Sunday, October 29, 2017

Is Chunk-Chew-and-Check Enough


Excellence in Education: Is Chunk-Chew-and-Check Enough?
Chunk-and-Chew is a highly effective and simple to use instructional strategy that breaks content into smaller pieces (no more than ten minutes worth) and allows students to process and interact with the material.

Several years ago I wrote about Chunk-Chew-Check as an effective strategy:
Over the past few weeks I’ve seen several great examples of interactive lectures or chunk and chew learning. Because students can be overwhelmed with too much information, it’s important to give students time to process and interact with content by giving it to them in manageable chunks and providing them with opportunities to chew on it. Just as importantly, while students were chewing on the content, teachers used that time to listen for misconceptions or misunderstandings (formatively assessing students) while providing feedback.

Some Chewing Activities I observed:

  1. Turn-n-talk: Teacher provides a question and student partners respond and discuss.
  2. Quick writes: Students are given a writing prompt or question and are given a minute or two to write answers. Students can then share answers with others or with the class. One possible quick write structure: Have students respond to I was surprised that…..I learned that….I wonder about…..
  3. Creating questions: Students are provided with index cards and are asked to formulate questions or ask for clarification. After collecting the cards, the teacher can use the questions to close class. If students need help developing questions, you may simply ask, “What’s the most confusing thing?” or “What do I need to do a better job of explaining?”
  4. Graphic organizer: At the beginning of the class, have students develop a graphic organizer strategy (different students chose different strategies: chart, web, skeleton notes and were grouped accordingly). The lesson was chunked and students were provided opportunities to add to their graphic organizer and share with their new partners (students who chose the same graphic organizer).

Without a doubt, the Chunk-Chew-Check model of teaching has its place, but it doesn’t allow students to truly dive into a subject matter and truly interact with the information. By adding a couple of steps, we can rectify Chunk-Chew-Checks shortcomings.

Chunk: The teacher chunks lesson content into sections.

Challenge: The teacher challenges students to think about what has just been taught, read, viewed, etc. In this new stage, the teacher presents a targeted question or two to guide students to dig deeper into the content. This is also an opportunity to differentiate instruction based on student readiness.

Chew: Students chew it over and begin processing the challenge.

Chat: Students chat with each other and then with the whole class through a variety of structured activities (pair-share, philosophical chairs, pinwheel discussion, affinity diagramming, etc.)   During this stage, students express their understanding, allowing the teacher to engage and assess students.

Check: As students chew and chat, the teacher roams the classroom with targeted checks for understanding. The formative assessment strategies can be informal (talking to students, listening to responses,thumbs-up/thumbs-down) to more formal ones like a quick write, completion of a graphic organizer, etc.

This is a great strategy to use when teaching content, a skill or a process. It provides opportunities for formative assessment, feedback (both teacher and student directed) and reteaching.

Need To Knows
Sign-up for Faculty Meeting Focus Groups. If you haven’t yet signed up for your focus groups, please do so by visiting https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdzmj7rx5158rs1ZeQRNLVy3KdYebAP0yEJbQ5lwg0yB7YHUQ/viewform

Also, if you haven’t yet signed up for Making Connections, here’s the link https://www2.k12albemarle.org/dept/instruction/arc/PD/connections2017/Pages/default.aspx  Making Connections is on November 6 and is required professional development. There are some great presenters this year. I can vouch for Ron Nash, Zaretta Hammond, and Richard Byrne.

Mustang Morning. Please remember that you should draft any student who has a D or F. Absences to Mustang Morning should be recorded in the system, but as administrators we can only see this when we look up the individual student. If a student skips Mustang Morning, the consequences are as follows
  1. Teacher discusses matter with student and family
  2. Teacher writes a Mustang Morning Referral (½ sheet referral available in mailroom) and administration discusses matter with student, issues administrative warning and contacts family.
  3. Teacher writes a Mustang Morning Referral; student will be assigned Mustang Morning or Lunch Detention by administration.
  4. Teacher writes a Mustang Morning Referral; student will be assigned After School Detention by administration.

Blackboard Please remember that ALL homework assignments and project due dates must be posted on the class calendar.

The crisis notification phone number in the event of a sudden emergency near your working area will enable you to reach someone immediately by dialing 61911 from any phone in the building.  The number will ring all telephones in the main office, clinic, and each administrator's office in the event of a crisis.  

