Chubby Bunny and Reasons to move away from Summative Assessments

As school starts this week for the majority of American Educational Institutions (and thank goodness for that), teachers prepare to introduce themselves to a whole new crop of students, go over procedures and talk about the dreaded "Grading Policy."

I recently read a piece on Edutopia about Formative Assessments, which you can find here: Dipsticks: Efficient Ways to Check for Understanding - I started to think long and hard about WHY these types of assessments do not get as much attention as their older, much more maligned sibling does. The summative assessment, for much of the modern world, is the end all to be all.

Benchmarks, Midterms, Finals, SGOs... summatives rule the roost in education right now. They are in the news, they are tied to teacher performance, and they are all some students think about because of the emphasis that is put on them. Teachers do their part too - they weight summative assignments much higher than other types of grades in their room to reinforce the severity, and finality, of these assessments. 

Summative assessments also keeps the great tradition of "cramming" for a test alive.

Cramming for a summative test is like trying to shove 100 marshmallows in your mouth at the same time while trying to say "Chubby Bunny." Have you ever tried to do that? It's not easy. You may get them all in but you aren't going to swallow them all and when it's time, its all going to come back out the same way in went in. Now try putting marshmallows in your mouth one by one without swallowing or letting them out out. Cramming information in your brain the days leading up to, and the night before, a big test is the same way. 

Teachers need to help students out. We need to focus more on the formative assessments because that is where true learning, reflective learning, takes place. Having common formative assessments can help with that and starting off with just a few in place to play with this year should happen. You can add these to your repertoire quite easily and they generally take very little to put into place in your classroom. 

Below is the cycle that ALL formative assessments have in common. A solid formative assessment will help and direct the teacher on how to teach that child, or group of children and help to CHANGE the direction of what was planned. They are to help inform all of what is going on, what needs to be addressed, and where things can potentially go. 

For instance, take exit cards. Students can give you a one sentence answer to what they learned or an answer to a well formed formative question right before they leave. That information can be, and should always be, used to shape the next days lesson depending on the answers. It gives the teacher a real chance to listen to their students and the students a real chance to let the teachers know, "Hey, I need some more time with this."

Formative assessments also allow the student to understand material in smaller chunks, like eating one marshmallow at a time. Using this method, its easier to swallow the information and keep it down, this focusing on the learning, not the actions of trying to keep it all in at once. 

Some great ideas for Formative Assessments can be found here: 

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/what-are-formative-assessments-and-why-should-we-use-them


So while I don't think the big bad midterms and finals are going to go away anytime soon, formative assessments are the true key to helping your students understand what they are learning and will help them retain that information long after its been taught. 

So this year, put more emphasis on your checkups before your students checkout - you may be surprised with what you find out! 

The Socratic Process

Here is a great web image on one of my favorite, and probably oldest, teaching techniques - The Socrative Questioning Method!

Wikipedia summarizes it as "The phrase Socratic questioning is used to describe a kind of questioning in which an original question is responded to as though it were an answer. This in turn forces the first questioner to reformulate a new question in light of the progress of the discourse."

Fearless Leaders - Pt. II

If we take what Mr. Mandela states about success and failure, it is not how much we succeed that matters. It is how many times we get up in spite of failure.

In education, I constantly tell our teachers and students that it is okay to FAIL, as long as you learn from it and get back up and try again.

To FAIL = First attempt in learning.

Someone stated to me a few weeks back that failure in learning IS learning. If our students get the answer right the first time and we never push them to try new things and fail, then we are not doing our jobs as educators correctly. We need to push our students to fail. We need to help them learn and understand what those failures mean and how they can then turn them into successes.

GBTPS 2013-2014 - The Trailer

If you haven't checked this out year, please do. Green Brook Township Public Schools are busy learning, teaching, and growing.

iPad Summit Recap

"I don't know how to do this, I never received Professional Development on it" - said No Student, Ever. (Thanks +Tom Murray for the great quote)

iPad SUMMIT 2013

I recently held two summits in our district. These summits were designed to focus on learning and best practices with iPads, iOS, apps, and technology in general.

Many a twitter chat, blog post, and podcast as of late has been about a call to arms to actively take back PD (professional development) from the one hour, one day, one time slate of PD that has been given and change it into something more authentic and useful for teachers. This call to arms has also put its cross hairs on technology PD and the problems there within.

