SBG and Retention

Just wanted to make a quick post today before I take my students on a weekend trip for fieldwork in the wetlands - so looking forward to this.  Field work is real science - at least I'd like to think so.

This is my second year of using SBG and suffice it to say, it's still a work in progress.  I'm still trying to figure out the best way to do assessments.  In the past I had used quizzes, but am slowly (ok, stubbornly) learning that quizzes are actually for me to judge the effectiveness of instruction, not a student's understanding.  I need to learn different ways to assess student learning & understanding besides just quizzes.  How can I vary the way I assess students?  Someone suggested that a student project can be used as an assessment.  My challenge to that is -- but if I'm supporting/helping the student as they work, how can I determine they are learning?  Isn't the purpose of SBG for students to show me they have independently learned an idea or concept?  Can anyone shed light on this?

I just read a post over at Think Thank Thunk today and it triggered some thoughts about student retention.  What is learning?  What is retention?  How realistic is it to expect students to retain information about dwarf planets or the process of a dividing cell when they probably don't care about it?  It may be important to them now to retain the information because they earn a grade for it.  However, after they finish high school, will they continue to retain the information?  Most likely not, unless they have a career interest in NASA or being a veterinarian.

One thing I have determined -- students who have been in this SBG system for the 2nd year show increased effort and desire to do well.  First year students are also somewhat learning how it works.  What I want them to do is learn the values of (to name a few) hard work, practice, honesty with themselves, and developing problem solving strategies - these are the things I hope they "retain" after high school.  No matter the content they want to learn about some day, they will have these values that will drive them to be successful.

It is our character that helps us to be successful, not the amount of information we know or retain.

Growing Pains

Well, it's not a weekly reflection as I hoped it would be, but 1 month later, here I am.  I have to remember to breathe, take small steps, take it one day at a time, and all those expressions that basically say its okay if it doesn't happen right away.  Keep plugging away and in no time, it'll become a regular habit.

Boy, I'm trying to push myself to be a better teacher and person this year.  I wonder if I'm overdoing it.  I really liked how SBG worked last year. So far this year, it's smoother since the students have had one year under their belt and know how it works.  The new students are going through their learning curve.

So my issue that I'm facing these past few weeks is working on becoming a better inquiry teacher.  Working so hard on developing questions that will challenge students.  I also get so frustrated sometimes when students aren't able to arrive at a conclusion.  So I'm asking those who are reading this for advice.  Do students struggle to comprehend because they are not given enough direction to begin with or is it because they are struggling with higher level thinking skills?  I want to jump in and just give them the answers!  I know this won't help them in the long run, though.  It makes me want to pull my hair out of my head!!!!!


For example, here's a question I posed to them.  Lots of the students were interested in pyramids.

               "What is the latitude and longitude of the pyramids in Chichen Itza?"   I gave them a list of
                vocabulary words that included latitude, longitude, equator, and prime meridian.  I asked them to
                find the answer to the question and in their reports, they were to incorporate the vocabulary given.

Most of them just looked up the meanings and wrote down the latitude and longitude of the place.   That was it.  I don't know what I was expecting, but I didn't expect it to be so bare bones simple.

So lay it on me -- how was that for an inquiry project for them?  Too little to start with?   What was it supposed to look like?   Any feedback you can give me will be great.  You won't hurt my feelings, I promise.  I want to hone my craft.  Iron sharpens iron!


Thanks to all who give feedback!

Back From Cyberspace!

Hi all....

   After navigating (ok, getting lost in) the world of SBG last year, I am back again and have resolved to try updating more frequently this year.  Clearly I did not know what I was getting into with 5 classes and 5 different preps and installing an SBG grading system and not giving homework. All of these definitely challenged me as a teacher and students as well. I saw positive and negative results last year, but more of the former that is encouraging me to continue to use this strategy this year with tweaking and experimenting, of course.

