Online vs Paper

     Online vs Paper the great debate!

Working with math teachers there is often the debate about how we should assess students' understanding.  Do we use paper only?  Online assessments only?  Or a combination of both? The problem arises that in math it is important that teachers are able to see students work and their process for solving problems.  Thus paper assessments are helping in this and allow teachers to provide feedback to students on not just their answers, but on their process and what misunderstandings they might have.  But all of our high stake assessments are online (Iowa State Test are online currently, and starting in the Spring of 2024 the full Suite of SAT tests will be digital).  

In my current district there are a couple different approaches:

The 6th currently does everything online for assessments.  They do have students do homework assignments in their consumable math books (paper), but assessments are all done online.  It provides students the practice on online assessments, but there is very little feedback from them.  They have all quizzes and tests done online, so students just know whether they got the answer right or wrong, and not necessarily where their mistake was.

The 7th & 8th grade math department is a combo.  They typically will have one or two quizzes on paper, but then the Unit Assessment is online.  I feel this combination works well as it provides students with the feedback during the unit.  Teachers can focus on the student work and their problem solving and provide feedback to students before reaching the end of unit assessment.  Then with the end of unit tests, it is more summative and being online and not having as much feedback for students is not needed as much.  This method also provides practice for students with how to take online assessments.

The 9th grade math department does only paper assessments.  Students do all their homework online, but then all assessments are done by paper.  This provides lots of feedback for the students with their learning, but doesn’t prepare them for taking online assessments.  The other down side to this is that the 9th grade team does not have data for their assessments.  

Now the real challenge comes next year as we realign the district and move 6th & 7th grade together and then 8th & 9th grade will be together.  I personally am a big fan of the combo, having the mid unit quizzes being on paper and providing feedback to the students along the way, but then having the unit test done online.  The online assessment prepares students for taking online tests and provides the team with itemized data to look at how students are doing by question and by standard.  What does your district do?  What do you think is best, paper or computer?

Taking Risk

I have always enjoyed being active and try to exercise regularly.  It's important to keep my body fit and health.  Recently I have also discovered how important it is to get my brain some exercise too.  Here's what i mean.

I am involved in a book study on Mindset by Carol S. Dweck.  It is early in my learning, but it is becoming clear to me that I have to work on building a growth mindset.  I have to make a shift in the way I think and react to things.  And that all means that my brain is going to have to start working out if I want to reach a growth mindset and the best way to workout my brain is to take some risk!
Growth mindset is about changing the way I look at failure.  It's about taking the risk of writing a blog post that is out there on the line for the whole wide world to read.  It's about stretching both my body and mind to reach for more. To brush myself off and try again when I get knocked down.  It's not that I can't do it, it is that I can't do it yet!

Recently, I have been challenged even more to develop a growth mindset.  As I further my own learning by taking additional classes, I have been challenged in my current class to develop a personal learning network with the help of social media.  This is hard for me as I have always been a very private person, and to put myself out there on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest has been hard for me.  But I am learning and trying to take risks.  It is all about working my brain to become a better educator and coach.

Coaching Analysis

 In this Blog post, I will be providing an analysis of how Albemarle County Public Schools meet the five Phases of Coaching.  Here is the video clip that I used in my review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0IrZ5jrvCo

Step 1: Establishing the Need.  It is always about getting the teacher to tell you what they need.

Step 2: Creating Partnerships.  In their plan for coaching they have coaches work together in teams at different buildings so that the learning at one building can be shared across other buildings around the district.  Each coach will serve 3 school buildings.  

Step 3: Target Differentiated Projects.  The process is about looking for what the teacher needs.  Those needs could be the coach modeling a lesson or maybe observing and providing feedback.

Step 4: Assess the Progress & Step 5: Reflect on the Integration.  Teachers can be observed working with the coach to implement strategies, and then reflecting with them about how the students engaged with the lesson.  The work with the coach can then spread across the district.

Final thoughts and Summary

I am intrigued by the idea of a coach working at multiple buildings to help support the growth of ideas across the district.  Currently in my district we have a math coach at the 6th grade building, I am at the 7-8 building, and then there is one at the high school.  We do meet periodically throughout the year to discuss ideas, but it would be powerful to rotate buildings and experience the teaching at each level.

My other thought was that at least in this video clip the coaching was very teacher-centered.  It was about meeting the needs of the teacher.  Hopefully they also have some student-centered coaching as well mixed in.