Pledge of Allegiance: School Board Policy: "No student shall be compelled to recite the Pledge if he/she, his/her parent or legal guardian objects on religious, philosophical, or other grounds to his/her participating in this exercise. Students who are exempt from reciting the Pledge shall quietly stand or sit at their desks while others recite the Pledge and shall make no display that disrupts or distracts those who are reciting the Pledge ."

Leaving your classroom: If you and your students leave your classroom, please post a note on your door stating where you will be and notify the following people: Nurse Tomlin (ttomlin), Tiffany Daniels (tdaniels), Kate Melvin (kmelvin), Miriah Dudley (mdudley) and Cynthia Serrano (cserrano).

Substitutes: As you create your substitute plans, please be sure to provide them with information regarding student accommodations (health plans, SBIT, 504s, IEPs). Please be sure to turn your emergency lesson plans into Kate.

Useful Links

Technology / Website Permission Request Form Please use this form to request use of a website or any resource that requires student log-in if the site is not already on the approved list. DART approved list



Birthdays
October 22: Jeremy Dove, Paige Pippin
October 23: Josh Flaherty
October 27: Lynn Waidelich
October 29: Irving Walker (cafeteria)

Calendar and Memo Items
October 23: Picture Retakes
October 25-26: Exams for semester-block classes 1st/3rd and 2nd/4th periods, respectively
October 26: End of Quarter 1
October 27: Teacher Work Day
October 30: Physics Field Trip*
November 1: 10th grade Field Trip to Career Expo*
November 2: All County Chorus*
November 3: Grades due (9am)

*Please see Monticello Shared Calendar for list of field trip students

Worth Your Time




Feedback


Excellence in Education: Feedback
I came across the following when reading John Hattie’s Visible Learning and the Science of How We Learn.
  1. It is important to focus on how feedback is received rather than how it is given
  2. Feedback becomes powerful when it renders criteria for success in achieving learning goals transparent to the learner
  3. Feedback becomes powerful when it cues a learner’s attention onto the task, and effective task-related strategies but away from self-focus
  4. Feedback needs to engage learners at, or just above, their current level of functioning.
  5. Feedback should challenge the learner to invest effort in setting challenging goals
  6. The learning environment must be open to errors and to disconfirmation
  7. Peer feedback provides a valuable platform for elaborative discourse. Given opportunities, students readily learn appropriate methods and rules by which respectful peer feedback can be harnessed
  8. Feedback cues teachers to deficiencies within their instructional management and can lead to efforts to improve teaching practices
Building on the idea of peer feedback (#7), here as some strategies I’ve seen various teachers using to ensure effective feedback and learning:

  1. Classroom discussion boards and blogs using BlackBoard and Google Sites
  2. Group celebrations--it’s pretty cool to see students complementing each other and giving high-fives
  3. Provide students with a template and slowly work-up to more specific and detailed feedback over time. This is so important and often neglected, but we need to teach how to provide AND receive feedback
    • Provide a rubric or a template
    • Have students answer questions like my favorite part was..., I found this unclear/confusing...
  4. Having the original author/student receiving feedback reflect on how he/she used the peer editing process to improve his/her original work
Need To Knows
The crisis notification phone number in the event of a sudden emergency near your working area will enable you to reach someone immediately by dialing 61911 from any phone in the building.  The number will ring all telephones in the main office, clinic, and each administrator's office in the event of a crisis.  

Pledge of Allegiance: School Board Policy: "No student shall be compelled to recite the Pledge if he/she, his/her parent or legal guardian objects on religious, philosophical, or other grounds to his/her participating in this exercise. Students who are exempt from reciting the Pledge shall quietly stand or sit at their desks while others recite the Pledge and shall make no display that disrupts or distracts those who are reciting the Pledge ."

Leaving your classroom: If you and your students leave your classroom, please post a note on your door stating where you will be and notify the following people: Nurse Tomlin (ttomlin), Tiffany Daniels (tdaniels), Kate Melvin (kmelvin), Miriah Dudley (mdudley) and Cynthia Serrano (cserrano).

Substitutes: As you create your substitute plans, please be sure to provide them with information regarding student accommodations (health plans, SBIT, 504s, IEPs). Please be sure to turn your emergency lesson plans into Kate.


Useful Links

Technology / Website Permission Request Form Please use this form to request use of a website or any resource that requires student log-in if the site is not already on the approved list. DART approved list



Birthdays
October 16: Garry Gibson
October 19: Jim Huneycutt
October 20: Terry Tomlin
October 22: Jeremy Dove, Paige Pippin


Shout Out
Great fall concert for a great cause on Thursday night. Hat tip to Ms. Hutchison-Krupat, Ms. Williams, and Ms. Whitmore!

