Learning Partner Conversation:

work with sarah

personal struggles

reading response rubric

partnering the online kids hard due to internet and tech noise

claim evidence reasoning

balancing distance learner

1. distance learning draft- home visits, mileage, not hearing our needs, time, small groups
2. time- stress- sustainability – fridays for reading whole school and we catch up- focus on today
3. digital notebooks- seedfolks working the best
4. students marking work as done

Reflection:  (need prompts?)

Explicit Examples in Student Work (when applicable):

Learning Partner Conversation:

help with hard communication

priority standards vs sub standards- do i hang up all or only priority- can my rubric be simpler?

reorganizing student self assessment tool to put sub standards under standards

Reflection:  (need prompts?)

the sub standards need to be connected to the priority standards to make visible the connection for kids

Explicit Examples in Student Work (when applicable):

Learning Partner Conversation:

blogging about the shift to standards based grading

do we need to explain how we convert or focus on the targets- focus on the targets

Reflection:  (need prompts?)

For next time:

using team work rubric for book club- using the blog- using the maker space?? behavior expectations revisions

Explicit Examples in Student Work (when applicable):

6th    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ImLXGfpj4yhMuRVm9OkHtHQNon71hrwAauD6SCon7_A/edit?usp=sharing

7th

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pJjme2gYKk_td7o1p5uM4MRbKVFDi_cJyToJAp4Ea0k/edit?usp=sharing

8th

https://docs.google.com/document/d/193hdJuDF3KnArT_UbgKJVIoucn4bSba7NxKNaTFf7yA/edit?usp=sharing

Learning Partner Conversation:

we both want to visit other schools which are doing  standards based grading, so we are finding a date to observe : grading, report cards, parent reception, rubrics or assessment tracking tools, student reaction, methods of feedback,  science and ela classes and their specific docs

Mr. Bilsky has a program which is flexible and we could try- he will talk to aaron

awkward critical conversation needed- capstone

balance of need to know vs already struggling parent situation

capstone standards and current ela rubric and standards based tools

Reflection:  (need prompts?)

i am super excited to visit a school with standards based assessment.

Explicit Examples in Student Work (when applicable):

future topics for LP- how to convert to grades- insert at report cards- assessment team update- school visit reschedule- using team work rubric for book club- using the blog- using the maker space?? behavior expectations revisions

Learning Partner Conversation:

rubric and priority standards and student lead conferences

Reflection:  (need prompts?)

my methods keep changing and i hope by the end of the year I can be set for next year.

Explicit Examples in Student Work (when applicable):

I have changed my assessment tool many times. I have narrowed down to priority standards  6th, 7th 8th and then will map where my units work with those. i will create i can rubrics (narrative writing, photo essay, veterans informational writing, annotation, reading response) for each type or writing/reading- where I cans are target multiple times over the quarters. students will track this using some kind of form but not sure what yet.

Learning Partner Conversation:

using the rubric with ela standards is tricky without making it hard for kids and myself

turning the sub standards into a checklist with conferring to inform written self assessment of the main priority standards

want to see linsey’s

using color to come back multiple times and reflect on same standards

student struggles

Reflection:  (need prompts?)

how will this look at conferences

how can i combine them

report card

transfer to grade??

Explicit Examples in Student Work (when applicable):

possible format for writing

Learning Partner Conversation:

set goals- using learning targets and one point rubric in order for students to track and document their own progress

create rubrics which can be used

Reflection:  (need prompts?)

dacy and i are both working on  similar goals with assessment and on the assessment team which will allow us to muddle through how best to assess kids using this new model

one thing we are already concerned with is how this directly contradicts giving actual grades and we are wondering how we can make this shift this year and not give grades.

Explicit Examples in Student Work (when applicable):

original idea for students tracking their work

new idea

Learning Partner Conversation:

planning for projects while I am in Israel

making sure they are reading and writing as much as possible without me

designing assessments which mirror instruction

Reflection:  (need prompts?)

