Читать книгу The New Art and Science of Teaching Writing - Robert J Marzano - Страница 10

CHAPTER 1

Providing and Communicating Clear Learning Goals

When teachers design and communicate learning goals well, students benefit. They not only know what they are supposed to be learning but also know where they stand relative to that targeted content. Additionally, within The New Art and Science of Teaching, teachers should communicate clear learning goals so that students understand the progression of knowledge teachers expect them to master and where they are along that progression.

The elements within this first teacher action of providing and communicating clear learning goals include the following.

• Element 1: Providing scales and rubrics

• Element 2: Tracking student progress

• Element 3: Celebrating success

Think of these three elements as a linked set: scales and rubrics are essential for students to track their progress, and tracking progress is necessary for celebrating success.

Element 1: Providing Scales and Rubrics

Scales and rubrics provide the tools for students to understand the progression of knowledge and expectations as the focus for learning.

For element 1 of the model, we selected the following specific strategies to address in this chapter. We list additional strategies for element 1 in figure A.1 in appendix A, on page 156.

• Clearly articulating and creating scales and rubrics for learning goals

• Using teacher-created targets and scales and implementing routines for using them

It is important to note that simply employing a strategy does not ensure the desired effect on students. We recommend that teachers use the scale in figure 1.1 (page 12) to rate their current level of effectiveness with the specific strategies for providing scales and rubrics.

Figure 1.1: Self-rating scale for element 1—Providing scales and rubrics.

Clearly Articulating and Creating Scales or Rubrics for Learning Goals

A proficiency scale articulates a progression of knowledge or skills and reflects a continuum of learning goals (also referred to as learning targets). It includes five levels of proficiency ranging from 0.0 to 4.0 as indicated in the samples for generating narratives for grades 8 and 2 in figures 1.2 and 1.3. Level 3.0 represents at-grade-level work. A score of 2.0 shows foundational skills, and a score of 4.0 reflects the achievement of more complex learning goals. Teachers clarify learning goals using a proficiency scale to identify what students will come to know or be able to do within a unit of study. They explicitly teach items on a scale. However, not all students need instruction for every item on all levels, so teachers preassess and formatively assess students to determine instructional moves they might take that meet the needs of individuals and groups of students.

In order for students to compose any piece of writing, they need to learn general writing skills aside from the characteristics of a specific genre, such as determining task, purpose, and audience; revision (figure 1.4, page 14); editing; and even generating sentences (figure 1.5, page 15) along with spelling skills for primary and elementary students. Therefore, combining several proficiency scales forms the overall focus for any comprehensive writing assignment. Visit marzanoresearch.com/the-critical-concepts to request a free download for examples of other proficiency scales in the document titled The Critical Concepts (Simms, 2017). Teachers can compare the provided proficiency scales in this chapter (and others they access on their own) to their standards document. When doing so, they can delete or add line items—particularly from the 2.0 level—to pertain to their teaching situation.

Source: Simms, 2016.

Figure 1.2: Sample proficiency scale for generating narratives (grade 8).

Visit go.SolutionTree.com/instruction for a free reproducible version of this figure.

Figure 1.3: Sample proficiency scale for generating narratives (grade 2).

Source: Simms, 2016.

Visit go.SolutionTree.com/instruction for a free reproducible version of this figure.

Source: Simms, 2016.

Figure 1.4: Sample proficiency scale for revision (grade 8).

Visit go.SolutionTree.com/instruction for a free reproducible version of this figure.

Figure 1.5: Sample proficiency scale for generating sentences (grade 2).

Source: Simms, 2016.

Visit go.SolutionTree.com/instruction for a free reproducible version of this figure.

When creating writing units in which students move through the steps of the writing process to produce a comprehensive product, teachers can design analytic rubrics to score students’ work. They can base these rubrics on proficiency scales that align to a particular writing genre, providing teachers and students—when they learn how to use them—with concrete information about students’ performance on specific skills. Furthermore, this type of rubric is descriptive rather than evaluative, functioning as an instructional tool to explain students’ levels of performance. Analytic rubrics can boost student achievement by describing at what level students perform and where they need improvement. This allows for transparency about how the students are doing so they can be advocates for their own learning. Rubrics share these three components (Glass, 2017a).

1. Scoring criteria: These refer to the specific elements to assess—such as thesis, reasoning, and evidence—grouped under overarching categories like Idea and Development. Each element includes a brief overview of the skills associated with it. For example, Thesis might comprise, “Introduce claim through thesis statement, focus on a debatable topic, and use subordinate clause to set up the argument.”

2. Criteria descriptors: A description accompanies each scoring criterion along a continuum of quality to indicate levels of performance. Teachers use these descriptors to assess students’ writing. When students self-assess, these descriptors enable them to recognize the desirable standard of work they must present and how they can improve.

3. Levels of performance: Levels indicate how well a student has performed either numerically, for example, on a six-, five-, four- or three-point scale or with words, such as advanced proficient, developing, basic, and below basic, or advanced, proficient, partially proficient, and novice. Sometimes teachers use a combination of both (5 = advanced). Teachers should avoid evaluative terms like outstanding, excellent, competent, or poor. When scoring, assign whole numbers, or half numbers if a student’s proficiency is between two levels.

