CEL's Mission - closing the achievement gap

CEL's mission:

CEL is dedicated to eliminating the achievement gap that continues to divide our nation in regards to race, class, language, and disability.

I love this article so much and want to be sure to have it forever! Thank you, Ms. Bogue!!

Anea Bogue Become a fan

Author, Educator, Speaker, Creator of REALgirl and Co-Founder of TrueMoon

Why Beyonce's "Mrs. Carter Tour" Is Bad For Women

What's in a name?

International Women's Day is all about pausing to reflect on our achievements in the long-standing effort to create equality between men and women. I must admit, writing about Beyonce Knowles as part of my thoughts on this important day of reflection was not really part of the plan this year...until she announced her upcoming tour.

For over a decade, Beyonce has been singing about girls and women being independent, surviving and even running the world and I've definitely been a fan. However, when I found out last month that the megastar and girl power proponent was calling her tour the 'Mrs. Carter Show' I thought I was going to short circuit. Perhaps she thought it would be a nice gesture to express her love for Jay-Z or maybe it's just a marketing stunt and her team is completely oblivious of the message it carries. In either case, it is a reminder of how unaware we still are of all the everyday messages that perpetuate the notion that girls and women are less important and less valuable than the male half of our species.

One of the most effective ways we perpetuate inequality between the sexes is by continuing to engage in traditions that are rooted in the notion of male superiority (and thus female inferiority). Marriage is one of the biggest culprits because as beautiful and romantic as it can be, many traditions associated with it stem from the patriarchal belief that a girl is first the property of her father and then of her husband. The common practice of naming babies after their fathers and women taking their husband's name upon marriage, are prime examples. So, too, are the romanticized traditions of a woman's boyfriend asking her father's permission to marry her and the bride's father subsequently walking her down the aisle to "give her away." What message are we sending when we suggest that parental permission is required for an adult woman to get married? We're saying, "We don't think you are a whole person capable of making your own life decisions."

Some 90 per cent of women today still 'choose' to change their name when they get married. But to what extent is choice actually a factor here? It's really hard to exercise one's right to choose when a second or third option is not even presented and the one that is, is set forth as the only honourable, romantic, respectful (to your husband) and commonly accepted thing to do. Many women default to giving up their name without conscious choice and men expect it because they think it's 'just what you do'. The belief system behind the tradition is rarely discussed with girls or with boys, for that matter, so it's probably not surprising that 50 per cent of Americans believe a woman should take her husband's name upon marriage.

Some of the most progressive and educated people I know will argue that the original meaning behind these traditions no longer applies. However, when I ask most men, "How would you feel if your wife asked you to give up your name and take hers?" the very quick and disdainful answer I usually get is "Hell no!"

Frankly, this reaction is understandable. Imagine two people setting up a law firm or any other type of partnership and putting the name of only one partner in the title or on the door. To most, this would be unacceptable because it would imply that one partner was more important and valuable than the other. And yet, we communicate very clearly to girls and women that we expect them to do just that. In what could be the biggest and most important partnership of their lives, we tell them that their individual identity as a whole and separate person is not valued or relevant and in so doing, essentially negate the notion that marriage is actually a partnership at all.

All of this is not to say that if you've taken your husband's name, you don't value yourself as an individual. And if you're a man who has always wanted your wife to take your last name, it doesn't mean you are misogynistic or consciously view her as inferior. However, if you believe in equality between men and women, it's nearly impossible to come up with a sound, logical argument for why a woman should take her husband's name as opposed to both parties keeping their names...hyphenatingboth names...or creating a new name.

What's in a name is our strong, socialized beliefs around the role and place of women in relation to men. It means something that men in our society always remain 'Mr.' but women carry 'Miss', 'Ms.' or 'Mrs.' to define who they are in relation to men. If we are truly dedicated to creating equality between men and women then we will need to consciously address traditions that are anchored in the belief that women are inferior to men.

I thought this was part of Beyonce's mission. In fact, she recently announced her involvement with Gucci's 'Chime for Change' campaign for girls' empowerment, which nobly declares that 'None of us can move forward if half of us are held back.' I couldn't agree more.

Unfortunately, Beyonce's decision to publicly relinquish her own identity and sensationalize a tradition that tells girls their identity is less important than a man's,contributes to holding girls back. She has the ears of millions of girls and boys, women and men, all over the world. Her ability to send and model a powerful message about the value of women and the importance of equality between the sexes is greater than ever. Instead of doing so, by calling her tour the 'Mrs. Carter Show' she is reinforcing and endorsing the exact opposite message. So much for moving forward...unless perhaps Jay-Z is ready to call his tour the 'Mr. Knowles Show.'

