Our school was fortunate to be involved in a meaningful professional development opportunity led by Jay McTighe today.  I think it might revolutionize my teaching.

McTighe’s contention is that we as educators think about what objectives we need to assess — state or school standards, for example — then we think of activities.  What we don’t do is think like assessors.  We don’t think about how we are going to assess what the students have learned.

McTighe calls his model for planning “Backward Design”:

1. Desired Results — these are the standards with which we work; objectives, essential questions, etc.
2. Evidence — how are we going to “determine the extent tow which students have achieved the desired results”?  What performance tasks and rubrics are involved?  What other evidence (quizzes, tests, prompted writing, etc.) will we use?  What sorts of self-assessments will we ask students to complete?
3. Learning Plan — this is a reference to the activities and assignments we will do to ensure students learn the material.

I found this interesting, because I usually construct assessments after I’ve planned what we are going to do — not before.  What often results, I think, is that students aren’t clear about what they need to do to demonstrate their learning.  They want to make good grades, but they don’t know what I’m looking for.

McTighe suggests models of assignments.  Three examples each of exemplary work, good work, average work, and poor work.  This can take years to collect, but I see the value.  Students know exactly what they need to do in order to get the grade they’re after.  In the words of a teacher McTighe referenced, “No mysteries, no excuses.”

I think some of the things we learned are so intuitive — I wonder, and I think I wasn’t alone, why I wasn’t doing it.  Of course, I do some of it.  It’s strange, because it finally dawned on me why one of my projects usually works so well.  All I knew about it was that it worked, but I didn’t really know why.  I know this sounds strange, but bear with me.  McTighe contends that authentic assessment asks students to apply what they have learned to solve real-world types of problems.  I’m not sure this is something you can do every time, but I think it needs to be done often.  My project is a blind date between Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman.  Students record the results of the date and use some of their writing in the poets’ conversation.  Students frequently get “into” this project and do a wonderful job with it.  I didn’t realize it, but the reason it was good is that I was asking students to apply literature.  I was asking them to take to very different, very influential American poets and compare/contrast them.  Inevitably, students do very interesting things with the poets’ divergent philosophies.

McTighe shared a great unit plan for Catcher in the Rye constructed by English teacher who attended his workshop.  After having taught this novel, one thing I’ve noticed is that despite the fact that the novel explicitly describes Holden’s current location as a mental hospital, students become so lost in the story Holden tells that they forget that.  The English teacher’s plan places students in the role of an expert — “the member of an advisory committee to the hospital where Holden Caulfield is telling his story.”  After students read the novel, they will be asked to “write 1) a summary report for the hospital; 2) a letter to Holden’s parents explaining what is wrong with Holden.”  Students also do conventional work, such as an essay, quizzes, and a reading journal.  It’s a great plan, and if any teachers wish to see a copy of it, just let me know, and I’ll figure something out.

One of the things I like about McTighe is that he sees traditional assessments such as quizzes and tests as important, but also encourages assessments that ask students to apply, to self-assess.  His analogy of assessment was likened to photography.  We should not rely on a single snapshot depicting what a students knows; rather, we should help students construct a photo album.

McTighe shared links from his website.  My favorite was the one to Greece, NY Schools ELA Home Page.  English teachers — you need to check this site out.  Lots of great rubrics!  Another thing I found interesting is a mathematical formula for use with rubrics.  Here is an example from Fairfax County (VA.) Public Schools.  I know that scoring students in four different criteria on a four-point rubric, for example, doesn’t work if I give students threes across the board (which would yield 12 points) and divide that by 16.  The score is too low.  This has been a problem I’ve had with rubrics for years.  Finally!  Someone told me what was wrong.
This was exciting.  I love it when professional development is energizing and invigorating.

From the Eugene Register-Guard:

For North Eugene High School’s incoming juniors, Advanced Placement English will no longer be the domain of the academic elite.In a bold attempt to boost student success by raising expectations for all, the school is requiring all 260 juniors this fall to take a rigorous, yearlong AP language and composition class. No exceptions.

That means the straight-A, honors-track students will share their AP classes with students learning English as their second language, students on special education plans and students who, for a host of reasons, would rather have a tooth extracted than set foot in a college-level class.

As an English teacher, I have a HUGE problem with this. AP is not the “domain of the academic elite,” so much as it is the domain of those students who are willing to work very hard. I know many teachers are opposed to “tracking,” but it enables teachers to focus their instruction to meet the needs of their students. I cannot imagine, as a “straight-A, honors-track student,” that I would be taking a college-level high school English class with students who “would rather have a tooth extracted than set foot in a college-level class.”

I do not believe that education is a one-size-fits-all proposition. Our students have different needs. Students in this AP class at North Eugene are not going to be prepared to take the AP exam in the spring, because they will not be able to move at the necessary pace in order to prepare adequately for the exam.

Does that mean I don’t believe in rigor for all? One need only look over my site at the kind of material I teach in order to see that that isn’t the case. I teach three different levels, and I challenge all three. I don’t believe in frustrating kids by working at a pace too fast or too slow for them. Either way, they will quickly lose interest in the class, and they will not learn anything.

I really don’t think I’m alone in this. I think many teachers look at mandates like this and see how detrimental it will be for all kids:

“There was a lot of worry on the part of our ELL (English language learner) and special education staff,” Principal Peter Tromba said. “Some of them were mad.” … Tromba said he warmed to the AP proposal after initial doubts. In his view, he said, “Having kids be exposed to that curriculum and being challenged and being in a college-level class is a good thing. The data show all kids do better.”Research also has suggested a link between performance on AP exams and later success in college, said David Conley, director of the University of Oregon’s Center for Educational Policy Research.

First of all, I wonder what data shows that kids of all levels, not just those who are high-achievers already and are willing to work hard, do better in college because they have taken AP courses. English teachers in Eugene are worried.

“It’s a damn difficult class,” said Eileen Babbs, English department head at South Eugene High School.While she likes the notion of challenging all students, she said her department’s philosophy holds that AP courses are designed only for students who are ready for the rigors of college study.

One of the issues that needs to be addressed is why are classes in other levels not challenging? Second, what exactly are the reasons for a movement to eliminate tracking? If self-esteem is an issue, I have to wonder how students would feel if they failed a class that was not taught at their level. I know there are issues with tracking, but isn’t it just like educators to throw out a practice when tweaking it might be all that is needed?

Attempting to teach AP English to students of all levels just sounds like a long exercise in frustration to me.