Feedback to Feed Small Groups

There has been a lot said about the power of small group instruction, but one thing that has come up recently in several educational circles is the power of using small groups to deliver effective feedback.

This got us thinking about how we've seen teachers using small groups in their classrooms to have a big impact on student learning. 

Teachers have pulled groups with similar scores or incorrect answers to conduct targeted review. Writing teachers have pulled groups with similar patterns to deliver feedback collectively, and then teach (or reteach) to support students in making effective revisions.

Using small group time as prime time for feedback not only supports student learning, but also teacher sanity. Certainly it is more efficient to give feedback to 4-5 people at a time, vs. writing painstaking feedback on each piece of work (or meeting 1:1). And if teachers can connect that feedback directly to next steps for instruction, the feedback literally saves instructional time.

And research (i.e. John Hattie's visible learning) would suggest that when small groups are used to give students targeted, timely, and specific feedback (.70 effect size), provide time for deliberate practice (.79 effect size) and thus to build student self-efficacy (.92 effect size), the groups are worth the trouble. 

Planning for Small Group Feedback

Hattie and Yates paper on "Using Feedback to Promote Learning" includes three feedback questions to help guide preparing and delivering effective feedback:

1. What is the goal?
2. What is the progress being made?
3. What is the next step?

In "Feed Students through Feedback," Sandie Novak affirms that feedback is something to be planned for as part of the lesson, and that planning begins with the learning target. Once the teacher and student really know what the goal is, they can begin the process of monitoring and using feedback to adjust progress toward that goal. 

Thus, the teacher can use where students are making progress and what the next step will be to provide targeted feedback and instruction. Likewise, students can use their understanding of the goal to self-assess their progress.

How might this look in your classroom?

Do you like free stuff? Scholarships and Edtech Updates.

Free Stuff!

First, because the deadline is April 30, have you thought about professional learning this summer? The Modern Classrooms Project has a limited number of scholarships (a $750 value!) available for their Virtual Summer Institute, which provides self-paced learning and networking opportunities for five weeks, along with individualized coaching from Expert Mentors who use the model. If you want to learn more about using blended learning to increase student mastery and make teaching more enjoyable and sustainable, check out this AMAZING opportunity! 

Special scholarships are also available for special educators!

EdTech Updates

Canva now has Magic Write and Magic Design. 

These AI tools are a great way for teachers to start documents and presentations fast...but it is also a tool students might be using, so teachers need to be aware. Here's a walk-through of how Magic Write works:

If you haven't tried Canva, educators and students can use it for free! It has expanded to include so many capabilities for document design, visuals, and video editing that it is worth checking out. Let members of TLI know if you would be interested in professional learning on this.

Flip now has a Reading Coach in Immersive Reader!

Looking for kids to get feedback on their oral reading? Then this might a tool for you. Check out how it works in this video:

And, even if you just want to have a tool to read text aloud to students or support student reading, consider using Flip and the Immersive Reader to support student learning.

Do you use Newsela? The paywall is rising...

Beginning this summer, users with free Newsela accounts will only have access to a handful of current event articles each month, selected by the Newsela team. One article will be released a week, and articles will disappear after four weeks. The company shares that "Our full catalog of 8,000+ leveled news and current events articles will only be available in our premium products."

Infinite Campus: Use the Knowledge Base & Save time with Student Groups

 If you haven't gone into Infinite Campus's Community, you should check out the Knowledge Base. This menu provides tutorials for features that will streamline your work.

One such tool is the "Student Groups" option, which allows teachers to divide a class into small groups for an assignment or to simply have as a record to refer to for classroom activities. For example, you might create a roster of accelerated students who might benefit from more challenging small group work into a "Green" group, as well as students who need more support during reading into a "Blue" group. 

One big selling point, aside from the ability to quickly group students and create rosters, is for GMS/GHS teachers to adapt their gradebook at the same time:

"You can use student groups to give assignments to only a subset of students in a section. Once a group is created, you can select it in the Scheduling/Grading Alignment area of an assignment. The assignment only appears for the students in the selected group; all other students are automatically marked as exempt in the Grade Book."

You wouldn't need to take the time to duplicate the assignment or mark students as exempt--talk about a time saver! What's also great is that the differentiated assignment The link to the directions for Student Groups is here, though keep in mind you will have to login with your Infinite Campus credentials to access.

