Blogs

As this site has grown, so has the number of sports and coaching analogies.  It seems that one way to communicate excellence in the classroom is to compare it to excellence on the field or court.  As sports-related posts/discussions/resources are added to The Assessment Network, links to them will be added to this blog, making it a one stop shop for all AFL-related sports references.

 Videos:

• Michael Jordan Nike Commercial - the importance of failure
• Allen Iverson - talking 'bout PRACTICE
• I Want to be the Starting Tailback... - preventing grading practices from messing up AFL
• Spurs Players Coach Themselves - example of differentiation resulting from meaningful assessment

Pictures

• Standards Based Feedback and All-Star Voting

Blogs:

• Fantasy Football and the Problem with Averaging
• Dean Smith, the Tarheels, and AFL in Action
• An AFL Lesson from Bayern Munich Football Club - keep drilling basic skills
• Good Teaching is a Lot Like Coaching a Mule - the importance of the basics
• Kevin Durant Teaches Us About AFL - using feedback to focus on improvement
• Of Batting Averages, Grading, and MVP Seasons - the problem with averaging
• Coaching in the Classroom - comparing good teaching to good coaching
• A Sports Analogy for Assessment - comparing formative assessment to practice and summative to games
• Why is Allen Iverson on Assessment FOR Learning? - explanation of Allen Iverson Practice video
• Assessment FOR Learning on the Football Field - success on the field happens for the same reasons as success in the classroom
• Applying AFL to a PE Class - comparing weight lifting and AFL

Good Teaching is a Lot Like Coaching a Mule!

If you’re reading this and are from Salem, VA you might have a clue what that statement means.  If you’re not from Salem you’re probably wondering what the heck I’m talking about.

A little background: High school football is a pretty big deal in Salem, just like it is in so many small towns across our country.  But in Salem, Virginia, football might be a slightly bigger deal than in most towns.  The Salem Spartans have had great success on the football field for many years.  In the past 26 years, they’ve won 17 district, 13 region, and 6 state championships.  There have been many reasons for that success, but one consistent throughout all those successful years has been the tough blue-collar play of the offensive line.  And that offensive line is collectively known as The Mules.

From 2000-2004, I had the privilege of being a coach in Salem’s football program.  I was at the bottom of the totem pole – middle school assistant coach – but it was tons of fun to work with the kids and to learn from the amazing coaches in the system.  Willis White, the Virginia High School League Hall of Famer, was the head coach for the high school team.  He liked to remind me that he had “holes in his underwear older than me.”  A buddy I coached with once told me that Larry Bradley, the head coach of our middle school team, had forgotten more football than I’d ever know.  There were so many excellent coaches in the program, but the one I learned the most from was Billy Miles, the coach of The Mules.

As a former high school offensive lineman who had already coached a middle school offensive line at another school, I thought I had a pretty good grasp of what it took to be a successful offensive line coach.  When I was hired to coach for Salem, I sat down with Coach Miles so that he could teach me how to coach Mules.  As I came to appreciate the way The Mules were coached, I also came to realize that I had a lot to learn! 

The Mules were taught higher level thinking.  They learned rules and philosophies which they then applied to the thousands of different situations they might encounter.  They made calls, did combo blocks, read the defense, talked to one another, and changed their plans and assignments all within a matter of seconds depending on how the defense was lined up.  Their ability to apply their knowledge was evident on Friday nights (and Saturdays in the playoffs) as game after game the Spartans were able to pound the ball behind The Mules and right down the opponent’s throat.  Coach Miles was a phenomenal coach and an even better teacher.  I had a never been around a high school offensive line that operated on that cerebral a level. 

As Coach Miles taught me how to play like a Mule – a prerequisite to being able to coach Mules – I’m sure he could see that I was getting excited.  I couldn’t wait to take all that I was learning and share it with the Mules of the future at our middle school.  It was then that Coach Miles reminded me of something: Before I could get my players to this high level of play, I had to make sure they mastered the basics. 

Coach Miles told me to stay away from teaching them how to read the defense and make calls until they could first get in a stance and could make the appropriate first step.  And he told me that I needed to refresh the basics with my players every single day. 

