Draw-Label-Caption This activity, where students draw and label a key scene in a text, works well as a pre-writing activity, and also as a reading comprehension activity. It helps students to develop a detailed visualization of a setting, and to attach words to the...
In this activity students will preview a text and develop questions they think might be answered in the text. They will then see if the text answers their questions. The purpose of this activity is for students to anticipate what they will read and to generate...
QAR This activity helps students to structure the asking of different types of questions about a text. “QAR” stands for “Question-Answer Relationship,” and it is a way of conceptualizing the different types of questions students may ask about a text. CONTENT AREA ELA,...
Town Hall Circle In this activity, adapted from Facing History and Ourselves, students will participate in a structured discussion. The purpose of the town hall circle is to provide a space for students to share different perspectives. The activity can work with any...
Save the Last Word In this activity, adapted from Short, Harste, & Burke’s Creating Classrooms for Authors and Inquirers (1996), students will read a text and select five statements that they think are important to discuss. On index cards, the students will write...
The Melrose High School team identified 3 anchor questions: How can assessments best serve student learning? What do we want our students to leave with? How can students drive and discuss their learning? Guided by these, they developed an integrated approach to 21st century grading that fosters equity by: (1) Supporting students’ Habits of Learning, across the academic program (2) Increasing accuracy and transparency in grading; (3) Developing new policies for Retaking and Revising Assessments, and establishing a minimum grade of 50%; (4) Proactively communicating; (5) Explicitly nurturing student voice; and (6) Adopting universal design principles for efficient assessment-building within a flexible environment.
Revere High School
Revere High School identified three “rethinking” arenas: 1) Clarify what it means for students to be proficient; 2) Ensure alignment with standards and other frameworks; 3) Develop consistent practices for grade calculations, the use of rubrics, and grade reporting. The pilot team collaborated to design a prototype for a common grading table, category weights connected to power standards, and a plan to develop assessments tied to those standards-based learning targets. This approach sharpens the focus on student proficiency, takes gradebook construction out of the hands of teachers and considers every step of “the what” in a more comprehensive way.
Revere High School, Part 2 – Developing a Culture of Competency: 72% of the students who attend Revere High School are learning English. A number of them have struggled to pass the MCAS (state’ graduation exam), and have also experienced course failure. As an extension of their #RethinkingGrading efforts, the District is designing a customized and personalized graduation pathway, guided by a Profile of a Graduate. To ensure teachers can effectively support students, the district is partnering with reDesign to develop and facilitate professional learning experiences and modularized courses: a commitment to developing a culture of competency for both young people and the adults who serve them.
South Shore Tech
South Shore took a professional learning community approach to refining and implementing a range of school-wide shifts, designed to make grading more fair, accurate, and helpful.The Fellow designated to lead this project served in an administrator role, and helped the school community coalesce around four areas for change: 1) developing a competency-based grade scale, 2) directly linking all assignments and grades to standards; 3) instituting a universal late work policy; and 4) implementing a revision policy focused on relearning. Background knowledge-building, feasibility discussions that incorporated community input, and formalizing a plan for change were all part of the journey, with the recognition that the school would adjust the plan along the way. In Year 2, communication, transparency with all stakeholders, and continued education have been essential, as well as continued solicitation of feedback as assessments were developed that aligned with the rollout of the new grade scale. Ultimately, South Shore is not only rethinking grading – the school is also rethinking work habits, remediation, assessments, instruction, and curriculum.