You can also save time adding assignments in gradebooks that cover students in the same course by using section groups. Infinite Campus shares that "groups make scoring assignments easier by combining matching assignments into shared columns in the gradebook."

As you can see in the image to the left, the teacher in this example grouped all his math classes into a section called "Math Classes." Instead of toggling between gradebooks, he can create the assignment once for all of those groups, and then he can select that section to score all at once. You can see that the different class sections are denoted by colors (green and blue) on the left hand side.

The link to the directions for Section Groups is here, and again, you will have to login to Infinite Campus to access the directions, with the linked video tutorial and simulation at the bottom of the page.

Finally, you can modify due dates and details for groups using either of these section tools (and for individuals too! See this video for a how to.). 

Want support for setting up student groups? Contact _GPSTLI@griswoldpublicschools.org

Take Time to Save Time: Planning to use Rubrics and Success Criteria

In a recent conversation with a team, the topic of rubrics came up. Several teachers shared that they weren't sure it was a good use of their team time and effort to put details into a rubric that students don't use well.

And this raises a good question: do we always need detailed rubrics?

Well, the short answer is, no!

But research suggests that having clear success criteria--and in cases where a skill recurs, develops, or is reviewed for a long period of time, rubrics--is powerful:

"When students are clear on expectations of learning, they tend to double their rate of learning. Moreover, when students are clear on expectations, they have a better chance of assessing their current performance and using feedback accurately. As John Hattie explains in Visible Learning, self assessment, feedback, and student clarity yield substantial growth in student learning."

So how can we make this easier on teachers and on our time?

1) Have clear learning targets for the assignment, and share them in student-friendly language.

One big concern teachers share is that students can't or don't accurately monitor their progress or provide accurate feedback to each other. The more "targeted" and clear we can make expectations for students, the more likely they are to hit that target.

“When students understand exactly what they’re supposed to learn and what their work will look like when they learn it, they’re better able to monitor and adjust their work, select effective strategies, and connect current work to prior learning.” (from Brookhart and Moss “Learning Targets. On Parade” Educational Leadership, October 2014, v. 72 p. 28)

2) Use models to help build success criteria.

There is power in SHOWING, not just telling, what we are looking for. In fact, for bigger assignments, this can be done as a co-construction activity, in which the teacher shows examples of what they are looking for and asks students to identify what made the work successful. In this way, students "own" the drafting of the criteria for success. 

This can even develop as a checklist! This checklist can become the core of a rubric, or students can use those criteria to review their work during and after it is created.

3) Build in time for students to use them.

Giving class time for students to use a rubric or checklist to review and revise their work is tough--after all, there is a lot to cover in that precious time! But if we want to make sure students feel more success the first time, and to save ourselves time reteaching (and taking home assignments to write feedback on!), this is time well spent. One way to engage students is to use a single-point rubric

Not only does this save time in creating a big, detailed rubric, but it provides the student (and teacher) space to provide specific feedback on how the student work does or doesn't meet the criteria. This can be a formative assessment, as students who can't or incorrectly identify evidence that they meet the success criteria are good candidates for reteaching, while those who can identify why they aren't yet meeting success may be able to improve after self-reflection. 

Make time to save time

It seems counterintuitive to plan more class time to review learning targets, co-create success criteria, and spend time using a rubric, but that time is shown by research to be well-spent. Students show greater understanding and success, and teachers do LESS of the work in the long run. It's a win-win!

Jamming with Jamboard

If you haven't had much experience with Jamboard, it is basically an online whiteboard that is part of the Google suite. It works well on your Smartboard, Chromebooks, and other devices, and you can learn more about it here.

If you use Slides for many things, as I know many teachers do, then it would be logical to wonder why Jamboard would be worth learning and integrating. One compelling reason is the drawing functionality. Unlike slides, the drawing tools on Jamboard allow for easy annotation:

While this many not be compelling without a touch screen, if you have a Smartpanel, this allows you to take notes on a worksheet or picture without much more effort than pasting a screenshot or scan on the board:

Jamboard also allows you to keep adding new screens to a Jam, so if you wanted or needed to save and upload all the notes from class to Google Classroom, this process becomes a snap.

While many teachers don't recommend having the whole class on one Jamboard at the same time (no version history = less accountability), it is great for small group collaboration or organizing quick teacher-directed whole group activities.

