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BASH Weekly #2

PLATO Coordinator Positions

Please see the all subject area posting on the hall wall outside Mr. Link's office. 

Message from Let's Get Ready!

As this semester’s site directors for the Fordham branch of Let’s Get Ready!, we would like to formally introduce ourselves. Our names are Amanda and Nora, and we are both seniors at Fordham University, studying at the Rose Hill campus. We are currently in the process of recruiting high school students for the Fall 2011 session of LGR, and are reaching out to you today to ask if you would be able to help us spread the invitation and encourage interested students to apply to be a part of our program.

As you may already know, Let’s Get Ready! is a non-profit SAT preparatory program for high school juniors and seniors from various high schools around the Bronx. The program is composed of a number of Fordham University students who have volunteered to coach the high school students in either the Math or Verbal portions of the SAT, as well as help to guide them through the college process. Let’s Get Ready! also provides college tours, practice diagnostic tests, and college-related break-time activities such as Coach Panel and guest speakers.

[Below] is a flyer that contains all the information needed to apply. Please feel free to share it with your students.

We would also like to give you the direct link to the online application: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HCWG8JW

If you or any of your students who may be interested have any questions about applying or would like to get more information about the program, please do not hesitate to e-mail us at fordham.lgr@gmail.com.

Thank you so much for your support in the process of student recruitment, and we hope to hear from you soon!

Sincerely,

Amanda Donovan & Nora Walsh-Devries
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Strategies for Checking for Understanding 

In this article in Principal Leadership, San Diego State University professors Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey describe an all-too-common classroom scenario. The teacher asks, “Did everyone get that?” and, hearing no response, moves on to the next point. Unbeknownst to the teacher, many students are thinking, “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I’m not about to let everyone know that I’m confused.” Fisher and Frey believe that “Checking for understanding is the link between teaching and learning and should be part of every lesson that teachers plan… [It needs to occur] at least every 5-10 minutes, if teachers want to maintain the rigor of the lesson and support student learning.” They suggest the following strategies:
  • Listening in on student-to-student talk – As students think-pair-share, engage in reciprocal teaching, literacy circles, and Socratic seminars, retell stories and video clips, and respond to prompts, the teacher should tune in on whether they are understanding what’s been taught and follow up accordingly.
  • Questioning – Many classroom questions fall into the all-too-common, single-answer, “guess what’s in the teacher’s head”, Initiate-Respond-Evaluate pattern that privileges a few students who know the answers and are willing to play the game (“When do we use the FOIL rule?” asks the teacher. Four students raise their hands and teacher calls on Tanya, who responds, “With multiple binomials.” “Good,” says the teacher). Initial questions should be planned in advance, say Fisher and Frey, so as to elicit complex and critical thinking and involve as many students as possible. Some examples:
            -    ReQuest – Students read with a partner and take turns asking each other questions, with the teacher monitoring the quality of questions and                answers and prodding students toward higher-level queries.
            -   Response cards – The teacher asks a question and all students hold      up colored answer cards (green for Yes and red for No), giving a sense of  the level of mastery in the class and whether anything needs to be re-explained.
            -    Clickers – Students respond to multiple-choice questions via wireless  response devices, and when results have been displayed (without indication of which was the right answer), the teacher asks students to convince their neighbors, enlisting peer instruction before re-polling the question. See http://www.nassp.org/pl0911fisher for a video of this technique in action.

Teachers often ask spontaneous follow-up questions after their initial probes to further check for understanding.
  • Written work – “When students are writing, they are thinking,” say Fisher and Frey. “In fact, it’s nearly impossible to write and not think.” Short writing-to-learn prompts are an excellent way to check for understanding, as long as the prompts are carefully designed to give the teacher information on deeper understanding. Fisher and Frey particularly like RAFT prompts, which ask students to examine the role, audience, format, and topic of a piece of writing. For example, after learning about the Gettysburg Address, students were asked to write the following RAFT. Role: you are a person attending the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg; Audience: you are writing to a family member; Format: a personal letter; Topic: Lincoln’s speech.
  • Projects and performances – As students work on worthwhile projects or prepare for performances, the teacher can look over their shoulders, get a sense of whether they are understanding the essential points, and give formative feedback. For example, a teacher asked students to write about a cause they would be willing to fight and perhaps die for and post it on their Facebook page, and checked in on students’ work as it progressed.
  • Tests – Although these assessments are usually treated as summative, there’s nothing to stop teachers from using insights from students’ answers to reteach and re-explain.
“Checking for Understanding” by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey in Principal Leadership, September 2011 (Vol. 12, #1, p. 60-62), http://online.qmags.com/PL0911; Fisher can be reached at dfisher@mail.sdsu.edu and Frey at nfrey@mail.sdsu.edu.

from the Marshall Memo #40

9/12/11

Skedula

The url for gradebook and entering discipline anecdotal reports for receipt by the Dean is www.skedula.com.

Datacation is working on having the Excel gradebook view online within a couple of days.
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Promoting Student Engagement and Rigor in the Classroom

Active Participation- Consistently engaging every learner's mind to achieve the intended instructional target.

Two types
  • Covert - we don't see student behavior, i.e. thinking. 
  • Overt- drawing, writing, pointing, gesturing, etc.

Examples:

1. I want each of you to think of an answer and practice saying it in your mind.....now everyone tell your partner.

2. Okay class, everyone, write the answer on your practice sheet.

3. I want all of you to get a picture in your mind of the structure of typical ethylene-based long-chain polymers.

4. Each of you must listen carefully so that no reasons are repeated....now everyone write all the reasons in your own words.
Picture

Level of Concern

T    ime
E
    xpectations & Accountability
M
   aterials
P
    roximity

Lower and raise depending on the configuration of your class.

Examples:
  • Everybody, take 15 seconds to get your answer ready. I will be calling on at least one person from each table.
  • Each of you have to make sure you have at least 3 of the 4 completed before 10:05. I will be coming around to see who needs help. You can use your book.
  • I want each of you to show me the number that comes next in this equation. Everybody will be holding up a number card, so I will be able to see who has the right answer. We will go slow on the first couple
  • Everyone finished in under two minutes. Let's do a couple more to see if we can beat that time .... GO!
  • I will be walking around. Each of you work with a partner, and both of you have to be able to explain your answers because you don't know who I will be calling on to answer.
  • This one is just for practice. Tomorrow we might have a test on this, and these next five minutes are a chance for each of you to work with your partner to get ready. I will be around to see how you are doing. I may be stopping you while you work to ask some questions about what you are doing, so be ready.
  • Everyone practice the answer in your mind, I will be calling on at least five people, and you have to be ready you have 10 seconds.
from www.heartofchange.com
promoting_student_engagement_in_the_classroom.pdf
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blooms_question_prompts.pdf
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blooms_taxonomy.pdf
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9/13/11

Learning Walks

We will be conducting informal learning walks on Tuesday, September 13th. Please see the file below for information about their purpose and protocols.
learning_walk_9-13-11.doc
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teacher_learning_walk_sheet.doc
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