Next Wednesday, April 20th, marks the final Educator Network Day. This optional professional development and collaboration day gives you an opportunity to connect with teachers in a learning community to engage in issues important to your content.

You will be paid for your prep time. Content ICCLs will share timesheets at the training. Please return timesheets to Dean Richards in TLC or via email at [email protected].

Times 

(unless otherwise noted)

Middle School 3:15-4:30

High School 2:30-3:45

Secondary (MS & HS) 3:15-4:00

by Linda Adams

A few years ago toward the end of a year of teaching 6th grade math and science abroad I had a very big Aha moment. My students were about to take the NWEA MAPS test and were very stressed out about it. As I dug into why students were feeling so stressed I heard them say they were worried about having to concentrate for longer periods than they thought they were capable of, they were worried about not knowing or understanding the material and as a result, failing. In some cases the stress caused students to have physical symptoms, including stomach and headaches. 

So I decided to try a small experiment. Of the two classes I taught, half of the students would be testing all week with me and the other half would be testing with my teaching  partner. The classes were pretty comparable in skills, ability and diversity. First, I decided to try and reframe the stress. I shared with my students how stress works in our bodies. We learned about how the amygdala works and how hormones like cortisol and adrenaline change how the mind functions. I introduced them to mindfulness techniques and “moving to learn” strategies. We practiced these while learning in our regular day BEFORE the big test. 

Then on the day of the test I used every mindfulness technique I knew to make the climate of our class a soothing environment. I used aroma therapy, I had soothing photos of the beaches and mountains displayed on the screen, I played soft classical music and even had students do some breathing exercises beforehand. I also encouraged students to drink water and to move every 15 minutes (stretch or do a yoga pose). 

Okay, it was just one class but the students who tested with me had appreciably better results AND most importantly they were a lot less stressed; I even caught a few students humming or smiling as they worked. I also felt the students who really did have a tough time focusing for lengths of time did so much better (no impulsive quick clicking) when they knew they could get up and move, get a drink or go to the bathroom when their brains needed a break. Students who needed to also used fidget gadgets to help concentrate and students could sit or stand while they worked.

 “When you change your mind about stress you can change your body’s response to stress”.

Well, I followed up my Aha moment with some research on how and why those ideas may have worked. If you want to know more, first check out this approximately 15 minute Ted Talk on reframing stress, that is, making stress your friend.

Second, choose from a couple of short readings from Edutopia that give concrete ideas for helping you and your students understand and reduce stress anxiety due to testing.

• The Science Behind Student Stress
• Reducing Test Anxiety With Simple Strategies
• Brain-Based Strategies to Reduce Test Stress
• Helping Students Beat Test Anxiety

Finally, don’t be afraid to try some of these strategies in your classroom prior to the testing during times where students are focusing on individual work. Also, if you are interested in how our brains operate most efficiently check out John Medina’s  “Brain Rules (Updated and Expanded): 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School.

Wishing you and your students much less anxiety this time of year.

By Amy Yillik, EdD, Culture of Care Coach, HDESD

You don’t need to be a psychologist or someone that has experienced Burnout to see the writing on the wall in education right now: Educators are exhausted! And while some of you may or may not be in Burnout, our educational environment has been primed for educator enervation for some time: toss in a pandemic, hybrid learning, politics, & social discord, how could we not be debilitated and unmotivated? When experts discuss Burnout, the solution is generally in prevention. But here’s the thing: Educators are in Burnout right now!  We are past the point of prevention; We need intervention. So if you’re tapped out and not sure how you’re going to get to this school year’s finish line, I hope these suggestions are helpful!:

• When Things Fall Apart • Hardcover Book
• ​​Negative Thinking Can Harm Your Brain and Increase Your Dementia Risk
• How to Stop Negative Thinking with 3 Simple Steps | Inc.com
• Why Planning A Trip Is Good For You Even When You Can’t Travel | by James Ware | Age of Awareness | Medium

What makes an ‘effective’ rubric?

