“Impossible to see, the future
is.” --Yoda
Last
week I wrote about the confusion surrounding educational standards in
Indiana. The ongoing conflict about state
standards seems outside of our control and leaves Indiana educators hanging out
in an uncomfortable state of limbo. We
may be able to influence the
direction we go as a state by getting involved in the open review process, but even
that feels like a long shot. Unfortunately,
when politics take priority, educational decisions tend to be made by those
well outside of the schoolhouse walls.
It
is easy to become discouraged, but I’m not ready to give in to the Dark Side
quite yet. We may not have control of
the debate taking place downtown (and around the country) but we do have lots
of control about what we do inside our district, inside our school, and inside
our classrooms.
Interestingly
enough, I think we are on the right track.
I believe The Force is with us, regardless of which way the winds of
change blow in regards to state standards.
Examine for a moment all of the work we have been doing this year. As part of the HSE21 initiative, we are
developing or revising a Scope and Sequence for each of our courses at the high
school level. We are identifying the
most important content in the Scope and Sequence and ensuring our students understand this content by creating
Understanding by Design units. UbD units
include both traditional assessments and performance tasks assessments. In other words, we are designing ways to measure
both knowing and understanding.
“Already know you that which you
need.” --Yoda
Our
goal is to have students read and write and think—especially to think! To do this we design units, lessons,
activities, and tasks that require students to “do something” with their
knowledge. HSE21 is about moving beyond teaching and putting the focus on student learning. If we do this well, our students will know a great deal, but also be able to understand the key concepts of each
course and transfer this understanding to new situations.
This
picture “heavily borrowed” from Pinterest is nice way to illustrate the
difference between knowing and understanding:
People
who know you may not be able to
predict how you will react in any given situation, but people who understand you will be able to do so
fairly consistently. Stop and consider
for a minute what this means in the context of the Standards Wars that are
taking place right now. Almost all
teachers can agree on the most significant parts of any given curriculum. In fact, creating a Scope and Sequence and
UbD units for your courses requires you to identify subject matter students
should know and subject matter
students should understand. When students understand, they can transfer
the learning to whatever forms of assessment come their way.
Therefore,
when we design courses, units, lessons, and assessments well, we ensure that
our students can transfer key skills
and knowledge to new situations. Regardless
of the political and pedagogical debate surrounding standards, and regardless
of whether the new state assessments will be designed to measure minimum
competency or deep comprehension, our students will be prepared to do well on
the new assessments. Certainly, we may
have to tweak content and instruction over the coming year as we see whether
the Imperial Storm Troopers or Rebel Alliance takes control. (I’ll let you decide which is which in the
current debate!) The essentials of our
courses, however, those things taught to the level of understanding, are not likely to change a great deal with either
outcome.
“Do
or do not. There is no try.” --Yoda
Don’t
give in to the Dark Side. Use the Force,
HSE. Continue down the path we are
traveling. All subject areas should look
closely at what is being taught, at what UbD units are essential, and at how understanding will be assessed. Most importantly, all classes should have
students reading, writing, and thinking at high levels. Every day in every class students need to do
and to think. When this
happens, we create a guaranteed and viable curriculum and set our own
standards for student performance.
Our standards will have students prepared to do well in school, prepared
to for any kind of standardized tests that come their way, and prepared for the
next stages of their lives, whatever they chose to do.
That,
HSE, is a standard worth shooting for.
Have a great week. May the Force
be with you.
Phil
One more from Yoda: “In a dark
place we find ourselves, and a little more knowledge lights our way.”
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