Standards Based Learning and The Inchworm

[Scott Habeeb]

At today's faculty meeting, SHS Math Teacher, Pawel Nazarewicz, used an inchworm analogy to explain how he looks at Standards Based Learning in his classroom.

Discuss his analogy with those at your table and leave a reply in the comment box below describing how you see this analogy applying to your classroom.

[Rachel Ann Pinkham Sailer]

Very impressive.  I love the metaphor.  Rehearsing is all about looping.  Review a scene, stop to fix problems.  Give notes. Rehearse again, add a step such as memorization.  Documenting this is a problem for me.  It's pretty subjective.  Student A wasn't loud enough and now he is.  Student B didn't understand the dynamics of the scene and now she does.  

[Rick Marciniec]

Great analogy!  By continually reinforcing the 'back end', reviewing for cumulative assessments such as SOLs becomes less overwhelming for students as most topics are still somewhat fresh at all times.

[Bridget Nelson]

This can be easily applied to students that we work with that require multiple "trials" to demonstrate mastery of a task.  With students having various IEP goals and working on different tasks for each class, this can be easily adapted in a functional way to track progress for each student's individual needs.  

[Susan Gardner]

In our classes, we are constantly looping or recycling standards/information.  We are also reassessing after feedback. 

[Wes Warner]

Since I don't currently have a graded class, it is difficult for me to apply.  However,  as parents become more educated and aware of their student's progress and struggles academically (parent portal, etc.), having a data such as the jump rope print out seems very valuable.  I am curious whether this could also be a tool for measuring data in SPED, specifically to track behavior data, on task behaviors, completion rates, attempts, etc.

[Laura O'Dell]

From Kevin Garst, Susan Price, Michelle Kovac, and Laura O'Dell:

As CTE teachers, we are planning to use a site called Cando this spring to document our student's progress on our competency records. This site is similar to JumpRope but allows us to handle our multiple preps and 100+ competencies for each class. 

We also discussed the time constraints involved with implementing feedback and reassessment on each individual competency. For instance, in our semester long Personal Finance course we have 90 days to teach 132 competencies. We are teaching multiple standards each day. For us, this feat seems overwhelming! 

[Wes Lester]

Our current tools don't meet our goals.  Jumprope is complicated to setup and use but in the end reports nicely

[Patricia Pope]

We think this was a good presentation.  It demystifies some aspects of Standard Based Learning.  Some of us don't think this is different from what we've been doing for years.  This made more sense of how a final grade was achieved. Particularly, IB has the rubrics that we apply.  Jump Rope seemed like a good tool, but for those who decide to use that tool. We discussed that Moodle and Quia are tools that are similar.  Patty,Gibby, Fred, Ashley, Grant

[Robin Tamagni]

• Going back and hitting weaker topics and then reassessing for growth.
• Using data from assessments to help pick areas of weakness to use to guide and enhance instruction as individual class basis.
• Using formative assessments to see where looping of topics should focus.
• All areas of SOLS should be looped throughout the year to enhance growth and mastery levels of standards/
• We don't think that looping should only happen for weak areas, but also for areas that build upon one another later on in another standard or subject.

Robin, Jenn, & Hannah :)

[Mary Norris]

This does not answer the question, but we think that the hardest part of SBG is deciding what our standards would be. It is hard to find the balance between too general and too specific.

[Justin Halterman]

Submitted for Thad, Amy, Matt, Robyn, Justin, Sarah, and Alaina

     We generally like Paul's comparison to the inch-worm, with focusing on new knowledge (front end growth) along with old knowledge (back end growth).  Nice job.

[Andrea Fulcher]

I love the feedback on student strengths and weaknesses that Jump Rope can provide. As we are constantly looping and recycling information into our assessments and lessons in World Language, I am interested in learning how it might work in our classes.