   Positive results:

• Students had increased awareness of their learning responsibilities
• Students wanted to improve their recall of information, which led to discussion of study strategies and looking for apps to use
• Grades more accurately reflected knowledge of content and skills
• Less time spent on grading
• More time spent on developing ideas or giving students feedback
• Student knows exactly what they did or did not understand
• More parent involvement
• Giving parents a realistic picture of their child's abilities

   Negative results:

• Students had a hard time adjusting to high accountability
• Frustrated students because couldn't give evidence they understood the concept or skill
• I wasn't sure where student independence begins and I end
• Didn't see many students come in after school as I would have liked

   Jury still out:

• Overall, scores were lower. Is this because of SBG's increased accountability? Student motivation? Poor performance on my part? Not giving homework?
• Is the SBG I developed a fair way to assess?

Gonna stop for today, but I will have another post within a few days about goals for the year, personal and professional. In the meantime, I hope to be a better poster/reflector on this blog and other blogs as well.

Best wishes to all of you starting another school year!

Homework's Effectiveness

Well, I have just finished reading Alfie Kohn's book "The Homework Myth."   Yes, it took me that long - it wasn't summer reading!  I recommend it wholeheartedly to any of you who question the value of homework, are borderlining between assigning it or not, and even to those of you who swear by homework.  I used to be a homework person - I gave out homework daily.  Even my initials are the same as the abbreviation (HW).

One of the biggest values I strongly believe in is a strong family unit.  So when I hear that homework is just an extension of the school day and kids are unable to spend time with their families, that gets my attention.  Observations and surveys have consistently shown that homework is stressful on the child and affects their relationship with their parents.  Kids are unable to be just that - kids.  They have to continue to "learn" at home.  Let's be honest here -- are they really "learning" anything at home?  Or is it just busywork (aka practice)?  I don't want them to make the same mistake 20 times over and ingrain that habit.  I'd rather be present to correct any mistakes as they are made.

Now, I have no hard data or empirical evidence to back up my claim.  But based on my observations and discussions with students thus far, there is no difference in their understanding/performance this year without homework than there was last year when they had daily homework.  Certainly, the overall grades are lower but that's because I don't grade on homework or participation anymore.  I am grading them on what they actually know (thus the use of Standards Based Grading).  Now that I mention it, I bet I could go back to grades from last year, eliminate the homework and participation scores, and see how it compares to this year.  But, at this time of overwhelming changes in my life, no way.  It'll have to wait till summer.

There are a whole myriad of reasons not to give homework that I can't get into here --- go read the book.  Alfie also has a website as well.

Checking in...

Hi all.....just wanted to pop in and give an update on how things are going so far this year.   It's been quite an adventure and the picture above may be a bit misleading.  I'm not exactly overwhelmed with paperwork as it may look like.  Allow me to elaborate...

Making the switch to Standards Based Grading has been a stretching experience for me.  Previous installers of SBG have forewarned that the start-up is quite taxing.  They were not kidding.  SBG has definitely kept me on my toes, challenging my thinking, and helping me to pinpoint exactly what I need to look for from students.   The biggest portion of my time is spent on developing and preparing the assessments themselves as I did not have any to begin the school year.  I am making them along the way.  While I think I did a fair job, I definitely will go back through them all next summer and revise them.  For those who are planning on installing it, definitely make quite a few assessments ready to begin the year with - this is not something you want to install mid-year unless you are quite ambitious and have LOTS of free time.

Nearing the end of the 1st quarter mark, SBG has been keeping me accountable and more importantly, the students.   I have seen students get frustrated at the scores they earn (and I am frustrated myself too since I felt I did a good job helping students learn the content, but not so).  However, students and I have been having conversations about the skills they need to work on.  It's definitely good to see students saying something like "I don't understand the significance of pH for cells" or "I'm not able to count significant digits in multiplication/division operations."  In the past, students would have said "I don't understand."   It's quite the difference to see they can recognize their own weaknesses.   The students and I can clearly see what they can/cannot do and why they earned the score they did.

Some general observations:

• Grading has taken MUCH less time. The assessments are very specific and it is clearly evident if the students can or can not do the skill required of them.  There is no room for subjectivity.  I have been able to grade all of my students assessments the same day they take them and return it to them the next day.  This has allowed me to focus more time on preparing quality lessons (or as I stated earlier, developing assessments themselves).
• Despite the huge start-up investments for SBG, I continue to press on because I can see the value in it.  I have started things in the past and not finished them (academically or nonacademically), so this is saying something.
• Seeing the scores has separated the quality workers from the quantity workers.  I can clearly see who's motivated and who's not.  Which leads me to my next point....