The sticky note function makes it easy for students to quickly contribute and organize ideas. This idea from Chromebook Classroom is so simple, yet it is useful for teachers as formative assessment data:

Jamboard makes it easy to manipulate objects on a screen, and if you check out this post from We Are Teachers and this post from Ditch That Textbook, you will find over 40 ready-made templates and ideas that will increase collaboration, manipulation, and accessibility. Why reinvent the wheel when someone has shared a Freyer model template or already made number cubes and calendar items?

If you are looking for something new, or you are just looking to save some time, check out the Jamboard templates that people are sharing.

If you want more ideas, you can also check out this free ebook from DitchThatTextbook with 10 Jamboard lesson ideas and templates.

WOW your Parents, Streamline your Practice

Parent-Teacher Conferences are coming up fast, and with so many options for connecting with parents, it helps to think about how you can use technology to streamline your preparation and leave your parents impressed.

Scheduling

While Sign Up Genius continues to be a favorite for scheduling parent conferences, you can also use Google forms and Google calendar to set up appointments and share Meet links if parents are joining virtually. (For more on using Google forms with parents, see our previous post.) 

Online scheduling is great because it eliminates the "middle man" problems associated with sending papers back and forth. Additionally, using online appointments makes it easier for parents (and teachers!) to schedule, especially if they are coordinating conferences with multiple teachers. And of course, parents can always call/email and you can help them use these systems!

(As another a time-saving tip, printing out your electronic calendar or sign up is a great way to streamline sharing your conference log with your building administrators.)

Showcasing your Classroom

While open house is the best opportunity to allow parents to "see" what their kids experience every day, not every parent can make it. In advance of conferences, you can share insight into your class using digital tools. Several teachers have done virtual tours (check out this example from GHS!), which are not only great to record for parents, but also work great as an introduction for new students. 

And, if you want to empower your students and share the load, have a student tour challenge that asks your kids to collaborate to create a tour and/or compete to see who creates the best tour video.

Showing Student Work

Parents LOVE seeing what their students are doing. While some teachers may already have students creating Google Sites as part of a portfolio, others may simply have a paper folder of work. Some teachers have students complete a Google form or document that allows the students to choose what information they want to share with parents about their year so far. This is a great way to promote student self-assessment/metacognition and to increase parent engagement.

Some teachers have joined meetings with their phones, in addition to their computer, to have another camera to show offline work. One other great idea for sharing this with parents who are meeting virtually is to use a document camera. Especially when you have little learners who need to process a lot on paper, this allows you to talk about what you are seeing in student work with a visual reference for parents. (Click here for directions on using document cameras in Google Meets, or contact TLI.)

Supporting Parents

Some parents have a tricky relationship with school, whether because they are new to having students in the system, they have a language barrier, or they are carrying their own trauma from school. You might consider sending them preconference questions or materials to help them prepare.

Especially as students transition to new schools and class set ups, parents may need more support to take advantage of your communications. If you use a tool like Remind to send messages home, Google Classroom for updates, or even if you use Infinite Campus to share progress, parents may need a set of directions or additional support to access  this. Be prepared with this during conferences, either by creating a follow-up email that you send with links or by having links to this important information that you can put in the chat to walk a parent through the process. If TLI can help direct you to the "best" tutorial videos for parents, let us know!

For more tips on preparing for Parent-Teacher Conferences, especially for new or nervous teachers, check out the Edvocate and the Resilient Educator.

What other tips do you have for great conferences? Add them to the Google Jamboard!

🧠 Emojacognition!

Using Emojis for Student Self-Assessment

We talked a lot this August about the power of student self-assessment and metacognition. This strategy is so simple and so powerful, but it draws its power from regular practice.

So how do we make this easier to incorporate into your routine?

Use emojis! (And templates.)

While many of us used emojis during the pandemic for SEL check-ins, emojis are so much more than faces. Sites like emojicopy.com let you search for icons that help emerging readers AND proficient readers quickly identify the choice they identify with, whether it be a stop sign🛑, a bright sun☀️, or big eyes 👀!

Emojis can draw attention 📢 to ideas and more quickly communicate with a variety of learners.

Teachers in Kindergarten use emojis to support blended learning for emergent readers, along with audio and video.

Teachers of English Language Learners use this as a way to scaffold a "write-pair-share" conversations about their weekends. (You might want to give a table of emojis students can pick from to avoid inappropriate fruits!)

