Craft Category: Artifacts

Teacher Discusses Groupings in Literacy at Roots

Roots teacher, Samantha Gambino, shares how she uses literacy assessment data to inform small group creation and instruction.

Samantha-Gambino.jpg#asset:778

Transcript: Samantha Gambino: for me in particular, reading, everyone gets pulled into a small group because literacy, we try to target in everybody’s instruction since it’s such a huge like, part of what you do at school. But based on their skill level and where they are is where I realize who I need to pull. So, if you’re working on rhyming, I go through your data based on your STEP test, which is the overarching test. And I say, okay, you didn’t pass the rhyming part. These four other scholars didn’t pass that part either. Let’s do a small group poll so that I can get all five of you working together on this one skill. So it’s – more so, it’s kind of like taking what we know from our assessments and our informal data, and we put it all together and we say okay, these scholars are having this one thing that they’re missing. Let’s pull them in a group and sort of like, tweak it there into smaller groups. [Interviewer: And it looked like there was some heterogeneous grouping as well?] Yeah, so our whole groups are more based on like, more so like, is everyone able to read in that group? If not, then maybe you should be in a different group. So it’s a lot more so like, our groups, A, B, C, and D is what we have right now. C and D are like, first grade groups, mostly. Those are scholars who have the skillsets to do a lot of first grade work. We do have some kindergartners who are in there, too, because they’ve already passed all of those skills. A and B are mostly our kindergartners right now. Those are scholars who are – they are working on just the kindergarten skills, and we have a couple of first graders who are down there, just based on things that. they need to lift them up to that next like, grade level and things like that.

August 9, 2016

Teacher Discusses Flexibility in Groupings at Roots

Roots teacher, Lecksy Wolk, shares how small group composition is influenced both by academic and behavioral needs.

Lecksy-Wolk.jpg#asset:775

Transcript: Lecksy Wolk: it’s interesting because they’re very – they’re not static. We made a change yesterday based on a behavioral need, right? So although we tend to have like, D is quote-unquote our highest group, and A is quote-unquote our lowest group, like, friends that need extra help and friends that are above average, right? And, not above average. I guess that’s the wrong word. But like, just in terms of ability. But, we also separate based on behavioral needs – so like, grouping scholars, it’s like okay, so these three boys, when they’re in the same classroom, tend to escalate each other, and that’s a concern for everyone. Not only their learning ability but everyone’s learning ability. So we might move one up or one down. And then we also change pretty drastically after every testing cycle, just about, and we – usually one content teacher will get to choose. So, we’ll say, writing, you’re gonna separate our groups for D-B-C-A. And then everyone will kind of jump in and like, make adjustments. But that’s pretty much it.

August 9, 2016

Teacher Discusses Small Group Instruction at Roots

Roots teacher, Lecksy Wolk, explains the scheduling and sizing of small groups.

Lecksy-Wolk.jpg#asset:775

Transcript: Lecksy Wolk: But the other part of the day, for me, is small groups. So, I – I’m scheduled groups of kids based on very specific needs, based on data that I’ve collected on them in the past testing ground, or anecdotal throughout the day. I can pull groups with them. … So, it’s 15 minutes – is the length – the smallest group of time, and we have – so, a flex block is – sorry, 45 minutes. And, I have three small groups within that at 15 minutes. And kids between – I say my average group is probably like three kids. I’d say my smallest group is two; my biggest group is eight. But most of my groups are three or four.

August 9, 2016

Roots Executive Director Provides Overview of Different Groupings at Roots

Roots ED and Founder, Jonathan Hanover, discusses how the team uses homogeneous and heterogeneous grouping structures to support student learning.

Jon-Hanover.jpg#asset:774

Transcript: Jon Hanover: Throughout the day, we kind of strike a balance by having different parts of our instructional day be homogeneous or heterogeneous, and also think about what kind of heterogeneity makes sense for those parts of the day. So, our small groups, for instance, are completely homogeneous. It’s these seven kids need to work on exactly this skill to get to the next level. These seven kids are going to be pulled for longer, and working on that skill. Self-directed work time is completely heterogeneous by design so that you have your kind of low readers sitting next to a high reader, and can kind of get exposed to what that looks like and what that feels like, or someone who’s low in science and someone who’s high in science working together on a project in the maker’s space, right? And then, our – for our kind of whole group instruction within each content, that’s where we do what we call bounded heterogeneity where each group is – the groups are leveled where one group is higher than another, which is higher than another – on average. But, we build in heterogeneity within those groups, so they’re kind of overlapping. Because that’s where we do – you know, group problem solving in math, or Socratic seminars in reading where you want to have a diversity of perspective and preparation, but not random heterogeneity where you have kids really far in kind of differing universes for that content.