Some students do not like the scores they are receiving.  We review what they do not understand and they want to do better.  So I explain they can make appointments with me after school for extra instruction/support (I have set up a big calendar on my wall for them to make appointments).   At the beginning of the year, I did not have high expectations as the student population at my school generally do not care about grades (just make sure they are good enough to play sports).  However, to date, I have had 4 students make appointments to come after school (and 3 showed up...the 4th forgot and claims she will make another appointment).  For the students that did show up, they all were able to improve their skills.   2 of them took a reassessment a couple days later and improved their scores.  The third tells me he wants to soon.  He even shocked me - he went online and made some flashcards at studystack.com to help him review key vocabulary for this particular skill.

It is so good to see these students want to do better.  To date, these students are the ones with the better overall scores and understanding.  I can only hope and pray that these students doing better will rub off on other students.  It all comes down to that intrinsic motivation of wanting to do well because they want it for themselves, not because they want to do it for me.

One last thing -- I'm learning about SBG at the same time I'm making the adjustment to a 7 period schedule.  Currently, I'm only teaching 5 and all different subject areas (and two entirely new for me) so trying to plan for each of these classes has my head spinning.  I often find myself having to slow down to make sure I've got material and plans for EACH class.  It is really trying balancing all these adjustments I have to make.  Feelings of unpreparedness, inadequacy, "is this working/is this not working?" constantly bombard me.   As I said, my experience this year thus far has been a stretching one.  But I take solace in the fact that I will become a better teacher because of this and the students I teach will be better learners.

I hope to find time to make another post soon about how my students are faring without homework.

Hope you are all well.   Drop me a line and let me know how you're all faring.  Now, back to my "paper pile".....  

Assessments and Homework

It's been some time since I last posted, but a lot of has happened.  It's been a stressful time, making several adjustments this school year at the same time.  It's been a "stretching" for me and in the moment, I don't like it, but as I look back, I realize I am growing from it and making myself a better teacher.

As I expected with the first few assessments, lots of the scores were low. I currently grade with 5 levels for each skill, with 5 being mastered.  Only one student to date has a 4.  Some students expressed surprise (to put it mildly) but I was able to clearly show them what they could or could not do.  So far, only one student has asked for reassessment which will occur in a couple days.   One thing I thought was interesting to note -- a student who is known for being a "trouble" kid is actually my top student so far.  I'm gonna make it a point to share with this student tomorrow this fact.  I'm sure this student could use the encouragement.

And now, further evidence that I'm stocking up against homework....here are some quotes from Alfie Kohn's "The Homework Myth" book.  I recommend again for your reading if you haven't already.

• For those of you who say homework is good for practice (myself being formerly one of them),  it's actually more like a drill to produce a desired behavior response. It's not actually learning.  Students become "less autonomous, more dependent.  Stuck in the middle of a problem, they're less likely to try to figure out what makes sense to do next and more likely to try to remember what they're supposed to do next - what behavioral response they've been taught to produce."
• Another point about practice - "giving practice problems to students who lack understanding can have any of several effects: 1) it may make them feel stupid (over and over again, they're reminded of what they can't do), 2) it may get them accustomed to doing things the wrong way, because what's 'reinforced' are mistaken assumptions, 3) it may teach them to fake it, perhaps by asking someone else for the correct answers, to conceal what they don't know."  (there are more, but I'm gonna stop here)
• A teacher is quoted as saying "How about the student who practices all the problems wrong?  What good did the homework assignment do her (the student)?  I want my students to do their learning in my presence, so I can immediately correct them, or take them in a different direction, or push them further, or learn from them."
• Another teacher says about English "assessment depends on observation, and if we do not allow students to write during class, we cannot observe their process or find the time to give them the responses and ask the questions that matter."

Those last two bullets are hitting the nail on the head for me.  This is especially true for the deaf students that I teach.  They need immediate (and I mean immediate) feedback or they are lost.  I want to be there to provide that one thing they may need in order to grasp a concept.  I don't want them trying something at home that they could do wrong or someone else could mislead them.

