Quadrant A of the Rigor/Relevance Framework

This post is what I wrote for the curriculum section in our Friday Forecast sent out to the teachers. It is based on the Rigor/Relevance Framework from the International Center for Leadership in Education

Curriculum in 300 words or less!

Reminders:
Rigor = higher order thinking, not more work.  (Use Blooms and Webs DOK for verbs)
Relevance = learning in which students apply core knowledge, concepts, or skills to solve real-world problems.
Rigor/Relevance Framework is not a continuum.  You do not progress through the 4 quadrants, but your instructional practices fit the mold of a single quadrant.


Today we are just going to focus on Quadrant A of the Rigor/Relevance Framework.

Quadrant A - “Acquisition” - Students gather and store bits of knowledge and information.  Students are primarily expected to remember or understand this acquired knowledge.

Quadrant A’s position on the framework encompasses instruction requires students to understand, comprehend, and apply knowledge that can only be used or applied in one discipline.  This box is titled “Teacher Work”.  When instructional practices match best with the characteristics of this box, a classroom observer would find the teacher doing the majority of the work.


Examples of Quadrant A activities might be:
Writing spelling words three times each.
Completing a word search.
Calling out answers on math flash cards.
Looking through a story to answer non-rigorous questions.
Categorizing foods into various food groups.
Recalling various vocabulary terms.


Implications for Instruction:
Nothing is inherently wrong with instructional practices that fall in Quadrant A.  Some standards that are set before us are close to impossible to apply to real world situations.  When the questions comes, “why do we have to know this?”  There may be no answer other than, “for the test.”  Also, some standards use the verbs recall, define, solve, etc. which all fall in the lower levels of Bloom’s and DOK.  At times, there is just no way around Quadrant A instruction.


Challenge:
Canvass your instruction and pinpoint the practices that match the characteristics of Quadrant A.  Examine these practices and ask yourself the following questions:  Why am I teaching this skill, standard, or student using these practices?  What can I do to this activity to increase the level of rigor(think verbs)?  What can I do to this activity to add knowledge that can be applied across disciplines and even used in real-world situations?

Turning the corner...

I have realized recently that I have begun to turn a corner in my ability to live the life of an instructional leader.  I am beginning to define more clearly within myself exactly what I am looking for during learning engagements.  From that, I am beginning to be able to better pinpoint strengths and weaknesses.  I am even slowly beginning to work out plans and put together resources for improvement.  Now I need to learn how to coach.  I think when I get the coach thing down, that's when I'll really begin to make progress as an instructional leader.  Furthermore, my teachers will benefit directly affecting the students and their learning.  I've got a lot to learn, but I'm turning the corner!

Inquiry is...

...the way to go about teaching and learning in the 21st century and the 20th century and the 19th century and the 22nd century, etc.

I have been an administrator for just over 100 school days, so I am no self-confessed expert at being on of the chief instructional officers of a school.  However, I do feel that in my short time as an admin I have renewed my passion towards inquiry-based learning.  According to this website, "Inquiry is defined as "a seeking for truth, information, or knowledge -- seeking information by questioning."

For example, I watched my daughter the other night as she played with a few newly discovered toys.  My daughter, Tinley, is a BEAUTIFUL 8 month old (I am definitely  smitten in every sense of the word), so everything is very new to her.  She heard the toy as I made it rattle, then she grabbed at it.  She messed with it on a larger scale, swinging it back and forth and then began to pay closer attention to the different parts of the toy.  She began to feel the textures, admire the bright colors, and even taste different parts.  She was seeking for information as she interacted with the toy.

This new toy is sooo cool!

Taking a picture break!

It's even got a tag!

As I watched her, I couldn't help but think about the hours upon hours that children helplessly sit in desks neatly placed in rows or table groups as an adult pours out information just hoping that the little sponges will soak it all up so it can be squeezed out onto the upcoming high-stakes test.  Tinley was so excited about her new discovery, most students are not.

How do we take the excitement that my 8 month old experienced and make it similar to the excitement that a multitude of students can experience each and every day inside the brick and mortar walls of a school?  I feel the answer lies in an inquiry-based approach.  Instead of funneling information into kids, funnel kids towards information.  Create environments that allow for information seeking and finding.

The new buzz word in my district is student engagement.  I truly believe that ALL students deeply long to be engaged.  An inquiry approach will meet that students where they are and push them to where they need to be because an inquiry approach naturally makes things more rigorous and relevant, and relevance always brings about differentiation.  If inquiry is seeking information, then usually it is because there is a problem to solve which creates a challenge that must be tackled with a project.  If you look at it that way, then you have tackled project-based learning, problem-based learning, and challenge-based learning all in one big swoop!  I'm sure there is more "buzz words" that inquiry involves, but that is all I've got for now.

