How do I re-address standards in a Spiralling Course? – Discussion

[Lisa Hudson]

I appreciate Rebecca’s honesty and openness in asking her questions. Now that I am at the end of this mini-course, I realize that no matter what I end up doing as far as spiraling, it will be OK because there is no right or wrong way. The whole process will require planning and more planning interwoven with reflection as the process unfolds for next year. I hope that we will be back in the classroom and be able to spend the majority of the year there.

My question would pertain to the mastery mini-course. Has it been completed and added to the academy? I will have to check the course titles.

Thank you for the wealth of information and encouragement that has been provided throughout this course.

[Andy Neels]

I hope to begin my journey into spiraling my math class this school year. I will start with mastery days which will include content from previous units. I hope to work on truly spiraling the course over the summer months. A great session! Thanks Kyle and Jon and all contributors.

[Kyle Pearce]

Fantastic to hear. Starting with interleaving your assessment and purposeful practice is a great way to get the ball rolling and to promote retention. Let us know how it goes!

[Christopher Ernst]

As Lisa said, my big takeaway and what I’m wrapping my head around is the fact that there’s no one right way to do this. That we have to start somewhere and try something, then reflect on how it went. I loved the quote from Kyle about how you can never truly do something wrong as long as you reflect on what you did.

[Jon]

Great mindset @ErnstCD

[Allison Herrmann]

Question: Do you tell students what learning goals will be on the weekly quiz or is it just randomly given without them knowing?

[Jon]

I communicate with them that the learning goals looked at this week will be mostly weighted however we will assess any other learning goals as well.

[Anthony Waslaske]

My district requires a grade every week, I could add points to those grades but if I’m spiraling assessment questions, do I take points away from something already reported in the grade book?

• This reply was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by  Anthony Waslaske.

[Jon]

We try to look at consistency being the decision maker in this case. If a student has consistently shown that they can’t solve 2 step equations when they previously did show that then yes I would give a grade that reflects this current observation.

[Jamie BALLARD]

Big takeaway for me is we are trying to teach students how to learn (be life-long learners) and how to think. The idea of not having the perfect plan goes along with we don’t need to show specifically how to do every single granular learning target. Students who can model and think will be able to reason through an unfamiliar situation. That is what is most exciting to me.

Additionally, the idea of the portfolio day is asking students to be reflective and go back over the learning targets to decide which ones they should focus on this week. It models that learning is a continuum – not a destination. There is always more we can learn.

Thanks again for posting this Q&A!

[Ryan Foley]

I appreciated the conversation about how giving a grade is sometimes good and sometimes bad. I had been doing growth days this past year for the first time and that reaffirmed what I had saw in my class. I think it always comes down to the relationship and knowing your students. Also, I am moving up to 7th grade this year from 6th, and will look at spiraling my assessments to begin spiraling the new content. Excited to see how it goes.

[Jon]

Thanks for sharing @ryan-foley Keep us posted in your grade 7 class.