LLI Training / Learning in the Fast Lane

LLI Training:

"If you have 8 hours to chop wood, spend 6 hours sharpening your ax and 2 hours chopping." ~Abe Lincoln

• PD, assessment, and planning = sharpening your ax!
• Why:  your "teaching" will be more accurate, intentional and productive

Trajectory:  Teach - Prompt - Reinforce

Keys to a successful intervention program:

1. understand reading process
2. work closely with good classroom instruction
3. 45 min/day
4. 4:1 (allows for FA all the time)
5. 18-24 weeks
6. fidelity to need
7. break the code to read VS decoding only
8. provide language to participate (social intelligence)

Classroom Instruction = RtI

• Intervention implicates both settings
• How do you "debug" a book?  Identify the level and determine.... What is the characteristic of the level they are independently reading?  What is the characteristic of the next level up?  What needs taught?
• Repeated exposure to within, beyond, and about instruction in both settings

Odd Days:  Instructional

• 5 min: Discussion - yesterday's reading
• 5 min: Revisit comprehension, vocabulary, or fluency
• 10 min:  Phonics or word study
• 25 min: set up reading, instructional level: Close Reading/Guided Reading

Even Days:  Independent

• 5 min:  Revisit comprehension, vocabulary, or fluency
• 5 min:  Reread and Assess
• 15 min:  Writing about reading
• 10 min:  Phonics or word study
• 10 min:  IR

F&P Levels:

• LM
• NOP - 3rd grade
• QRS - 4th grade
• TUV - 5th grade
• WXY - 6th grade
• Z - 7th grade

Word Work Strategies:

• say and sort - common features, connections
• share common principle or pattern
• search for patterns
• articulate principle or pattern
• work with partners
• teacher summarizes
• break words
• match pairs
• add and remove parts - notice
• words to know (high frequency and odd balls)

Word Learning:

• Letter sounds
• Spelling patterns
• High frequency words
• Vocabulary and meaning
• Structure
• World solving actions

Learning in the Fast Lane by Suzy Pepper Rollins:

• Standards on the Wall
• Learning Progression/Concept Map:
• Break them down to create a learning progression, 
• include student work, 
• creates short-term and long-term goals, 
• use the arrow
• TIP:  term (say it), info (define/example) and Picture (diagram, visual)
• supports academic vocabulary
• giant foldable
• 34% increase in remembering and using the word
• add to it throughout the unit
• open and close class with the wall
• Scaffolding for Rigor
• Success Starters
• Students learn the most in the beginning and end of class.  Be purposeful during these times.
• Create success during the first and last parts of class (build momentum)
• LT/SC
• Kinesthetic
• Engagement is key: hook, survey, ABC brainstorm, sorts (predictions, fact or fib, +/-, sometimes, always, never, etc...
• FA:
• Quick Ideas:
• BowTies (individual word on the sides and final group work in the center circle)
• Cubes
• Sorts again
• Feedback should come from  many sources (teacher, peers, parents, self...)

HOmework.....or Quest?!

Great article:  instead of homework, give kids a chance to go on a quest!

• http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20121202/COMM/312020029/1024/prep_insider/?odyssey=nav%7Chead&nclick_check=1

Bo's comments on our Achievement Gap (11/2012):

• In one year we cut the achievement gap by 44% - it was not an accident.
• We have what it takes to leave no child behind.  
• Our gap has names and faces - we know who they are.

My thoughts:

• The achievement gap can be very frustrating on a day to day basis.  how do we stay motivated and inspired to close it?

Coding or Annotating Text

This is what we have on our continuum of coding text:

• Coding for Comprehension - using the reading strategies (predict, question, connect, infer, determining what's important, and looking for theme or bias) found on "the hand".

This is good when we are "just" reading, but when we are reading with a purpose (to answer questions, to debate an issue, to grow our knowledge about something, recognize the scientific method...), we need to code with a more refinded purpose!

• preview the questions, number them (or you could give each question a code based on what it is asking.  ex: If question 3 is asking for bias, the code would be B.) and read and code by question number.  Thought process, "This information will help me answer question #3."
• students can code by Text Structure to help them figure out the organization of a piece.  A summary of how the author presented the information can be powerful.  For Ex:
  • Problem - Solution, 
  • Question - Answer, 
  • Sequence (just use numbers or 1st, 2nd...), 
  • Description (draw a diagram or sketch in margins? point to visuals in text), 
  • Cause and Effect, 
  • Compare and Contrast - code same (or +) and different (or -)
• students can code by Thinking Like a Historian (8th grade uses similar pictures to the TLH text) or the Scientific Method.  Ex:
  • UP - using the past
  • TP - Turning points
  • CE - Cause and Effect
  • (eye) - Through their eyes
  • (venn diagram) - Change and continuity
  • OR
  • Problem
  • Hypothesis
  • Experiment... 
• Create a theory and read to confirm, change, reject it:
  • checkmark - confirms my theory
  •  - = rejects my theory or challenges it
  •  ! = important information
  •  ? = What? Confusing - not sure I agree
  • (Triangle) - this might change my mind
• Debate: 
• • checkmark - confirms my side of the debate
  •  - = challenges my my side of the debate 
  •  ! = important information
  •  ? = What? Confusing - not sure I agree
  • (Triangle) - this might change my mind

7 Keys to Feedback

Research on Feedback

...feedback was among the most powerful influences on achievement.