I really do believe that inquiry is the only way to fully prepare our children for the 22nd century.  The good thing is...children do it naturally.  The bad thing is...we as adults always seem to get in the way.

Your thoughts?

The Other Stuff...

Preface: our district is currently in the midst of the AdvancED recertification process. With this comes a ton of reflection, data analysis, and writing.

Much of my time the past few weeks have been consumed with "the other stuff." The "the other stuff" consists of things that takes me away from visiting classrooms and spending time with my "Boyz in the Wood" and researching best instructional practices and matching teachers with resources and being available to model and allowing time just to talk and committing total attention to whole child discipline. I am in no way minimizing the importance of "the other stuff". I lament the fact that it takes me from what I think matters. However, doesn't data analysis, reflection, and writing matter?

If failure isn't an option...

I like to think that I'm a risk taker.  I like to think that I'm bold and live life on the edge.  I like to think that change is good for me and will make me better.  But I also like to think that I'm much better looking than I really am and can still keep up with 16 year olds in basketball.  (Well I can keep up with 16 year olds on the court, but I pay for it in the morning.  However, I'm still as ugly as I've always been ***see profile picture!)

Needless to say, what goes on in my mind and what really happens are two VERY different things.  In all honestly, I like to play it safe.  I like the guaranteed route.  Like most educators, I want the greatest success with the list bit of resistance.  Change is good, as long as it doesn't change me.  I'm an education reformer that just happens to be closer to the "way we've always done it" mindset.

I can remember day after day preaching to my students about taking risks.  Step out there and be willing to "fail successfully".  (FAIL SUCCESSFULLY was an expectation in my classroom).  However, rarely was I willing to step up to the plate.  Rarely was I willing to put myself out there and do something that was edgy and offered an opportunity for failure.  Likewise, rarely did I achieve excellence as a teacher...

...until I began to put myself in situations that afforded failure.  I will admit, at first I was like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.  I was skiddish and still wanting t o hold on tight to the outcome.  However, once I got my first taste of success...now I'm not just talking about about success as in a bunch of students making "A's".  I'm talking about success when I looked at a piece of students work, their finished creation, their blood (yes I said blood), sweat and tears, and stood in awe of the amazing that I would have NEVER-not in a million year- created or thought to create.  It gave me a rush.  I have chills now just thinking about those times.  Now, those times in my teaching were scary.  I had a clue of what was going to take place.  I'd plan and outline like crazy.  I'd dream and hope and pray, but I would never allow myself to control the outcome (even though I wanted to oh so very badly).

My fear in education is that we have eliminated the option for failure.  Failure for us and failure for the kids.  We have grown so accustomed to cookie cutter ways; ways that are guaranteed; ways that have ALWAYS "worked".  The elimination of failure has a residual affect as well.  When the option to fail is removed so too is deep problem solving, any type of real world relevance, and even motivation.  I guess this brings me to my final thought for this post: If failure isn't an option, than neither is excellence!

I was in a squirrel trap...

(My fear about using the following analogy and giving you a glimpse into my messed up head will scare you away, but it's worth taking that risk because I was scared away from education today.)

I am an outdoorsman.  I love the outdoors; it is a supreme release for me and something my heart and body uses as medicine.  On occasion, I will "harvest" animals.  In regular city folk talk you'd say that I shoot and kill poor defenseless animals.  I started my hunting hobby by hunting squirrels with a close buddy.  Don't cringe too much, but YES I do skin, freeze, cook, and eat the squirrels that I harvest.  One way I go about hunting squirrels is by using a trap very similar to the one in the picture.  I have found that squirrels are absolutely addicted to bird seed.  I mean to the point that I think that squirrels have BSA (Bird Seed Anonymous) Meetings somewhere in the tree tops.  "Hello my name is Squire the Squirrel and I'm a Seed-aholic!"  I have trapped as many as three squirrels in one day by using bird seed as my bait.  I won't go into any further squirrel trapping details since it is so close to dinner time.  However, I felt like this analogy was perfect for what I suffered through today.

I was chosen to be on the 2013 Math Textbook Adoption Committee for my district.  I was honored to be considered valuable enough to be placed on such a prestigious committee, but I'm not sure that whoever placed me on it understands my background.  I taught for 6 years at a WONDERFUL inquiry-based school that chose not to use textbooks.  I was allowed to write my own pacing guide and make instructional decisions based on the needs of my students, not the textbook page we were required to complete.

As I sat in the 4 presentations, each an hour long, trying to practice the skills I am picking up from my current book, "The Lost Art of Listening," I could not help but to feel more and more paranoid that the doors in the room were going to shut and a loud voice was going to say in a slow country twang, "look -er boys, we got us her -notha one!"  As each presenter (all apparently self-professing former teachers...clever) pitched their product as the best thing since they aligned sliced bread with the Common Core back in 2012 (gotta feed students brain food now), I started looking around for the bird seed.