Technology has been one of the biggest criminals when it came to the one hour, one time sort of PD. I, myself, have been the victim and a suspect with receiving and giving this sort of tech PD. I'm not proud of it and of course, hindsight is 20/20; but now our foresight should encompass this as well. We shouldn't give PD about a what a tech is. Rather, we should be giving them all the time on WHY the tech is essential to unlocking learning and engagement in students and HOW it is transforming our culture, schools, and the way we teach/learn. My good friends at #edtechchat and #edchat have spoken about this at length with  +Tom Whitby and +Nancy Blair speaking about this specific change in their podcast.

If educators stop learning and trying new things, what message does that send to our students? Thankfully, I have some great educators in my district that are always willing to learn.

How can we make school look more like life? Summits like these help us mix the paints together. 

I wanted to take that model and truly help out my teachers. I wanted to make the technology less about the technology and more about the learning, engagement, and excitement that can come from it. I wanted to make this iPad summit about not just apps, but about the collaboration, creation, and communication that can happen with them and the transformation of student learning that can come from using them.

Using my trusty brain, my resources, and my PLN, here is the presentation:

We focused on three areas - function, purpose, and apps. This tiered strategy helped those who needed some basics with the iPad and gave those with experience some purpose: they helped out their colleagues who needed it, just like I would have my students do. 

To show off how to get to certain parts, I used AirServer via AirPlay. If you don't know what that is, take a look at my prior post about it - http://tinyurl.com/m64ptnj

We shared tips and tricks, looked at how to import and export and even talked about how the iPad can be used to help learners with disabilities by going through the accessibility functions within the device. We used the iPad as a document camera and shared what we were working on (we were all connected at once!) with the rest of the groups and some fantastic education ideas came out of just that. Imagine you students working on a document and then sharing it with the class. Have multiple students to this would truly bring communication and innovation to the forefront. Finally, we stopped at guided access, which really was a fantastic area for some teachers when it came to locking the iOS in a certain app to use during centers or the like. 

Finally, we looked at just a few apps that were really high on the SAMR scale. These included:

• Explain Everything
• E-Backpack
• Class Dojo
• Google Drive
• PuppetPals HD
• BrainPOP
• Google Maps
• and more... 

But it wasn't about the apps. It wasn't even about iPads. It was still about learning and the students. Shedding the light on why technology has failed in the past and where we need to go as a population of educators to prevent those pitfalls from happening in the future. I had teachers and educators of all content levels, backgrounds, and grades. Experience with tech, teaching, or iPads was not necessary and I had teachers that were vets and those who were new share ideas with each other. And that is the true purpose of PD. It's not about learning something once and never talking about it again, its about learning something, talking about it with your peers, and taking it and making it your own so that your students benefit from it. 

Truth be told, I didn't know how it was going to go. I thought the summits may have bomb.

After three minutes in each one, the educators in them let me know - they want more, they want to learn, and they are eager. 

Shifting Gears... and getting stuck in neutral. PART II

You got all that?

Common Core is about reforming standards, AchieveNJ is about reforming evaluations and tenure, and PARCC is about reforming test taking/assessments.

Wait, you don't? Well neither do a lot of other people. Their are many proponents and opponents To clear the air (and to better clarify why in the world they want to do all three of these at once), the NJ Department of Education held a seminar on all three of these. The crux of the meeting was devoted to how great all three of these things were and how they were all inter-related; and more specifically, how you couldn't have one without the other... and the other. 

They were, as Chris Cerf so aptly put it:

1. 
   

   Tim Charleston@MrCsays

   Cerf - parcc and common core are two sides of the coin. But the third side is educator evaluation tools. #shiftgears What??!!

   3 DAYS AGO
   

   REPLYRETWEETFAVORITE

To be clear. I am not against changing standards. I do like the fact that these are about mastery instead of coverage and I do like the fact that they are vertically aligned from K-12. As for changing assessments and test taking, I am in agreement with the folks who say that we need to test using online assessments. In the next decade or so, many tests will be online and it just makes common sense to change it. And as for the evaluation system, yes, it does need changing as well. Some teachers have only been visited once a year by administrators and that is not enough. What the DOE are proposing and have been are decent changes.

But let's be clear. It's not about doing these. It's about doing these NOW and all at ONCE! +Eric Sheninger had  many great tweets about this, but he summed it up best by stating:

1. 
   

