2012
05/17
Louise Dube
Vice President, Marketing, Time To Know

Teacher Effectiveness – A New Model for Teacher Evaluation in Massachusetts

Let’s say you had to design a teacher evaluation system tomorrow. How would you do it? That is the question that captivated the discussion at last night’s Education Pioneers Summit in Boston. The audience of about 50 former Education Pioneers and other education community members discussed the new Massachusetts Educator Evaluation system targeted for full implementation in 2013-14. 

Karla Baehr, former Deputy Commissioner with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education gave an overview of the system created with impetus from the federal Race To The Top program.  It is a comprehensive system that is as far reaching as it is innovative.  Described in greater detail on the Mass DOE website, this system is designed based on several key ideas:

  1. Active ongoing feedback and evaluation: no more 1 time dog and pony show.
  2. Administrators as well as teachers are subject to the evaluation system and administrator evaluations will include teacher feedback – wonderful accountability!
  3. Ongoing growth plan– teachers participate in designing the growth plan.  I ask where are the resources?
  4. Summative 4 point evaluation scale: Unsatisfactory, Needs Improvement, Proficient and Exemplary.  It is expected that most teachers will fall in the Proficient category – are we back to a 2 point scale?
  5. Evaluation based on a combination of instructional practice and student growth measurements – Humm how much of which?  Corinne Herlihy from the Harvard center for Teacher Effectiveness at the Center for Education Policy Research made an interesting point.  Because most teachers are expected to fall in the Proficient category, will student measurement become the only tangible differentiation?

As Ms. Baehr explained, the system represents a massive change from current practice, and will require ongoing support from the State as well as a cultural change.  She takes a long view and does not expect all required changes will be made in the first years of implementation but she expects it will lead to substantial improvements over the long term.

Of particular interest was the discussion about how much student testing results should inform teacher evaluations.  In the system as designed, student outcome measures are drawn from a range of sources including the MCAS growth scores as well as other districts based measures.

My takeaway/ruminations:

  • I am still unclear as to how a teacher can earn an exemplary rating while having low impact on student learning.
  • Including input from students in the determination of impact on student learning has been validated from research and is a great idea.
  • The task before districts is monumental.  While the state will offer guidance and assistance, designing cross districts evaluations for each subject that are meaningful and valid will be a difficult process.
  • To be substantive, the system will require individualized professional development for teachers which is not currently available.  I think this has tremendous potential.
  • Great first step!

Take a look at the rubric below.  What do you think?

In: Conferences, Responsibility, Teachers
2012
05/09
Denise Olson
Time To Know

Press Matters: Time To Know Visits PS 77

Denise OlsonThe Time To Know Digital Teaching Platform offers multiple ways to integrate existing materials and favorite activities within our digital curriculum. Customization, differentiation, and extension of Time To Know lessons are encouraged, and many teachers take advantage of the planning tool’s integration capability.

Earlier this spring we visited a Time To Know classroom that took lesson customization and extension way beyond the usual. Fifth-grade students at PS 77 in Manhattan, the Lower Lab School for gifted and talented students, brought the Time To Know Press Matters unit to life. This unit supports CCSS standards on informational texts, comparing and contrasting texts, examining point of view, task-specific writing, reporting on an event, and many others.

At PS 77, teams of students chose a news medium within which to present an historical event of their selection. Teacher Denise Perez prompted the students to consider medium, audience, and point of view when putting together their presentations. Says Perez, “The Press Matters unit heightened our students’ interest in current events and allowed them to apply 21st century skills as they worked to develop event blogs and online newspapers.”

When we entered Perez’s well-organized, cheerful classroom News questionswe immediately noticed a series of thoughtful, provocative questions about news displayed in the room: What makes a story newsworthy? What is the role of news media in our society? How does the venue affect the message?

As the audience took their seats, we could feel the excitement among the student presenters, parents, and staff members. Each group of students showed imagination and creativity. The groups used technology for their presentations—one group even set up an iPad as a working teleprompter—but they also made traditional props with paper and other materials, and used cue cards.  They divided the work among the team members, with some acting as news “talent,” and some handling the technology and support tasks.

Events selected by the students spanned history from the Emancipation Proclamation to the current Occupy Wall Street movement. News medium was varied too, with examples of radio news, tv news, and news blogs.

A radio news team covering the first African American president featured an interviewstudent holding cue card with Barack Obama, but then used a “call-in show” format where callers contacted the radio hosts to express their opinions.

The TV news team covering the Great Depression showed an interview with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but then counter-balanced his point of view with that of a father of eight, who stated in his interview that he felt the president should be working harder to fix the economy.

