Test Prep: Are we asking the right questions?

If you look though my blog posts around critical thinking, you will note that I have maintained that getting kids to think strategically is all about asking the right questions.  Even better, teaching them the right questions to help them develop their own arguments and justifications and learn to make inferences, apply and adapt. 

Run a mile to train for a 50 m race

I just watched an interesting video from Grant Wiggins on “Real Test Preparation:  Better Teaching not Worse” which validated my practices. The bottom line in improving student performance is to ask better questions.  Better questions are harder questions.  Comparing preparing for a rigorous test to preparing for a specific event in a track meet, Wiggins points out that practices are often more rigorous than the actual race you will run.  He suggests preparation for high stakes testing should be the same. Schools that traditionally do better on state testing, “simply don’t worry about them” because their students are regularly taking tests that are harder than the state tests.  He suggests removing the multiple choices, hints and reminders from our tests.  We need to prepare students so that they can make inferences and think strategically rather than prepare them for a specific test format.

Looking at the data

Looking at specific test items that have been scored and shared, it becomes obvious that our students, despite knowing the content, lack the ability to apply and adapt.  A clear example of this comes from a test item on the Pythagorean theory which a majority of students, despite having the content, were unable to answer correctly.  The problem did not mention the word triangle or right angle; it showed a ladder leaning on a house.  Students had to make inferences, apply and adapt in order to answer the question. The majority could not.

There were also many examples of students not being able to make inferences in their reading.  They were unable to get the main idea of a reading passage or make inferences about the mood or character.  One example found that a majority of students mistakenly eliminated the choice “c. Essay” as the type of writing on an essay about color blindness because it was not 5 paragraphs!  Yikes. 

So how do we improve our teaching?

 Can we improve our teaching by improving our assessments?  Does increasing the rigor of student work help them improve by giving students the opportunity to face rigor more often?  I just saw this tweet from Esther Wojcicki @EsterWojcicki “Life is a series of projects, not a series of multiple choice tests.  We should train students for life.”  Providing projects that require students to apply, adapt, argue and justify is a great start.  Wiggins recommends that we give students new reading passages frequently and have them practice strategic thinking.  What was the author’s purpose?  Point of view?  Ask questions that require an argument and justification. 

I know a number of teachers that use the SCAN tool at TregoED to help get students comfortable in reading and understanding complex situations.  The tool provides great reading passages on all sorts of relevant and authentic situations.  A great way to get students to practice strategic thinking, with the SCAN critical thinking strategy built right in.  Newspapers and magazines are also a great source of reading passages.  Do you have a great resource for complex reading passages that you can share?

Can All Kids Learn to Think Critically?

There is no doubt in my mind that there is a special place for all teachers who adapt class activities so that their students can achieve and learn about complex topics.  I am not talking about dumbing down the work, or giving them the answers so they can pass the test, but actually adapting content or delivery, not to lower the bar, but to raise the bar.

Raising the bar goes both ways

There was an interesting discussion on the AASA discussion group on linkedin….”We talk about raising the bar for kids, do you do the same for your staff?” linked to the TregoED leadership blog.   A lot of the points brought out in this blog on staff performance also apply to our students.  Are we creating an environment of support?  Are our expectations clear?  What feedback do we give them?  The blog stated that in the workplace “Only 15% of the time is the problem (poor performance) due to an individual not having the skills, knowledge or capacity to do the job.”  Could that percentage also be applied to the students in our classrooms?

All children can think critically

I do a lot of workshops for middle and high school teachers, there is always an elementary teacher who sneaks in and asks if I think that her kids can use SCAN (a critical thinking strategy embedded in an online tool at TregoED) or other internet tools.  I have to say, if there is a will there is a way!  Many of these teachers take the time to build an environment of support and do amazing critical thinking activities with their students by altering the content, delivery and assessments.  I have written about some of their work in past blogs – The students who did a SCAN session on graffiti in her 5^th grade class, the NYC 4^th and 5^th graders who wrote PSA’s on child labor, or the special ED class in NC that did a full Situation Appraisal on bullying. 

Ask the right questions

Each of those groups tackled very complex topics by looking at the different perspectives that could be viewed on the topic and the particular issues that each point of view might be concerned with.  Being able to identify, explore and appreciate different perspectives is a great way to get kids thinking critically.  They can do it, you just have to ask them the right questions!

One size fits all

Douglass Green asked in the AASA discussion, if the bar was “one size fits all” – suggesting that it should not be for either staff or students (acknowledging of course that high stakes testing is in fact “one size fits all.”)  Does raising the bar mean everyone has to reach the same height? How do you ask your students to stretch their thinking?  

