Assessment in Perspective: Stenhouse Blog Tour

With a new curriculum in language arts for reading and writing, as well as a new math, science and social studies, I've been doing a lot of rethinking about assessment.  I was excited to be invited to join the Stenhouse blog tour for Assessment in Perspective:  Focusing on the Reader Behind the Number, a new book by Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan (find more from Clare and Tammy at Choice Literacy).  As I started to read I realized I was beyond excited as the book gave me so much to think about.  I honestly wish it wasn't May as my time is too limited to try all the new things I am thinking about in my classroom.

Today Tammy and Clare are stopping by Reflect and Refine to answer a few questions about assessment.  Take time to enjoy our conversation, and then click over to take a look at their new work (leave a comment here - and at any of the other tour stops - to have a chance to win a copy of Assessment in Perspective).  You can preview Clare and Tammy's book at the Stenhouse website.  You'll want to add it to your summer reading pile.

Cathy:  I noticed throughout the book you both talked more about the questions you formulated with assessment data than the answers you found in assessment data.  Can you talk a little more about this?  

Clare and Tammy:  When we ask a question we are propelled to act.  We want assessment to be about how we use the information to target our instruction by continually analyzing, questioning, and assessing as we instruct.  No “answer” in education is the final answer; any answer should always propel us to ask the next question about how to help our learners take the next step.  We don’t think the cycle ever ends and it is the questions that keep us in the cycle.  When we have an inquiry stance around data then we begin to notice more as teachers.  We question, notice, and assess throughout our instruction.  It is our questions and observations that allow us to use the information we have about our students to triangulate and piece it together to understand what our readers need instructionally.

Cathy:  You talk a lot in your book about the importance of combining formal data collected with observations of students in our classrooms.  What is essential in collecting strong observational data to consider in discovering the stories of our readers? 

Clare and Tammy:  First, it is essential to view assessment as a part of instruction.  We need to take the time to notice and observe our students in the process of learning.  Assessment should not be about proving that students know everything.  Assessment needs to be the vehicle to help us find opportunities to instruct our readers in what they need to learn next.  When our students are constructing new knowledge there should be some confusions.  These confusions are not failures but stepping-stones to their next level of understanding.  This can only happen if we notice what students are doing and use that information.  

Once we begin observing and noticing we need systems to collect this data.  These systems need to be easy, useful and embedded in our instruction.  These observations need to happen in the moments of our teaching.  We spent many years creating beautiful conferring binders and never used them.  We wrote notes, but never used the notes to find patterns to help us inform instruction.  We have learned over the years that we need to make our notes useful to us through the use of displays and note taking strategies.  We can’t fall into the trap of only collecting formative data – we must use it if we are going to discover the stories of our readers.

Lastly, we find that having a focus for our observations – an instructional goal or a student goal – helps us collect stronger observational data.  When we observe with a purpose in mind we tend to take notes in a more meaningful way and use the notes more effectively.

Cathy:  One of my favorite parts of chapter 4, "Triangulating Assessments," was your discussion about visual displays that help us to understand the information we've collected.  In chapter 6, "The Student's Role in Assessment," you come back to this conversation.  What are some ways you've seen students create and use displays to help them to understand their learning?  

Clare and Tammy:  We have seen as many ways as we have students.  Using displays to monitor progress works best when students are in control of creating the displays.  While we may not always agree at first with the goals they set or how they design the displays, this is not as important as getting them engaged in the process.  Once they are setting goals and monitoring goals it is easy to shift the goals towards the expectations we want to see for each reader.  We often model a few displays so our students have an idea of what we are looking for them to create.  We use book logs as one common type of display.  So many students are “collecting” data in their logs but not using the data or collecting the data in a way that helps them achieve a goal.  We talk with our students about setting goals for themselves as readers and then creating a log that will help them track their goals.  This is often our first step.  Once they see this then we meet with each student during our conferences and help him or her set additional goals.  Here are some common student displays we have seen work well:

• Tracking the use of a strategy they are trying to use more effectively through a strategy inventory
• Using a display to track when they tended to write in their notebooks and how it helped them as a reader
• Tracking the number of minutes engaged in reading
• Tracking how many minutes a book group engages in meaningful conversation
• Noticing how often they self correct
• Noticing when they are metacognitively thinking while they are reading
• Being prepared for weekly assignments in their notebooks
• Being prepared for weekly assignments for their book club

Cathy:  In classrooms today it seems we spend more and more time assessing.  What is important to consider in time assessing vs. time instructing?  