If you are looking for a digital exit ticket 🎫, you might draw inspiration from this doc template.

You can assign this to each student in Google Classroom with "Make a Copy for Each Student," and students can use the drop-downs you customize to answer. You can use different colors and symbols to help students quickly reflect on their learning or how well they met the student-friendly objectives for the day. (For more on using drop downs in Docs, check out the linked video!)

You could also use a Google form Exit Ticket with emoji or picture responses for reflection.

 (Click the link above to create a copy of a template with some pre-made options). The advantage is that you get a quick visualization of the data, showing which students did and didn't understand and supporting the development of student groups.

There are so many ideas for using emojis for student thinking and feedback. Let us know in the comments if you are using it!

Templates for Teaching

On a recent Truth for Teachers podcast, Marguerite Redelfs shared how she uses templates to save time AND support deeper student learning. Perhaps this is a no-brainer for some of us, but it can be worth remembering that there are a lot of ready-to-use structures out there to make teaching not just easier to prepare for, but also better for deep student learning.

Brain research supports the use of using and reusing "standardized" approaches to tasks or topics, as the familiarity with the process increases students abilities to focus on the new learning. For example, if we introduce a new review game to students, they spend as much if not more of their mental energy on learning the game as they do accessing the content. Thus, playing Blooket to review at the end of each week or unit allows students to focus on the learning and not the rules of the game.

Likewise, using Google Slides or Google Jamboard templates for Visible Thinking Routines that you can use over and over is not only a huge time-saver for the teacher, but helps students focus more on the product than the process.

Using templates for hyperdocs or other lesson organization structures is just smart. The time YOU save on creating something from scratch can then be spent on other activities that support student learning.

End of the Year Technology Clean Up

It's hard to believe the school year is drawing to a close, but given that Chromebook collection is fast approaching for students, there are things for teachers and students to have on their collective radars now to ensure a smooth end of the year AND set you up for a smooth start to next year!

1. Prepare to Archive and Otherwise Secure your Google Classrooms 

Your Google drive will be FILLED with student files if you don't return work. If you've been holding on to student work all term (or all year), now is a good time to return those files. This will save your Google drive from clutter and help you find things faster in the future.

• This Teaching Channel blog post walks you through the process and includes a helpful video tutorial!
• One additional tip, for those of you worried about securing assignments for academic integrity reasons, you may also opt to unenroll students from classes. This blog post will explain and walk you through the process.

2. Support Students in Organizing their Google Drive

Once you return work to students, you could give students the opportunity to create a portfolio for their families OR students could organize their work into folders for school applications, Vision of the Graduate reflections, or any number of other reasons.

• A lesson for this for Grades 3-12 can be found at ShareMyLesson.

3. Organize Your Files without Creating Additional Clutter!

• Use versioning to name this year's file without making copies that clutter your drive.

Instead of making copies, go into the Version History and name the current version. This way, you can have multiple versions of a test, assignment, handout, etc. that is customized based on your group of students, semester, etc. And the great part? You can go back and forth between named versions without losing any of the versions!

• Place shared files in a shared drive--your team or department will thank you!

Getting Organized with Google

 Teachers end of the year to-do lists can feel long, and while cleaning up is cathartic and important, it often feels overwhelming.

Thankfully, Google has added some tools that can make your digital clean-up easier.

Two tips teachers have shared as being game-changers involve Google Drive and documents.

1. Use advanced search to quickly find (and then organize) files.

The quick tip video from Google teacher guru Kasey Bell quickly shows how to use the Google search chips to quickly find that file you are looking for, even if you never put them into folders.

This is also a great way to find files "Shared with Me" that you need to add to your drive and organize into folders for easy use in the classroom. For more on this, check out the TLI Educational Technology page.

2. Use named versions to eliminate document overload.

Teacher Tech master Alice Keehler shares that naming versions of documents using version history is a great end-of-year clean-up strategy and a great habit to use all year long!

Many teachers "Make a Copy" of a document when they update it for 2021 or 2022, thinking they may someday want to revert back to the version from 2019. However, this leads to many nearly redundant files in your Drive...and confusion when trying to find "the right" version of the document!

Instead, when you go to update a document for the new year (or close out this year), go to "File," select "Version History" and name your version. This could be with the year, or even a longer descriptive title that indicates the changes made. 

Then, if you make changes and in a couple months or years want to revert back, you can simply "Restore" the desired version. 