   Eric Sheninger@NMHS_Principal

   NJDOE moving much too fast on numerous initiatives simultaneously; I am fearful that this is a recipe for disaster#shiftgears #njed

   3 DAYS AGO
   

   REPLYRETWEETFAVORITE

We need time. We need to focus. We need to understand what is coming at us. If we truly decide to do all three at once, our teachers, students, and admins are truly going to be stretched thin. We are racing to get all of these things in, like we are perpetually stuck in the month of June trying to cram things in at the end of the year. 

While worrying to get students to understand all new concepts and standards, teachers will also be worried new test assessments which are tied to their overall evaluations. 

There is still too much unknown. We don't push our students through to the next concept unless they have truly learned the one before. Shouldn't we get the same treatment? The DOE treated this seminar like a giant PEP rally for these three things. And that stuck out. I felt bad for educators. I felt bad for students. Where were their voices? Did anyone ask them what they wanted? While more and more businesses (and some schools) are moving to 80/20 time, why are we focused on THREE monumental pieces of legislation?


My good friend, +Jay Eitner, had spoken about all three of these things as a TIDAL wave crashing down on educators. 

We need to FOCUS. 

If we focus on one of these things a year, it would have a much better outcome. It would give everyone a chance to catch their breath, at least for a minute or two. 

I have faith in our teachers. I have even more faith in our students. The NJDOE should share in that faith and give us time to get it right. 

1. 
   

   Eric Sheninger@NMHS_Principal

   Cerf - "Change is hard" - yes, need 2 focus on 1 initiative at a time, get it right, then move 4ward if goal is sustainability #shiftgears

   3 DAYS AGO
   

   REPLYRETWEETFAVORITE

Let's focus on the most important thing here: helping students grow as individuals. Helping them reach their passions. Helping them through the formative years of their lives. 

WE ARE EDUCATORS. And we need to be there for them. So, let's shift the focus.

Shifting Gears... and getting stuck in neutral. PART I

This was originally intended to be one post. But as I wrote it, there was a clear break in what I was writing. Part II will be unveiled next week.

I am an educator. 

No matter what my job is now or what it may become in the future, my job is an educator. My passion is helping students grow up, learn and understand, and find their own passions in life, whatever they may be.

Since jumping to the "other side" of education, I have not been that intimately familiar with items such as the Common Core (though in our district, we have talking about it for years) and the new evaluation system in New Jersey, called AchieveNJ. I knew they were both coming, but as a former Social Studies teacher, we were usually one of the last involved. I have been very intimate with PARCC, though.

As a casual reader, or for those with their heads in the sand, most states around the USA are going through a paradigm shift in how the evaluate students and how they, therefore, evaluate teachers.

For a basic understanding, here is what all three are:

Common Core (taken from their website)

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a state-led effort that established a single set of clear educational standards for kindergarten through 12th grade in English language arts and mathematics that states voluntarily adopt. The standards are designed to ensure that students graduating from high school are prepared to enter credit bearing entry courses in two or four year college programs or enter the workforce. The standards are clear and concise to ensure that parents, teachers, and students have a clear understanding of the expectations in reading, writing, speaking and listening, language and mathematics in school.


AchieveNJ (taken from their website)

There are many differences between AchieveNJ and the old evaluation system. After two years of piloting in 30 districts that contain over 14,000 educators, AchieveNJ has been created to better align educator evaluation with best practices that lead to improved student outcomes. Our new AchieveNJ evaluation and support system is structured around several guiding principles; each one describes improvements from the previous system.

Educator effectiveness can and should be measured to ensure our students have the best teachers in the classroom. 

Evaluations should always be based on multiple measures that include both learning outcomes and effective practice. 

Tenure and other forms of recognition should be based on effectiveness. 



PARCC (taken from their website)

The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) is a consortium of 22 states plus the U.S. Virgin Islands working together to develop a common set of K-12 assessments in English and math anchored in what it takes to be ready for college and careers. These new K-12 assessments will build a pathway to college and career readiness by the end of high school, mark students’ progress toward this goal from 3rd grade up, and provide teachers with timely information to inform instruction and provide student support. The PARCC assessments will be ready for states to administer during the 2014-15 school year.

The PARCC Vision
Builds a pathway to college and career readiness for all students,
Creates high-quality assessments that measure the full range of the Common Core State Standards,
Supports educators in the classroom,
Makes better use of technology in assessments, and
Advances accountability at all levels.

You have all that? 