So that’s what we did.  We practiced getting into a three point stance.  We did it over and over again until they had mastered it.  Then we did it some more.  We got into three-point stances and took our first steps until they could do it in their sleep.  Then we did that some more.  As the season went on, we practiced the basics a little less than we did earlier in the year.  After all, I needed to teach my guys how to apply their knowledge to game situations, and that takes time.  But there wasn’t a single practice where we didn’t focus at least a little bit on the basics.

Occasionally I would go up to the varsity practice field to watch Coach Miles and his Mules.  Man, did they work hard!  If you think Marine Corps drill sergeants are tough, you must never have watched Coach Miles!  He made the Marine Corps look like Sunday School!  But Coach Miles loved his Mules and they respected him.  It was a joy to watch them put into practice all he had taught them. 

But even The Mules practiced the basics every day.  That’s right – The Mules, who could read a defense and adjust their blocking schemes in a matter of seconds, still practiced getting in their stance and taking the correct first step every single day. 

Coach Miles never assumed they were beyond the basics.  Therefore, there was no way they would ever forget the basics.  You really can’t become a cohesive and dominant offensive line if you don’t have the basics down.  I suppose Coach Miles could have skipped the basics and assumed that as a varsity coach he was above that.  I suppose when a player messed up the basics he could have bemoaned the woeful and inadequate coaching the players received at the middle school level.  But instead, Coach Miles recognized that without the basics his team would never get to the higher level.  Instead, he took the responsibility on himself to make sure his players had the skills they needed.

See how this applies to teaching? 

Great teaching is just like coaching The Mules.  The goal is higher level thinking.  The goal is to take what has been learned and then apply it to new situations.  But it all starts with the basics.  Students newer to the content (like my middle school linemen) need more time focusing on the basics, but ALL STUDENTS need to continually refresh the basics if they’re going to truly reach mastery.  Students more familiar with the content might not need as much time refreshing the basics, but they still need to revisit them to some degree on a regular basis.

I think sometimes we educators overlook the importance of the basics.  We feel like we have too much to cover to spend time going over the basics.  For example, an Algebra 2 teacher might not feel like he should have to focus on addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and using fractions.  A US History teacher might not feel like she has time to focus on vocabulary not directly related to her state standards.  A Science teacher might not feel as though she should have to routinely revisit proper lab procedures.  And these teachers would be (in my opinion) incorrect.

I routinely hear teachers point out that a lack of basic skills prevents students from mastering their course content.  I think those teachers are correct.  Students often lack the basics which in turn prevents higher level mastery.  My response, though, is to copy Coach Miles.  If the basics are what are preventing students from having success, then focus on the basics.  Perhaps part of the reason students are lacking the basics is that we have a tendency to assume they should have been learned already and as a result move away from them.

Consider your own content area for a moment.  Would your students have more success if they had a better level of mastery of the basics?  Would you have a greater chance of helping them reach higher levels of application if they knew the basics better?  If the answer to either or both question was “yes” then the only acceptable next step (assuming you want your students to have success and to reach higher levels of application) is to figure out how to work regular reviews of the basics into the fabric of your classroom.

This is how you coach The Mules, and this is how you teach students.

There's no other way to put it...  This is good stuff!

As schools and teachers adopt the philosophies of Assessment FOR Learning, it's only natural that grading practices will begin to change. (Click here for more info on grading as it relates to AFL.)  We need to realize that some of those changes will seem strange to some of the parents of our students.  It's important that we can articulate why we make the grading decisions we do.

Rick Wormeli has composed an excellent and thoughtful response to concerns a parent had about grading practices that reflect the philosophy of AFL and Standards Based Grading.  This response is recommended reading for all teachers. Not only will it prepare you to respond to people in your community who might question your practices, it might also help you explain to colleagues who are confused by such practices as well.

Click on the following link to read Rick's response: http://www.adams12.org/files/learning_services/Wormeli_Response.pdf

Educators steal from one another all the time.  It's how we get better.  

The following post is stolen from Matt Townsley (@mctownsley) and his MeTA Musings Blog - a great resource for AFL and Standards Based Grading ideas.  You can read the article in its entirety at: http://mctownsley.blogspot.com/2013/04/sbg-is-more-than-teach-test-reassess.html

In working with educators around the country I have found that most seem to cognitively grasp the concepts of Assessment FOR Learning.  However, many have difficulty putting those concepts into practice.  I think this often happens as a result of not planning with AFL in mind from the get go.  Sometimes educators will teach as they have always taught and then try to attach AFL principles after the fact.  To be most effective, AFL should be embedded into the lesson from the beginning.  For some folks that might mean starting over from scratch.  For others that might mean a few tweaks.  But it must be intentional.