Clare and Tammy:  We first need to consider the type of assessment. Formal assessments often take away time from instruction so we try to limit how often we administer them.  We limit them by really thinking about how often we need this type of data on our students.  We only want to assess the students for whom we need to gather additional formal data.  Fair is not equal when it comes to assessment.  Our at-risk readers need more diagnostic assessments that help us pinpoint what they need and monitor their progress.  Other readers do not need the myriad of assessments we are giving.  In the ideal world we should use assessments that provide us insight into how our readers authentically use strategies to decode and comprehend texts.  When this happens then it is time well spent since we need the information we are gathering.  If we are talking about informal assessments then we think assessment and instruction are inseparable and we should not be losing any time.  When we assess as we teach we gather data so we can adjust our teaching in the moment as well as plan to adjust future lessons.  

If we have to give more formal assessments than we would ideally like due to district or state requirements, then we make the most of what we are required to work with.  We are sure to explain why we are giving the formal assessment to our students and remain clear with ourselves about what type of information we are going to look for in each round of assessments.  

Cathy:  Often what we assess becomes what we teach.  How do we advocate for assessments that match what we value in educating children?  

Clare and Tammy:  When we authentically assess every day we think it is the opposite – what we teach is what we assess which informs what we need to teach next.  We recognize that districts are mandating the use of some common assessments, but that does take away from how we assess every day.  We have the power to assess as part of our instruction and to notice how our students are learning.  When we use these assessments and show how they help us target our instruction we are advocating for assessments that match what we value.  If we lose sight of what we do have the power to impact in assessment because we are frustrated with what we do not have the power to control in assessment we end up giving up the best tools we have to inform our instruction – on-going, informal, formative assessment.

In terms of advocating for common assessments that are more useful to us we suggest working as a school to determine why each assessment is being used.  We find it helpful to determine the purpose of each assessment and the area of reading it targets.  We also suggest looking at the common assessment plan to make sure there is a range of types of assessments: diagnostic, formative, and summative; quantitative and qualitative; and formal and informal.  When we find areas for which we have too many assessments – we weed the garden!  If we find areas for which we do not have any assessments – we add one. Knowing why we are giving an assessment helps us know how we can use it and how we cannot use it.  Screeners are a great example of the importance of understanding the purpose of an assessment. Screeners are not meant to inform our instruction, they are just meant to raise a flag of concern.  If there are students who are flagged then we know that we need to gather more data to truly understand or diagnose the needs of the student. A one minute assessment cannot help us inform instruction it just tells us to look  more closely at why a reader may have not met benchmark.

Thanks to Tammy and Clare for stopping by Reflect and Refine.  I look forward to future conversations about this professional book.  

Other Tour Stops:
A Year of Reading:  May 20
Our Camp Read-a-Lot:  May 21st
Stenhouse Blog:  May 24th

Assessment Transformations: Going Digital

How do you document the learning happening in your classroom each day?  How do you capture the stories of the readers, writers, scientists, mathematicians, you sit beside as you confer in your workshops?  Finding workable systems for capturing, reflecting, and utilizing information to plan instruction is essential in classrooms with a variety of types of learners.  As Donalyn Miller recently reminded us in her Columbus visit to the Literacy Connection, "The best record keeping systems we can put in place are those we can maintain."  Can I get a big AMEN?

Assessment in Perspective:  Using Displays 

I just finished reading Assessment in Perspective:  Focusing on the Reader Behind the Numbers (stop by the final Stenhouse blog tour site:  Reflect and Refine on Wednesday, May 22nd for a conversation with the authors, Tammy Mulligan and Clare Landrigan).  The book provided a smart discussion of types of assessments, purpose for assessment, and practical ways to capture the stories of readers within the busy days of learning in our classrooms.  The authors shared ways to balance summative assessments required by districts, states, and federal mandates, with the formative assessments we value in our daily work with children.

I found the book to be very applicable to classroom practice, but I must admit when I first saw the title for chapter 4, Triangulating Assessment, I felt my heart race and tension begin to rise within me.  However, when I went to read this chapter I found it not to be about looking at three types of formal assessments and averaging the numbers to make an instructional decision.  Instead, the authors talked about formulating our questions about readers, determining the ways to find out more (making assessment decisions), and then gathering a variety of information to begin to shape the stories of learners.  In this conversation they shared ways to display the information in order to think more deeply about it.

