Common Formative Assessment Book Study Chapter 4
Chapter 4 - The Unwrapping Process -- Achieving Collective Clarity on Learning Targets
After reading about the unwrapping process in this chapter, which of these steps do you think your PLC will find most difficult? The easiest?
I think that the easiest steps for our PLC will be the first two because they are more straightforward than the others. They would therefore be easier to agree on and go fairly quickly. The authors even say that step two doesn't have to be done the same way by all members of the team.
ReplyDeleteThe most difficult will probably be step four for the same reason that our students have difficulty finding the "main idea" of something. I can see us teachers having a hard time letting go of some of the details in order to get down to the real meat of a standard.
During our PLC I believe Step 5 will be the most difficult and important. Establishing guiding question which both engage the students and create a deep understanding of the Big Idea from Step 4, could be a challenge.
ReplyDeleteStep 1 is something we do all the time in PLC now, so it is the easiest.
I think that step four will be the most difficult. As it was stated in an earlier chapter, it would take 23 years to teach the national standards. With that said, the "important information" is hard to decipher.
ReplyDeleteThe easiest step will be step one. We have already been doing this in our reading PLC and have agreed on key words used in common assessments.
Easiest: #5 By this point in the process, the guiding question has been discussed, but just not given the title "guiding question."
ReplyDeleteMost difficult: #2 Many aspects must be evaluated/discussed/sorted. Members of the PLC may have differing opinions. Finally, it's easy to get bogged down in the minutiae and lose sight of the goal - what to teach students.
The easiest is step one. We have been unwrapping the SS standards in our District grade level meetings. Identifying implied learning targets in Step two is the most difficult. SS has over 100 standards and many are vague and implied. The struggle is figuring out which points to teach.
ReplyDeleteI think that step one and step two are the easiest for us in our PLC. Why are they the easiest? Because we have been doing them based on our Kilgo training. I think the more and more practice we have mapping it out the easier it is to make sure we do the justice to teach the kids everything they are supposed to know. I think the hardest is when we get to step five. I think that different teachers will have different options on what the questions should be asked. Some may feel that some of the guiding questions give away too much of the answer. Also, in math there are different ways to solve problems and different educations have different opinions on how to teach concepts.
ReplyDeleteThis is the difference between the good and great teachers! There are different ways to approach problems in all subjects. This requires differentiation for students and that is extremely challenging.
DeleteBrilliant Point!
My PLC was brilliant/easier with 1) focus on the key words 2) Map it out 3) analyze the target; they were experienced with the standards and some earlier training spotlighting these first three items complimented our focus: assessment writing.
ReplyDeleteYears ago in a Professional Teaching Model workshop I met Lisa “Ms. Charisma” Brown from the Dana Center and I asked her, “What’s the most significant part of CMP.”
Lisa said, “The story.”
When we attack items 4) determine the big idea and 5) guiding questions I suspect we’ll see the greatest show on Earth.
"After reading about the unwrapping process in this chapter, which of these steps do you think your PLC will find most difficult? The easiest?"
ReplyDeleteI liked this chapter as it supported much of what we already do as a district. Though we have practiced this unwrapping, it needs to be completed and done more consistently.
I find steps 4 and 5 to be easiest to complete as they are already addressed in the district curriculum. Therefore, our PLC will find the most time and effort devoted to steps 2 and 3.
Step 2, clarifying the standards (including what is NOT written), AND to clarify unmeasurable terms with verb substitution were GREAT IDEAS! Never would have thought of those on my own...
ReplyDeleteOur PLC probably could have benefitted most from addressing Step 3 more. I think our strengths were on Steps 4, and 5.
Yes, I know there shouldn't be a comma after "Steps 4"...My bad!
DeleteIn applying it to my Spanish classes, step 1 is the easiest. Step 5 is harder because at this level students are not ready for guiding questions. I firmly believe that by level 2 steps 4 and 5 will be easier as they advance in the foreign language.
ReplyDeleteStep 1 - focusing on key words, should be the easiest for any PLC.
ReplyDeleteThe most difficult; step 2, which is probably why the authors spent the most time on it.The graphic organizers and verb substitutions should help with ambiguity in mapping out learning targets.
After reading the responses posted thus far, it is obvious that our PLCs are in different places. One resource that is available to all of us and should be using to unwrap our standards is our clarifying documents in Forethought. There is one for each of our TEKS and they address the cognitive rigor, content, context, and a sample assessment item.
ReplyDeleteDifficult- Step 2 Mapping It Out: Ensuring that team members unwrap the same concepts and skills.
ReplyDeleteEasiest- Step 1 Focus on the Key Words: The SS Dept has used this concept for a few years now. Julia started us breaking down standards a couple of years ago.
The easiest step for our PLC would definitely be Step 1. Kilgo training kind of made everyone a pro at focusing on key words.
ReplyDeleteThe most difficult would probably be Step 2. Mapping it out is definitely the most time consuming and sifting through various ideas and resources can be challenging.
Step one, focusing on the key words in a standard, is the easiest step. In my opinion, the most challenging step is part of Step 3, mapping out the standards, especially when considering the "vague or ambiguous" learning targets. The "umbrella standards" the author refers to can be problematic in providing consistent instruction. In addition, clarifying immeasurable targets with verb substitution is essential in order to help students to master the standards.
ReplyDeleteStep one seems like it would be the easiest, since, as has already been mentioned, vocabulary is a big part of education at HMS- especially in terms of teaching ELLs.
ReplyDeleteBecause of its complexity, I think Step Two would be the most difficult until we've had a great deal of practice mapping out a variety of concepts and skills. I can also see this as the most helpful in unwrapping the standards because it gets to the meat of what we're attempting to teach. I particularly like the strategy of clarifying unmeasurable targets with verb substitutions (p.43).
I think Step 1 is the easiest since we are already using the Kilgo process on our campus.
ReplyDeleteStep 5 would probably be the most difficult because there are many different opinions as to what is most important based on prior experiences.
Step one is by far the easiest. Our wonderful Social Studies facilitator, Julia Hyman has been teaching us to do this for about four years. We already use steps 1, 2 and 3 to create our common formative assessments. In our district grade level meetings for the last three or four years, we have been working on creating break downs for each standard with guiding questions. The difficult part is out of the 120+ standards in our subject, which is most important that our students retain. So, I believe the most difficult step is number 4.
ReplyDeleteI think "dealing with vague or ambiguous learning targets" in Step 2 would be the most difficult. Not that we have difficulty at the grade level or a science team, but really trying to unpack what exactly the State is looking for in some of the more general TEKS.
ReplyDeleteWe are already utilizing most of the other steps during our PLC and in the classroom.
Step one I felt was the easiest for our PLC as we had training on how to work through the SEs. Step 5 was more difficult since we were working to create questions that addressed the higher levels of thinking and that dealt with a two step process compared to the more straight forward lower level thinking questions from the past.
ReplyDeleteEasiest: steps 1 and 2. We’ve had some experience with the process now and the district is providing more help with this on the science website.
ReplyDeleteHardest: step 5. The last two years at district facilitator meetings, this was a difficult area to come to a consensus on.
Steps 4 and 5 were easier with curriculum being available online. Step 2 of Mapping it out would be the more challenging.
ReplyDelete