Hit the Road Running: Step 4

Once you're familiar with what you need to teach, how and when your students will be assessed, and how you will be evaluated, it's time to create a long-range plan. Simply chunk out major units and arrange them on a year-long calendar.

Everything's better with friends! Working with colleagues energizes instructional planning. Our team started our curriculum calendar a few weeks ago. We decided to go week by week.

You can see that we're just getting started. In order to get to this point, we had ask serious questions:

• What needs to be reviewed before we cover required standards?
• Which standards must be taught first (and second, third, fourth…)?
• Which resources are best for teaching those standards?
• What other standards are supported by those resources?
• What new resources will we need?
• Which units are easy (for the beginning of the year) or difficult (for the end of the year)?
• Which units should be taught simultaneously (or consecutively)?
• Which units involve big student projects? (We didn't want to schedule two of those at the same time.)
• Which units need to be taught just before testing?
• Which units can be taught after testing?
• How will we name the units on our calendar?

I have found that asking questions like these to create a year-long curriculum calendar really improve my planning (and teaching!) Doing what makes sense to this group of teachers who teach this population of students in this district is essential. Everyone's journey will look a little different - - - the benefit is in deep reflection on your instructional plan.

For us, the next step is to list information about each unit. We decided to share everything on a website, developed free with Google Sites. Each topic on our calendar link (or will link) to another page like this: 

The page for each big unit of study includes texts, materials, and/or resources; units of instruction (direct instruction of specific standards); key standards; additional standards addressed; assessment; and links.

Our team is rewriting (but not totally recreating) the entire curriculum for our high ability program this year. Therefore, our approach to creating a curriculum calendar will likely be more time-consuming than yours. I hope it has given you some food for thought.

Hit the Road Running: Step 3

The next step in planning for your school year is knowing your teacher assessment expectations. Educator evaluations many times contain criteria for planning.

In my state, the planning portion of the teacher effectiveness rubric makes up 10% of the total. That doesn't seem like much, but planning has a big impact on instruction, which carries a weight of 75%.

Five planning competencies are spelled out in my state rubric. Let's take a look at them and consider how this will affect the steps I take this summer:

1. Utilize assessment data to plan
2. Set ambitious and measurable goals
3. Develop standards-based unit plans and assessments
4. Create objective-driven lesson plans and assessments
5. Track student data and analyze progress

Competencies 1, 2, and 5 deal with data for the specific students I will teach. Since I don't have a class list or data for my 2014-2015 class, the only competencies I'll need to consider this summer are 2 and 3.

Competency 3 asks me to use backward planning* to develop unit plans. I need to start with a standard, find or develop a summative assessment, and consider the student activities that I'll use to teach the concepts. In my state, teachers may achieve an "effective" rating by using ready-made units, but to be classified as "highly effective," they must create their own.

Competency 4 deals with creating plans for each individual lesson. For a "highly effective" rating, I'll need to include differentiation and formative assessment.

Teachers may ask, "Does this mean that I need to develop formal lesson plans for every lesson of every unit I teach?" No. You can use units written by others and/or textbook units. It's your job, however, to make sure the assessment reflects the standards and that each lesson prepares students for that assessment. To work toward a "highly effective" rating, start with one unit, develop it well, and then move on to the next one. You know that Rome wasn't built in a day, and creating unit plans is a time-consuming endeavor.

Checking my teacher assessment expectations steers me toward some important planning this summer. I need to look over the unit plans I already teach, think about what needs to be changed . . . and, if I'm ambitious, create one or two complete unit plans of my own.

There's no time like the present! Take a peek at the expectations for your evaluation, and make a plan!

*Backward planning is a term used in Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. Briefly, it means creating the assessment first then writing the unit plans.

Hit the Road Running: Step 2

Understanding how and when your students will be tested is essential. Before you plan anything for this school year, head to your state's assessment website and start digging around. You may be pleasantly surprised at what you find.

To begin your quest for testing information, simply search the name of your state and the word "assessment." (If your state is a part of PARRC, you can start your search here.) 