Figure 1.6 features an analytic rubric for an argumentation essay for secondary-level students; figure 1.7 (page 20) shows an opinion writing rubric for the elementary level.

Figure 1.6: Argumentation writing analytic rubric, secondary level.

Source: © 2017 by Kathy Tuchman Glass and Nicole Dimich Vagle.

Visit go.SolutionTree.com/instruction for a free reproducible version of this figure.

Source: Adapted from Glass, 2012, pp. 114–115.

Figure 1.7: Opinion writing analytic rubric, elementary level.

Visit go.SolutionTree.com/instruction for a free reproducible version of this figure.

As stated earlier, rubrics include a descriptor about how students perform against each scoring criteria item. Since a comprehensive written piece comprises myriad items—such as dialogue, logical sequence of plot, setting, characters, and so forth for a narrative—students can use the rubric to ascertain to what degree they have met expectations for each one. Teachers, however, might need to communicate a single score based on the rubric. If this is the case, they can calculate the mode or median (see figure 1.8, page 22). As Susan M. Brookhart (2013) advises in such a situation, “If you do need one overall grade … and must summarize an assessment with one overall score, use the median or mode, not the mean, of the scores for each criterion” (p. 114).

Source: Glass, 2018, p. 45.

Figure 1.8: Process to determine median and mode.

Using Teacher-Created Targets and Scales and Implementing Routines for Using Them

Once teachers create the scales or rubric, they can generate a checklist to articulate the characteristics that students should include in their writing pieces (see figure 1.9 and figure 1.10, page 24, for a secondary and primary example). Although they lack a rubric’s descriptions or a scale’s learning targets for each level of performance, checklists can serve as a useful guide to students as they write because they detail the requirements of an assignment.

It is incumbent upon teachers to be transparent in their expectations. Preparing and presenting the criteria against which teachers will score students at the outset of writing readies them for achievement. For this purpose, teachers can conduct the activity we outline in What do you think you know? (element 15 in chapter 6, page 89) to introduce students to a proficiency scale, rubric, or checklist that articulates the writing goals. Doing so creates a sense of ownership as students move forward fully aware of what their teachers expect them to eventually produce. Plus, it paves the way for using these mechanisms as instructional tools formatively during each lesson in the unit. To this point, teachers routinely refer to specific items on the scale, checklist, or rubric to set the purpose for learning, constantly reminding students of a lesson’s targeted goals. Because clearly defined learning goals are essential for designing any unit, lesson ideas within this book all emanate from these pieces. For example, students measure worked examples (element 9 in chapter 4, page 55)—student and published writing samples—against the criteria, and complete a revision sheet aligned to the criteria to self-assess and review a peer’s writing against the expectations (element 18 in chapter 6, page 100).

Figure 1.9: Argumentation writing checklist (secondary).

Source: Glass, 2017b, pp. 34–35.

Visit go.SolutionTree.com/instruction for a free reproducible version of this figure.

Figure 1.10: Opinion writing checklist (primary).

Visit go.SolutionTree.com/instruction for a free reproducible version of this figure.

When teachers use scales or rubrics to identify what they want students to know and be able to do, it enables them to squarely focus learning. Utilizing them as instructional tools sets students up for success as expectations are well-defined and students can track their progress against clearly defined goals.

Element 2: Tracking Student Progress

With proficiency scales or rubrics in place, the teacher can help provide each student with a clear sense of where he or she started relative to a topic and where he or she is currently. Figure 1.11 presents the self-rating scale for element 2, tracking student progress.

Figure 1.11: Self-rating scale for element 2—Tracking student progress.

This section illustrates the following concrete examples for writing instruction associated with strategies about tracking progress. (For all the strategies related to this element, see figure A.1, page 156, in appendix A.)

• Designing assessments that generate formative scores

• Using different types of assessments

Designing Assessments That Generate Formative Scores

Using a proficiency scale or analytic rubric line item as a learning focus, teachers design formative assessments to gauge students’ level of understanding. As a guide to generate them, teachers can implement a variety of instructional strategies from other elements featured throughout this book. For example, they can conduct a concept attainment activity (element 7, page 39) or ask students to write a summary or complete a graphic organizer (element 8, page 46). The detailed suggestions in chapter 3 (page 37) illustrate these particular strategies and how they can function well as formative assessments. As readers go through the book, they can consider other strategies that serve as effective opportunities to formatively assess students’ progress and incorporate those strategies into their lessons.

Using Different Types of Assessments

Teachers can administer different types of formative assessments—unobtrusive, obtrusive, or student-generated—to check for students’ understanding of targeted learning goals. Together these assessments formulate a picture and reflect student growth toward learning.

Unobtrusive assessments, as the name implies, do not interrupt the flow of a lesson as students barely, if at all, realize that teachers are assessing them. Informally and unobtrusively, teachers watch and listen for time on task, group work involvement, or students who are stuck and those speedily finishing a task. During whole-class discussion and interaction, teachers also pay attention to the quality of students’ responses and their engagement levels. For specific examples, teachers can notice and gauge students at work, making entries on a recordkeeping sheet to inform future planning. For example, teachers might notice what parts of the text a student annotates, where a student places a prepared, labeled card on a student writing sample that indicates a characteristic of a genre (for example, thesis, reason, or evidence), a student’s detailed drawing that reflects an author’s sensory details about a character, or the organization of a student’s notes while he or she listens to a lecture.

