with the blank boxes across the column. Have them think about what questions they would need to address in order to do step 1. You may want to encourage them to talk within small groups about how they determine an individual student’s goals and purposes. If at all possible, have each group share the questions and sample tools that they discussed.

[Facilitator note: One strategy is to provide a tool to help the students decide on a real-world need they have in their roles as family members, workers or community members, that can be accomplished or practiced within a designated period of time. The students can later (step 4) prioritize which one of the needs seems to be common to most of the class.

Another method that works well is to use the role maps to arrive at a goal decision. The teacher might begin with a discussion of the three roles, then draw them into a circle on a poster. Next, put in to each of the circles things that people do in those roles. (You may choose to use only 1 role here instead of all 3, especially if you’re new at using role maps.) Eventually the teacher would want to brainstorm answers to this question- "What are some things that you want to do in these roles but cannot right now because of lack of skills or knowledge?"

Another strategy is to use a goal setting form. For ESL, for example, the teacher could develop one that says "I want to learn English so I can do the following---" and there is a list of 20 practical, real-world activities. Once students have decided why they each want to learn English, they can eventually prioritize and decide on a class goal.]

Step 3: Tell participants that the next step is to Identify standards that would help learners achieve their goals. Share that this is a step not often considered before because we did not teach to standards. For this step, you may want to share the guiding questions that would help them address this step. Then ask them to call out any tool that they think might be useful.

[Facilitator note: If participants do not have any ideas, you might suggest a simple tool such as completing the statement "In order to ______I need to know and be able to ______.

Or, another simple tool is a form that says, “I think if I had a better understanding of ______, I could ______.

Use the Skills Wheel to introduce the standards or at least to get the participants to focus their discussion around the EFF Standards. ]

Depending on the time you have with participants, you may want to ask them to think about some skills that their own students need in order for them to achieve their goals. Have them jot these down for reference in step 6.

Step 4: Point out that the third step in the EFF Teaching/Learning Cycle is Discover learners’ background knowledge and skills. Ask them to think about key questions that would help them figure out what learners already know and can do. (You can do this either in small groups or as a large group.) Also ask them to consider what types of tools or activities will help to get at this step.

[Facilitator note: If they have difficulty thinking of tools or activities, ask them to personalize the step to answer the question, “How do you know what you know vs. what you need to know?” An example such as building a deck might work since many of the participants have not built a deck before and would have to figure out what they don’t know before they could tackle the task.]

[Facilitator note: Some examples of tools to use to answer the question “What skills do we already have in relation to this goal.?” include journaling, writing assignments, group discussion, pre-task questions. If students have difficulty with this question have them personalize it by reflecting on other areas of their lives. How do they know that they know something?]

Step 5: Explain to participants that step 4 of the process is specifically for those programs in which there are several students in the same class with a teacher. Step 4 is: In a group situation, come to consensus on a shared priority that focuses the learning activity. Explain to the audience that sometimes this step comes naturally at the end of the learning activity, so they might not have to address steps 1 – 3 each time the class considers another learning activity.

Again, your goal is to have participants look at the guiding questions and sample tools for this step.

[Facilitator note: This is an important step since students need to be active participants in the decision-making process. Often the teacher comes up with a “good” idea for an activity. However “good” it may appear to the teacher, if there is not buy-in from the students, it may well flop. An example of this is when a teacher decided to hold a mock election for an upcoming presidential race. She told everyone to be sure to come to class the next week so that everyone could “vote.” She did extensive planning, but none of the students showed up. She later discovered that the students had no interest in voting or the election – and she had not taken upfront class discussion time to consider the students’ desires and needs.]

Step 6: Remind participants that there is now a common focus for the class and the students know what skills are needed. Tell them that the next step is to Design a learning activity to address the shared priority of the learners.

For this step, you may choose to want to ask participants to work in small groups to think of an activity that would address the goals of several of their students. You may want to refer them back to step 3 where they considered some skills/standards that their students need in order to help them achieve their goals and narrow it down to one. Ask them to consider how they would incorporate what they learned from steps 1 – 4.

At this point the class should have chosen one standard to focus on. . Have them look at the standard and each of its components. Think of ways in which the activity can address all of the components. You may want them to work in small groups to share their activity, with listeners checking to be sure that all the components of performance are addressed.. This would be a good place to discuss the difference between a skill and a standard and why EFF has chosen to use content standards.

Have each group share what they learned from the process of using a standard to focus their activity. You may want to pose questions such as the following to guide the feedback on the process:

• Was it difficult to create an activity that used all the COPS?
• How did using one standard change the way that they develop activities?
• What sort of support would you need in order to develop activities with your own students?

Take time now to address any questions regarding the use of the components of performance.