Let's take a look at my search. With one click, I discovered a gold mine of information! 

ELA and Math Blueprints list what will be tested:

Item Samplers provide sample questions:

Test dates are also posted. I see that my students will take the Applied Skills (requiring constructed responses) between March 2nd and March 11th. Then they will take the Multiple Choice portion of the test between April 27th and May 6th.

Taking a little bit of time to search assessment sites arms me with important information:

• Knowing what will be tested guides content selection.
• Knowing types and format of assessment questions provides instructional focus.
• Knowing when students will be tested drives yearlong planning.

Yes, teaching is now driven by academic standards and standardized testing. Like it or not, to succeed in today's classroom, we need to begin annual planning with information about what our students need to know and do.

Hit the Road Running: Step 1

Job #1 for every teacher is knowing what they must teach. This is essential. An educator must read the standards, study the standards, understand the standards, and organize everything he or she teaches to address the standards.

In order to better understand the implications of each standard, it must be "unwrapped." What does this mean? Another term for "unwrap" is "dissect." You have to take the standard apart and think hard about what it's telling your students (and you) to do.

Many districts have taken the time to unwrap the standards for their teachers, and this becomes a handy tool. In my experience, however, the actual act of unwrapping provides a deeper understanding of what my students need to know and be able to do. As I study the standards, a million connections go through my head, which allows me to feel confident in the materials, activities, and assessments I choose for my students.

With that in mind, I recommend that every teacher spend time studying and unwrapping the standards. It's not something that you can do in one day, but for every unit you tackle, it's the first step.

How can a standard be unwrapped? You can start with these simple steps:

1. Read the standard.
2. Underline nouns that tell what students must know.
3. Circle verbs that tell what students must be able to do.
4. Pay attention to other important directions given in the standard.

For example, I've been working on a unit for RL.4.9. Here's how my brain processed the standard.

As you go through this process, other instructional tenets will pop up. You'll naturally begin to think about higher order thinking skills associated with each of the standards. You'll wonder about the "Big Ideas" that connect standards and subject areas. You'll consider the types of differentiation that may occur as you teach the standard. Jotting down all of your ideas may help when you're ready to plan units of study.

Check out these resources for more information on unwrapping the standards:

• Larry Ainsworth, author of Unwrapping the Standards: A Simple Process to Make Standards Manageable, has posted his presentation notes, which summarize the process of unwrapping and finding Big Ideas.
• This nine-minute video outlines a five-step process for unwrapping the standards. The presenter emphasizes Bloom's Taxonomy.

Happy Unwrapping!

Hit the Road Running: Eight Steps to Prepare for the School Year

When school begins, I'd like to hit the road running. But how can a teacher be truly prepared?

Over the next few days, I'll be discussing each step. Won't you join me?

Teaching Is Like Gardening

My garden grows and thrives, but no matter how much I toil, it is always a work in progress.

 Plants come in different shapes and sizes. 

Some are ready to please,

and others are a bit rough around the edges. 

Some are just emerging.

Others have trouble developing.

And still others are at risk of failing.

Different members of my garden mature at different times.

While some are in full bloom,

others are just forming blossoms.

It's hard to know just what to expect when I step into my garden at the beginning of a new season. Every year holds new challenges. I survey the situation, make a plan, gather the necessary tools, and begin the never-ending task of tending to each individual plant. 

My garden grows and thrives, but no matter how much I toil, it is always a work in progress.

Straw Towers

Engage your students in a simple design activity. All they'll need are straws, tape, and a little ingenuity!

I put my students in groups of three. Each group received 50 plastic straws and one roll of transparent tape. The instructions were simple: build the tallest freestanding tower.

Students tried a variety of structures. Some were quite tall, but they could not stand freely.

Finally, students in one group stood back and looked at the progress of the other groups. "Everyone is trying to build the tallest structure, and none of them will stand," they commented. "Let's build a shorter tower that can stand on its own." They did it, and guess who won?

I recommend this activity for a fun end-of-year activity - - - or anytime! It really gets kids thinking.

Enjoy!