Standards- Based Classrooms Molly Schmidt Woodland High School

Standards-based Classrooms A classroom where teachers and students have a clear understanding of the expectations (standards). They know what they are teaching/learning each day (standards), why the day’s learning is an important thing to know or know how to do (relevance), and how to do it (process). Standards-based learning is a process, not an event.

What is Standards-based Evidence of Learning? Student work directly connected to the standards Real world, relevant, and task-based work that provides evidence that students are achieving high standards

How do teachers know that work provides evidence of learning? Analysis of student work Ongoing Collaborative Consensus-driven Anchor papers

How do teachers ensure that instruction is standards-based? Come to consensus regarding standards Analyze and reflect upon instruction Analyze and reflect upon performance tasks Accept and provide feedback regarding instruction

Attend teacher meetings, study groups and other professional learning opportunities Ensure that all students receive immediate intervention if they are not meeting standards Regularly analyze data to plan and revise instruction Model the characteristics of a lifelong learner Utilize collaborative planning time to analyze student work based on standards Utilize collaborative planning time to build consensus regarding standards for each grade level Utilize collaborative planning time to develop units, lessons and performance tasks that demand rigor and hold high expectations for all students

AND ONCE AGAIN…

Essential Questions How do skillful teachers deliver instruction at the level requested in the GPS? How do you move from a content standard to a well crafted essential question?

How do you move from a content standard to a well crafted essential question? Questions Identify Understanding Standards

Begin with NOUNS and VERBS Decide What Students Must Know and How They Are to Demonstrate Knowledge

Unpacking a standard: Anatomy and Physiology SAP3 Description: SAP3 Students will assess the integration and coordination of body functions and their dependence on the endocrine and nervous systems to regulate physiological activities. Elements: a. Interpret interactions among hormones, senses, and nerves which make possible the coordination of functions of the body. b. Investigate the physiology of electrochemical impulses and neural integration and trace the pathway of an impulse, relating biochemical changes involved in the conduction of the impulse. c. Describe how the body perceives internal and external stimuli and responds to maintain a stable internal environment, as it relates to biofeedback.

SAP3 Description: SAP3 Students will assess the integration and coordination of body functions and their dependence on the endocrine and nervous systems to regulate physiological activities. Elements: a. Interpret interactions among hormones, senses, and nerves which make possible the coordination of functions of the body. b. Investigate the physiology of electrochemical impulses and neural integration and trace the pathway of an impulse, relating biochemical changes involved in the conduction of the impulse. c. Describe how the body perceives internal and external stimuli and responds to maintain a stable internal environment, as it relates to biofeedback.

What Is Understanding? Understanding is different than knowledge Understanding is fluid, transferable to new contexts and transformable into new theory Mere knowledge can be rote, understanding provides insight

Begin with Understandings to get to Essential Questions Remember understanding should be: Knowledge that is enduring Has value beyond the classroom Understanding is not obvious to students Most be “uncovered” – inferred, revealed, come to be seen, constructed Can often be applied to other situations Should be written as a full sentence statement

Essential Questions… Questions of different scope and purpose are used to “uncover” important ideas and issues in a unit Are arguable and lead to understandings, rather than “leading” questions that point to facts Have no simple right answer Raise other important questions, often across subject boundaries Are thought provoking

Partner Activity Concept Attainment With a partner, review the questions in the envelope. Determine if the question is a “yes” example or a “no” example of EQ’s.

What are the traits of an essential question? The question probes a matter of considerable importance. The question requires movement beyond understanding and studying - some kind of action or resolve - pointing toward the settlement of a challenge, the making of a choice or the forming of a decision.

The question may be unanswerable in the ultimate sense. The question cannot be answered by a quick and simple “yes” or “no” answer. The question probably endures, shifts and evolves with time and changing conditions - offering a moving target in some respects. The question may be unanswerable in the ultimate sense. From “The Question Mark”. Volume I, No. 5, March 2005.

3 Types of Questions Overarching ~ Essential Questions Point to broad transferable ideas Transcend a particular unit Can apply to various subjects or topics Topical ~ Essential Questions Frame a particular unit of study Specific to a particular content topic Guiding ~ Questions NOT an Essential Question More specific than topical Answers are right or wrong Can be looked up

Essential and Guiding Questions How does where you live affect how you live? What landforms and bodies of water are located in _______________? What are the natural resources in _________________? What are the vegetation and climate zones in ___________? Guiding Questions

Elements of Word Walls A Word Wall is something you and your class should “Do”, not “Have.” A Word Wall is a work in progress…built over time and referenced frequently. Add content words as they are taught or encountered in reading. Word Walls are a source for informal writing activities to demonstrate student understanding. Assessment tool

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten. B.F. Skinner

Works Cited Georgia Department of Education. “So, what is a Standards Based Classroom?”. Accessed August 10, 2009 from http://www.nazarethasd.k12.pa.us/71890730122753/lib/71890730122753/standards_based_classrooms.ppt#256,1,Slide 1 Ware County Middle School. “Standards Based Classrooms and Differentiated Instruction”. Accessed August 10, 2009 from http://www.ware.k12.ga.us/superintendent/08-09%20Goal%20Presentations/WCMS/Preplanning%20Standards%20Based%20Classroom%20Powerpoint.pdf GPS Essential Questions and Word Walls. Power Point. Accessed August 18, 2009 from