1. Personal Communication as Classroom Assessment

2. “What’s in a question, you ask? Everything. It is a way of evoking stimulating response or stultifying inquiry. It is, in essence, the very core of teaching.” --John Dewey (1933)

3. Types of Personal Communication Assessment Instructional Questions Class Discussions Conferences and Interviews Oral Examinations Student Journals and Logs

4. Benefits of Personal Communication Assessment Can be used formatively or summatively Can help teachers diagnose students problems and misconceptions Can hook students’ interest Can deepen students’ conceptual understanding Can strengthen students’ reasoning proficiencies

5. Which Types of Learning Targets work well with Personal Communication? Knowledge Reasoning Skills requiring oral communication

6. Special Issues/Considerations Potential bias Sampling Wait time Shared language, cultural expectations

7. Using Personal Communication Chappuis, et al., 2012, p. 266 FormatDescriptionPrimary Use Target Types Instructional Questions and Answers Teacher poses questions for students to answer or discuss. Students pose questions and respond to each other. FormativeKR Class Discussions Students engage in a discussion. Can be either teacher-led or student-led. Formative or Summative KRS Conferences and Interviews Teacher meets with student to talk about what students have learned and have yet to learn. FormativeKR Oral Examinations Teacher plans and poses questions for individual students to respond to. SummativeKRS Journals and Logs Students write to explain, explore, and deepen their own understanding; teacher and/or other students respond. FormativeKR

8. Sampling with Personal Communication 1. Sampling the Learning: Must gather enough information for the target in question to meet the intended purpose. Goal: Confident conclusions about student achievement, without wasting too much time. 2. Sampling the Population: Must hear from enough students to meet the intended purpose. Goal: Maximize engagement; avoid calling only on volunteers

9. Ideas for Maximizing Student Engagement Don’t call on a student to answer before asking the question. Call on both volunteers and non-volunteers. (Index cards, popsicle sticks) Ask students to discuss their thinking in pairs or small groups. Designate reporter. Ask all students to write a response, then collect and read them aloud. Give students choice of possible answers and then ask them to voice. (Clickers) Establish class norms so that all contributions are treated respectfully.

10. Wait Time How long do teachers typically wait after posing a question – before calling for a response? ONE second! Why is this a problem?

11. Increasing Wait Time Increases: 1. The length of student responses 2. The number of unsolicited responses 3. The frequency of student questions 4. The number of responses from [lower- achieving students] 5. Student-student interactions 6. The incidence of speculative responses Source: Akron Global Polymer Academy, 2011, n.p.

12. Distinguish Wait Time from Think Time The intent of the pause is to give each student time to ponder the question and formulate a response, which may be an answer, a question, or a comment that offers further reflection on the topic.

13. Instructional Questions and Answers Gain information about students’ learning Encourage thinking Deepen learning Plan questions in advance – aligned with learning targets Ask clear, brief questions Use guidelines for selected and written response items. **Find a clean sheet of paper on which you can answer some questions and turn in after you’ve watched this presentation.

14. Class Discussions Contributions can reveal information about students’ knowledge, conceptual understanding, and reasoning abilities Can simultaneously enhance understanding and reasoning proficiency Best used for formative assessment ◦ Exception example: Communication skills in Common Core, pp. 275-6 Judging and evaluating discussion

15. Sample Discussion Criteria CriterionTo what degree do/does… Relevance to TopicComments relate to topic of discussion and show deep insight into the topic Personal Opinion and Comments Opinions and ideas connect to topic and express in a clear, concise, and positive (respectful) manner Contribution to Learning Community The student present creative and thought provoking ideas? use open-ended questions? make direct attempts to motivate class members to participate in the discussion? Interactions Within Learning Community The student demonstrate awareness of learning community? respond with relevant and positive viewpoints to classmates? OtherWhat else might be important in your classroom? What learning targets seem to be the focus of this rubric?

16. Line-Up Strategy – pp. 277, 292-293 Think about a prompt from your own discipline in which students might take a position. How could you use the Line-Up strategy to discuss this topic? Add the prompt to your paper, labeling it “Line-Up Strategy.”

17. Conferences and Interviews Individual meetings with students to determine what they have learned and what they have yet to learn. Conversations can be used to diagnose instructional needs and plan for interventions. Purpose: get to know student as learner

18. Conference/Interview Questions Pose questions that get students to do most of the talking Plan questions in advance Avoid asking “yes” or “no” questions Focus questions on the student’s progress toward pre-established learning targets Have samples of student work and rubrics available to support the conversation Your turn: What are the benefits of conferences and interviews?

19. Journals and Logs Written personal communication Students write to explain, explore, deepen their knowledge May include views, experiences, reactions, insights, understandings, confusions, and misunderstandings – related to specific learning targets Teacher or other students respond

20. For Discussion: Recording Student Achievement What are your ideas for tracking and recording student learning, progress, and achievement with personal communication? How might you provide feedback to students? How might you discuss students’ achievement with their parents/families? What record-keeping system might you use?

21. Biases and Problems What are the sources of bias with personal communication? What are the other problems that we may encounter when using personal communication? How can we guard against these problems? See pp. 284-286 in Chappuis, et al. (2012).

22. References Akron Global Polymer Academy (2011). P-16 science education, best teaching practices: Wait time. Retrieved from http://www.agpa.uakron.edu/p16/btp.php?i d=wait-time http://www.agpa.uakron.edu/p16/btp.php?i d=wait-time