The team covering Occupy Wall Street had many interviewees who took a point of view against Adbusters, the organization generally identified as the catalyst behind the Occupy movement. Their news reporters were “on the scene” of the Brooklyn Bridge occupation, talking to people on the street about the disruption.

The teams covering the Emancipation Proclamation and the assassination of Martin Luther King had a special challenge, because they had selected the medium of news blogs. How does one “present” a blog? They worked with teachers to develop a presentation style that worked very well with the format, reading excerpts from the blogs and adding commentary. One of the blogs even had “sidebar” advertising, as seen on many real blogs.

Finally, a group of students did a TV News report about 9/11. When the topic was introduced, there was a noticeable ripple of tension in the room; we were sitting in a Manhattan classroom, and many of the people there likely had experienced the 9/11 events very closely. The children doing the presentation were babies in 2001, but their news coverage showed sensitivity, used snippets of actual interviews from that time, and really focused on the reactions people had to the devastation.

This extension of the Time To Know Press Matters unit fit seamlessly with the mission of the Lower Lab School, which takes the position that accessing information is the first step in constructing knowledge. Students are encouraged to listen carefully to differing perspectives and to reflect on what they’ve learned, and how they’ve learned it. The students were engaged, enthusiastic, and showed an astute sense of the rhythms and timing of news reporting, sending the clear message to adult observers that they pay very close attention to media around them. Says teacher Denise Perez, “Press Matters is a great Time To Know unit because it integrates a wide-range of literacy skills with multiple student-learning styles and instructional activities, while providing students with authentic real-world tasks.  It bridges what is learned in the classroom with the world outside of the classroom.”

PS 77 news team

Student teacher Robin Bachor stands by to assist the news team if needed.

In: Curriculum, Education Reform, Results, Students, Teachers, Technology
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
2012
03/12
James DiGioia
Social Media Coordinator

Integrating Backchanneling into Your Classroom

In last week’s #BYOTchat, one of the topics that came up was the idea of “backchanneling.” What is backchanneling, you say? Well, that’s what I’m here to tell you!

Simply put, backchanneling is the process of designating a medium for facilitating the conversation happening around a particular event.

Whenever an event is taking place, there is a swirl of conversations occurring around that event. In the classroom, it can be two kids talking in the back row, passing notes, or sending texts or emails. At public events, these conversations happen all over the place, and tapping into that backchannel helps you tap into the pulse of what your listeners (or students) are thinking right now.

When entertaining the idea of establishing a backchannel in your classroom, the first thing you should realize is that the backchannel already exists; these conversations are already occurring, even if it’s merely inside someone’s head. What you’re doing is establishing a medium through which these conversations can take place that you can tap into.

The other great thing about backchanneling is that it gives students who may be less enthusiastic about sharing during class the freedom to express themselves without the fear that prevents them from raising their hand.

The mediums suggested here have varying levels of privacy and control, so choose the one that suits your desires and objectives.

The first and most obvious backchannel is Twitter, and there are plenty of success stories for classroom use. This video showcases a high school example, whereas this longer video is in a college setting. The benefits to Twitter are that many students already use Twitter, it’s easy to create a hashtag and get started, and students can use their cell phone to easily post comments. With any projector, you can follow that hashtag and use it as a basis for continuing discussion.

The drawback to Twitter should be obvious: you have no control over who uses the hashtag, so external users can drop random tweets into the feed for everyone to see. You also can’t control what your students are saying either, nor can you force them to use their real names (at least not within Twitter itself).

In terms of dedicated backchannel platforms, two were mentioned during the chat: CoverItLive and TodaysMeet. CoverItLive is a live engagement platform targeting bloggers and reporters covering live events. Much of its impressive feature set can be accessed for free without advertising, with 5k reader limit, which should be fine for any classroom. However, because it has such a wide set of features and is targeted towards event coverage, it may be more difficult and slightly overwhelming to get it plugged into your classroom.

TodaysMeet takes the opposite approach and makes the system really simple to use. You go to the home page, create a “room,” and get a link to provide to your students to access that room. From there, it’s effectively a private chat room. Your students enter their name and are able to chat with each other and the teacher during class. It also has a transcript view, providing a chronological view of the chat, as well as a projector view, in reverse chronological order, for live discussion. This makes it easy to get up and running, but doesn’t provide a lot in the way of customization. For most classrooms and teachers getting into backchanneling, this is a great way to get started.

Do you have any experience with backchanneling? Let us know what you think in the comments section.

[Cross-posted at BYOTchat.com]

In: Uncategorized
2012
03/01
Rachel Carr
Teacher, PS 130 The Desoto School

Time to Grow: Implementing Changes on Both Personal and Professional Levels

As a teacher for 20 years, I have had the opportunity to be part of many initiatives that were designed to produce classroom and/or school change.  In each of the schools I have worked, I have collaborated with various members of the staff in different ways.  I have learned and grown from each experience, even when the initiative did not have a hoped-for outcome.