I do not understand why a teacher would not know the end product or assessment before planning the whole unit. By teaching all the skills of nonfiction individually, but then assessing using the same tool, I easily know if they have gained this reading skill or not. If I changed the format each time it might confuse a student, and then, they don’t show what they know because the actual assignment is confusing- not because they lack the nonfiction reading skill.

Explicit Examples in Student Work (when applicable):

nonfiction response sheet– same for assessment just with unseen reading article

student example

Learning Partner Conversation:

worried about mgrp being final version ready and polished and kids grades will be affected if they are not- email sent home encouraging them to check in with their kids at home and use the checklist provided- using time to create the rubric

Reflection:  (need prompts?)

Explicit Examples in Student Work (when applicable):

Working rubric

Learning Partner Conversation:

Multi Genre Project: Students still need a cover, table of contents, essential question page, letter to the reader, transition pages, works cited, peer editing, revision, making publish read??

create a check list for kids with above stuff

add learning targets that are more synthesis and evaluation and might not be addressed in other areas of content- can be for next year too.

find some middle school examples to show for final product

Process Reflection:

1. How did I choose my essential question or questions?
2. How did I organize my research? Did it work the first time or did I need to make adjustments?
3. How did I find and select my sources for research?
4. Explain the genre piece you are the most proud of and how it answers your essential question.
5. What did you learn about yourself from this long process or creating a multi genre research project?
6. Why is this project valuable to future 8th grade classes?

Dear Readers Letter:

1. Introduction to the project
2. Your essential question
3. Voice

Rubric Topics:

Publish Ready- format, cohesion, editing, mechanics, creativity, polished products, all components included, work cited page

Content- standards

Process- reflection

Reflection:  (need prompts?)

I am so excited about putting the final touches on my multi genre project. With kids at all different points I am afraid some will not turn in quality polished work and so I need to create a rubric which accounts for this choice.

Explicit Examples in Student Work (when applicable):

Learning Partner Conversation:

catch up on assessment committee:

get a Twitter account, come up with headline and tag assessment committee, add hashtags,

on the visible thinking page explore visible Thinking and Learning routines

create lesson template for this routine and put it into action for next time

explore others

Reflection:  (need prompts?)

get a twitter account- I am hesitant to get one, but I do see the benefits as my tutor student was able to connect with primary sources. I wish we could have PD on this tech tool. I don’t even know how or what to hashtag.

Explicit Examples in Student Work (when applicable):

my tutoring student got primary author sources from using Twitter- could be good for multi genre research

Learning Partner Conversation:

Discussing benefits of Twitter

Balance of being a coach and teacher is becoming too overwhelming- do not want to coach next year but want to focus on sequencing my curriculum with standards and breaking grammar focus into each year and get capstone up and running

there is no way to do language, reading and writing- confused about how we asked for more and got less-m want to try new things and the great PD but can’t do it all and to have consistency need to focus unit by unit- middle school can’t keep content straight if i switch between reading and writing days and where does the SWI fit in?? Could ela be 5 days a week??

Hoping with the scope and sequence of all ela we can figure out who is learning what grammar in which grad and a way to carry this data on to the next teacher

Reflection:  (need prompts?)

Explicit Examples in Student Work (when applicable):

Learning Partner Conversation:

8th: Started 3rd part of multi genre research project with mini lesson on interviewing and conferring with kids to find and solidify sources

starting 4th part after break: what genre best suits my information and topic? I will model the planning an example project and showing how and do a group activity where as a class we have the essential questions: Why should Jewish kids come to MJDS?? Then in pairs or threes they come up with an artifact to represent inform to answer this question as a model.

Grading is killing me: less comments and when kids want to redo work they schedule it

8th grade blogs need to be reformatted. Students need to categorize their ELA work so it shows up on the page

Reflection:  (need prompts?)

Reformatting the blogs is taking a lot more time than it should.

Explicit Examples in Student Work (when applicable):