Vancouver Principals and Vice-Principals May 13th, 2009 Faye Brownlie

Engagement &

Meaning Making

  Literacy is about more than reading or writing – it is about how we communicate in society. It is about social practices and relationships, about knowledge, language, and culture.

  Those who use literacy take it for granted – but those who cannot use it are excluded from much communication in today’s world. Indeed, it is the excluded who can best appreciate the notion of ‘literacy as freedom.’

  UNESCO, Statement for the UN Literacy Decade, 2003-2012

Model

Guided practice

Independent practice

Independent application

Pearson & Gallagher (1983) 

GRADUAL RELEASE MODEL

Assessment OF Learning

Purpose: reporting out, summative assessment, measuring learning

Audience: parents and public

Timing: end

Form: letter grades, rank order, percentage scores

Assessment FOR Learning

Purpose: guide instruction, improve learning

Audience: teacher and student

Timing: at the beginning, day by day, minute by minute

Form: descriptive feedback

Assessment FOR Learning

Purpose: guide instruction and learning

•The Grand Event

•Ongoing in the Class

  Descriptive scoring   Coding in teams   Class/grade profile of strengths and areas of

need   Action plans developed - what’s next?   Individual students identified for further

assessment

What do I need to teach?

(with the goal in mind)

  Literacy teacher pulled 40/70 students who were identified at risk in fall assessment

  1:1 assessment, performance based   Read text orally   Looked for patterns

  Encouraged kids to mark the text   Predicting from title, picture, caption – average

of 4 seconds   Comprehension – analyzed 3 samples, students

ranked by performance standard rubric   Inference – adding your thinking, not

summarizing - practiced

1

From Assessment to Instruction

Brownlie, Feniak, Schnellert, 2006

2

4

3

Assess (against criteria)

Set a Goal (target)

Plan/Teach (with the goal in mind)

Reassess

The Six Big AFL Strategies

1.  Intentions

2.  Criteria

3.  Descriptive feedback

4.  Questions

5.  Self and peer assessment

6.  Ownership

What’s working?

What’s not?

What’s next?

Descriptive Feedback

•ensuring an orderly & supportive environment •planning, coordinating & evaluating teaching

and the curriculum •strategic resourcing •promoting & participating in teacher learning &

development •establishing goals & expectations

•ensuring an orderly & supportive environment •strategic resourcing •establishing goals & expectations

School Leadership and Student Outcomes: Identifying What Works and Why – Viviane M.J. Robinson, University of Auckland

•planning, coordinating & evaluating teaching and the curriculum

•  promoting & participating in teacher learning & development

ACEL, #41, Oct. 07

…the more leadership is focused on the core business of teaching and learning the greater its impact.

Robinson, 2007