For the authors, triangulating assessment is about "analyzing, questioning, and assessing."  It's about asking big questions and finding what's next for learners.  In talking about using displays, Tammy and Clare shared bar graphs, stem-and-leaf graphs, data walls, line graphs, conferring notes, "messy sheets," picture graphs and other ways we can display information to begin to make instructional decisions.  I loved the way they showed examples that easily work within our day to day classroom practices and the conversations we have about the learners in our classrooms with our instructional teams.  Putting a name to many of the assessment techniques we use helped me to think about them more deeply.

Capturing the Stories of Learners 
This conversation also caused me to pause to consider the way collecting assessment information in my classroom as transformed since I have moved from a notebook to my iPad.  It's been a little more than a year since I packed my paper notebook away and went digital.  The transformation has been freeing and helped me to be so much more effective.  Here are a few "must haves" for finding the stories of learners in my classroom:

Evernote!:  Evernote has set me free.  It is the number one application I want to use for assessment as it allows me to flexibly gather information about learners.  I can take pictures of student work, record conversations, write notes, link to student digital writing, and tag it all in ways to easily group and locate it for reflection and planning.  It has really helped organize all the little pieces of information I collect to tell the stories of the children in my classroom.  It's easy to get started and use.  Here's a page I created to collect resources for Evernote.

Google Forms:  Evernote is perfect for collecting individual information.  Google forms is perfect for collecting group information.  With Google Forms I can create forms to collect, sort, and reflect on information collected in more formal assessments (in our district the Fountas and Pinnell Reading Assessments, Developmental Spelling Assessments, and Developmental Math Assessments are among some of the formal assessments I like to be able to work flexibly with information collected) and in informal conversations across our day (by determining key understandings  students need to have about a particular topic of study and turning them into a form to use as I work alongside students).  Google Forms allows me to create checklists, multiple choice response, short text information, paragraph information and much more.  I can then view as a form to quickly record or as a spreadsheet to use the information to plan whole class, small group, and individual instruction.  Linking the form to Evernote allows me to quickly access within Evernote and snapping a screenshot of completed spreadsheets allows me to add these documents within Evernote for greater organization.

Ghostwriter:  Ghostwriter, part of the Evernote trunk, is one of the newer applications I've added to my list (thanks, Marie!).  I like Ghostwriter because it allows me to collect information about individuals (perfect for intervention plans), small groups, or the entire class.  I can create a form or table to collect information, snap a picture of it, and make it the "paper" for a notebook.  Then I am able to type or write directly on the document.  Every day I can turn the page to get a new piece of paper already dated and can easily send this information to Evernote, parents, or team members.  Ghostwriter has its glitches, but they are well worth it.  I'm sure it will continue to improve.

These are a few of my "must haves" for going digital in capturing the stories of learners within my classroom.  What are your favorites?  I'd love to hear more.

National Poetry Month: Check These Out

What?  We're more than half way through National Poetry Month already?  Last year I told you about some of my favorite professional resources for teaching poetry.  This year, I want to share some of the events I'm following:

Where Does Poetry Come From?  
Mary Lee Hahn is featuring Common Inspiration:  Uncommon Creations at A Year of Reading.  Each day she is sharing a digital media inspiration from WikiMedia Commons.  Mary Lee is using this picture/video/media as inspiration for her daily poem and encourages others to join her by sharing their own poem inspired from the media.  Additionally, Mary Lee has been sharing useful information about copyright and courtesy when sharing the work of other artists.

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is sharing Drawing Into Poems.  Each day in April Amy sketches her inspiration for poetry at The Poem Farm.  As she draws each picture she jots words, thoughts, ideas,  and short stories around the illustration.  Some of these will become the inspiration for poetry.  I have shared several of her sketches with my students as we learn to play with our ideas in our writers' notebooks before beginning to write our poems.

Getting to Know Poetry
At Gotta Book Greg Pincus shares 30 Days / 30 Poets.  I've followed this event for a couple of years now and learn so much about poets along the way.  Each day Greg shares an unpublished poem by a different poet as well as important information about their work.

Want to know more about how technology and poetry can work together?  Stop by Author Amok where you'll learn something new each day about technology and poetry.

You should probably make one more stop to No Water River.  I'm enjoying Poetry Is (poets share their thoughts on what is important poetry) and Guest Poets (Renee talks with poets and shares some of their work).  There are many surprises here to share with your students.

