Clarify. Focus. Connect.Clarifying expectations for focus and connectivity in

the technology-rich, standards-based classroom

Dr. Elizabeth Clark

Donna Solley

Crysten Caviness

Birdville ISD

Session ObjectivesCLARIFYUnderstand the design process for creating a standard clarification document

FOCUSDesign learning with a focus on the standards

CONNECTUnderstand how to connect learning tasks to a standard and integrate technology to maximize learning in a high-stakes, standards-based system

Session Objectives

Clarify the WHAT

Focus on the WHAT to design

the HOW

Connect lesson design to DESIRED

LEARNING OUTCOMES

We CLARIFY what is to be learned so that teachers can FOCUS on the target while designing a lesson that CONNECTS the lesson to the desired learning.

Clarify

Curriculum Design

Curriculum Design

Unit of Instruction

Frontloaded Curriculum

Development

Backward Design of Instruction

so that teachers can employ

backward design principles when

planning instruction.

As curriculum developers, we must frontload

from the standards and provide

specificity through the clarification

documents

Curriculum Design

Curriculum Design

Standard Clarification Document

Standard Clarification Design8th Grade Science

(8) Force, motion, and energy. The student knows force and motion are related to potential and kinetic energy. The student is expected to:

(A) compare and contrast potential and kinetic energy

Standard Clarification Design

Cognitive Requirement

Content

Context

•What is the cognitive requirement of the standard?• What is the VERB? • At what level of complexity

should students be working?

•What content is addressed in the standard?•What is it about the content that the students will (insert verb here)?

•What is the context of the content and its relationship to the cognitive requirement?•How will students interact with the content of the standard?

Focus

Focus on the Curriculum

Standards-Based Curriculum

Standard Clarification Use

Clarifies for the teacher WHAT students should know and be able to do – Cognitive Rigor, Content, Context, Assessment

Focuses the teacher on the PURPOSE of strategies, structures, and technology

Empowers the teacher to design HOW instruction will unfold

Focus on DataDesign assessments

based upon Standard Clarification documents

Conduct Assessments

Obtain Data

Analyze Relevant Data

Determine Conclusions

Plan Instruction

Implement Instruction

Focus on Collaboration

Focus Drives Lesson Design

Lesson Design: Planning for

Learning

Consider the Digital Learner

Connect

Connect the Lesson to the Learning

Desired Learning Outcomes

Each lesson component’s PURPOSE is focused on student mastery of the standard

Decisions about strategies, structures, and technology are focused on engaging students in the THINKING required by the standard

Use of technology should CONNECT the learning process to the desired learning outcomes

Learning Tasks

Task = PerformanceQuality work products that allow students to engage in ALIGNED LEARNING

Lead students to the desired LEARNING OUTCOMES

May be scaffolded in order to help students work toward MASTERY of the standard(s)

Connected Lesson DesignDoes the application of this technology align to the standards? Will it lead students to the desired outcomes?

Will this technology help to make the students’ cognition more tangible for the teacher and students?

Will this technology cause students to be more engaged in the learning? Does it distract from or promote the desired learning outcomes?

Will the technology in this learning task aid in the scaffolding of instruction?

Desired Learning Outcomes

Connected Lesson DesignExample Standard:analyze the way in which a work of fiction is shaped by the narrator's point of view.[E1.5C]

Cognitive Rigor: What should students be doing? . analyze: to examine methodically by separating into parts and studying their interrelations

Content: Students must be able to identify the point of view of a work or fiction in order to understand the impact of the point of view on a story. Point of view shapes meaning by helping the reveal a perspective. Students should be able to discuss the advantages and disadvantages to a point of view and discuss how the point of view of a fictional work shapes the meaning. Students will provide text evidence when appropriate.

Context: Students will analyze point of view orally and in writing.

Sample Assessment Item: The narrator’s point of view is important to the plot because ____________

Connected Lesson DesignExample Standard:analyze the way in which a work of fiction is shaped by the narrator's point of view.[E1.5C]

Example Learning Task:• In small groups, students read a short fiction passage for 5 minutes• Teacher has set up a Poll Everywhere question so groups can send a

text message stating the Point of View (POV) of the passage•Whole class, led by teacher, briefly discusses which POV and why• This is repeated for three different short passages• At the end of class, the small groups use an iPad to create an

electronic poster to illustrate their favorite of the three passages and which point of view it represents. They must include a definition of the type of POV.

Connected Lesson DesignDoes the sample learning task align to the cognitive rigor, content, and context of the standards?