However, I would like to describe a recent initiative that has led to both professional and personal growth AND a positive outcome.

Approximately a year and a half ago, my principal shared with us that our school was going to pilot a program called Time To Know.  It was described as a web-based literacy and math program that we were going to use in order to supplement our work with the students in both ELA and math.  We received three days of staff development prior to the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year.  We were also told that there would be additional staff development opportunities provided for us throughout the year.

As a teacher of over 20 years, I have been on both sides of new initiatives.  I have been on the ‘teacher’ side where I was expected to implement a program that my administration had decided upon.  I have also been on the ‘staff developer’ side where I was responsible for helping teachers implement the initiative that was being presented.

When this program was introduced, I knew that I had two options.  I could either be resistant to change and do lip service to it, or I could embrace it and see what I could learn from the experience.  I decided to put aside my own pre-conceptions and reservations and make the most of the opportunity that was being afforded to me, my students and my school.

The first year was challenging. I had many questions and there were various operational issues that had to be worked through.  I had many meetings with Time To Know staff in order to work through operational issues, determine ways to make the program more workable for the children, and help me integrate the program into my curriculum in a meaningful way.

However, I fought for this initiative to work.  I made the implementation of this program the focus of an action research project that I was doing so that I could reflect on the challenges that existed.  I spoke regularly with colleagues and others in order to get fresh perspectives on what I could change.  I took data and surveyed the children via reflection journals in order to see what was working and what needed to be improved upon.  I had regular contact with the T2K instructional coaches in order to discuss the school curriculum and how to incorporate Time to Know in a way that would be meaningful for the children. I did these things because I believed that there were many exciting possibilities for both me and the children if I persevered.

I am glad to say that the second year of this program has been much more meaningful to me and my students.    I have now been able to incorporate Time To Know into our weekly schedule in a way that it allows me to see small groups of students and work with them in different content areas.  Being able to have this small group time during the day is crucial in order for me to be able to address individual needs of the students.

Not only has the experience with Time To Know helped my students, but it has helped me as well. This initiative, which I first met with trepidation and concern, has become one that I have been able to grow and learn from.  It has also given me a chance to collaborate and share with professionals from as far away as Japan and Singapore.  This program, which I could have rejected as ‘just another initiative’, has become one that has helped develop my own teacher leadership skills and enabled me to grow both personally and professionally.

In: Teachers
Tags: , ,
2012
02/16
James DiGioia
Social Media Coordinator

#BYOTchat Finds Professional Development to Be Crucial to Successful BYOT implementation

After last week’s #BYOTchat on how to begin a new BYOT program, we decided to focus this week’s chat on professional development (PD) (or professional learning.) I started off by throwing this question out:

“…to the teachers, what GOOD PD have you experienced? What made it good?”

There were a few enlightening responses; @cbraryman1 said the best PD he ever had was hands-on learning, and @hugghinss said Twitter itself was the best PD!  @40ishoracle mentioned a “tech petting zoo,” and shared with us a picture of what that would look like.”

This lead to a discussion about how to approach PD.  More specifically, how structured should BYOT PD be?  @SteveHayes_RB60 said the best PD is self-motivated learning, but commented that not all teachers are able to dedicate that time and energy into figuring out which resources are good, who to connect with, and how to integrate some of those resources into their classroom.  I suggested part of PD be aiding teachers in establishing a method for continuing self-study – blogs to subscribe to, Twitter users to follow, and other websites with useful resources.  In addition, the need to merely provide time for teachers to collaborate with each other and share came up a few times, with a reference to “Google 20% time” as a model.

The entire question of what level of guidance versus on-your-own-learning was never quite settled; a lot of it really depends on the comfort level of the teachers involved.  If most of the teachers are at a point where they’re just beginning to use technology, then the PD process has to be more hand-holding, whereas teachers who have some level of comfort with technology may just need some help with classroom use.

The discussion focused mostly on the actual learning of the technology, rather than getting into how to deal with various issues that may come up during the day.  In our previous chat, we talked a lot about how to manage tech support for many devices, and including this information in PD is necessary, but we didn’t touch on it during the chat.  This EdWeek article talks about some of the policy issues that can arise with BYOT, and I expect we’ll discuss some of these issues in more depth in future chats.

Ultimately, PD has to be focused on the needs, desires, and time constraints of the teachers using it.  Some teachers prefer to be more collaborative, some need more structure, some just need more time, and providing the right learning environment for teachers is crucial to successful PD.

[Cross-posted on BYOTchat.com]

In: #BYOTchat, Professional Learning, Teachers, Technology