The most effective rubrics lay out three kinds of information for students: the key evaluative criteria, defined as concretely as possible, an evaluative range for each criterion so that students can see where they succeeded (or not) for each criterion, and weightings for each criterion. During the task, students use the rubric as a checklist to assess their product and track their progress. Rubrics are excellent tools to promote peer assessment, where students learn how to give and receive constructive feedback. 

Here is an example of what a single point rubric might look like:

To delve deeper into feedback and rubrics check out Jennifer Gonzales’ infamous blog Cult of Pedagogy article “Introducing the Hyper Rubric, a tool that takes learning to the next level”.

In addition to the possible solutions for giving constructive and timely feedback to students, rubrics can help teachers manage the amount of time they spend grading. I encourage you to check out the Cult of Pedagogy video (less than 4 minutes)

Procrastinating students are often misunderstood as being lazy or unmotivated. There’s more to it than that. Reflect on your own procrastination. Why do you do it? How does it make you feel? Does it lead to stress and guilt? Can you refocus and get the work done? Upon self-reflection you probably find that procrastination usually means you are stuck. Procrastination can lead to a myriad of emotions; regret, self-doubt, guilt, excitement, anxiety. Research suggest that students often are stuck for one of two reasons; fear of failure or confusion about the task.

It’s a common perception that students who procrastinate do so because they don’t care about the assignment – and that’s usually wrong.

Devon Price – Social Psychology Professor

Watch the video below about the types of procrastinators. Do you recognize yourself? Do you recognize some of your students? Think about the motivation behind each procrastinator and how that impacts their self-esteem and work production.

Watch this video on types of procrastination (5:54 minutes)

Just a little more…

• Understanding and Overcoming Procrastination
• Another Theory about Procrastination.
• 7 Strategies to Motivate Your Teenager

Worth the Watch! Inside the Mind of a Procrastinator (14 minutes)

By Dean Richards

Last week’s blog focused on feedback and moving students forward in their learning. This week we look at John Hattie’s levels of Feedback.

Types of Feedback

The content of the effective feedback that we provide students falls into 3 helpful categories.  

• Feedback about the task
• Feedback about the process
• Feedback about the thinking during the task

“For the teacher, the art is knowing when to add in/move to the next level of feedback.”

Visible Learning

Task Level

Feedback about the task may be the most common and easiest feedback to provide to students.  This includes information about the errors that a student produces in the task. A teacher may also give feedback about the quality of the work. A rubric is a great way to provide that explicit feedback. The drawback of providing feedback only on the task is that the misconception(s) that are evident may be transferred to the student’s next task, thus the misconception continues.

Examples of prompts at the task level:
• Did you meet the success criteria?
• Is your correct/incorrect?
• How can you elaborate on the answer?
• What did you do well?
• Where did you go wrong?
• What other information is needed to meet the criteria?

Process Level

Some students, particularly those who are often the most successful in schools, will be able to transfer the feedback from the task to the process.  Providing feedback on the process, the steps taken to reach the final product, is a powerful way to move students to generalization.  Providing feedback on the quality of the process and giving alternative actions can be more powerful for students’ next task than feedback on the task alone.

Examples of prompts at the process level:
• What is wrong and why?
• What strategies did you use?
• What is the explanation for the correct answer?
• What other questions can you ask about the task?
• What are the relationships with other parts of the task?

Thinking/Self-regulation Level

The next powerful feedback, and possibly the most difficult, is to provide feedback on the thinking that occurred while the student engaged in the task. This helps students monitor their thinking and learning process. This is most commonly done in conversations with students. One of my favorite moves I used while tutoring students for the SAT was to say, “You got that right.  What were you thinking about when you did that?” Students often looked at me strangely, as they were not used to explaining their thinking.  Often they talked about their process, then I would ask about how they thought.  I would ask about their level of confidence. Forcing a student to metacognate about the task and process increases their self-efficacy.

Examples of prompts at the self-regulation level:
• How did you monitor your own work?
• What did you do to …?
• How can you account for …?
• What justification can be given for …?
• What further doubts do you have about?
• How does this compare with …?
• How have your ideas changed?
• Can you now teach another student how to …?