All three about talking about college and career readiness and accountability  which on the surface, no one can really complain or go against. OF COURSE we want to prepare our students to become life long learners and leaders in this world by going off to college or into the work force. And of course, we want to make sure that our teachers help our students get there. 

So, how is the NJ DOE trying to rally us around? ... just wait for part II. 

Who is Ted and why is he talking?

"TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences -- the TED Conference on the West Coast each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh UK each summer -- TED includes the award-winning TED Talks video site, the Open Translation Project and TED Conversations, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize."

Watch TED Talks Education on PBS. See more from TED Talks Education.

TedED Talks are focused on sharing great knowledge with our fellow educators. I will be re-posting the videos (which are on PBS) here on the blog. 

Learning wherever, whenever!

Last night during our weekly #njed Twitter chat (and subsequent teachercast.tv live video feed), we discussed how and why you should take learning outside. 

We came up with, as current and former teachers, a number of reasons. Learning shouldn't be confined to the four walls that surround you. In fact, the only thing walls are good for is keeping bugs out. 

When it comes to learning - you can learn anywhere as long as there is a group of people who want to learn and there is someone there willing to facilitate. Some of my best lessons were outside, walking the campus and asking questions to students. There minds weren't pent up looking at the same thing. They were learning via nature. 

I bring this up because our students just went on a trip to the local Apple Store. And while it wasn't nature, it was a trip. The useds iMacs, Mac Books, and iPads to crunch numbers and use that app to figure out real world finance issues. 

It was fantastic. The staff was helpful, the kids wanted to use the tech, and the trip went better than planned. Learning can happen anywhere, as long as you have the drive to learn.

Kudos to the people at the store - you did a great job!

Apple 21.5 " iMac 2.7GHz Intel Quad-Core i5 Desktop Computer - MD093LL/A (Google Affiliate Ad)

Apple MacBook Pro 2.5GHz Intel Core i5 Notebook Computer - MD101LL/A (Google Affiliate Ad)

App-O-Da-Week #2

Back again, huh? Still looking for those great education apps? (You know there are over 40,000 of them in the iTunes App Store).

How the heck are you supposed to find an app in a haystack the size of that?!

Never fear - The APP-O-DA-WEEK is here!!!

In conjunction with our great #appyhour discussion on Twitter (Fridays @2pm est) (Shameless plug) - we again, have broken down the apps that you most talked about and most revered. 

The discussion this week centered around Reading, Spelling, Grammar apps to use for ELA (or LAL, or English for those who remember when it was called that) class. 

With so many great apps to choose from, it was a tough choice - though a last minute RT (re-tweet) helped to sway the judges (me). 

And the winner is.....

READING RAINBOW - you don't have to take my word for it, but read on if you do!

Wait, don't you mean the show that was on PBS for over two decades? Yes, I do mean that one. Mr. Burton and the crew are off TV now but have jumped into the mobile fray.

As the Huff Post Tech wrote: "Switching over to the tablet may prove beneficial for advocating literacy with today's younger generation. According to the New York Times, 46 percent of children ages five to eight use a computer more than once a week and 50 percent of children under eight have access to a mobile device."


The app allows teachers and parents to monitor progress and check out books. Unfortuantly, the app isn't free but for 150 books and 16 video "field trips", parents can pay $9.99 a month or $29.99 for a six-month subscription to receive unlimited access to frequently updated content.

To check out more about this app, hit up: http://www.rrkidz.com/
 To download the app, hit up: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/reading-rainbow/id512350210?mt=8
   For educators, there is even some plans that go along with it, hit up: http://www.rrkidz.com/educators

And those of you who just want to hear the old theme song - this one is for you

#appyhour 4/5/2013 - Productivity and Organizational Apps for Education!

View as slideshow

1. 
   

   Tim Charleston @MrCsays

   Be on the look out for my #appyhour tomorrow where we share our fav Ed apps! 2 pm ttmrw #agentofchange

   Thu, Apr 04 2013 18:00:14
   

   ReplyRetweetFavorite
2. 
   

   Tim Charleston @MrCsays

   Be on the look out for my #appyhour tomorrow where we share our fav Ed apps! 2 pm ttmrw #agentofchange

   Thu, Apr 04 2013 18:00:14
   

   ReplyRetweetFavorite
3. 
   

   Julia Hengstler@jhengstler

   @MrCsays EST or PST for that #appyhour?

   Thu, Apr 04 2013 18:08:14
   

   ReplyRetweetFavorite
4. 
   