Calendar and Memo Items
October 16-19: SOL Writing Test (select seniors and juniors)*
October 18: One-Act Plays*
October 19: Hearing/Visual Screening for 10th graders
October 19: Parent-Teacher Conferences
October 20: Chorus Field Trip*
October 23: Picture Retakes
October 25-26: Exams for semester-block classes 1st/3rd and 2nd/4th periods, respectively
October 26: End of Quarter 1
October 30: Physics Field Trip*
November 3: Grades due (9am)

*Please see Monticello Shared Calendar for list of field trip students

Worth Your Time


Less Time Grading


Excellence in Education: Less Time Grading
Unarguably, feedback, whether it’s positive reinforcement, areas for improvement, or clarifying learning goals, is one of the most important things we do to advance student learning.

About halfway through my teaching career, I came to the realization that I was spending far too much time grading. It wasn’t that I hated grading--I actually enjoyed leaving comments using a wide variety of colored pens to differentiate. But, I realized that most of my work went for naught. Despite my best efforts, the feedback was rarely timely and even more infrequently was it acted upon.

I made it a goal to improve my feedback through other means. Here are some of my favorites:
  1. More frequent quizzes with students grading their own quizzes.
  2. Increased student self-evaluation through rubrics, self-analysis, etc.
  3. One-to-one conferences with students
  4. Peer feedback on concepts, graphic organizers, definitions and other assignments
  5. Color-coded feedback (OK, I couldn’t give up my coloring, but it became more efficient)
  6. Three-step rubrics for longer, written assignments

More Formative Assessment
  1. Cooperative learning strategies like inside-outside circles and reciprocal teaching
  2. Increased use of mini-whiteboards  
  3. Improved questioning strategies

The impetus to my change was based mostly on my frustration at spending hours grading and commenting with little bang for the buck, I discovered that increasing the student’s role in self-assessing and providing feedback led to increased student responsibility. Frequent self-checking and correcting, led to less errors and greater student buy-in and I was able to focus more of my time and energy on improving my teaching.
Need To Knows
Leaving your classroom: If you and your students leave your classroom, please post a note on your door stating where you will be and notify the following people: Nurse Tomlin (ttomlin), Tiffany Daniels (tdaniels), Kate Melvin (kmelvin), Miriah Dudley (mdudley) and Cynthia Serrano (cserrano).

Substitutes: As you create your substitute plans, please be sure to provide them with information regarding student accommodations (health plans, SBIT, 504s, IEPs). Please be sure to turn your emergency lesson plans into Kate.


Useful Links

Technology / Website Permission Request Form Please use this form to request use of a website or any resource that requires student log-in if the site is not already on the approved list. DART approved list



Birthdays
October 10: Michael Remchuk
October 12: Jo Ann Harris

Shout Out
Congratulations to Rolf Mann who received a commendation from College Board for his excellent work as an AP Test Grader.

Calendar and Memo Items
October 10: Tech Tour Field Trip* and Flu Shots (see this link for more info and dates)
October 10: Sip and SIOP Training (see Ms. Timms or Ms. Pryor for details)
October 11: PSATs
October 12:  Faculty Meeting (AM Only) and PD Follow-Up Due -- your PLC should create a student watch list and document your plans using this form
October 12: Senior AVID Trip*
October 12: Music Concert at 7pm
October 13: Art Field Trip*
October 19: Hearing/Visual Screening for 10th graders

*Please see Monticello Shared Calendar for list of field trip students
PSAT Schedule
October 11
There will be NO AM Bells
“0” Period (7:40 – 8:40)
1st Period
8:55-11:05

*10:30: Senior Meeting in Auditorium
2nd Period
11:10-1:30
Lunch

Class
1st: 11:05-11:35
Blue, Green, Other
11:40-1:30
2nd: 11:50-12:15
Red, Purple, PE
11:10-11:50 and 12:20-1:30
3rd: 12:45-1:30
PSAT Students

3rd Period
1:35-2:40
4th Period
2:45-3:50
12th grade AM CATEC Students go to CATEC at Normal Time
PM CATEC Students will leave at 1:30


Friday, October 13 Schedule
A-Day
“0” Period (7:40 – 8:40)
1st Period
8:55-10:15
Club Period
10:20-10:55
2nd Period
11:00-1:00

Lunch
Class
1st: 10:55-11:35
11:40-1:00
2nd: 12:20-1:00
11:00-12:20
3rd Period
1:05-2:25
4th Period
2:30-3:50

Worth Your Time