This also helps with those users of hyperdocs, as the links in your document won't change. Additionally, Google Classroom teachers who want to "Reuse" assignments from year-to-year can avoid having to change up attachments, making the process even easier.

Fast Food Feedback: Make it Worth It!

Fast food is great because it is (usually) fast: as a consumer, you don't need to cook, wash dishes, or sometimes even get out of your car. However, if you just scarf down the food without tasting it, then you've wasted the experience.

Fast formative assessment is a little like that: if we don't take the time to "savor" that feedback, then  the effort of collecting the data was not worth it.

Most of our students are used to these faster computer-based assessments, whether in the Illustrative Math platform, on a Kahoot, or a teacher-made Google form. The benefit of having computer-based testing should be the ease of feedback: in mere moments, something that would have taken at least a half hour to mark has been scored and can be accessible to students for feedback, at least in terms of knowing what they got right and wrong.

So, how do we make students do more with that feedback than just look at the score?

Solution 1: Teacher-Made Groups

Look at the data and make some strategic decisions: are there questions that most students got wrong that warrant a whole class reteaching? Are there students in the class who got a commonly missed question right and could act as "experts" to help during a station rotation review activity? Are there groups of students who would benefit from small group re-teaching on a topic?

Solution 2: Student-Led Groups

Shift the responsibility to the students: Might you build in time for students to identify the top questions to review as a class? Might they work together to write explanations for the top (2, 3, 5?) questions they got wrong, but upon reviewing with peers, etc., they now know how to answer correctly? Might they have to share how they would do better on a similar question in the future, or write their own version of the question to show they understand?

What other solutions do you have for making students more responsible for using fast feedback?

Take Time to Save Time: Learning Targets

Let's begin with a confession: we didn't always care about learning targets. When they were first all the rage, we thought that surely, students didn't care about our learning targets...

Except, that once we started crafting them in student-friendly language, and once we started using them intentionally to plan and communicate the lesson intention to students, the students did care. And we realized we did too.

Students stopped asking "Why do we have to do this?"; closure activities and formative assessment became easier; and work that we didn't realize was more "busy" than valuable began to work itself out of the lessons, leaving more time for high-quality learning experiences. And less time spent planning.

The research is clear: "learning targets" are important to share with students. In the Edutopia article "How to Make Learning Targets Clear to Students," Dr. Michael McDowell shares:

"When students are clear on expectations of learning, they tend to double their rate of learning. Moreover, when students are clear on expectations, they have a better chance of assessing their current performance and using feedback accurately."

The challenge is that just because we write a target on the board, it doesn't mean the expectations are clear to students. So, how do we make our learning targets useful for teachers and students?

1) Plan student-friendly learning targets for the lesson.

The more direct and accessible we make our goal statements, the clearer we are about the intended learning. This can be tricky if we have other underlying goals for our work (i.e. students will practice collaborating, critical thinking, perseverance, etc.). While these are worthy practices, sharing too many goals for the day can be confusing when planning--and when presenting the goals to students.

As you work on this skill, it may help to brainstorm all the goals you can think of for the lesson, and then refer back to the standard(s) of focus for the learning experience when picking the main one or two targets to share with students. 

Make sure that you draft and share the goal in terms that students can (or could, with support) understand. Often when we break things down into terms a child could understand, we understand more fully ourselves!

2) Align your planned activities and assessments with the target.

If you think about the "assessment" you will give to gauge student progress during the lesson, does it align with your learning target? Does it show if students know and/or can do what you want them to? If not, you may need to revisit the target OR the assessment. 

Likewise, before you plan activities, think: do they support students in reaching the learning target? If not, think about how you might replace them with opportunities for students to collaborate, practice, reflect, or revise their thinking to better meet that goal. This can be done with thinking routines like 3-2-1, see-think-wonder, or word-phrase-sentence, which can be used over and over again, or other low-prep practices like brain dumps, summarizing  learning, or making connections in a write-pair-share-revise.

3) Provide time in the lesson for students to make sense of the targets.

Rushing often leads to reteaching! Taking a few minutes at the start of class to have students paraphrase the goals OR make a plan to meet them might save time in the long run. Teachers can check for misunderstandings before students get too far into the process, and students can see where their understandings are incomplete and ask questions before they start. 