   Tim Charleston @MrCsays

   T minus four hours until our first ever #appyhour - we will be talking about ed apps for the iPad join us at 2pm est #edchat #njed #satchat

   Fri, Apr 05 2013 08:02:31
   

   ReplyRetweetFavorite
5. 
   

   Tim Charleston @MrCsays

   Tweeting about ed apps during our #appyhour today at 2pm est. Chat will be stored and shared for those who can't make it #edchat #njed

   Fri, Apr 05 2013 09:08:33
   

   ReplyRetweetFavorite
6. 
   

   Tim Charleston @MrCsays

   #appyhour today will focus on organizational/productivity apps for teachers and students! Bring your best apps to share #edchat #apple #njed

   Fri, Apr 05 2013 09:09:11
   

   ReplyRetweetFavorite
7. 
   

   Tim Charleston @MrCsays

   T-minus one hour until the debut of #appyhour - talking about ed productivity organizational apps for Ts and Ss - join us! #edchat #njed

   Fri, Apr 05 2013 10:04:56
   

   ReplyRetweetFavorite
8. 
   

   Tim Charleston @MrCsays

   T-minus one hour until the debut of #appyhour - talking about ed productivity organizational apps for Ts and Ss - join us! #apple #ipad #app

   Fri, Apr 05 2013 10:05:04
   

   ReplyRetweetFavorite
9. 
   

   Tim Charleston @MrCsays

   30 mins until you can relax with our #appyhour - use the hashtag to join us talking about ed organization/productivity apps #edchat #satchat

   Fri, Apr 05 2013 10:32:38
   

   ReplyRetweetFavorite
10. 
    

    Tim Charleston @MrCsays

    30 mins until you can relax with our #appyhour - use the hashtag to join us talking about ed organization/productivity apps #edtech #njed

    Fri, Apr 05 2013 10:32:54
    

    ReplyRetweetFavorite
11. 
    

    Tim Charleston @MrCsays

    Unless my clock is wrong - 5 mins to #appyhour come and join us! #apple #ipad #apps #ed #edtech #edchat #njed #teaching #denchat #tlap

    Fri, Apr 05 2013 10:55:20
    

    ReplyRetweetFavorite
12. 
    

    Tim Charleston @MrCsays

    Unless my clock is wrong - 5 mins to #appyhour come and join us! #apple #ipad #apps #ed #edtech #edchat #njed #teaching #denchat #tlap

    Fri, Apr 05 2013 10:55:20
    

    ReplyRetweetFavorite
13. 
    

    Julia Hengstler@jhengstler

    @MrCsays #appyhour I love my dropbox app--across multiple devices/platforms!

    Fri, Apr 05 2013 10:59:20
    

    ReplyRetweetFavorite
14. 
    

    Tim Charleston @MrCsays

    Welcome to the first #appyhour - where educators will share what apps they find relevant and appropriate for school and home use!

    Fri, Apr 05 2013 11:01:05
    

    ReplyRetweetFavorite
15. 
    

    Tim Charleston @MrCsays

    Welcome to the first #appyhour - where educators will share what apps they find relevant and appropriate for school and home use!

    Fri, Apr 05 2013 11:01:05
    

    ReplyRetweetFavorite
16. 
    

    Tim Charleston @MrCsays

    #appyhour - today we will look and talk about organizational and productivity apps for teachers and students

    Fri, Apr 05 2013 11:01:28
    

    ReplyRetweetFavorite
17. 
    

    Tim Charleston @MrCsays

    #appyhour before we start - some housecleaning, just state your name and what you do to help share with fellow educators!

    Fri, Apr 05 2013 11:01:45
    

    ReplyRetweetFavorite
18. 
    

    Tim Charleston @MrCsays

    #appyhour Tim - Tech Coordinator, Educator for Life

    Fri, Apr 05 2013 11:02:05
    

    ReplyRetweetFavorite
19. 
    

    Tim Charleston @MrCsays

    @jhengstler #appyhour - I love dropbox too - great app, gives your all your files plus free storage! Who doesn't love free!

    Fri, Apr 05 2013 11:02:47
    

    ReplyRetweetFavorite
20. 
    

    Julia Hengstler@jhengstler

    #appyhour jhengstler--educational technologist & instructor in Faculty of Education working w/ students & professors

    Fri, Apr 05 2013 11:03:23
    

    ReplyRetweetFavorite