Teaching Poetry
Looking for examples of student work?  Ms. Mac shares 30 Days of Student Poetry at Check It Out.

Susan Brown Taylor shares her work with mentor poems.  Each day she chooses a mentor poem, talks about how she uses it with students, and creates her own poem from the mentor text.


Looking for More?  
Stop by Jama's Alphabet Soup for more National Poetry Month Kid-Lit Events.

Forest Has a Song & So Does Amy LV

Today I'm sending happy thoughts to Amy Ludwig VanDerwater (@amylvpoemfarm) as her new book, Forest Has a Song:  Poems is released!  Today is the day it steps out into the world!  I have ordered my copy and can't wait for it to arrive.

If you haven't visited Amy's blog, The Poem Farm, you'll want to stop by.  The first time I came across Amy's blog was when she was writing a poem a day for a year.  Yes, for 365 days she wrote poems.  At the time I was trying to post a picture each day and couldn't keep up with that.  I had no idea how she came up with a poem every day, but she did.  I was in awe of her perseverance --- and in awe of her poetry.

I've continued to follow Amy's poetry on her blog.  At The Poem Farm, Amy not only shares her poetry, but often the thinking behind her poems.  She often adds photographs and audio recordings of her poetry as well.  As a teacher, I find there are so many resources available on her site.  One of my favorite resources is her "find a poem" page.  This page allows visitors to search for poems by topic or by poem technique.

If you are a teacher, a poet, or a writer, you may also want to stop by Sharing Our Notebooks.  On this blog, Amy features a variety of people who share their notebooks.  It's interesting to see the crafting process of others.

As you can see, Amy keeps very busy.  I'm so grateful that she is willing to share all of her thinking, collecting, and writing with us.  I was so happy to finally have the opportunity to meet her at NCTE in November.  Today, I wish her all the best as her new book is released to the world.  I'm looking forward to having her poetry resting on the shelf in our classroom.

Congratulations, Amy!!!




This post is cross posted at Merely Day by Day where I am participating in Slice of Life Challenge.  

Slice of Life Challenge 

Thanks Stacey and Ruth:  Two Writing Teachers

#slice2013   26 of 31

My First Ed Camp #edcampcbus

EdCamp Columbus

I probably should've taken a picture.  Let's face it, there are important events in our lives that should be documented with photographs:  our first steps, our first lost tooth, our first car, our first paycheck --- and our first edcamp.

On Friday night I was reading posts for The Slice of Life Challenge and following conversations on Twitter when I saw a tweet about Ed Camp Columbus.  A friend had told me that #edcampcbus was coming up, but I hadn't really been able to find any information.  I went back through the tweets of those I thought might be promoting the event, and still couldn't find it.  So on Friday night at nearly 10 o'clock I notice a tweet about the event which was to be held Saturday morning - yes, the very next morning - at 9 a.m..  My calendar happened to be free so at nearly midnight I registered for the event.  Crazy, huh?!

What is #edcamp?
For those of you unfamiliar with #edcamps, they take place in cities across the United States.  When a place for the event is found, and a date is chosen, everyone gathers to learn one from another.  EdCamps really have no set agenda, participants arrive and begin listing what they'd like to talk about on the board.  Sessions are then formed for those wanting to have common conversations around a topic and rooms are assigned.  These aren't really formal presentations like we often experience at professional conferences, but more informal conversations around a topic.  Sessions seemed to always include those in the know on a topic and those wanting to know more about a topic.

Edcamps are FREE professional development so what did I have to lose.  On Saturday morning I got up, grabbed a Starbucks, and headed to the other side of Columbus.  I wasn't sure what I was in for, but I was quite sure I wanted to find out more about EdCamps.

My day was full of learning:  
Using Evernote to Capture Student Learning:  In this session a group of us gathered to talk about Evernote.  As you know, I am a huge fan of EN.  We shared some of the ways we're using EN to follow the learners in our classrooms.  We talked a bit about applications that work with EN.  I discovered that you can share a notebook and collaborate with it if one person has a premium account.  I'm planning to give that a try on Monday.  I shared this resource for getting started with Evernote.

Data and Assessment and The Need for Translation:  In this session there was a wide range of participants:  teachers, administrators, instructional coaches, and technology coordinators.  This group discussed the need for being more vocal about the way our students are being measured.  The question was asked, "Why is there a need to quantify qualitative information?"  I couldn't help but wonder why we are using old ways of measurement (standardized tests) for new world learning.