Taking a few minutes to reflect on progress at the end of class with a simple "Fist to Five" or an exit ticket reflecting on the goal is easier with a clear target too!

Learning targets = happy classrooms.

By focusing carefully on your goal for the lesson and clearly communicating that goal to students, you save time on planning and on student confusion, leading to less stress and more learning.

For more on how to create learning targets, check out EL's resources.

Review at the Loo

In the past few years, many people have been promoting "Potty PD," or quick items for professional learning that can be shared in places where teachers have to wait (i.e. outside the bathroom or next to the copy machine). 

A teacher at Thursday's LEARN book club for The Six Shifts (about the practicalities of implementing instruction based in the science of reading) shared a similar idea, but for students.

Essentially, she shared that teachers use the time waiting outside the bathroom for classmates to have their turn as a time to play review games for phonics, math facts, etc. She shared that this improved student behavior and made this time academically enriching.

For more about resources from The Six Shifts and related to the Science of Reading, check out TLI's Curriculum Development Website.

To join the LEARN book club (reading the book is not required!), contact TLI.

Maximize your ClassroomScreen

 You planned your lesson for students to work in groups. To do this, you need to sort students, set a timer, and keep students apprised of how their behavior is meeting with expectations.

ClassroomScreen can help you efficiently prepare for this work. 

It's easy to get started. You don't even have to create an account, though you can create a free account and login with Google to save your favorite name list (for easy grouping) and widget preferences.

Show the widgets you use most on any display screen. The app provides useful tools like timers, drawing tools, the random-name picker, and a favorite, the noise-level monitor. You can also embed media, like the videos for your favorite brain breaks. 

Access this anywhere. If your class goes to the library or a lab, this screen can pulled up quickly from any screen with an internet connection. 

There are so many uses for this tool!

If you haven't looked at this before, it's worth giving the free version a try. Let TLI know what you think of the tool, or if we can add any materials to our Educational Technology website to clarify how best to use it.

Start With What You're Proud Of

Who doesn't love attention for what they are doing well? When we build from our strengths, we build on a strong foundation.

This came up as teachers on the district catalyst team recently discussed student-led writing conferences. If you are a teacher who has students write (and hopefully revise), this technique is worth a look.

Some of the Benefits:

1. Saves time
2. More effective feedback
3. More effective instruction

Instead of writing a bunch of comments that students may or may not read on their writing, the teacher has the STUDENTS identify what they want to focus on. This takes a few minutes of reflection for students, but saves the teacher HOURS of close reading student work. Plus, research shows that students often need support acting on written comments or they ignore them (often because they aren't timely or sufficiently helpful). 

The conferencing technique calls for teachers, instead of writing all over the student work, to devote five minutes to each student in class. During that 5 minute conference, the teacher and student review the parts of the assignment that the student identifies as wanting feedback on. Feedback works best when we also collect it from students (see Hattie, J (2009). Visible Learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. New York: Routledge). The student sets the goal based on the learning target(s), making it all the more meaningful to them, and then has time to act on that feedback.

For more on how this works, you might consult Edutopia's 5 minute conferences resource and the sample comments/questions from Literacy Today.

But the addition that made this MOST effective in practice was not just asking students what they wanted to discuss for improvement, but to start by asking students to share what they were most proud of.

This had several benefits.

1. It alerted the teacher to sensitive topics. If a student was really proud about a paragraph they wrote that the teacher would have covered in real or digital red ink, then the teacher might approach feedback differently. It's hard to focus on the good when your pride and joy just got trashed.

2. It gives a snapshot of the student's level of understanding. If students are accurately identifying the good in their work, that can be valuable even for students who already don't have a lot to work on. Likewise, if a student identifies something good that isn't really great, the teacher then has a door open to addressing the misconception.

3. It gives a starting point for students who THINK they have nothing to work on. One question that was asked is what to do if students come to the conference and think everything is great. (Or they want to avoid the conference, so they claim it is great.) Asking someone what they are proud of is a non-threatening question that opens the door to adding more...rather than saying a student needs to "fix this" or throw things out. Many students will be open to feedback when the discussion starts with what is good.

And this makes sense, when we link this to what we know about behavior-specific praise being more powerful than corrective feedback in terms of changing behaviors. Who doesn't want to keep doing what earns them accolades?

If you want to know more about how student-led conferencing can work for you or for assignments other than writing, contact TLI, and we'd be happy to provide you with resources or help you co-plan this activity for your students.

