Real Learning

All over North America, we have curriculum documents to guide us in our attempt to cover various course content in every grade and in every subject. These documents are filled with more than content but when we refer to them, the most common reference seems to be to the next topic we are to cover. It is essential that we be on the same page and that we head in the same direction when it comes to the healthy and timely development of the minds of our children. Content is the means to develop the greater underlying skills with which we want our students to be equipped.

What I am trying to get at here, is that content is the least of our worries. What do we really want our kids to know and be able to do? Are the recommended concepts important or should we focus more on the skills and attitudes that lead to that lifelong learning we claim to strive for in all our students?

What does it matter if a child can memorize the name and location of each African country or that he or she knows the lakes of a given region? I'm not sure that I could do this. But I can use a map and other various research tools to find the information I need or want to learn. If we dig a little deeper into the resources that are available to us in the form of provincial guidelines, we would find that these attitudes and values are highly stressed as being the real learning outcomes.

I have always wondered why some students are required to memorize all the formulas used in a geometry unit. If you need this in the future, who will stop you from looking it up? My high school Physics teacher believed in this. Every test was an open book test. He told us we had to know where to find the information we needed or we would spend most of our test time looking for it. He was preparing us for an inquiry based future where questions trumped answers and the skill to find them prepared you for any subject, any job and any life situation.

This being said, what should rubrics look like? What portion of the rubric should focus on content and what portion should we devote to skills? If we can come to an agreement on this point, how do we implement such a system in a way that all students are being equally prepared to have the survival skills needed in an ever changing world? I am not preparing my students for a future job. Most of them will end up in jobs that don't even exist yet - so what could I possibly have to offer them that would be of use? The answer: Adaptable skills such as questioning, reading for information, reading for pleasure, synthesis, analysis, and evaluation of everything they see and hear.

I need to teach my students to think for themselves so that when they are faced with challenges, they will have the courage and competence to accept them and know how to address them. I know what I want to do. I know what I need to do. I need to figure out HOW to do it right so that students understand the outcomes as well as the usefulness of the skill they are developing as they explore a wide variety of topics. Armed with this information, they become equal partners in their learning. They then are more likely to become engaged in their learning and accountable for the progress they make.

Isn't that what real learning means after all?

The Importance of Rubric Language

For years, I have struggled with the value of rubrics. A well respected colleague of mine told me they were very limiting. When we add descriptors that quantify the information rather than qualify it, the value of the statement given by the student is justified merely by being there rather than by being accurate. Rubrics are not wrong. The language can merely be the obstacle that prevents students from learning from their experiences.

Jan Chappuis describes 3 types of rubric language in her "Seven Strategies" document. I have summarized the ideas below:

1. Descriptive Language

• Ex: Display of information is accurate, mostly complete, and is mostly organized so that it is easy to interpret. It may have one or two small omissions.

2. Evaluative Language

• Ex: Good display of information.

3. Quantitative Language

• Displays three pieces of information.

In the descriptive language rubric, the student knows what he or she has done well and what needs to be improved. It is measurable in a way that the student can understand how to advance their own learning. 

Evaluative language lets the student know they did well. It does not, however, specify how the student has succeeded or what steps need to be taken in order to change the descriptor from good to excellent. 

Quantitative language limits the measure of the work to a number of items included in the work. It is not even clear if these items are accurate or noteworthy. Again, there is no direction for improvement.

It is obvious that it takes descriptive language to involve the student in his or her own assessment. It invites the student to be responsible for his or her own learning and to take the necessary steps to advance that learning. This encourages not only better grades, which are secondary at best, but also skills that will transfer to other areas of learning for this grade and any learning that follows, in or out of school.

Back to Portland

We are headed back to Portland for another ATI conference. How lucky am I to work in a division that values the work we do and supports the professional development we are willing to pursue in order to better our practices and the learning experiences of our students?

The November conference will focus on "Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning", by Jan Chappuis. I am plugging away at it so that I have a working knowledge of it before attending. So far, I have found that many of her theories and recommended practices are already a part of my belief system.

Much of what I am reading has already been shared with us at the Summer Institute with Rick Stiggins. This alone makes it a quicker read. I am continually confirming that I am on the right track with these strategies and that whether or not I knew why I was using them, they were based on sound research. What reinforces it for me now is that by reading the "WHY", the "HOW" becomes more purposeful.

I love the idea of developing assessment criteria with my students. The problem I encounter with this one is that it is very time consuming. In a school year where every minute counts towards covering as many of the curricular outcomes as possible, I am challenged with the value of the class time required to make this strategy worthwhile. I mentioned this same concern to Tom Schimmer at the Summer Institute and his reply (although based in a high school philosophy) was that at times, this criteria is given to the students and worked on from there. We simply do not have the time to invest in this step as in depth as we would like.

The contrast between a learning goal vs. a performance goal was also helpful to consider. I had never really differentiated between the two before, but it is important for the students to understand what they are LEARNING even more so than what they are DOING.