Rubrics - a way forward.

Rubrics and continuations by @sherrattsam article on  popped into my feed at a perfect time. I have been reflecting on how I can make mine more student centered and not just something I feel I 'have' to do at the end of a unit. 

At the moment I am working with a Graduate student and the conversation about assessment came up. My intern was finishing off his 'post' test (requirement from Grad school) and came across Child X's work.  

He was in a dilemma as he knew that Child X had made improvements. He had been engaged, shared ideas and answered class discussion, yet based on his rubric Child X hadn't passed. His personal OTJ judgement was that he had worked extremely hard on our Matariki topic yet he hadn't meet the criteria on the rubric to 'pass'. 

We discussed the fact that when assessing it should be meaningful and provide formative information not only for the teacher but for the student. To me assessments need to show a child their 'next step'.


One of the issues I have with rubrics are the ones written where certain students will never get off the lowest point despite their best efforts. How are we promoting success if we write them like this? How does that child feel knowing that they will never reach the middle or the top? This could also be said for the student at the other end of the spectrum. The child who will achieve. How are they challenged? 

Language! Even I have been guilty of this in the past. Creating a rubric that is full of jargon that won't help the students achieve. 

I will admit, I really don't like the word rubric- I'm more a Success Criteria sort of person where All students can achieve at their level. It allows them to achieve success but also means that they also have next steps to achieve. This is something rubrics don't often allow. 

One of the problems is that a lot of rubrics are designed by the teacher rather than co-constructed with the class/students. (yes been guilty of this as well!).


My focus next term is to work on this and create criteria's that are created with the students rather than for the students. 

• where they think the learning is going

• what they’re looking for from themselves

• what they’re looking for from their peers

• how they might reach – or get close to that

• who might guide them in that direction (Rubrics and Continuum 2017)

This is something I would like to focus more on next term, co-creating with my students so that they are setting their own goals and beginning to communicate what they need to achieve.  Obviously I will need to scaffold this and provide models but I feel it will be more successful then rubrics I have used in the past. 

Successful Learners

Nathan Mikaere-Wallis' RNZ interview has got me thinking! It was very timely that I stumbled across this as I have spent a year teaching children who fall into this age bracket. It opened a lot of questions for me and left me pondering about how WE as a school can foster this social and emotional learning more.

Below are the notes I made while listening to his interview.

When a child reaches 7 years this is when their frontal cortex is finally developed. In theory they are 'mini' adults.

Before 7 this has not developed therefore they learn differently.

From 3-7 it should be all about the social and emotional skills. 

Parents have this perception that their child is intelligent if they can read and write at an early age.

 Research has shown this is not the case.

• A study of adults aged 32-37 who had degrees showed no correlation to what they knew at 3-7 (whether they could read or write early). 

• 90% of hot housed children have plateaued by 8 years of age. The only thing that marks them as different is that they have stunted social skills. (Nathan Mikaere-Wallis)

• Those who started reading at 3 had the same reading age as those who learn t to read a 6.5 years of age (when they were aged between 8-9).

We need to build the perception of  'What am I like as a learner?' 

We need to build up students experiences to be successful in learning.

Are they gifted or are the gifted at 'parroting' back?

What is important is how the child feels about themselves as a learner. 

If you build the confidence there is a desire to learn. 

If you 'push' them it inhibits the risk taking.

Model in a way that doesn't point out the mistakes- research showed that if we point out the mistakes in the next 30 minutes children will use less language. 

(As Nathan pointed out in the interview about the 'sheeps').

Wording is important.

Tell them specifically what they have done rather than 'good boy/girl' be more specific and acknowledge what they did well. 

From 3-7 children are 'divergent' thinkers. They are creative and we need to foster this. 

Avoid right and wrong questions. 

Develop more open ended questions for them to work through - Problem solving enhanced by creativity. 

Create the thinker before you bring the facts in - Power of Play!

Good outcomes= less structure.

Stop asking test questions

Open ended questions so that children can have an opinion

Listen to the child's concept of the world.

Do things of interest and don't push the need that they need to be at a certain level by a certain time.

