1. Cluster Cycle 2: Meeting 3
ACE Strategy
Cluster Cycle 2: Meeting 3

2. Reflection:
How did your work with your personal goal progress this week? What problems are you facing, and what will you try next?
Evaluate

3. Pre-test Results
Every week we will begin cluster by charting our quantitative results and discussing the qualitative data about our student work.
Evaluate

4. Today’s Cluster
Objective: Teachers will create student work that integrates content topics and meets the criteria for tracking progress with the ACE strategy. We will: Explore resource options for grade-level topic passages. Define and discuss critical attributes of student work for the Ace strategy. Create Student work for next week’s cluster bring back.

5. Why do we need to spend this time learning to create student work?
Each week in cluster, we will focus on how to fine-tune our implementation of the strategy based on our students’ needs.
You will not receive a “TAP Lesson” power point or worksheet to go do each week.
Each week, you will make decisions about how your team will assess student progress, then ask students to apply the strategy to content-based work that meets the criteria established in the critical attributes.

6. TAP Rubric Connection: Student Work
5 Exemplary
3 Proficient
Assignments require students to:
organize, interpret, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information rather than reproduce it.
draw conclusions, make generalizations, and produce arguments that are supported through extended writing.
connect what they are learning to experiences, observations, feelings, or situations significant in their daily lives both inside and outside of school.
interpret information rather than reproduce it.
draw conclusions and support them through writing.
connect what they are learning to prior learning and some life experiences.
Third grade average: 3.0
Fourth grade average: 3.22
Fifth grade average: 3.17

7. Resources
“What your ___ Grader Needs to Know” Test Question Categories sheet

8. Critical Attributes of ACE student work
What
How
Why
Written response questions
(multiple choice may be used with a follow-up question that asks students to explain)
Make sure questions require students to answer a question and explain through writing.
The strategy will help students think through questions of all types (including multiple choice and verbal) but we can only see their strategy use when they write it down.
Use common question terminology
Use the Test Question Categories sheet to help you word questions the way they are often worded on tests.
We want students to understand questions in the many different forms of wording so they will not present a challenge when students encounter them on high stakes tests.
“Right there” or “Think and Search” questions
Make sure answers are either found in one place in the passage or require students to find multiple pieces of info in text and combine information to form an answer.
Students who struggle with inference will not automatically be able to infer using ACE.
Inference questions will skew results.

9. More Critical Attributes…
What
How
Why
3-5 questions
Make sure to ask at least 3 written response questions for student work.
Making sure to gather enough data to get a true picture of student strategy use.
Plan ACE student work into each subject area at least once each week.
Model answering questions with ACE while teaching content.
Teach content, and model answering questions about the content using the ACE strategy verbally and in writing during the content lesson.
Makes performance expectations clear for all students.
Repeated exposure increases success rate.
Eliminates the need for a “TAP lesson.”
Alternate fiction and nonfiction passages, at minimum, on a weekly basis.
You may choose to do both each week, or you may choose to do a fiction passage one week and a nonfiction passage the next, alternating.
We want to see students use the strategy and improve ability to answer questions about both major genres.
Genre should not impact successful use of strategy.

10. I do, We do, You do
I do: I’m going to show you how I use the “What your____ Grader Needs to Know” book and the “Test Question Categories” sheet to write a test question. We do: You will help me use these tools to create test questions. You do: You will use these tools to create student work to use with upcoming topics.

11. Wrap-up
Remember to reflect on your progress toward your personal goal in your IGP. Next week’s Cluster: Presenting the ACE overview to students.