Diving in…

• What does Feedback look like at like? – From Visible Thinking
• 5 Powerful Questions Teachers Can ask Students
• Using Positive Feedback in a Math Classrooms

When thinking about feedback, I am reminded of the hours spent writing detailed comments on science labs. In my mind, I pictured students looking at the comments and thoughtfully using the suggestion for improvement.  Often I watched students skim the comments, skip to the final grade,and then bury the assignment in their binder. I realized that I was spending more time making comments than the students spent reading them.  If students aren’t using the feedback, then what’s the point of it?  

“As soon as students get a grade, the learning stops. We may not like it, but the research reviewed shows that this is a relatively stable feature of how the human mind works.”

Dylan Wiliam

The purpose of feedback is to move students from where they are to where they need to be.  The research clearly establishes the importance of feedback (John Hattie 0.79 effect size) . When feedback is given and how it is given is critical.  As I learned in my own teaching, feedback given after an assignment is turned in rarely produces a change in student learning. For feedback to be effective, think about it as Feed Forward. It should be action oriented, require critical thinking to deepen understanding, and given throughout the learning process. (Video Dylan Wiliam Providing Feedback that Moves Learning Forward 14:57 minutes).

“The only important thing about feedback is what students do with it…”

Dylan wiliam

Importance for Feedback (video 3:00 minutes)

Tips for Effective Feedback (video 1:23 minutes)

• Assess Less: Limit the learning goals to one skill or standard at a time and focus on it. Giving fewer, yet higher quality assessments reduces grading time and is easier for students to internalize.
• Grade as they go: Have students submit small sections of a larger assignment. It’s more manageable for both the student and teacher. You can catch misconceptions sooner.
• Record it: Record your feedback verbally in Canvas or with voice-to-text feature for google docs. Remember to edit before you submit.
• Automate comments: Often similar mistakes are made for an assignment. Make a go-to-list of deeper thinking questions and comments that focus students on the task.
• Feedback Partners: Assign partners for peer assessments. Establish a culture where peer feedback is the norm. Model how to provide feedback emphasizing the task, not the person. Provide sentence stems and practice how to do it.
• Self-Assessment: Include student reflection on learning as part of the assignment. They need to actively reflect on what they learned and how they can apply it to future learning.
• Give Students Choice: If the same skill/standard is assessed multiple times then have the student choose their best work to submit for grading. Include a self-reflection about why they chose it.

If you’re still hungry for more…

• 3 Ways to Encourage ‘Coasting’ Students to Reach Their Full Potential
• 5 Research-Based Tips for Providing Students with Meaningful Feedback
• Teaching Kids to Give and Receive Quality Peer Feedback
• Fast and Efficient Ways to Provide Feedback

This week’s blog is written by Christie Boen, District Librarian. She has curated a list of resources and text that may be helpful.

When you Google Black History Month, you’ll most likely see the name, Carter G. Woodson, known as the “Father of Black History”. In 1915, he created the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. Then in 1926, he started the first “Negro History Week” on February 7th. It wasn’t until 1976 when Black History Month was officially recognized. It was then that President Gerald Ford urged Americans to “honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”

The theme for Black History Month 2022 is Black Health and Wellness. Some ways you can celebrate Black History Month:

• Support Black-Owned Businesses
• Learn About Noteworthy Black Figures and Their Contributions
• Donate to Charities That Support Anti-Racism Equity and Equality
• Purchase, Read, and Share Books by Black Authors
• Support and Learn About Black Women

History

There are a plethora of Black History resources out there, but you may not have time to curate them for yourself or your students. This is where I come in.  Below are some fantastic resources to get you started.

• Discovery Education Resources
• Blacks in Oregon (OSLIS – Oregon Encyclopedia)
• Black Biographies (World Book)
• Newsela Resources
• 86 Videos

Best Books of 2021 by Black Authors

Trailer for Instructions for Dancing

Trailer for Concrete Rose

Classroom Guide and Trailer for Born on the Water

Trailer for My Day with Panye

Trailer for Your Mama

Depending on your own identity and experiences, and those of your students, these topics can be sensitive to navigate.  Use this checklist from the LEAD Cohort to prepare appropriately, and/or reach out to a LEAD representative for collaboration. 