Intelligence as a parrot vs Intelligence as a human

Key Competencies are important. If a child has anxiety/sensitive go back to being a child- social skills are important- stop the learning

90% of people in reading recovery are boys who are not the first born. Piaget says we will learn to read at about 7 when we're ready for cognition. Schools has pressured students into learning to read at 6, then 5, then below 5

How does this affect their self confidence? For nearly 2 years they are not feeling successful.

We need to remember not to give 3-7 year old to much cognitive skills. Develop the social and emotional skills.

Rubrics

Be careful how they are used. Are they developed so every child can be successful? Will children move or for ever be on that bottom rubric?

Same as grouping children 

Self Reflection.

One of the reasons I haven’t been blogging for a while is because I have been struggling to write anything positive. I will admit this year has been a struggle. I am teaching a year 2/3 class and to be honest, I am finding it very difficult to enjoy it.

I am WAY out of my comfort zone and spend a lot of weekends wondering if I am actually the best person to teach this year group.

My comfort zone is older children. Give me some of these students in year 5/6 and I will absolutely love them! But at this age I am not so sure.

I am reflecting a lot on my own teaching and learning. My planning is for ever changing each day and some weeks I completely re-write what I am doing.

I look at my assessments and wonder how will I move a certain child on to reach a level that seems so far away!
Post assessments have me questioning my own teaching style. Did I expect too much from some individuals? Did I rush through the learning? Do I need to give this year group more time? More hands on? Learn through play?

My biggest worry is that I will fail these children.

As a teacher I feel I’m not experienced enough at teaching younger students to read and write and feel I am always swimming in the deep end. I then begin to second guess myself and my own teaching ability.

Is this where I want to be? 

What am I doing wrong?

This year has been filled with a lot of challenges and once again this term has seen more challenges arise.

My biggest hurdle at the moment is maths. For the last few years I have taught Stage 6+. This year I started off teaching Stage 5+ and now I have moved down to Stage 4. I love all the learning I am doing and appreciate the fact I am getting to  know the math curriculum in more detail. What I am finding hard is my teaching and am I teaching my students in the best way possible?

The issue is these are year 3 and 4 students who (according to National Standards) should be at stage 5 by the end of their school year. We are only just starting stage 4! This doesn't bother me because...

My issue is I am beginning to feel my style of teaching isn't suitable for these students and I don't know what I can do.

Every day no matter how hard I am trying some of my students just don't get it. I feel like I have tried everything. Visual, hands on, making it fun, competitive, real life context yet in my eyes nothing seems to be working. I know a lot of people would just scoff and make a snide comment about the type of students I have in the class, no motivation, behaviour, just can't do maths. But that is not so.

I am big on reflecting and when things are not going right, I don't blame the students I blame myself.
What is it that I'm not doing right?
How can I change so that they can learn?

The answer still alludes me but hopefully...

Wow, this has taken a while to write.

 It’s taken me nearly three weeks to finish this blog as I have had to question a lot. I have doubted myself, had to think hard, question my own ability, reasons and question if I had my own fixed mind set about how I taught.

Last year when I started giving students more independence, own timetables, group teaching rather than whole teaching it felt right. I enjoyed what I was doing and feedback from the students also showed this. Yes, it took a while to get there but in the end I think as a class we thoroughly enjoyed it. This was me trying hard to take on MLP in a single cell classroom.

This year it has been different. Although we are still single celled, we are planning as a team and working more together in twos or threes  rather than individually. So why then do I feel disjointed, lacking enthusiasm and not enjoying myself? This is quite a hard thing to admit as I have to question myself, my surroundings and where I am working. I am quite good at reflecting on my own teaching and learning. I know I can be very head strong, stubborn and see things very differently to those around me. I feel I have had to sit back and accept things, question less and go with the norm (even when I am not sure it is right). Is this how I want to teach? Is it me?

I guess this is why it has taken me a while to write this as I really do have to reflect and wonder if it could be me. I enjoy the fact that we are working as a team. I love the fact that I am not planning on my own, coming up with my own ideas and feeling a little like I am by myself. I enjoy bouncing ideas off others, listening to different ideas and views.