Put a Hex on Them!

A recent GMS lesson reminded us of how powerful, flexible, and relatively low-prep hexagonal thinking is as a tool/strategy for teaching and learning.

What is Hexagonal Thinking?

Maybe you caught the Cult of Pedagogy post on Hexagonal Thinking last year and thought, that looks cool, but I'm not in a place to cut out a bunch of paper hexagons right now. Or maybe you haven't had time to read through the variations and ideas, and now that you have seen people using this tool, you are wondering how to make it work for you. (If you want to see how hexagonal thinking works in detail, this post is so good!)

Why would I use Hexagonal Thinking?

If you haven't tried it, there are so many research-based reasons to think about using hexagonal thinking as an activity for review, formative assessment, or even summative assessment in your classroom.

1. It uses manipulatives (physical or digital)
2. It encourages academic conversation and collaboration
3. It elicits higher order thinking
4. It calls for identifying similarities and differences
5. It is highly visual and encourages students to "build" a graphic organizer
6. It supports long-term learning

Examples and Templates

The Cult of Pedagogy post links to many resources for physical and digital templates and examples. There are tutorials for creating digital versions of hexagonal thinking, but if you really want to save time, try starting with this Google Slides template/history example. If you are looking for more in your content area or grade level, you might check out some more examples:

• Social studies examples
• Science example (in Edutopia article explaining the technique)
• Health example
• World Language example
• ELA example (this is a template that uses IMAGES in the hexagons, which might be extra great for elementary students or struggling readers)

There are so many ways to use and adapt this activity. Let us know how hexagonal thinking goes with your students!

Put It on My Tab

Quick Tip: You've probably noticed that your Google docs (and other tools) have started suggesting the next few words to write. This "predictive text," like the suggestions on your phone, is a great time saver, but not everyone knows how to active it.

Here's how it works:

When you see the predictive text pop up (usually in a gray color), hit the "Tab" key. The text will fill in! If you don't want all of that text, you can backspace or just continue typing and the suggestion will go away.

If you want to turn it OFF (or turn it back on) in Google Docs, go to Tools in the menu bar, then select Preferences, and find Show Smart Compose Suggestions and unclick the check box! That’s all!

To see how this works, check out the video below, which also shows how you (or students) can use Speech-to-Text.

Side Tip: Predictive Text in the Google Search Bar

You might also note that suggestions pop up in the omnibar (the place where you put the URL). This is great for pulling up recent documents, etc. without going to your Google drive! 

However, if you want to turn this off, follow the directions from this Google Expert:

Please refer to this if you want to turn off predictive text.

1. Go to the Chrome menu on the browser toolbar.
2. Click Settings.
3. Click Show advanced settings (on the bottom)
4. In the Privacy section, deselect the "Use a prediction service to help complete searches and URLs typed in the address bar" checkbox

Have other features you want to turn on/off? Use the comments below or email TLI!

(Ctrl) F that!

 

Quick Tip:

Ctrl+F is also known as the "Find" shortcut, and it allows you to open a search window in the page you have open on your browser--or in your Google document, PDF, etc. Type in the word (or part of the word) you want to find, and it will highlight the instances of that word on your page. 

There are many everyday uses for Ctrl+F that may make this a daily trick to use. If you are best described as an "okay" speller, using Ctrl+F to find and then REPLACE that word or name you repeatedly butchered can be a huge time saver. Or, if you tend to use the same word/phrase over and over again, you can find each instance and revise with a more colorful and accurate sentence!

Additional Uses: 

Ctrl + F is also valuable for those teaching reading or media literacy skills. The uses for this in the classroom are multiple, including the following:

Quickly evaluate a source for usefulness.
When researching, whether on a webpage or PDF, you can quickly see if the key word or phrase you are looking for is present--or how many times it appears. If it only shows up once, that might be an indication to move on...

Support students in identifying key words.
Sometimes students don't know whether to look up a word they don't know. A quick search for the word in the text will show the number of times it appears, and thus give them an indication of how important it is to define and understand.

Quickly find citations, etc.
Ctrl+F also works in Google documents! This time-saver is great for checking instances of a specific source cited or finding instances of the parenthesis ( on a page to count the number of parenthetical citations.

Check for plagiarism.
Quickly find key words or phrases that you suspect are copied. This is also a helpful tool for students to check that they have paraphrased appropriately!

