As always I found Michael McDowell very insightful about his perspectives in a very practical way. I must admit i found the reference to American Sport a little confusing but I will look into his references post blog. His assertion that "What separates 'what works' from what works best' is that the latter focuses on the relentless effort of the adults to enhance student learning by illuminating student prior knowledge and intervening accordingly and providing students the tools to understand and direct their own learning' is key to student growth. We as teachers know that there are many strategies that work and we all have our own Theory of Action as to why we believe that these are the best strategies. I full understand why some teachers will not let go of tried and true methods in favour of 'new' ones however his point about being clear on the focus being, where the learner is now, what misassumptions they may have and do they know where they are going, where they are now and how to get there links into Hattie's highest effect size (Assessment capable learners) What I find really interesting is how this process is not so straight forward as McDowell explains with his example of the effect size of problem based learning on surface learning but quadrupled at the deep and transfer level. i am wondering if this is reflected in NAPLAN results and the link to contemporary methodology.
McDowell emphasises the importance of student growth and in educators being able to have evidence of this growth by highlighting the gap from start of the finish of the learning cycle. Our PL focus on Surface Deep and Transfer seems to be the right path and is supported by his comment, "...educators and students must develop a common understanding of the levels of learning." (pg49)
The second half of this chapter was not as easy to comprehend and i found myself reading and rereading the graphs and trying to make sense of them. The takeaways were that whilst it is important for teachers to have some autonomy there are some key aspects of the learning and teaching that must be coherent across the grade and the school. 'know they impact' was a clear message for me as one can assume that the impact is there but how to we know. The check in through the surveys to see if the atmosphere of the school and the classroom is conducive to transformational learning can be a start for some teachers - where students have some input to their learning experiences.
I believe this chapter sets some challenges for schools. With the changing curriculums over such a short period of time and the number of syllabuses for primary I wonder how we can support teachers to show 'content knowledge, formative assessments, data analysis, best practices and instructional strategies' across all KLAs
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Chapter 3 delves deeper in the difference between the 'Bypass' and 'Engage' approaches and also reinforces the need to reduc... -
The first chapter focuses heavily on reducing change to increase improvement. The most interesting point I took out of th...
I too was pleased that we appear to be on the right track with student learning being at Surface, Deep and transfer levels in order for us to establish progress. I also like his reference to the importance of using data to measure performance but that this data needs to be used to both celebrate success as well as improve performance.
ReplyDeleteIn order for us to know when we have been effective educators we must have some way of knowing what students 'believed, knew, could do or felt' before we started with the learning cycle (if I'm not mistaken this is where the Ks and NTKs come in). Then we revisit this at the end of the learning cycle to see if there is any change in the 'minds, skills and attitudes' of the the students. This I am sure is easier said then done and where we continue to support staff on their journey. The table showing Level of Learning p 46 could be of some assistance here.
I agree with the blog and your comments Elly. It was refreshing to see we are on the right track and developing a common understanding of the levels of complexity - surface, deep and transfer. I am interested to hear about ways we can gather what the learners already know (Yes I too believe it is Knows and Need to Knows) beyond written test. I says this because in all the evidence I seen showing growth and the quadrants - has used excel and has been based on percentage or a mark? I wonder is there other high yield strategies that we can use to gather this data that is also seen as beneficial and valid. Does moderating assessment samples work just as well - especially when we have a common understanding of the levels of complexity.
ReplyDeleteI think guiding the students to clearly articulate their new learning is also essential - mainly to make sure misconceptions are dealt with and to see the students understand they have closed the gap. I like the strategy of I used to believe this - now I believe this.. is one such way.
I look forward to our discussions.
I agree with all above but This effect size still confuses me. When people use numbers they need to explain what the scale is and how it is devised.
ReplyDeleteThis one years growth in one year is very clear when we have something like the MAI with growth points to measure but how is this shown in Science? History? How do we know what a years growth looks like when we use a staged curriculum? As teachers do we even look for growth in these areas or just performance?
Thanks Leanda for video will watch.