But I feel more constrained and restricted then I did last year.  As a school we have been encourage to change our way of teaching and work more closely as a team. To have a growth mind set and to look at things differently.

What I am wondering?

·         Are we really making a change?

·         Have we actually made a difference?

To be honest, I don’t think we have.

To me it is like a messy desk, moving things around and making piles isn’t really the same as creating a tidy desk. And I feel this is what we are doing. We have moved students around given them different teachers for different subject but have we actually really changed the way we are teaching?

The truth is no.

I have been questioning these MLE where they think giving students different teachers all the time is MLP. But is it? We are meeting the needs of your children by grouping them and they may not have their usual teacher. Isn’t this the same as streaming, groups, setting (or any other words you want to use)? Is this really MLP? What are we doing differently?

And I guess this is what I have struggled with this term as I feel this is what we are doing.

Do we really need to split all five classes up? Could I not work with the teacher next door with just my own homeroom and theirs? Teach more small groups rather than whole class? Give students the choice?

What do I want next term?

Integrate our topic so I don’t have stand-alone lessons.

Give students more of a voice.

Feel excited about teaching again.

My own two cents

Reading through everyone's #28daysofwriting has been wonderful. Keeping me up way to late in the night mind you. One of the reasons I wanted to attempt this writing is to feel more comfortable blogging. I am not the best blogger and I always feel a little embarrassed about what I write when I read others. But I also wanted to read other blogs, reflect on them and try and express my ideas, thoughts, opinions in my own blog.

+Bridget ComptonMoen wrote a blog the other day that I could relate well to - allocated seats and desks! As schools all move to MLE/MLP we are told/shown about all the different ways we can set up a open plan classroom. Getting away with the single cell rooms and creating all these different spaces where students can place themselves. Modern learning environments support strengths-based teaching and can offer students and teachers flexibility, openness and access to resources. Providing teachers with an open, flexible learning environment can lead to the development of a robust, continuously improving community of practice (Core Education).

But the desks have always been something some teachers can't get their head around. Even the idea of not having their own teachers desk! I don't have a teachers desk and I love it. I work on one of the student tables and tend to mark with my students rather than at the end of the day. This was an easy choice for me but I know other teachers battle with this.

Like Bridget she to was finding the issue I had with my girls- the need for desks. My classroom is slightly different to Bridget's in that we have tables rather than desks but we were also a single cell room and not officially a MLE. In previous post I have spoken about all the changes I had made in my old classroom and what my students felt about this. Most of my students went from having to sit in allocated seats to suddenly being taught by me and having an option of where to sit. Most coped with this fine and enjoyed the idea that they didn't have to sit in the same place everyday. I was lucky enough that I had 'acquired' a couple of the old school wooden flip top desks which I was using for my 'quiet' area.

I don't have an answer but I do know my girls didn't like working on the ground. The big cushions that I had sourced were only ever used by the boys. They also weren't keen on lower tables either and voted against them. The norm isn't always for everyone.  Mornings were always interesting because you began to see how they 'allocated' their seat by placing enough items on a table to show everyone else that was where they wanted to sit. Like Bridget, I did have students find this hard as sometimes they did feel left out. I guess we forget at this age where you sit and who you sit by is a big thing.

I will admit that sometimes I felt I was pushing them into something they didn't like. I had moved away from listening to their feelings and was trying hard to develop this MLE with all the different break out spaces. The last thing I wanted to do was make them feel uncomfortable when they entered the room. I spoke a lot to my students about the changes and they were very honest with me. In the end I think we found that balance between enough tables and where they wanted them.

But I do wonder how far one way do we go? I don't want to see students sitting in the same chair on the same table with the same people all year. But I also don't want them to feel uncomfortable or worried about where they might sit. There has to be that balance and sometimes what other classes/ schools do may not be right for your class.

