AGQTP Day 5 2007

We met all day today down at the Yacht Club, no less, and went through a range of strategies.

Some that might be worth following up:

• Using the Extended T-Chart [KW(H)L(D)] to help plan a unit of work.
• Use the SACSA outcomes to set the standards of assessment. That is SACSA outcomes along the side of the page, and levels of achievement (ie introductory, satisfactory, mastery) across the top.
• Help students remember to use the assessment rubrics by making bigger versions and place them around the classroom.
• Getting students to use summative assessment rubrics for formative tasks as a test run -either by assessing their own work or by using it to review other students work.

Some of the good ideas expressed on the day were:

Students learn best when:

• they understand what the expectations are for the task. This includes understanding of the language used.
• the get feedback about the quality of their work
• they are advised how to improve their work (this needs time)
• the are involved in deciding what needs to be done

Authentic Questions are those that have addressed:

• Content - what is required and is it useful
• Context - what situation are we talking about
• Quantity - limits placed on time, length and general boundaries of the response
• Depth - is higher order thinking required?

For example: You are about to plan a trip to the Flinders Ranges National Park. You will be there for three days. You will need to be self-sufficient.

• What areas will you go to?
• What resources will you bring?
• What will you do when you are there?
• What impact might you have on the environment and how can you minimise that impact?

or
If your hair straightener stopped working, how would you find out why?

What makes a fertile question? It should be

• open - not one correct answer
• unsettling - challenges assumptions
• rich - has depth
• connected - relevant to learners and the community to which they belong
• charged - involves ethical, social and political decision making
• practical - a question that can be researched by students

Finally, a very interesting way of a group of people analysing key ideas in a text called The Last Word. It uses the following process:

1. All read the text to be analysed. As each person reads, they highlight important points (5 minutes)
2. One person reads one of their highlighted points and say why it is important (2 minutes). No one else is to speak during this time.
3. The next person responds to the first speaker on their own for one minute.
4. Repeat step 3. for others in the group.
5. Person one has the final word by responding to what has been said for one minute.

Repeat for all other members of the group.
When we did it, it forced you to be quiet (and not interrupt) the speaker. I had to noted down points I wanted to make and then choose the most important. Everybody had a say and everybody had to listen.
Could be interesting with a senior class.
More ideas tomorrow.