October 4

1. October 4 • Teaching for Understanding • Coverage vs. Uncoverage • Developing new courses & units • Design entry points using UBD framework • Common core, Keystones, Classroom Diagnostics overview

2. Teaching for Understanding “The act of teaching (direct instruction – talking, professing, informing, telling) is only one aspect of causing learning… The design…is as important and perhaps more important than any articulate sharing of our knowledge.”

3. Teaching for Understanding Perhaps we need to consider how to re-invent good teaching and learning

4. Coverage vs. Uncoverage • Moving from coverage to uncoverage will continue to be a challenge for educators • Uncoverage is not a type of teaching • Uncoverage – method, model, experience, or idea that makes learning tangible, real, relevant, or prepared for future experiences • Socratic questioning 1 • Socratic questioning 2 • Litany of many other strategies to evoke student response and higher order thinking

5. Coverage vs. Uncoverage • Do you think that a coverage model has brainwashed our existing parents and students? • Explain why or why not.

6. Coverage vs. Uncoverage • Kids & parents have come to expect a coverage world in school • Remember! Parents experienced a coverage model too! • Parents and kids believe this is the way to prepare kids for college and the world – NOT SO in many respects! • They want their tickets punched (GPA, high grades, involved in everything to look GOOD ON PAPER…

7. Coverage vs. Uncoverage • Breadth, not depth • Surface details • Leaner believes everything is of equal value (facts, with no hierarchy). • Recall and lower order thinking the norm. • Use rationalized by teachers • To meet standards • To use textbooks • Testing • “An understanding cannot be ‘covered’ if it is to be understood.” • Finding something important in what may be not obvious • To draw out child’s experiences through relevant examples • To allow students to uncover how they understand something that they previously didn’t know or agree on

8. We must teach kids how to THINK and NOT recall facts in meaningless ways! • Bringing big ideas to life in the classroom is goal everyday • Uncoverage is vital • Kids need to play, act, manipulate, research and interact if they are to understand and use at high levels • Technology may be a great way to accomplish this! • Teaching social studies exclusively through a blog • Smart board tools • Lots of other key technology resources

9. Direct Instruction & Coaching Facilitation & guided inquiry Discrete knowledge Facts Definitions Obvious information Concrete information Predictable result Discrete skills & technique Rules & recipes Literal information Concepts & principles Systemic connections Connotations Irony Symbolism Counterintuitive information Anomaly Strategy (using judgment) Invention of rules & recipes

10. The Design Process • Using a template, you can really begin anywhere in the design • Sometimes, beginning with an existing unit and plugging it into the UBD template is easier • When designing NEW topics or units of study, use a UBD template • Authors identify 6 primary entry points that impact design and instruction

12. “Doorways to Design” • Begin with content standards • Look for key nouns in standards • Identify key knowledge • What EQs flow from/point to standard(s)? • Consider key verbs – blueprints for assessments • List activities that will develop their ability to understand the big ideas • Begin by considering desired real-world applications • Clarify larger purposes of unit • How can you put it to use if it is mastered? • Identify for them the specific, complex, real-world tasks

13. “Doorways to Design” • Begin with a key resource or favorite activity • Start with an engaging activity (thought-provoking experience or simulation, etc.) • Ask them to consider “Why does this matter?” • Clarify EQs that will point to those ideas • Identify skills, facts, understandings that the activity is meant to yield • Begin with an important skill • In what venues/ways would the important skill come in useful or necessary? • Identify content standards that refer to the skills • Identify big ideas and EQs that support the skills

14. “Doorways to Design” • Begin with a key assessment • Using the PSSA as example, clarify goals for why the assessment exists. • Identify the standards that address the goals • Relate the big ideas required to pass the test • Begin with an existing unit • Using traditional lesson plans/assessments, place them into template and look for alignment • What is missing? How would you revise a current unit/lesson plan? • Focus on big idea development and long-term goals related to the standards

15. Common Core and Keystones:

16. Common Core Standards • What do you know about the new Common Core Standards.

17. Common Core State Standards (CCSS) • Adopted by State Board of Education on July 1, 2010 • Goal: Establish a K-12 Approach of Standards Leading to College and Career Readiness • Alignment of the PA Academic Standards to Common Core State Standards • Common Core State Standards for • English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects • Mathematics • Effective Implementation by July 1, 2013

18. Common Core State Standards (CCSS) • Aligned with college and career expectations • Clear, understandable, and consistent • Rigorous content and application of knowledge through higher-order skills • Informed by other top-performing countries so that all students are prepared to succeed in our global economy and society • Evidence-based • Partnered with the Standards Aligned System (SAS)

19. What will these Common Core State Standards mean for students? • Will embed and address the college and career readiness needs that currently are not discussed in our PA standards. • Content and skills will be assessed in each course directly after completion of the course through the Keystone Exams, not only in eleventh grade through the PSSA assessments. • As a result, students will see better relevancy due to the immediacy of the assessment. • Will prepare students better for a post-secondary experience. • Two-thirds of all jobs require some form of post-secondary education.

20. KEYSTONE EXAMS - when they finally become law… • End-of-course assessments designed to assess proficiency in Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry, Literature, English Comp., Biology, Chemistry, U.S. History, World History, and Civics & Government • Now become final exams typically seen in HS courses • Used to determine Adequately Yearly Progress (AYP) at HS level • Replaces PSSAs in 11th grade • Aligns assessment with teacher instruction in a timely manner • PSSAs still remain in grades 3-8 • Becomes a new graduation requirement • Aligned and supported by SAS and Common Core

21. Project-Based Assessment • A student who does not achieve proficiency on a Keystone Exam after two (2) attempts will be eligible to complete a project-based assessment. Projects will be: • Aligned with Keystone Exam modules • Developed by the department and administered by school staff • Scored by regional panels of educators

22. Graduation Requirements School district graduation policies must at least include:

23. For next time… • SAS Projects Due • Rubric to be used: Formal Oral Pres. Rubric • You do not necessarily have to use PP or handouts • Length of presentation – no necessary maximum or minimum, but plan on about 10 minutes for each team