Lesson 2.4 The Formative Five – Discussion

[Jaana Gray]

Wow, there was a lot of depth in that session.

[Malia Heimbach]

I loved the breakdown of how they suggest organizing formative data. My biggest question (that I have from watching multiple webinars) is what to put in the grade book for formatives when that’s part of the district’s breakdown.

[Kyle Pearce]

Do you mean in terms of its weighting for the final grade?

[Sean Breen]

Well, the power of observation, and of course, anticipation. A question I have is how to implement the observation component in a hybrid situation. I am not real fond of walking around the classroom during the pandemic. I’m masked, the kids are masked, but getting that close to that many students seems relatively risky. I’ll think about it this week in preparation for returning to the classroom. I guess it’s time to get creative. How are other teachers handling this?

[Kyle Pearce]

This is a great question. I wonder if you could set up a desk that students could rotate through between cleanings so you can at least get close enough to hear / observe?

Alternatively, depending mostly on what you see from a distance and asking purposeful questions might be helpful too?

[Christopher Ernst]

Couldn’t agree more with @jaana.gray that was a ton! One of my biggest takeaways was the conversation around perhaps planning around standards or learning goals with the F5, or matching certain standards/LGs with specific practices. Also, all the observation tools on the Corwin website help with recording data throughout a lesson.

[Jamie BALLARD]

I liked the distinction between Hinge Questions and Exit Tickets/Tasks. I always considered exit ticket questions as they described hinge questions. How powerful would it be to sit down in the PLC and determine the Hinge Question each lesson and what to do with the responses.

As mentioned earlier, lots of good stuff in here. I think I have used interviews and show me and what I thought were exit tickets in the past. However, I now see how these can be improved.

[Jeanette Jones]

Wow! So many ideas. This helped me clarify some of the formative assessment items you have talked about. I love the preparation stage of anticipating potential responses and how to respond. I think this will be huge and help me have a much better way to then help the students gain understanding of math concepts.

[Kyle Pearce]

Glad to hear it! Lots to build on from this session, for sure!

[Pamela Brock]

I agree – A lot of great information. Great planning tools referenced. It’s always hard for me to take notes and move about the room simultaneously, but the “cruising clipboard” will benefit me and my students for sure. Anticipating student responses and being ready for them in advance will help with time management too.

[Callie Smith]

So you guys have referred to ”Peg” Smith and Mary Kay Stein’s 5 Practices so much that I had to get the book. Now these guys are talking about it, too. I’m loving this! So while I’m becoming much more aware of my questions, I am also glad to have some tools to organize my habits of observing, etc. I LOVE that they have the tool organized around the 5 Practices: that will def be my biggest takeaway. I am so curious as to how you guys have time to read all of these books?

I think they did such a thorough job of talking about these things. I loved the way John was asking all those questions at the end…. I think he covered everything I was wondering about!

[Jon]

Hey @callie-smith Such a great resource. Glad you got your hands on it…. Many of the books we read we actually just listen to with our Audible membership (not this book however).

[Jennifer Gordon]

I love these tools to help with formative assessments. I’m still stuck on how to translate observations, interviews, etc., into the gradebook. It’s October, and I don’t have a single grade entered! Feeling overwhelmed.

[Jennifer Gordon]

I’m not sure if my last response recorded… I love these formative five, but I’m still unsure how to apply them to the gradebook. I’m hoping to learn about that in later sessions.

[Jeremy Sarzana]

One big takeaway is the idea of interviews. I want to implement this in my classroom but I want to learn more about it. I’ll have to get the book and watch the video again. I also want to incorporate “show me” questions and observations as well.

A wonder that I have is how best to create hinge questions. I want to dig deeper into this concept as well.

[Terry Hill]

While there was certainly a lot in this video, I must admit I felt quite overwhelmed. When I looked at their website and the tools they have there, it just made me wonder even more how I would ever have the time to be able to do these things, especially in classes with 25 or more students.

[Kyle Pearce]

I think the best approach is to always pick one thing and see how it goes. They do bring up a TON of ideas – all of which likely were added to their repertoire one at a time over years. Make sure not to try to “eat too much of the elephant” at once.

[Stephanie Pritchett]

Like most others all the information is overwhelming. I like how they said find one that you think will work and try it out and get good at it. You don’t have to try them all. There are so many good things, I feel like a first year teacher with all the good things I’m learning and want to practice implementing.