One of the key ideas identified in our study with the Girard and Pollinate Foundations, was the idea of the coverage teaching model versus the performance teaching model. In the coverage model a student is presented with material that addresses the objectives. However, there is often a lack of precisely identified outcomes designed to demonstrate a student’s true mastery of the objectives and a truly coherent structure (goal) to the course. Movies and lectures provide valuable content, yet the high-level thinking that is necessary in a competitive global environment is largely ignored. In a similar fashion, role-playing, debates, and projects while offering more promise, often miss their intended mark. This typical planning, while well intentioned, rarely achieves meaningful success in student performance.

In contrast, the performance model focuses on identifying specific evidence of mastery. These specific outcomes are carefully chosen to demonstrate the student’s understanding of the major concepts. Once identified, the outcomes are clearly described in great detail and the means of measurement are constructed. The emphasis is upon the overall course connection rather than individual assignments. To ensure the necessary level of mastery, student assignments are designed to address these major outcomes. With clearly identified expectations, the instructor receives powerful information regarding a student’s achievement. The data created by the student, in these meaningful activities, establishes compelling evidence as to the best course of actions. When this data is combined with specific strategies to aid a student in improving their performance, a powerful systematic learning model is created.

While many of the tools used are the same in both methods, there are two key components lacking in the coverage model. The first is the ability to meaningfully apply data to shape learning outcomes. The second are clearly defined outcomes. These outcomes are necessary to develop the the data necessary for designing the best, next step for a particular student. The coverage model can often be described as an express train with no stops between destinations. Lacking an opportunity for the student to understand the material and improve their mastery.

If the term mastery seems familiar it should. Programs that exhibit the greatest success focus upon mastery. Holding students accountable to outcomes that are well documented provides a clear goal for the students, in addition to the instructor. This presumes that a student’s performance is used to prescribe a specific course of action when the desired goal is not met. Mastery, not the school year dictates a student’s progression.

Despite its unassumingly simple nature, mastery poses a major problem for most learning programs. Mastery simply doesn’t lend itself to the current educational model. School day schedules, support programs, and the necessary time for teacher planning often provide significant barriers to mastery of objectives. By their very nature, these barriers steer most instruction toward the coverage model.

A tool that many exceptional programs have found successful is Understanding by Design, by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. Understanding by Design provides an easy to implement system for course design. Through its clear identification of big ideas and essential questions it provides a potent framework for the identification of desired outcomes. These outcomes are addressed through the thoughtful creation of supporting activities. Such activities are constructed to achieve not only the specific lesson objectives but also the course objectives. This framework lends itself to differentiation and a personalized learning experience.

Constructing a course based upon Understanding by Design should not be taken lightly. The time commitment and the effort required to design activities that clearly aid learners in achieving a specific learning outcome are significant. Expect to spend 30-50 hours on each course. However, any short term pain is well worth the effort. The time invested up-front in designing a course in this manner will provide significant dividends in course management and learner feedback. In addition it will help you implement the next tool in our discussion of Revolutionizing Education.

Effective reflection should involve four steps: Assessment, probing deeper/looking for meaning, planning and review. The act of reflection becomes tremendously powerful when we couple it with the discipline of taking action and checking for results. We will look at each of these steps and offer a set of simple tools to help you improve your reflection practices.

Now, while the memories are hopefully clearer, is the perfect time for you to conduct intentional reflection on this past school year’s performance.  These questions should provide a systematic questioning or assessment of your performance in several key areas. To give you a starting point, four key areas have been pinpointed and several questions to ask yourself are provided. As you answer these questions, be sure to record your observations in a special notebook or computer file for later reference. If you have questions that you feel will serve you better, feel free to replace the ones provided  with your own.  What’s vital is that you answer the questions honestly and as fully as possible.

1. The Big Picture (school year as a whole).
   • What is my overall view on the school year?
   • In what situations did I or did I not really succeeded this year?
   • Have I been more tired  or spread thinner than in the past?
   • Does this fit with my personal mission?
2. Planning/Instruction
   • How was the pacing?
   • What lessons seemed less effective this year than in the past?
   • Am I teaching a specific lesson out of laziness?
   • Are there any students that I am under-serving or having difficulty reaching?
   • How can I make my classroom better serve my students?
3. Relationships
   • How are my relationships with the administration, fellow teachers, students and parents?
   • What could I do to improve these?
   • In what ways could I experience growth in my relationships?
4. Professional Development
   • What would I like to learn to improve as a teacher?
   • What do I need to commit to learn in order to stay relevant?
   • What additional actions could I take to meet my personal mission?

Step two, consists of studying your responses and performing a deeper analysis of these responses. This is done with the intent of finding shared commonalities or previously unidentified connections. In the process of reflection, it’s quite common to identify the surface symptom rather than the less visible core cause. By digging a little deeper, this misdirection can be significantly reduced and allowing for the crafting of solutions that will be more effective. Several questions that will help in this process are provided below.

• How are these successes/problems connected?
• Could this be a result of classroom management?
• Is this connected to scheduling or planning?
• Is this a result of teaching methods?
• Could this be caused by my limited knowledge of a subject?
• Is this a failure of technology?

Following the deeper analysis, it’s time to create a plan of action. With the core causes identified, rank the identified solutions in order of importance. It may help to separate these into three categories based upon urgency. Those needing a short-term response (one month or less), longer-term  attention (greater than one month), and those of questionable importance. From these groups, pick the actions to which you are most committed and determine the logical time necessary for their accomplishment. Use a calendar and set a target date for completion of these actions. Hint: Make sure that you set clearly definable actions as your objectives (i.e. Read The Elegant Universe by August 1^st or create a good writing habits poster by July 17^th). Furthermore, it is very important to select reasonable completion dates.

The fourth and final component of effective reflection is to review your progress. Often goals and deadlines are set but there is no follow-up to see if they were achieved. To minimize this, pick at least one day each month and set half an hour aside to review your progress (try and make it the same day every month). Goals that are met may be crossed off the list, while those that haven’t been achieved will need a little more attention. As you examine these, see if you still believe in their importance. If you still feel that they are vital, go ahead and revise your process or completion date in the manner that makes the greatest sense. Those that no longer maintain relevancy can be dropped. Reviewing your progress on goals not only brings great satisfaction from seeing the progress, it will make you a better educator.

So take an hour or so and put these tools to use before you find yourself saying, “I can’t believe I let another year go by without really reflecting.” There’s no better time than today to reflect on your past year and begin crafting the future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV5j_OIKPp4

Take a look at this excerpt of his 2006 talk. If you want the full version, you will find it here.

How does technology impact our students creativity? In what ways might it be holding them back? We look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments…