Stretch student thinking with performance-based tasks. With waves of high-stakes assessments rolling through the education waters, many educators feel tied to teaching to the test. But there is a bright side. With the increased attention on assessment outlined in The Every Student Succeeds Act comes a surge of interest in designing performance-based tasks-an important key in unlocking your students' readiness for career and college. Designing and Using Performance Tasks: Enhancing Student Learning and Assessment walks you step-by-step through the process of incorporating performance tasks as a tool to teach, monitor, and extend student learning. This book will help you Make instructional decisions based on student performance of learning tasks Learn all about the different kinds of performance tasks and the benefits of each Incorporate learning progressions as an integral part of planning performance tasks Close the "knowing-doing" gap by focusing on considerations for successful implementation If you're ready to engage your students in unique and innovative ways, grab a copy of this book to guide you and your students in applying their learning-and your teaching-to real-world situations. "Teaching using performance tasks was, by far, was the most difficult type of teaching strategy for me to learn. When I began my teaching career, not many people were using this strategy, but I was fortunate to have a mentor who understood the process and was willing to teach me, two very rare occurrences in the teaching world. Thank heavens for Tracey Shiel, who has the ability to communicate the process so well and in such a manner that you enjoy reading about it at the same time - another rare event in education! I know from experience, students who learn using this strategy retain the information for longer periods of time giving teachers a stronger base upon which to build." Pamela L. Opel, Teacher Gulfport School District
"A valuable resource for teachers who use authentic assessment to support student learning. Helpful for new teachers, teachers new to using authentic assessments, and experienced teachers looking for new ideas." --Barbara A. Bradley, Assistant Professor of Teaching and Leadership, University of Kansas "An excellent resource for classroom teachers, assessment specialists, staff developers, and curriculum developers. The information is comprehensive, teacher-friendly, and easy to use, making the book a valuable tool in the classroom." --Tracy Taylor Callard, English/Language Arts Teacher, Wichita Collegiate School, Wichita, KS Enhance literacy instruction using a proven assessment tool-rubrics! Rubrics are essential tools for providing effective instruction and assessing student achievement. Literacy consultant Joan Groeber provides educators with a teacher-friendly, step-by-step guide for creating and using rubrics to assess a wide range of literacy skills. Groeber's approach helps ensure that students gain a clear understanding of teacher expectations and assume a greater responsibility for their own learning. Offering an overview of rubrics as instructional tools, with methods and strategies for developing them, the revised edition includes: Expanded guidelines for creating rubrics More than 40 time-saving, preconstructed model rubrics covering key literacy skills Rubrics at both primary and intermediate grade levels Strategies for introducing rubrics to students, and suggestions for using the rubrics New rubrics that reflect the expanding field of literacy education, including information literacy and technology use Using this comprehensive resource, teachers can design rubrics to meet their specific classroom needs, giving students the opportunity to identify and achieve high levels of performance.
In the second edition of this research-based book, Eileen Depka clarifies the purpose of rubrics, and illustrates the relationship between assessment, rubrics and math standards; the teaching of math; and students' discovery of math concepts. The author demonstrates how to drive instruction and enhance student achievement using assessment data and completed rubrics and discusses:Procedures to create effective assessment tools and rubrics Different types of scoring guides Weighted rubrics Student involvement in creating rubricsTwo new chapters focus on communication in mathematics and using data from rubrics to improve instruction. Each chapter offers easy-to-use, creative problems that are based on math concepts linked to national math standards and benchmarks.
"There's a strong possibility that this will become one of the most used books on the educator's bookshelf, and that's all to the good because ultimately it will be the students (and their brains) who benefit." -From the Foreword by Pat Wolfe "Teachers want ideas that make them better teachers. This is a welcome addition to books available in this field." -William Fitzhugh, Teacher, Reisterstown Elementary School, MD Combine the best of what we know about how the brain learns with the best of what we know about teaching! This revised, updated edition of Designing Brain Compatible Learning synthesizes the latest brain research into a powerful set of teaching tools and strategies for integrating thinking skills, cooperative learning, graphic organizers, and authentic assessment into any classroom. The new edition features: Step-by-step strategies for teaching concepts, skills, and content to all age groups and learning styles A newly expanded section on standards-based lesson design and lesson planning Charts, diagrams, and other visual tools to reinforce learning A collection of new planning templates and graphic organizers An extended glossary and updated bibliography This comprehensive guide for teachers and instructional leaders provides in-depth coverage of instructional planning at its best.
"This book is a wonderful tool and reference for any teacher. In my work of providing professional development to teachers of elementary science, one of the hardest areas for the teachers to grasp is assessment. Especially helpful for these teachers are the chapters on writing short-answer and essay items, performance-based assessment, and portfolios." -Cindy Pulkowski, Program Manager Science: It's Elementary, Pittsburgh, PA A practical guide for creating standards-based objectives and assessments aligned with Bloom's Taxonomy! This user-friendly resource provides clear, step-by-step guidelines for writing measurable objectives and developing appropriate formative and summative assessments to guide instruction in the elementary classroom. Designed around an easy-to-follow model, this book helps teachers develop unit and daily instructional objectives based on state and national content standards for each level of Bloom's Taxonomy, including synthesis and evaluation. The subsequent chapters cover the main forms of assessment and provide many detailed examples of assessment items drawn from each of the major subject areas. Elementary school teachers will discover how to: Deconstruct the standards and write measurable objectives Create true-false, fill-in-the-blank, matching, and multiple choice exercises Write short-answer questions and essay items Use performance-based assessments and portfolios This resource guides teachers through the process of designing specific objectives based on content standards and helps them develop the right assessments to measure their students' development!
"This book is a wonderful tool and reference for any teacher. In my work of providing professional development to teachers of elementary science, one of the hardest areas for the teachers to grasp is assessment. Especially helpful for these teachers are the chapters on writing short-answer and essay items, performance-based assessment, and portfolios." -Cindy Pulkowski, Program Manager Science: It's Elementary, Pittsburgh, PA A practical guide for creating standards-based objectives and assessments aligned with Bloom's Taxonomy! This user-friendly resource provides clear, step-by-step guidelines for writing measurable objectives and developing appropriate formative and summative assessments to guide instruction in the elementary classroom. Designed around an easy-to-follow model, this book helps teachers develop unit and daily instructional objectives based on state and national content standards for each level of Bloom's Taxonomy, including synthesis and evaluation. The subsequent chapters cover the main forms of assessment and provide many detailed examples of assessment items drawn from each of the major subject areas. Elementary school teachers will discover how to: Deconstruct the standards and write measurable objectives Create true-false, fill-in-the-blank, matching, and multiple choice exercises Write short-answer questions and essay items Use performance-based assessments and portfolios This resource guides teachers through the process of designing specific objectives based on content standards and helps them develop the right assessments to measure their students' development!
`Intriguing ways of explaining the concepts of constructivist education. Excellent analogies and examples!' - Maryellen Towey Schultz, Assistant Professor of Education, Nebraska Wesleyan University The purpose of the Constructivist Learning Design is to offer teachers and students of teaching a way to think about organizing for learning by ......
`Intriguing ways of explaining the concepts of constructivist education. Excellent analogies and examples!' - Maryellen Towey Schultz, Assistant Professor of Education, Nebraska Wesleyan University The purpose of the Constructivist Learning Design is to offer teachers and students of teaching a way to think about organizing for learning by ......
Making Best Practices Work in Standards-Based Classrooms
"A fresh new approach that strengthens the need for teaching with creative thinking strategies for administrative leadership teams. Few textbooks have such detailed examples combined with the background study of best practices. The authors have great credibility, experience, resources, and abundant research to support their proposal. A very well-written text offering ample review of the research." -Sara E. Spruce, Professor of Education Olivet Nazarene University Use this research-based instructional model to meet students' achievement goals! As the achievement gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students gets wider, teachers and administrators need a proven process to help all students meet the requirements of NCLB. This practitioner-friendly guidebook provides a step-by-step approach to a complete standards-based curriculum and the integration of best practices into the delivery and assessment of instruction in every classroom. The authors present three capacity-building features of the design process: (1) training for building leadership teams to help teachers plan and lead the reform process, (2) stewardship training to assist district administrators and principals in supporting and sustaining the implemented reforms, and (3) a collaborative observation process to help teachers work together and in partnership with principals to monitor and improve classroom instruction. Offering an education model that has been field-tested with more than 50 school districts in the U.S. and Canada, this book shows school leaders how to maximize collaborative observation and other team leadership processes to integrate reforms into a school's existing culture. Educators will learn ways to: Integrate instructional design with successful instructional reform Strengthen the learning culture through standards Develop effective performance indicators Apply curriculum mapping to instructional design Designing Instruction supports teachers and administrators working together to raise student achievement by using proven instructional design and best practices.