Simple Reading Sparks Critical Thinking

I love when all the Cat in the Hat hats come out for Read Across America!  I find myself reciting those Dr. Seuss books….”One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish, this one has a little star, this one has a little car, my what a lot of fish there are!”  “I do not like them Sam I am, I do not like green eggs and ham.”  Funny how those words stick in my brain, while so many others seem to just bounce off!  Dr. Seuss wrote great books to help get kids reading AND they often had a message to get kids thinking.  Why not use those books as a springboard for some great critical thinking?

Here are some resources and ideas:

Developing Questions

As usual, Read,Write Think.org has a great 4 day lesson, Seuss and Silverstein:  Posing Questions, Presenting Points, which has students developing their own critical thinking questions and leading class discussion on stories from those authors.   They point out that simple books from Dr. Seuss may address complex themes.

Teaching Philosophy

In my never ending quest not to re-invent the wheel, I found some great philosophical questions about the nature of pride and the nature of compromise for “The Zax”, in this wiki about teaching children philosophy.  There are also some critical thinking discussion questions for “The Sneetches”, about   the nature of prejudice and the nature of differences.   Seussville.com includes some great critical thinking questions based on The Lorax which deals with environmental issues.

Writing with Deeper Meanings

Older students might like to take a look at “The Political Dr. Seuss” to see how he started his career in political cartoons and wrote most of his books with a political agenda.  From there  they can pick a political issue and sketch out a children’s story that would illustrate that issue.  They might also find interesting (I did) “10 Stories behind Dr. Seuss Stories” – Did you know that the story “Yertle the Tertle” was about Hitler and that it was controversial, not because of the Hitler connection, but because the turtle burped in the story!  Or that Green Eggs and Ham was written with just fifty words?  Sounds like a great challenge to give any student! (You might want to have them look at some of these 6 Word Stories or have them write their own!

Simple stories can have complex meanings, stimulate critical thinking and be used as reading and writing springboards.  

Do you use simple stories in your classroom?  Please share!

The Changing Face of PD: Edcamps and The Art of Good Conversation

In just a few short days I will be attending my very first Edcamp!  I have been lucky to have had the opportunity to participate as a lifelong learner and presenter in some great professional development activities over the years ranging from one-on-one to global connections, face to face to webinars, real time to asychronous.  Free and cheap global conference rooms like Google hangouts, twitter and other social networks are changing the face of professional development, moving us from presentations to conversations.

Edcamps are part of that movement.  The role of presenter has changed to one of facilitator as you can see by two of these Edcamp 101 Guidelines shared by Damian Bariexca one of Edcampnj’s primary organizers.

• You Are Not The Expert - And that's okay!  The point of this experience is not to be another "sit and git" PD experience.  It is an opportunity for educators to come together, discuss, ask questions, brainstorm, and problem solve.  Your role is not necessarily to have all the answers, but rather to facilitate discussion.  The idea is to draw upon the collective wisdom of the group as much as possible.
• Talk About What You Know - As a facilitator, you may wish to bring in 2-3 central questions of overarching importance to your topic.  You may also wish to share personal success (and failure) stories with the group, and elicit similar stories from them.

The Questions are Key!

Just like in the classroom, in order to have a high quality conversation, you need to ask the right questions.  In the book Academic Conversations by Jeff Zwiers and Marie Crawford, there are lots of great ways to use classroom conversations to foster critical thinking.  As the authors state, “When two or more people converse, their ideas mix and interact to create new knowledge.”  Conversations help students (and here we are all students) to develop their own thoughts and create a synergy of learning.  

So what should those questions be?

According to the authors, there are 5 Core Skills of Academic Conversations:

·         Elaborate and clarify- What do you mean by…?  Can you tell me more about….?

I wonder if….?  How does that connect to….?

·         Support ideas with examples:  Can you give us an example from the classroom?  Example from the real world?  Example from your life?

·         Build on and/or challenge a person’s ideas – What might be other points of view?  Do you agree?

·         Paraphrase – What do we know so far?  What is your opinion on what has been said?     

·         Synthesize conversation points- What main points can we share?  What key idea can we take away?

Armed with these questions, I am all set to share my experiences of using online conversations to foster critical thinking.  Do you have other techniques, questions or suggestions to get the conversation started and keep it going?

Zwiers, J., and M. Crawford. 2011. Academic Conversations-Classroom Talk that Fosters Critical Thinking and Content Understandings.  Maine:  Stenhouse Publishers.