No. This task calls upon students to IDENTIFY POV but stops short of analyzing how it shapes a work of fiction

Does it cause students to demonstrate their thinking?Yes and No. The whole class does discuss why the passage represents a certain POV, but the thinking about the way it shapes the fiction is not depicted.

Will it likely engage the students?Yes. Students get to collaborate with peers using personal cell phones and get to use creativity on the iPad.

Does it engage students in the desired learning?No. Students are not called upon to analyze anything in this task.

Will the technology in this learning task aid in the scaffolding of instruction?Possibly. This task does aid students in first being able to identify POV. If it is followed up by a task that asks students to apply the knowledge of POV in the form of analyzing its impact on the work of fiction, it could be on track to leading students to mastery.

Connected Lesson Design

What modifications could be made to the learning task to better align the technology, and the lesson as a whole, to the standard?

Alignment to the Curricular

Standards

Aligning the Flipped Classroom Model

What is a Flipped Classroom?Basically, the Flipped Classroom inverts traditional teaching methods, delivering instruction online outside of class and moving “homework” into the classroom

Lesson Design with Clarity, Focus, and Connectivity

8th Grade Science teacher in Birdville ISD, Whitney Isbell

Flipped Classroom Model: Start with the Standards

8th Grade Science Example

Flipped Classroom Model: 8th Grade Science

6.8A States of Energy: Flipped Lesson

WSQ Form: Teacher's View

Focus of classroom activity: 1. Teacher reviews WSQ responses in the morning to determine

what needs to be clarified at the start of class2. Students work in small groups to design and implement a lab to

compare and contrast potential and kinetic energy3. Teacher works with small groups and individuals to address their

questions and diagnose whether certain students need further instruction

Flipped Classroom Model: Start with the Standards

Cognitive Rigor: What should students be doing? Analyze: to examine methodically by separating them into parts and studying their interrelationsFormulate: to state as or reduce to a formulaSolve: to work out the answer or solution to (a mathematical problem)Content: What concepts will the students need to analyze, formulate, and solve?Problem situations, Equations and inequalities, and Problems

Context: In what context will they analyze problem situations, formulate equations and inequalities, and solve problems?Exponential functionsSample Assessment Item:

Algebra II

Example

Flipped Classroom Model: Algebra 2

11.F Exponential Function: Flipped Lesson

Focus of classroom activity: 1. Based on WSQ form data, any confusion that students have are

addressed. 2. Students work in groups on application activity. They have white

boards to collaborate on the work before answering the questions on the activity.

3. While students are working, teacher walks from group to group to hear their discussion and facilitate their learning.

Why did these teachers decide to flip?

• One teacher’s students had 200 zeroes in one six-weeks…she sought out the flipped model and by the end of the semester, had zero zeroes!

• Students learn at different paces (slow, medium, fast).

• Students were missing important pieces of information from class even though they were “present”. We wanted a student-centered classroom and to be able to do more engaging activities.

• Students are absent sometimes (sick, sports, etc.) and miss critical lessons.

Why did these teachers decide to flip?

• Students not completing homework fully at home because they “forgot” how to do it from class (or simply copying from a friend).

• Teacher spending most of class time giving direct instruction and not giving students a lot of practice on their own with support.

• Teachers spending many extra hours tutoring and re-explaining to students who didn’t “get it” during class.

• Students working in class in groups allows teachers to make higher order thinking activities/assignments.

• Responsibility for learning flipped from teacher’s hands to student’s hands

• Face to face time flipped from teacher-centered to student-centered

• Focus of class time flipped from lower-order to higher-order thinking

What changes for your classes when you flip?

What do our students say?

What do our students say?

What do our students say?

What do our students say?

What do our students say?

What do our students say?

“We both [Algebra 2 teachers who flipped their classrooms] had 100% passing

for our students who took TAKS AND for our students who took STAAR!!! That

has NEVER happened for me in all my years of teaching Algebra 2. Our on-level

students who scored commended on TAKS were VERY close to the amount of

PAP students who scored commended. Our last April Alg2 CBA results were so

much higher than they ever were!! I am so proud of my students for adapting to

this new way of learning and succeeding and it proves to me that as educators,

we have to do something different!!! I am excited to see how we can improve

on this for next year!!”- Carla Dalton, Algebra 2 Teacher

What do our students say?

What factors are most important to consider when designing a technology-infused lesson?

How could technology strategies, such as the flipped learning model, impact student success in your school(s)?

How can curriculum designers support teachers in aligning instructional technology to the standards?

Clarify. Focus. Connect.