The following post that I copied from MeTA Musings gives an example of how not to practice AFL.  Mr. Jones tries to apply AFL after the fact to this Math classroom.  It then gives an example of how a lesson or unit might look if AFL is there from the start.  This image (https://salemafl.ning.com/photo/sbgflowchart) goes along with the example below.

I'd love to hear any feedback you might have.

Here's an example of how SBG should not work in a middle school math class:

Mr. Jones teaches the area of a triangle on Monday and assigns some practice problems to complete in and outside of class.  Some of the students complete all of the practice problems.  Some of them do not. All students are provided the answers ahead of time on the board.  Mr. Jones teaches the area of a circle on Tuesday and assigns some practice problems to complete in and outside of class.  Again, students are provided the answers to the practice problems ahead of time.  Some of the students complete the practice problems and some do not.  On Wednesday, Mr. Jones gives all students a quiz on these two standards.  After Mr. Jones looks at the quizzes, he sees that about half of the class still doesn't understand how to find the area of a triangle or the area of a circle.  He thinks to himself, "Well, I'm really glad we have standards-based grading, because these students can reassess."  The next day, he hands back the quiz and tells students what they need to do before they can participate in a reassessment.  When only a few students show up for a reassessment opportunity during the next week, Mr. Jones becomes flustered and wonders why students aren't taking advantage of reassessments.

When I look at the visual above and think about Mr. Jones' SBG practices, I believe he's missing the "classroom feedback and informal assessment" part of the flowchart.  Mr. Jones appears to think standards-based grading is merely teaching, testing and offering reassessment opportunities. 

Here's an example of what SBG might look like in a middle school math class:

Mr. Johnson teaches the area of a triangle on Monday.  Before he assigns some practice problems, he asks each student to complete a problem on their small whiteboard and hold it up in the air.  Mr. Johnson can quickly see which students are still struggling to understanding the concept.  Rather than assigning everyone the same practice problems to complete it and outside of class. Mr. Johnson makes a quick adjustment and groups together several students who appear to still be struggling.  They will be working with Mr. Johnson for some of the remaining class time and will also be completing different practice problems than their classmates.  The next day, Mr. Johnson asks each student to view a solution to a completed practice problem that is already written in the board.  Each student must write a brief paragraph explaining if the solution is correct or not and evidence to support their reasoning.  Mr. Johnson walks around the room while students are writing their paragraphs.  Next, Mr. Johnson asks students to pair up and share their paragraphs with each other.  Finally, he asks several students to share their written responses aloud and the class collectively decides what the correct solution is to the problem.
Mr. Johnson teaches the area of a circle to round out the class period on Tuesday.  Rather than assigning practice problems from the text, he asks each student to find the area of a circle found in their home.  Each student will be asked to share their findings tomorrow in class.  On Wednesday, Mr. Johnson decides to administer a quiz that he knows will never land in the grade book.  He uses the quiz as an opportunity to provide written feedback to every student, but only after each student has once again self-assessed themselves in pencil against the standards.  Mr. Johnson writes comments by many of the students' solutions and then circles where each student is on a continuum of understanding for each standard.

Mr. Johnson asks students with relative strengths and weaknesses to pair up for seven minutes during class on Thursday.  Josie understood area of a triangle at a high level, but stunk it up on the area of a circle.  She'll be conferencing with Alex who didn't have a clue on the area of a triangle, but dominated the area of a circle.
Later in the week, all students complete another assessment, but this time it goes into the grade book.  Mr. Johnson feels pretty good about the assessment results, because he had the opportunity to see and hear students' thinking during class and was able to provide them with structured feedback through the ungraded quiz prior to the most recent assessment.   Reassessment opportunities are offered to students after the most recent assessment as well.

This fable is far from the ideal classroom, however I think it illustrates an aspect of standards-based grading that I believe deserves more attention in my own conversations with fellow educators: less grading and more feedback.