Support students in evaluating sources for credibility.
Ctrl+F is great for finding key pieces of information fast, especially if you are practicing lateral reading and trying to confirm information found from another source.

Lateral reading helps you determine an author’s credibility, intent and biases by searching for articles on the same topic by other writers (to see how they are covering it) and for other articles by the author you’re checking on. That’s what professional fact-checkers do.

In fact, there is a Canadian program called CTRL+F that has a free program for media literacy, including lessons, videos, examples, and assessments (pre/post) for students in Grades 7-12. For those familiar with the News Literacy Project and its Checkology curriculum for Grades 6-12, this is similar but more easily used in pieces--Google slides, paper handouts, and with no student data sharing--to suit your learners. If this is something you have been thinking about, check out the introductory video below:

How else have you used Ctrl+F in the classroom or in your teacher life to increase productivity? Let us know in the comments below!

Finding Balance with Grading

 

February is always the longest short month, but this year feels harder in many ways for teachers. While there are no miracle cures, one step teachers can take to enhance teacher well-being AND student well-being is finding a balance with our assignments.

While there is plenty of research that shows the value of feedback (and tips for how to make that feedback the best possible), there is little research that supports the value of grading for student learning or well-being. Research shows that grades MIGHT impact student motivation positively if they are perceived as providing helpful feedback, but on the whole:  

"Grades did not enhance academic motivation. Instead, grades enhanced anxiety and avoidance of challenging courses. In contrast, narrative evaluations supported basic psychological needs and enhanced motivation by providing actionable feedback, promoting trust between instructors and students and cooperation amongst students." 

So, what do we as teachers do, when the reality is that grades are expected and still carry importance in the wider world?

The most recent episode of Catlin Tucker's podcast The Balance is an 11 minute gem devoted to grading. If you find yourself drowning in student work to assess, this is worth the listen. 

In her blog reflection, Catlin Tucker shares:

"A few years ago, I hit a breaking point. My grades didn’t feel like an accurate reflection of my students’ skills, and I was spending hours wading through paperwork instead of designing dynamic learning experiences for my students. Now, when I work with teachers, I encourage them to ask these questions: What is the purpose of this work? Why am I grading this?"

Catlin found that a few changes helped her spend MUCH LESS TIME grading, shift her practice to more time spent in class on feedback, reflection, and setting goals for learning, and find MORE MEANING in the time she spent giving feedback. She shares the following helpful flowchart in her blog:

If this seems interesting, take 15 minutes to check out the blog and podcast. Let TLI know if you want to chat about how you might strike this balance in your classroom!

 

Save Time Scoring to Spend Time on What Matters

Midterms at GHS have inspired several questions about ways to save time on scoring assessments. While there are limits to what multiple choice can assess well, questions that are carefully designed and target specific objectives can assess higher order thinking and provide teachers with the ability to provide students with fast feedback. 

Megan Faherty of Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers blog/podcast puts this well: "If you don't have time to grade it, students don't have time to learn from it."

There is so much research about the impact of feedback on student performance. But for fast feedback from these types of assessments to be meaningful, teachers need to plan for students to use it. 

Depending on the tools teachers use, there are many options for helping students review and use their feedback from assessments that involve limited choices.

A few ideas, such as those from "Getting Students to Engage with Feedback," 

• "Make a connection between the expectations of an assignment and feedback. When I set an expectation, I explain how I will give feedback and the way students should apply the feedback to their work."
• "Create opportunities for students to interact with feedback during class sessions."
• Students can work with peers who had similar challenges to determine what skill or concept was involved in the question troubled them, and think about what knowledge or strategies might help them in the future.
• Teachers might also create specific plans for students to review questions or problems, recognize their strengths, and utilize resources to help address areas of struggle. Simply having students review incorrect responses and answering questions like, "Why is the correct answer better than the other options? Why did you think the answer choice selected was right? Can you find evidence for why it is wrong?" helps improve engagement with this work. 

This aligns with research that shows that "Short, low-stakes tests also help teachers gauge how well students understand the material and what they need to reteach. This is effective when tests are formative—that is, designed for immediate feedback so that students and teachers can see students’ areas of strength and weakness and address areas for growth."

Asking students to take the time to review not only saves you time, but then also leads to better results, especially if students know they can retest or they earn back credit for showing that they know the material via these test reflections.