The more the presenters talked, the more I realized how we continue to move further and further away from rigorous and RELEVANT instruction and fall deeper into the quick-fix curriculum trap.  We have taken the same thing that students did in 1920 and dressed it up in a pretty cover, added an iPad app, some differentiated instruction, a few Tier 3 interventions, aligned it with the CCSS, sprinkle in some higher order thinking questions and called it innovative.  Mr. Winkle would still feel comfortable!  We fork over thousands of dollars for curriculum that doesn't meet the needs of this year's students and probably won't meet next year's needs either.  We supplement with PD.  We buy supplemental resources.  We groan and grunt as, yet again, another program doesn't work.  We're trapped again until the next adoption.

I am new to my school district.  It is an amazing place, filled with amazing educators.  I honestly feel that we are moving in the right direction by implementing data teams and the PLC model.  I know that we HAVE to adopt a textbook, and since we will fork out a ton of money; we will HAVE to use it with fidelity across the district.  I just get so skiddish about the use of textbooks as curriculum.  I honestly feel that the kids should set the curriculum.  The kids interests should guide how we use the standards, ESPECIALLY in math and language arts.  It's hard to solve real world problems when you must be on page 107 by Thursday.  I understand that some teachers need that guide.  However, why don't we put our money into teaching those teachers how to make informed decisions about their students' needs rather than buying books that will, AT BEST, be used as dust collectors on shelves, book bag weights, or desk filler-uppers.  We have already placed a significant amount of money into training for data teams and PLC's.

I could ramble on forever about this, what are your thoughts about the squirrel trap we are in?

Sharpening the Knife...

As I was preparing mashed potatoes for Christmas dinner I found that my trusty Buck "Silver Creek" Filet Knife was struggling to cut the potatoes needed for my dish.  Two things crossed my mind: 1. Dang this knife is too dull to cut through potatoes...sorry knife.  2. Dang this knife has been through a lot (the skinning and butchering of multiple deer, wild hogs and other assorted game, TONS of vegetable chopping, and a few other miscellaneous chores that I could conger up during its life span and I let it become dull due to my neglect.

A few Christmases ago I received a Lansky Knife Sharpening Kit so I could theoretically keep my hunting knives sharp and ready (I guess you can see how well I've done in practice).  I busted out the kit on the 26th and went to sharpening my knife.  The kit is designed to start out using a very course stone that begins that process of sanding down the blade and imperfections it may have.  You progressively move towards a very smooth stones that, lacking for better words, polishes the blade making it razor sharp.  It took me an hour or so before the blade was restored to factory sharpness.  I can now, set the knife on a potato and, after applying the weight of my hand, slice the potato in two pieces.

As I meticulously rubbed the various stones on the knife blade in the required "W" formation, I had plenty of time to think.  There are very few things that I have respect for more than a sharp knife.  I take for granted the art a knife can create (delicious cuts of food, a wood carving, etc) and the chaos it can generate (bloody fingers or even death).  The majority of a knife's life is spent sitting in a drawer waiting to be used, however a knife's job is to cut and cut well.  When it doesn't cut, and cut well, it is useless; simply a piece of stainless steel with a handle.    If I would have taken the time and energy to sharpen my knife on a semi-regular basis, I would have never had to struggle through cutting something as easy as a potato.  I allowed the knife to become useless.  This made me think about the great quote by President Lincoln, “If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.”

I am currently in the process, as I have been for the past 2 months, of structuring my goals for 2013.  These goals are an opportunity for me to sharpen myself.  All the goals that I have are very un-glorious and lack spunk and excitement.  However, I feel confident that if I can conquer the specific, measurable, attainable, reasonable, and timely (SMART) goals I have set, my knife will be sharp and ready for use.

The sharpening part is dull, meticulous, and often times boring, but when the time comes for use, it will be well worth it!

My 2013 Goals broken down into categories (I'll update, add, and modify):

Spiritual:

• I will read the Gospels in their entirety at least 3 times by the end of 2013 striving to learn more about Jesus Christ's life, ministry, and leadership.
• I will memorize and meditate on the "Sermon on the Mount" from Matthew 5-7 by the end of 2013.  Averaging about 3 verses per week.
• I will read 4 books centered around Jesus by the end of the 2013.  Averaging roughly 1 book per 3 months.  (Christ Plays in 10,000 Places by Eugene Petersen, The Jesus You Thought You Knew by John MacArthur, and 2 others TBD)

Physical

• I will run 600 total miles (50 miles per month), log at least 244 activities (about 19 per month), and participate in at least 6 running races of any distance by the end of 2013.

Family

• I will read a bible story using the book given to us by the Dickenson family to my daughter at least three times a week before bedtime totaling about 150 reads in 2013.

Professional Learning (still have work to do)

School Leadership (Still have work to do)

Please share your comments!