Happy New Year!

Next Wednesday is the second Educator Network Day. As you have likely heard from your administrators, this required training will be similar to October’s date. Teachers will be meeting in content area groups to discuss issues important to your discipline. While the agendas vary based on content, all will give some time to the upcoming Canvas syllabus requirement for second semester.
You can find a brief agenda and the location (all will have a virtual option) in the link below.

Agenda and location here

By: Julie Montoya

I don’t know about you, but for me, the hardest part of teaching virtually during the pandemic was the inability to create the same level of connection with my students.  It became painfully clear to me that this lack of connection had a devastating impact on my ability to teach and for students to learn.  This was multifaceted, no doubt.  One contributing factor to my change in teaching was the “over-accountability” of small, micro-managed assignments for students in Canvas and the gradebook.  I used small assignments and turn-ins just to see if my students were out there somewhere, logging in to their class.  This was the antithesis of my typical pedagogy which encouraged and scaffolded increased autonomy in language learning. I felt that I was devolving.  Ugh!

Now that we are back in the classroom, I am back to the drawing board to increase motivation specifically through student autonomy.  Autonomy is identified as one of three basic psychological needs for learning, along with competence and relatedness.  “The need for autonomy refers to learners need to be the initiator of their actions and to a sense of psychological freedom when engaging in a learning activity,” reports Leen Haerens, PhD for the Center for Self Determination Theory. To read more about the research behind these key factors, click here.

Tip #1: HOW AUTONOMY TRANSLATES TO MOTIVATION

Case: The Dreaded Class Presentation. 

Even prior to the pandemic, I was seeing more students become increasingly stressed when needing to give presentations in class.  Knowing that students are experiencing more anxiety in their learning environment due to the external stressors caused by the global pandemic, addressing this fear is key.  When students have agency over an experience, their stress will decrease.  We want to encourage students to gain presentational skills, but how can we still allow learner autonomy at the same time?

I developed an accommodations menu for presentations for my Spanish classes.  I offer some accommodations to all students and save some of the scaffolded steps for students who are expressing considerable anxiety or have a 504 for anxiety.  

For students working at the ‘Most Support’ level, we create a plan to move to down the menu to ‘Less Support’ throughout the year. I have found that students who would normally avoid a presentation, skip class, take a zero, or be perpetually absent will instead look at my menu, speak with me about what they feel they can manage, and create a plan for presenting.  When a student knows that their teacher can offer choice, they see their autonomy respected and acknowledges.  This builds confidence, trust, and motivation within the educational community.

Tip #2: ALLOWING FOR AUTONOMY WHEN DEMONSTRATING LEARNING

Case: Assessment Self-reflection

One way that I increase metacognition, which in turn increases autonomy and independence, is to ask students to do self-reflection on unit reviews prior to an assessment, and/or self-reflection after an assessment.  Rather than prescribing a required review of materials, I ask students to identify what aspects of the assessment are challenging and what they plan to do to learn and meet the objective of the unit of study.  If a student knows what is still challenging, they may not know how to study or fill in the gaps.  This is where the teacher can suggest strategies, resources, or peer help. Curating collections of resources that are available to all students takes time for the teacher up front, but it allows students to practice autonomy when deciding what, when, and where to review, study or practice knowledge and skills. When students are engaged in reflecting on their learning and contributing to the study plan, they learn valuable self-assessment skills and see themselves as the key decision-maker in their learning journey. 

The skills for learning a language are not always intrinsic.  I can see students’ maturity and growth in autonomous learning as they move from novice level to advanced proficiency through our language programs. I can see this growth at my AP Spanish students analyze rubrics, look for and highlight evidence in their argumentative essays and ask me for specific help or tools.  These are the skills we want our students to carry beyond the classroom into their jobs, advanced studies and into the greater community. 

If you are curious about more ways to increase student autonomy in the classroom, enjoy a deep-dive here.