...The mistake I was making was seeing feedback as something teachers provided to students -they typically did not...

...It was only when I discovered that feedback was most powerful when it was from the student to the teacher that I started to understand it better.

~John Hattie (2009)

Key lines from the article...

"Seven Keys to Effective Feedback"

by Grant Wiggins

In Education Leadership

Basically, feedback is information about how we are doing in our efforts to reach a goal. 

In the first group, I only had to take note of the tangible effect of my actions, keeping my goals in mind. No one volunteered feedback, but there was still plenty of feedback to get and use. The second group of examples all involved the deliberate, explicit giving of feedback by other people.

 in every case the information received was not advice, nor was the performance evaluated. No one told me as a performer what to do differently or how "good" or "bad" my results were. (You might think that the reader of my writing was judging my work, but look at the words used again: She simply played back the effect my writing had on her as a reader.) Nor did any of the three people tell me what to do (which is what many people erroneously think feedback is—advice). Guidance would be premature; I first need to receive feedback on what I did or didn't do that would warrant such advice.

information was conveyed about the effects of my actions as related to a goal. The information did not include value judgments or recommendations on how to improve.  Decades of education research support the idea that by teaching less and providing more feedback, we can produce greater learning (see Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000; Hattie, 2008; Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001). 

Whether feedback is just there to be grasped or is provided by another person, helpful feedback is goal-referenced; tangible and transparent; actionable; user-friendly (specific and personalized); timely; ongoing; and consistent.

math:  Compare the typical lecture-driven course, which often produces less-than-optimal learning, with the peer instruction model developed by Eric Mazur (2009) at Harvard. He hardly lectures at all to his 200 introductory physics students; instead, he gives them problems to think about individually and then discuss in small groups. This system, he writes, "provides frequent and continuous feedback (to both the students and the instructor) about the level of understanding of the subject being discussed" (p. 51), producing gains in both conceptual understanding of the subject and problem-solving skills. Less "teaching," more feedback equals better results.

 If I am not clear on my goals or if I fail to pay attention to them, I cannot get helpful feedback (nor am I likely to achieve my goals).  (Share goals with students - the purpose of telling the joke is to make people laugh!)

Any useful feedback system involves not only a clear goal, but also tangible results related to the goal. 

Sometimes, even when the information is tangible and transparent, the performers don't obtain it—either because they don't look for it or because they are too busy performing to focus on the effects  (Teach students to ask for and receive feedback.)  in addition to feedback from coaches or other able observers, video or audio recordings can help us perceive things that we may not perceive as we perform; and by extension, such recordings help us learn to look for difficult-to-perceive but vital information.

Effective feedback is concrete, specific, and useful; it provides actionable information.  Actionable feedback must also be accepted by the performer.

Such care in offering neutral, goal-related facts is the whole point of the clinical supervision of teaching and of good coaching more generally. Effective supervisors and coaches work hard to carefully observe and comment on what they observed, based on a clear statement of goals. That's why I always ask when visiting a class, "What would you like me to look for and perhaps count?" In my experience as a teacher of teachers, I have always found such pure feedback to be accepted and welcomed. Effective coaches also know that in complex performance situations, actionable feedback about what went right is as important as feedback about what didn't work.

Too much feedback is also counterproductive; better to help the performer concentrate on only one or two key elements of performance than to create a buzz of information coming in from all sides.  (KITY, seeds, coach!)  They don't offer advice until they make sure the performer understands the importance of what they saw.

In most cases, the sooner I get feedback, the better. (timely vs immediate)

Peer review is another strategy for managing the load to ensure lots of timely feedback; it's essential, however, to train students to do small-group peer review to high standards, without immature criticisms or unhelpful praise.

Adjusting our performance depends on not only receiving feedback but also having opportunities to use it. What makes any assessment in education formative is not merely that it precedes summative assessments, but that the performer has opportunities, if results are less than optimal, to reshape the performance to better achieve the goal. In summative assessment, the feedback comes too late; the performance is over.  the more feedback I can receive in real time, the better my ultimate performance will be. 

It is telling, too, that performers are often judged on their ability to adjust in light of feedback. The ability to quickly adapt one's performance is a mark of all great achievers and problem solvers in a wide array of fields

Score student work in the fall and winter against spring standards, use more pre-and post-assessments to measure progress toward these standards, and do the item analysis to note what each student needs to work on for better future performance.

"no time to give and use feedback" actually means "no time to cause learning."

~by Grant Wiggins, gwiggins@authenticeducation.org.

To read the whole article:  7 Keys to Effective Feedback by Grant Wiggins