Formative Assessments from Smarter Balanced Digital Library

The Smarter Balanced Digital Library

Formative assessment is a deliberate process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides actionable feedback that is used to adjust ongoing teaching and learning strategies to improve students’ attainment of curricular learning targets/goals.

There are four attributes in the Formative Assessment Process, represented graphically as a clover:  

• Clarify intended learning
• Elicit evidence
• Interpret evidence
• Act on evidence

Use the “Formative Assessment Attributes” filter to search for Digital Library resources for each of these attributes.

Learn more about the formative assessment process and the four attributes:

• Understanding the Formative Assessment Process interactive module 
• One-page summary of the Formative Assessment attributes

Tier 1,2,3 Vocabulary

This was taken from Dr. Averil Coxhead's work on Vocabulary at the following link:

Vocabulary Tiers and Samples

Common Core Vocabulary, Tier I, II and III Words

COMMON CORE TIER VOCABULARY INFORMATION

Common Core State Standards: Focus on Tier 2 & Tier 3 Academic Vocabulary

Tier 1 Basic words that commonly appear in spoken language.  Because they are heard frequently in numerous contexts and with nonverbal communication, Tier 1 words rarely require explicit instruction.Examples of Tier 1 words are clock, baby, happy and walk.

Tier 2 High frequency words used by mature language users across several content areas.  Because of their lack of redundancy in oral language, Tier 2 words present challenges to students who primarily meet them in print.  Examples of Tier 2 words are obvious, complex, establish and verify.

Tier 3 Words that are not frequently used except in specific content areas or domains.  Tier 3 words are central to building knowledge and conceptual understanding within the various academic domains and should be integral to instruction of content.  Medical, legal, biology and mathematics terms are all examples of these words.

The following lists were created by Dr. Averil Coxhead Senior Lecturer
School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at Victoria University of Wellington

averil.coxhead@vuw.ac.nz

 

High Mileage Word List

 

High Mileage Word Families 

Reading/Writing/Creating - Extending IPads with SAMR

Now that the Students have IPads, what is a good way to extend their use? Consider the SAMR model then plan a lesson using the Scholastic News Online.

"SAMR is a model designed to help educators infuse technology into teaching and learning. Popularized by Dr. Ruben Puentedura, the model supports and enables teachers to design, develop, and infuse digital learning experiences that utilize technology." from Kathy Shrock's Guide to Everything

Here's a suggestion: give students access to  Scholastic News Online and have them choose an article to read or a video to view. Work in pairs, write or react to the item, discuss then create something unique! 

Extending IPad Use

Now that the Students have IPads, what is a good way to extend their use? Consider the SAMR model.

"SAMR is a model designed to help educators infuse technology into teaching and learning. Popularized by Dr. Ruben Puentedura, the model supports and enables teachers to design, develop, and infuse digital learning experiences that utilize technology." from Kathy Shrock's Guide to Everything

Here's a suggestion: give students access to  Scholastic News Online and have them choose an article to read or a video to view. Work in pairs, write or react to the item, discuss then create something unique! 

Teach This Poem

Highly recommended new, free resource from the Academy of American Poets! 
A poem a week with a simple lesson plan.  Poems are chosen to compliment the season and the latest news cycle. There is so much richness here! 

"Produced for K-12 educators, Teach This Poem features one poem a week from our online poetry collection, accompanied by interdisciplinary resources and activities designed to help teachers quickly and easily bring poetry into the classroom. The series is curated by our Educator in Residence, Dr. Madeleine Fuchs Holzer, and is available for free via email."Sign Up for Teach This Poem

Literate Cape Thanksgiving Newsletter!

Grateful

Sharing Gratitude

Grateful

Literacy in the Content Areas

Literacy in the Content Areas Read here for more examples

Ed Weekly discussed the focus on teaching reading and writing in the content areas.

"...Schools, districts, and states are increasingly shaping what happens in science and social studies classes around the Common Core State Standards for literacy in history, social studies, science, and technical subjects. These lesser-known standards, tucked in the back of the English/language arts section of the common core, aim to teach students to read, write, and analyze text like a historian, a scientist, or some other disciplinary expert.

"We're asking all teachers to be teachers of reading and writing in their disciplines," said Bridgett Bird, the senior manager of content literacy for the 90,000-student Denver public school system and the head of the group that developed the chemistry lessons and other discipline-based literacy lessons. "Literacy is the key to equity. If we're only focused on literacy in [English/language arts], we're leaving out seven-eighths of the day."

Books that Teach Gratitude

Thanksgiving is almost here! 

Brightly brings us books that we can use in the classroom to help teach children what it means to be THANKFUL.

Check out this link: WHAT IT MEANS TO BE THANKFUL

Explaining the Election Results to Students

Today Teachers get to explain the what and why of our National Elections: not an easy task given the race, the media and the outcome.

Here's a link that can help from Scholastic News that includes and Electoral Map and articles that are helpful.  My favorite part is an interactive vocabulary list.

"The Icing or the Cake?" form ASCD

The Fall Literacy Workshop that we attended last week with Kylene Beers and Robert Probst got me thinking. What are the elements of student engagement?

The ASCD article by Kristina J. Doubt and Jessica A Hockett,  "The Icing or the Cake?" answered many of my questions. Here's a look:

"Teachers can plan for student engagement so that it's more than just decoration.

Please, please, please try to just shake it up sometimes. Give us a variety of work and activities and don't just stick to the same type of lesson every day."

This student's plea, reported in Grant Wiggins' 2014 Annual Student Survey of Academic Experience, reflects the longing of students in classrooms everywhere. Embedded in this learner's request are the top three culprits of classroom boredom, echoed by numerous high school students in the same survey: "Our assignments are just busywork," "There's no variety in what we do from day to day," and "The teacher talks too much."

It's tempting to dismiss such comments as the predictable complaints of adolescents who are inundated with compelling and distracting content from screens and social media. But similar themes emerged in the responses of elementary and middle school students who were surveyed with the same questions (Wiggins, 2014a, 2014b). Both common sense and research tell us that an engaged student at any grade level will invest—and therefore achieve—more than will a disengaged student (Sousa and Tomlinson, 2011; Hattie, 2012; Walkington, 2013). So instead of disregarding these students' complaints, we should use them to catapult us toward more effective planning.

How then can teachers plan lessons that address required content and standards while promoting student investment? We offer the following four practical principles that address sources of disengagement."

My summary of the article is a short list. Engagement with students relies on four factors:

• Teacher/Student Relationships
• Concepts and Essential Questions
• Responding to Progress 
• Offering Choice