Obtrusive assessments are actions teachers take that interrupt an activity as students stop to participate or complete the task. Some are relatively quick and simple, for example, exit slips or cards (see element 19 in chapter 6, page 109) and active-participation activities such as hand signals or response cards (see element 24 in chapter 7, page 120). Others require more intense attention and investment of time for students to address either in or outside of class. After delivering formal instruction on a skill, process, or subject, teachers collect the work, assess it, provide feedback, input a score or notes, and plan next steps in instruction. Here are examples.

• After leading instruction about how to construct a sentence with parallel structure, the teacher asks students to practice finding examples in a complex text and write their own sentences with parallelism.

• To assess how well students know the characteristic elements of a genre, the teacher distributes sample papers and asks students to circle and label parts of the paper (for example, in a mystery identify detective, suspect, clue, and red herring). The teacher would also expect students to indicate those elements that are missing.

• The teacher instructs students to annotate a paper for an express purpose, such as highlighting instances of figurative language and interpreting the meaning. Or, students underline examples of evidence and annotate in the margin the degree to which each piece supports each reason.

• To determine understanding of content, the teacher asks students to draw a diagram of the digestive system and write an explanation about how it works.

• When targeting forms of verbs, the teacher provides students with a list of verbs to conjugate. Students then write sentences with proper grammar using the words.

• After instruction on a specific grammar or convention skill, students review a peer’s paper and make corrections based on what they have learned. They use standard proofreaders’ marks when editing (for further elaboration and a chart of proofreading marks, see chapter 6, page 89).

Using scales and rubrics as instructional tools allows students and teachers to track progress and celebrate student success, the focus of element 3.

Element 3: Celebrating Success

Once a strong system for tracking student progress is in place, the teacher and students have a great deal of rich information with which to celebrate success. Figure 1.12 presents the self-rating scale for this element.

Figure 1.12: Self-rating scale for element 3—Celebrating success.

To instill a sense of pride in accomplishing goals, teachers orchestrate situations to celebrate students’ success. At any moment when students do well or when they have exhibited growth along the way from one point to another on a proficiency scale or rubric, classmates and teachers can take notice verbally, in writing, or by other means, such as by ringing a bell, standing to snap fingers or applaud, or playing an upbeat current song and dancing to it. Teachers and students can do this for one student, a small group, or the whole class. When celebrating the whole class, teachers—with the help of students—can organize a get-together and invite parents or school administrators to attend. Students can even write about their own accomplishments in their gratitude journals to mark the occasion (see element 32, chapter 7, page 135).

When celebrating, cultivate a growth mindset (Dweck, 2006/2008) by encouraging students to celebrate the persistence, hard work, dedication, and risk taking that earned improved results for them. For example, a teacher might say, “I see you continued to work hard when the assignment got tough. That persistence seemed to pay off for you,” “It’s clear you got the hang of it by taking risks and learning from your mistakes,” or “You showed that you can grow your intelligence through hard work.” Comments about the preceding characteristics spur learning and contribute to achievement much more than those that focus on praise, such as “Good job,” “Exactly right,” “Superior work,” or “You are one smart kid.” In fact, research has shown that praise can discourage effort and produce a negative effect:

After seven experiments with hundreds of children, we had some of the clearest findings I’ve ever seen: Praising children’s intelligence harms their motivation and it harms their performance.… Yes, children love praise. They especially love to be praised for their intelligence and talent. It really does give them a boost, a special glow—but only for the moment. The minute they hit a snag, their confidence goes out the window and their motivation hits rock bottom. If success means they’re smart, then failure means they’re dumb. (Dweck, 2006/2008, p. 175)

Hattie and Yates (2014) state that “in teaching contexts, it is more responsible to increase informational feedback while going lean on praise. Students need clear indications that the worthwhile target they are harbouring is becoming real” (p. 68). Therefore, when celebrating success, teachers should judiciously measure their words to emphasize the process of achievement and effort—kudos for engagement, tenacity, and risk-taking—and concretely indicate where students have made growth in their learning goals.

GUIDING QUESTIONS FOR CURRICULUM DESIGN

When teachers engage in curriculum design, they consider this overarching question for communicating clear goals and objectives: How will I communicate clear learning goals that help students understand the progression of knowledge I expect them to master and where they are along that progression? Consider the following questions aligned to the elements in this chapter to guide your planning.

• Element 1: How will I design scales or rubrics?

• Element 2: How will I track student progress?

• Element 3: How will I celebrate success?

Conclusion

Effective feedback—the first of three overarching categories in this model—begins with clearly defined and articulated learning goals. When teachers make expectations transparent so that students understand what they are to learn within a lesson or unit, they can determine how well they are performing and what they need to do to improve. Once teachers focus on providing and communicating clear learning goals, they direct their attention to using effective assessments.