Trends in Reading

My kids were describing their characters, outside and in, today. I phrase outside and in because the outside is often the most common first go-to for my kiddos when it comes to describing characters. The start is often something like...

• Well he is tall, with brown hair.


• She is a girl that is 12 who has short curly hair.

What I have stressed is that the external characteristics are not the only important piece of information. It certainly helps you visualize what the author is trying to convey, letting you truly see who that character is in your minds-eye. But the real work begins when you start to understand who the character is, what they do, and how they interact with others (next week we'll work on how you take those characteristics and hypothesize/theorize about solutions). It is fascinating to see the evidence kids provide for characteristics, and how they put it all together.

But where this is going is how successful my kids are with specific skills in reading. Today was story elements (GLE 2.2.3? or 1? or something like that) while tomorrow might be predictions. Either way I need to track those individual skills. Previously I mentioned how reading is often seen (by me at least) holistically. You might not be good at predicting, but you can evaluate, compare, and identify story elements. As a whole you are in good shape. But for me I need to do a better job tracking those individual skills. So what I am doing is breaking out my assessment by the pieces I am doing for my instruction- ie. story elements, inferring, etc. I'll still track the whole. But I want to be sure I am watching the individual skills. This way I can filter assessments, and see whether those are part of an overall trend (i.e. not very successful with story elements) or whether it was a blip on the screen. The visual in simply playing around today was powerful, and should help me better meet kids needs.

Data Driven

I did some exploration today regarding the use of data in directing instruction. More specifically, how I do put Excel to work for me so that the data can be disaggregated. If you are interested in the ways that Excel can be used then you need to check out School Data Tutorials. I can certainly get myself around Excel. But I really hadn't done much with things like Pivot Tables or Filters. Definitely worth checking that out.

Where's the Data?

Data is a touchy subject in teaching. We are moving, or already have, towards being a data-driven profession where our instruction is based on that information. That is scary for some, a necessary evil for others, and entirely fine for another group. I feel like I fit into the latter of those groups, but that is a feeling... data is devoid of feeling! That, to me, is where the hangup is. Data removes the heart and soul from teaching, leaving you with numbers which you wonder "are they really representative of that kid? was it just a bad day?" Where I've struggled of late is capturing the minutia in data. Here is what I mean. I teach literacy through social studies. I'll teach reading skills, we'll practice using them, and we'll use all of those skills holistically to comprehend text. When I assess, I'm often assessing holistically. That is, I am not simply looking at inferring but rather summarizing, monitoring details, envisionment, etc. When it gets scored, I don't say you are below standard in inferring, but above standard in summarizing. I note those areas that need work, but look at them holistically in order to determine where they are at as a reader. You can always be weaker in a particular area, but show proficiency in total. I struggle to capture the data when it is broken out by reading area. I know it because I make some notes, and group kids for reteaching on those areas. But as a whole I don't have a spreadsheet, or data collector, that shows that progress over time.... and I want that. That's going to toss and turn in my brain for the next foreseeable future. Author Post-Script: I had seen a post on the Tempered Radical waaaay back about this sort of thing and decided to go digging. I found it in this post, and how he used Excel to solve that problem. Worth checking out.

Grading and the Upper Grades

There is quite a bit to grade in the intermediate grades. Combine that with our rotations, seeing 60+ kids a day, and I'm under a deluge of papers. If there was one piece of advice I could give to new teachers, it would be that you need a system for tracking assessment information. You start with what your assessments are going to be, as well as what is acceptable evidence of learning. Then once you give that assessment, enter it into a grade book or spreadsheet.

Personally, I prefer a spreadsheet with names on the side and assessment on the top. Then you include their score and your rationale in each cell. I date mine as well, making it easier to sort (as well as to show growth over time- seeing it linearly). Right now I am behind in entering my assessment data, making this grading period seem to drag on for eons. I've spent today entering data, and then making claims from that data (another good thing is using an assessment spreadsheet and a grading spreadsheet, and tiling them so that you can look at the evidence on the top and the section on the bottom).

I've been behind, using more formative and informal assessment than summative. That is fine,
but not entering it is inexcusable. Well... maybe slightly excusable for my first year.
*Note: I'll display a screen shot later, but not currently as it has names attached and I'm in the midst of entering data :)