August 9, 2016

Roots Sample Math Benchmark Assessment

Roots uses benchmark assessments to find baselines for measuring each student’s progress.

August 9, 2016

Roots Executive Director Discusses Benefits of Periodic Benchmark Assessments at Roots

Roots ED and Founder, Jonathan Hanover, discusses how the team uses leveled competency-based assessments across every content area to assess growth and learning trajectories.

Jon-Hanover.jpg#asset:774

Transcript: Jon Hanover: roughly every six to eight weeks, we deliver competency-based assessments in every content area. Core content area, at least. Reading, writing, math, and science. And what that looks like is – it’s kind of what leveled reading assessments look like that are more commonly used but we do it across content areas. So, when scholars start, they take the level one test. If they pass the level one test, they take the level two test. If they pass the level two test, they take the level three test. And so, we know in every content area, exactly where along their developmental trajectory they are – you know, what they’ve learned, what they haven’t learned yet, and what their next steps are for instruction. Whether they’re five years old, six years old, or seven years old. If you are a level two, and the thing that kept you from passing a level three was better understanding character motivation, then you’ll be getting instruction on how to better understand character motivation.

August 9, 2016

Roots Executive Director Discussing the Benefit of Defaulting to Playlists

Roots ED and Founder, Jonathan Hanover, discusses the benefit of a norm of defaulting to their independent learning tasks if not scheduled directly with a teacher during a learning block.

Jon-Hanover.jpg#asset:774

Transcript: Jon Hanover: some of the early pioneers in personalized learning struggled with the, just like, how do you just like, reconcile everybody’s schedule on a nightly basis, right? So this basically just says if there’s something on my calendar, show me that, ’cause a teacher has scheduled me for a lesson, and I need to go to it. If there’s nothing on my calendar, show me whatever’s next up on my playlist of self-directed work and I’ll engage in that.

August 9, 2016

Brain Rules

Brain Rules is a book by scientist John Medina.

August 9, 2016

Roots Executive Director Discussing How Much Time Students Spend on Online Programs

Roots ED and Founder, Jonathan Hanover, discusses how the school thinks about time spent online for learning (currently roughly 25% of the day).

Jon-Hanover.jpg#asset:774

Transcript: Jon Hanover: the 25-percent is by no means a magic number; it’s kind of a – that’s really driven by where we see the quality of digital content out there and kind of what mix makes sense for an individual. And it varies by scholar, right? There’s some kinds who, just like ST math is their jam and like they’re just cruising through it and really deeply retaining the information, and so they might spend, you know, as much as 35 or 40-percent of their time on digital learning. There’s other kids who like physical manipulatives really make a big difference, they want to be able to like physically write in a portfolio, and get more out of that experience, and they might be spending 10 to 15-percent of their time on digital apps – on digital learning. So it varies by scholar, and I think as I would expect over the coming years, as the market for digital curriculum improves, that number will probably go up as there’s more kind of high-quality instructional experiences available online.

August 9, 2016

Teacher Discusses Priorities for Monitoring Independent Learning Time at Roots

Roots teacher, Mackenzie Wagner, discusses the “ladder of priorities” for monitoring and supporting students during independent learning time.

Mackenzie-Wagner.jpg#asset:776

Transcript: Mackenzie Wagner: every flex center has a monitor for that center, and they have pretty much a ladder of priorities. First and foremost, making sure that everybody’s where they need to be, because our kids are doing everything based off technology; they get confused, they go to the wrong station. After that, they’re circulating to make sure everybody’s on task. And then third, they are actually checking in with scholars, making sure that they’re engaging in the work the way they’re supposed to be. In the writing center, that looks like checking in, looking at a scholar’s work quickly to see if they have extra capitals in their sentences, for example. In the flex center, that might look like making sure a scholar is actively engaged with the game they’re doing, and that they understand how to play it. Because, as I’m sure you’d understand, like, if a scholar doesn’t understand what they are doing at that point in time, then that time becomes useless. So, it’s pretty important not to make sure they’re just like, in their spot, but that they understand what they’re supposed to be doing in there, because the self-directed work time can be used so valuably. Or, it could fall apart if it’s not being monitored appropriately. So, it’s something we’ve been working on a lot, is making sure that we’ve got the right process there for making sure students are on-task.

August 9, 2016