On to week 5.....

The Homework Myth

At the recommendation of Kelly from Physics! Blog!, I am reading the book "The Homework Myth" by Alfie Kohn.  She knew I was debating the idea of homework or no homework and how I had leaned towards the latter.  This book has really opened my eyes.  For any of you who use SBG, even though I've just started, I do recommend it.

So far from the first two chapters, I've gleaned a few important facts.

1) Homework takes the student away from their family while they are home.  I have always believed the family is essential to a child's well being growing up.
2) Homework is a continuation of "school" at home.  They need a break.  They need to be able to take care of themselves - spend time with their family, play sports, socialize, get some exercise, play games, read a book for enjoyment, or just hang.  The list can and does go on.
3) Parents are asked to become "teachers".  They need to just be parents.  Can you imagine working all day then coming home and have to teach your child what your teacher couldn't do?
4) Homework often creates family conflicts.  Nagging from parents can lead to arguments.  Can you imagine being a student coming home and the first thing out of your mom or dad's mouth is something along the lines of "So what do you have for homework tonight?"  No "how are you" or "how was your day" or any similar question that wants to connect with you.
5) Is learning really happening?  Parents have been observed high-fiving their child just for completing the homework.  Not "what did you learn about?" or "what did your studies help you understand about this subject?"  This one was a eye-opener for me.  Seems parents were more interested  and sending the message, intentionally or not, that homework was just something to be done, not something that fosters learning.
6) Homework does not help.  Kohn went through lots of research dating back to 1897 related to homework.  He did not find any research that supports the use of homework. Most research he found actually showed homework hurt student achievement.  The few positive results he did find were very minimal gains and did not present a strong case for using homework.

What the author is doing is asking people who use it to prove the benefits of homework and have the data to back it up.  He hasn't seen it yet, which is why he's against homework use.  I'm inclined to agree with him.  If you know of any research that does, I would be happy to read it and I'm sure the author would too!

One final note that struck me.  If a student has to do homework, I'm not doing my job.  They are not learning.  Comments from a couple of teachers: one said "the students are compelled to be in my class forty-eight minutes a day.  If I can't get done in forty-eight minutes what I need to get done, then I really have no business intruding on their family time."  Another said, "I am forced to create lessons that are so good that no further drilling is required when the lessons are completed."

I've only read two chapters so far, but I'm hooked already and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the book. I'm going back to my classroom now to take on this challenge of becoming a better teacher with the class time I have to teach the students.

It's Done!

Earlier I posted that most of my SBG skills lists were done, but not all.   Well, NOW they are all done!  I am so excited about how they look.  I'm anxious to find out how it will go over with students, with myself, and how the grading will stand up to the challenge this year.

A colleague I was working with said something I had already felt: "I feel like I know what I'm going to look for and what students are going to learn for the entire year."  (emphasis mine)   Zing!   Isn't that a great feeling?  A nice feature of SBG!  Pacing guides are great, but they are just general ideas of what topics we'll be diving into.  SBG will help assess (ready for it?)  - learning!

Of course, as usual, our human nature comes up after a good feeling --- what if this doesn't work !?!  I cannot say that I'm not worried.  I have read all about it, researched it, followed people who use it, and looked at countless examples.  So it should work.....right?  It is a big change (risk?) and that's something I'm not used to.  However, I do have confidence in the evidence that is out there.  And if I fall flat on my face, I'll shoulder all the blame.  Isn't that part of growing and learning - trying new things?   I just hope it doesn't come at the expense of student growth.  I have usually been against using students in some "research project" or something similar because I don't want to mess with their education.  But I find myself in the same shoes that I was pretty much against.  We shall see....

Now on to the assessments themselves.  That'll be the challenge.  I know I'll be doing these on the fly -- not ideal, but considering the time I have left, I'll have to do it week by week.  I'll be browsing around some of your blogs for ideas, but any suggestions from you SBG users?

Setting Up Concept Skills Lists

After weeks of reading and learning about SBG, I felt somewhat ready (confident would not be the word I would use at this point) to try to develop the skill concepts and the grading rubrics I would use for each. One of the first things we (we meaning the other high school science teachers I work with) had to figure out is the grading scale for each skill concept. Naturally, one of the best ways to figure this out was to talk to people who already use it. So I talked with several people and especially @jbrtva and another math teacher at my school who incidentally had started using SBG themselves for a year and a half prior. We thought maybe 1-10 because it would be easier to match the grading scale in PowerSchool (the grading system we use at our school). But never just take the easy way. We realized that we couldn't come up with 10 different levels for just one skill concept – it was starting to become a little toooo subjective. So we decided on 1-5 (5 being mastered or on grade level).

Incidentally, our state had just revamped the standards for science, so naturally it was a great time to revamp the curriculum at the same time as well. Our curriculum coordinator gave us some time (paid, yay!) during the summer to work on this project. One of the things we realized we needed to do was determine what skills were “grade level” and what skills should have already been known or exposed to before they came to us. We developed a vertical alignment chart for each subject area we teach and brought it to our summer project. We each had somewhat slowly started developing the skills for grading but felt unsure of ourselves.

Well, its amazing what can be done when two or three people can get together and start discussing how it works. Once we were able to verbalize (in our case, “sign”-alize) what we were looking for, this got the ball rolling. We found it easier to list all the skills the state wanted them to demonstrate (although we did do them about 10-15 at a time, depending on the units we were going to teach and how interconnected they were). Once we got those skills listed, we went back and broke down sequentially each step a student would have to learn before they could actually master the skill. In some cases, we ended up combining two skills and in others, we split up one skill into two different skills. The more we did, the more confident we felt. We were able to do the skill concept lists and curricula for 5 different subject areas (well, 4 and 3/4 -- Physics is nearly complete and we feel confident we can finish by the start of the school year).

A few things I noticed as I was working on the lists:

• I realized some things I had been grading were not really as important as others.
• As we worked on the different levels for each concept skill, it really forced us to think hard about what we really were looking for and what prerequisite skills were needed beforehand.
• I love how straightforward the grading will be – I understand what is to be done. More importantly, the students know what is to be done.

A few questions also came up for me:

• Is this grading scale going to live up to its billing?
• Will the students understand what I'm trying to do?
• What if I missed something that should be graded? Is it fair to add in during the middle of the year?
• Should I use the list I/we developed for myself only or share it with the kids word for word? Should I simplify it for the students?

Now that this is nearing completion, I am getting excited to see it in action. But also nervous as well. My current mantra remains the same – “Think of the long term results.” Do any of you have suggestions, thoughts, comments? Maybe some insight to some of the questions I have, especially the last two questions?

Starting on the SBG Road - No Homework?

Ok, so now that I've got my stuff organized (see last blog post), the easy part. The hard part was figuring out how was I going to grade the students? I didn't want to grade regurgitated facts – I wanted to grade their learning. Again, Twitter came to the rescue. I believe it was @ccarmen, @gardenglen, and @Brunsell... who turned me onto the idea of SBG – Standards Based Grading. They directed me to a couple of sites and from there, the snowball effect took place.

In my early attempt to define it (since it cannot be summarized in a short way), the students are graded based on the standards. It has nothing to do with effort/participation, quizzes, bonus points, etc. The grade is based on how well you understand the standards or perform the standards. One thing that got my attention me – homework is NOT graded. Yes, you read that right.

I had always believed in giving homework --- my goal with homework was always practice, practice, practice. What struck me especially was that students should be able to practice without pressure. Why punish students for practicing? (punish in this case means a bad grade) It doesn't matter what one is doing when they are practicing – they usually won't get it right the first time, be it sports, music, or schoolwork. They should be able to practice without pressure - just be able to try and try again.  That really hit home with me – my students usually have a lot of personal issues to deal with and they don't need another pressure point with homework. I would love for them to practice. If they couldn't do it, they could come see me the next day. If they can, what would that do for their self-esteem? One of the biggest things about my students is they often get a message (intentional or not) and the message is “you can't.” I want them to believe in themselves and see that they CAN.

There is a lot about SBG that I will have to learn. But I have gleaned that 1) it will be harder for students, 2) grades should drop – fall more in line what state testing scores, but 3) it can and should reflect their actual skills. More on this in the following posts.....

If you use SBG, what is it that you like about it most?