As we move to our new school and incorporate more MLP, our principal does remind us a lot that what we do has to work for OUR students and community. That we don't do things just because that is what other schools do or what the recent research says. In the end is having or not having a desk the biggest issue of MLE? I really enjoyed Arnika @BrownArnika commented she left on Bridget's blog and thinks she sums it up well. In the end students can learn any where sitting on anything but they can't learn if the teaching is boring, unengaging and unrelated to them.

#day6

Growth Mind Set- A question I can't answer

When I started to write this I was thinking along the lines of explaining what both meant and how it related to me. As this was also a challenge as part of #edchatNZ to blog about Mind Set a few other teachers have already given great definitions and explanations that I felt I would just be repeating (here. and here) Then it got me thinking. Why is it in some situations we can easily move from a fixed to a growth mind set, even when the challenge or situation could be beyond our expertise or comfort?

And is frustration, stubbornness, annoyance (a lot of those negative words which to be honest are also positives) a fixed mind set or is it important to have to develop your growth mind set?

I use my son for example. For Mr 6 loves the skate board park. We have spent most of the holidays down their ‘hanging’ out. He watches with awe as the teenage boys do trick after trick on their scooters or skateboards and spends hours later reminiscing how wonderful they were. This set off his determination to be able to do what they can do.

So he spends time watching and then gives it a go. Of course many of the moves they can do are beyond him and this is where frustration set in. The scooter is flung onto the ground with the usual chorus of ‘I can’t do it’. Yet, as much as he is frustrated and annoyed, he still gets back up and tries again and again and again. At one point he spent over an hour just trying to perfect one move.

People talk about Growth Mind set as reflecting and looking at different ways to approach the task. While fixed Mind Set will only see it one way and not make any changes or decide that they can’t do it.

What got me was how determined he was to succeed with this task. Even though it took him ages and there were the occasional tears, a few grazes and a lot of sweat he would not give up. Once he achieved the first ‘trick’ he didn’t give in but moved onto the next challenge. To the point in the space of three weeks he had achieved everything he hadn’t been able to do at the start.

Now if you gave him the task of writing a story it would be a whole different ball game. He would give up straight away. So why does Mr 6 have such a different mind-set to this?

Yes, I know everyone has fixed and growth mind sets but even at the start Mr 6 struggled and found all the tricks extremely hard. But what was it about that particular task that made him persevere? He was as stubborn, annoyed and frustrated at the skateboard park as he is with writing. Yet, he never stopped trying and wouldn’t give up.

 What changes in him where he thinks he can achieve it that doesn’t when it comes to writing? And I wonder how many other children are like this?

Day 2 of 28 days of writing.

Mark for quality not quantity

I am a BIG fan of quality marking.  I am pretty much a teacher that believes if we are expecting children to complete something in their books then we should be marking it and rewarding it with an appropriate response. Not just a ‘well done’ or ‘good’. And yes I know it is sometimes near impossible to mark work every day but then I also raise the question ‘why do we have to have written work in books every day?

There has been a big shift in the way we mark and many teachers have taken to using a whole range of methods to assess. Used properly, marking and feedback are essential tools for ensuring that children learn more effectively and understand what they are aiming for, and they can provide strategies for success and ways to move forward.

Research (‘Inside the Black Box’ Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam, 1998) has shown that there has been a tendency to mark for quantity and presentation of the work, rather than for quality. We have all been victims of that red pen scrawling’ please keep your work tidy’ or ‘you must write more’. The problem is how does that help the student? What do they gain from comments like this?

 Mathematics is one area I think we undervalue quality comments. We tend to only mark these books with a tick or a cross (or a dot)? Why are we not asking student’s questions based on the lesson? Next step questions to move them on?  Solve a problem, another question to cement the learning? Ask them what their next step would be? Or a range of HOTs (higher order questions) to get them really thinking.

Children need to be given a clear idea of how to improve their work, move forward in their learning and achieve their goals. If we continue to just tick, write ‘well done’ or ‘good’ how are we as teachers moving them forward? What we need to learn to do is have manageable and effective ways of marking and provide feedback to pupils so that they can move forward in their learning. Children need to understand their achievements and know exactly what they must do next to make progress.