Developing Student Ownership:  In this session several teachers shared how they have set up units of study in which students work through at their own pace.  They explained the benefits, as they saw them --- and the challenges they've faced.  This session had me really working to define how I view student ownership.  What are the parts of the learning process should students own?  How do we set up our environments so students can own the learning?  What is our role in student ownership?

Rockin' Around the (Google) Docs:  Wow!  I didn't know you could learn so much in a 50 minute session.  Danielle shared some ways to use Google docs in our classrooms.  She shared Doctopus, Flubaroo, and other ways to effectively research, collaborate and create using Google Docs.  I learned ways to research, search for images and annotate right within the doc.  Oh, the things we don't know.

Community
Each session was an interesting and thoughtful conversation.  What struck me the most was the community of learners created in that moment.  Some had come because they had heard about the event on Twitter, some had come because they heard about the event in their districts, but all came to participate, learn, and share their knowledge.  Though I took away much from each session, I also gained a few more connections, some time to talk with teachers I know from other districts, and a few more friends to follow on Twitter.

To top it all off, I won a free year's subscription to Simple K12.  Not bad for a day's time.  Thanks to Gahanna schools for the use of their beautiful Clark Hall facility, Dwight Carter, Toby Fischer, and the many others who helped make the day a success.  I can't wait until #edcampcbus 2014!


Tweetdoc of #edcampcbus 2013

Exclamation Mark!

Have you ever had one of those read alouds where you had the class from the moment you started to read?  Exclamation Mark by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld is just that book.  From the moment I opened the book to begin to read until I closed it at the very end I had my class hanging onto every word.  I'll let the characters tell you a little about it:

?:  Have you read our book?

!:  You really should!

?:  Do you like Amy Krouse Rosenthal?
    Do you like Tom Lichtenheld?  
    Have you read their books?

!:  You should!  You really should!  

?:  Do you like books about friends?
     Do you like books with happy endings?
     Do you like books with fun characters?

!:  We're fun!  We're a lot of fun!  You should read our book!  I was so lonely until I met question mark!  Question mark helped me to be me!

?:  Did I really help you to feel better?

!:  Yes!  You are the BEST friend a punctuation mark could have!  Yes!  Yes!  Yes!







     

Is "I Can" Enough?

I've tried to write this post a hundred times.  I can't find the words.  I can't find the voice.  I'm not clear enough about my own thinking to share it with all of you, but I'm wondering...  

So I've decided to write this post as if you and I are sitting down with a cup of a coffee.  I've decided to ask you the questions that I am pondering right now daily.   I hope you'll take time to read it, think about it, and share your thoughts with me.   

I Can Statements
In an effort to help students take ownership of their learning there has been a move toward "I Can" statements or learning targets.  Many educators are using them with success (How I CAN Statements Can Work for You, How I Am Using Those I Can Statements, Writing I Can Statements).  The belief is, if children understand the focus of the learning and have a clear goal, achievement will be improved.  We've had many interesting conversations about this very topic in our school.

Learning targets are designed to help students understand the expected outcome.  Whether they are class statements or individual statements, they focus students on what they should be able to do in the end.  When I think about these statements, I think they often require me to be clear about my expectations for students.  If I'm clear about my expected outcome, my lessons are likely to be focused to what I want students to take away from them.  As I've learned about these statements I have also found myself asking:

• Are learning targets enough?
• Do "I Can" statements and other targets put student attention on the thinking that will help them grow as learners?
• How do "I Can" Statements fit into the curriculum?
• How many "I Can" Statements are too many? 
• How do we write effective "I Can" statements?  

When I search "I Can" statements, here are some of the first ones I find:  

• I can use ordinal numbers (first, second, third) to order objects.
• I can use exclamation points when I write.
• I can say the beginning and ending sounds of words. 

Did you ever play the Sesame Street game, "One of these things is not like the others."?  Here are four more statements I found.  Think about how they are different:

• Math:  I can add to 10. (applying)
• Science:  I can investigate balance. (analyzing and evaluating)
• Language:  I can use exclamation marks when I write.  (applying)
• Social Studies:  I can use a compass rose to show direction.  (applying)

Language for Learning
Language is important in learning.  Will Richardson just wrote an article for ASCD, Students First - Not Stuff, in which he discusses student learning during these times of technological advancement.  Richardson asks, "What if we focused on developing kids who are "learners" instead of trying to make sure they're "learned"?  In other words, are we asking our students to know or to understand how to learn? Are we shaping learners who are able to figure things out in a world where so much knowing and learning are right at their fingertips?  In a push toward standardized assessment, are we creating standard children?  Is that really enough?