Step 7: Explain to participants that one of the reasons the 10 step process is different from the 3 step process– Plan/Teach/Assess Cycle – is that assessment should be an integral part of the process, not something done at the end. Step 6 addresses this issue: Develop a plan to capture evidence and report learning. Explain that they need to consider – before ever carrying out the activity – what the end result should look like. Both teacher and learners need to have a clear picture of what is expected and who will have access to those results. Again, ask the participants for examples of questions to pose and activities to do with learners to get at this step. Be sure to take a little time to address the issue of different purposes for assessment, and also the importance of transparency about those purposes.

If you have time and participants have created a learning activity in the previous step, ask them to think about how they would plan to capture evidence of student performance.

Step 8: Step 7 of the EFF Teaching/Learning Cycle is Carry out the learning activity. Ask participants to think about what they need to consider as students carry out the activity. Depending on the size of your audience and the time available, you may want to discuss scaffolding strategies as well as learning strategies – but only if you as a facilitator are comfortable doing so.

Step 9: As students carry out the activity, step 8 of the cycle begins: Observe, document, evaluate, and report evidence of performance of the standard. Ask participants to think about how they have done this step in the past. How have they discussed evidence with their students? How will this step be different if they begin to use learning activities based on standards?

Again, have them use their handout to consider guiding questions and tools that could be used for this step.

Step 10: Tell participants that this next step in the cycle is critical, although it is the step often ignored. Step 9 is to Reflect on how what was learned is transferable to real-life situations. Share the teaching example with participants, then ask them what tools they might use to get students used to the process of reflecting on what they have learned.

[Facilitator note: If the audience includes GED teachers, you may want to ask them to think about what they would have to do to link the learning activity to the students’ long-term goal of getting a GED.]

In order to model the value of this step, you may want to ask the participants to now reflect on what they’ve learned during this session. You can adapt the questions used by the ESL teacher to include the following:

a)What can you now do that you couldn’t do before this staff development session?

b)What else do you need in order to use this new learning more independently and in a different environment?

c)If you could ask for a follow-up staff development session, what would you want to learn about?

Step 11: Tell participants that, based on their reflections, what should happen next is that they decide on next steps. The last step of the EFF Teaching/Learning Cycle is to Determine next steps to help learners meet their goals.

You might want to stress that teaching to EFF standards is different from project-based learning. The assessment of the activity drives what the students work on next. The teacher and students begin the process over again based on their assessment and reflection of the activity.

Step 12: While you have just finished going step by step through the EFF Teaching/Learning Cycle, you want to be sure to tell them about the Ongoing practices that occur throughout the entire process. These practices have not been called out in each of the steps since they are not sequential, but integral to the entire process.

Since the Ongoing practices are not listed on the handout you have given them, you may want to have them listed on an overhead or flip chart or as a handout to make sure that everyone has the list to take home with them. (Issue #2 of HOT Topics highlights the EFF Teaching/Learning Cycle. You may want to be sure that everyone has a copy of this publication. Then you won’t have to worry about whether participants have all the information about the Ongoing practices.)

The Ongoing practices are:

• Work with learners to continually revisit and revise their goals.
• Engage learners, throughout, in identifying and applying their prior experience and knowledge to their learning.
• Build in opportunities throughout the activity for learners to reflect on and monitor their own developing knowledge, skills, and learning strategies.
• Make sure throughout that learners clearly understand what they are learning and why.
• Adjust the learning activity to reflect emerging goals and learning needs.

Segue: This activity could be a segue to several different topics. Mentioned in the design of the activity were purposeful, constructivist, and contextual. You might have the audience address each of these by asking whether the example illustrated a PCC approach. For example, you might have participants create a 3-column chart – one for each concept (P, C, C), then have them work in small groups to jot down how the example illustrated each concept. Bring the audience back together to share their results.

Another activity that could be used after this one is a participant reflection. You might pose a question such as, “How does this process (these steps) differ from how you teach now?” Or, “What would be one thing you would do differently in order to more closely align with the process just illustrated?”

The EFF Teaching/Learning Cycle

Steps / Guiding Questions /

Sample Tools

1. Determine individual goals and purposes.
2. Identify standards that would help learners achieve their goals.
3. Discover learners’ background knowledge and skills.
4. In a group situation, come to consensus on a shared priority (real life concern) that focuses the learning activity.
5. Design a learning activity to address the shared priority (real life concern) of the learners.
6. Develop a plan to capture evidence and report learning.
7. Carry out the learning activity.
8. Observe, document, evaluate, and report evidence of performance on the standard.
9. Reflect on how what was learned is transferable to real life situations.
10. Determine next steps to help learners meet their goals.

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