I'm going to be honest right now and tell you I likely lean toward a constructivist philosophy of learning.  I think learners construct their own knowledge when given authentic opportunities to learn.  Spending years learning about inquiry has solidified this for me.  For this reason, I think the language we use with children is key in shaping students who take on a learning mindset.  Language is important in creating agency and in shifting students away from thinking they have to be right and toward thinking they can figure things out.

This model was shared by 
Overbaughand Schultz, Ohio Dominion University

"I Can" in Context
Though I want students to have ownership of their learning and their achievement, I keep wrestling with "I Can" statements.  Let's consider this scenario using the revised version of Bloom's Taxonomy.  Gardening is something I enjoy attempting each year, but honestly it rarely goes well for me.  Let's say my statement is, "I can plant a garden."  The "I can" in my statement assumes application, but can I plant a garden that produces healthy vegetables?  This "I can" statement assumes as I learn I will be able to apply information to plant a garden.  Honestly,  I can plant a garden.  I can till our garden, plant the seeds, and wait for the plants to grow.  However, I must confess my garden rarely produces the quality of vegetables I hope it will.

Let's say instead of an "I can plant a garden," I ask "How do I produce healthy vegetation in my garden?".  I think the "How" changes my frame my mind.  My goal is still to plant a garden, but now I'm wondering how do I plant a successful garden.  Soon I'm wondering:

• What steps help to create a garden that produces healthy vegetation?
• How do I prepare the soil for gardening?  
• Do certain plants grow better in certain conditions?  What do my tomato plants need (for example)?
• How do I keep plants healthy as they grow?  

Which will help me to improve the quality of my garden?  For me, "I Can" suggests I will do it, but "How do I" suggests I'm going to figure it out.  "I Can" suggests I own the result, "How do I" suggests I own the process.  Now that I've asked "How," I'm going to have to read, research, ask experts, and experiment.  By setting out to understand "how" I'm going to have to understand, analyze,  and evaluate.  In the end, I should be able to create a garden with better vegetation.

Is "I Can" Enough
I think of "I Can" statements in much the way I think of goals.  I've been using goals in my classroom for quite some time and it is a process I'm always trying to improve.  We set goals in our classroom because I want students to own their learning.  Some of the quickest shifts are made in learning when students own it.  I'm constantly trying to figure out the best way to word these to get the desired outcome.

Recently Barry Weaver, an educator who supports gifted students in our building, came in to work collaboratively with our classroom to support mathematical reasoning and thinking.  I explained where we were in this process, that students often searched for the answer quickly and weren't always able to rethink and talk about their understanding.  He came into the classroom with this learning target, "I can think creatively or differently (analyzing, evaluating, creating)."  You can imagine the difference this created in the way students went about their work.  It wasn't enough to just solve it.  Were there other ways to solve it?  Can you show different ways to solve it?  What if his target would have been, "I can solve word problems using addition and subtraction (applying)."?

Building a Learning Mindset 

I suppose "I Can" statements may be used as a way for students to measure progress.  It seems to me "I Can" statements, though perhaps useful in measurement, are not as powerful for learning as the deeper questions that guide our studies.  If we want students to be learners in today's technological world we want students who can ask questions and find their own paths to learning, understanding, and creating.  

While these types of targets may show measurable short-term progress, I'm wondering if these kinds of statements result in shaping the kinds of learners who can communicate effectively, think creatively, and work with innovation.  Yes, we want students to understand where we are headed and to be involved in the ways we measure (see Bud Hunt's post on Data Dashboards for some interesting thinking on this), but do we want them spending more time measuring than creating?  Do we want them applying their learning or using it ways to evaluate, analyze and create?  In our classrooms are we producing students who can take tests today or shape our world tomorrow?  I'm just wondering....


Recent Reads about Shaping a Learning Mindset:

• Mind Set by Carol Dweck
• Making Learning Whole:  How Seven Principles of Teaching Can Transform Education by David R. Perkins
• Fires in the Mind by Kathleen Cushman
• Opening Minds by Peter Johnston
• Choice Words by Peter Johnston