The document discusses strategies for shifting the focus in the classroom from grades to learning. It outlines activities for teachers to reflect on their values, practices, and what they can control. Teachers are encouraged to clarify learning goals, involve students in tracking progress toward goals, and empower students to take ownership of their learning. Reflection is presented as key to understanding what students and teachers can improve.

1. Work smarter, not harder
Sandra H.Coyer, MJE
English/journalism teacher
The Viking Vanguard adviser
Puyallup High School
Puyallup, Wash.

2. Background
• Newspaper, AP Senior Lit, Sophomore Honors
• Burnout eminent
• Found this book:

3. Today’s plan:
• Walking through my process
• Talk about changes I have made
• Share some systematic processes
• Format:
• Discussion
• Q&A
• Speak when the moment moves you

4. Understand yourself and your students
• Activity #1:
• Divide paper into two columns—on one side list behaviors and
characteristics of your ideal student. What would that student look like (in
terms of what he/she is doing in your classroom)?
• This list helps you see what currencies you value.

5. Activity #1 cont…
• Next, place an asterisk next to each characteristic that is
necessary in order to master the objectives of your course or
grade level.

6. Activity #1 cont…
• On the other side, list the characteristics, behaviors, and values of
the students in your class. What do they actually look like? How do
they behave? What do they value?

7. Activity #1 cont…
• Compare your lists to see what currencies your students are
spending and what currencies you value. What are the similarities?
Where is the disconnection? How many of the starred
characteristics do your students have already?
• What can you do to help your students acquire the starred
characteristics they don’t have already?

8. Share out
• What did you notice about your list versus your student list?
• What did you notice about the starred characteristics that need to
be developed?

9. Activity #2: Teaching as a metaphor
• What metaphor do you use to describe teaching?
• These metaphors provide powerful clues about your beliefs about
students.

10. Gardening
• If you see teaching as gardening, you see your students as plants
to be tended.

11. Coaching
• If you see teaching as coaching, you see your students as players
on a team.

12. Scenarios
• In one scenario, students are passive and must be coaxed and
nurtured in order to grow.
• In the other, students are more active and need to be guided in
order to reach their peak performance.

13. What I noticed about myself…
• Felt like I held all the power and responsibility, how can I shift it?
• What I changed:
• District is moving to SBG.
• Courses have Power Standards and Learning Targets
• Created a chart for students to track measurement of Learning Targets.

14. Learning Target tracking sheet
What I do:
• Students receive a copy of the chart (it is several
pages long) at the beginning of the year, usually in a
vivid color so it stands out in their binders.
• Summatives are all passed out at the same time, on
the day they are passed back, we take a few minutes
to record scores according to the rubric.

15. What it does…
• Students can come up with their own ways of demonstrating
mastery.
• Students can spend time reflecting individually on ways to
improve skill or discuss in partners or groups ways to demonstrate
the skill.
• Power shifts from me to them.

16. What I also noticed
• I became more intentional and strategic.
• Had to look at big picture; I needed to understand what the
targets were asking the students to do.
• Students are more intrinsically motivated when they see the
connection between the work we are asking them to do today and
where we are headed in the future.
• Needed to examine each target for the processes that are implied
and break them down for students as well.

17. Assessing learning targets
• It’s magic rubric time:
• 4: Sophisticated and consistent
• 3: Sophisticated but inconsistent
• 2: Average, basic, ok
• 1: Missing components
• 0: Doesn’t do what it was suppose to
do, too short

18. Philosophy of rubric
• Learning targets=minimum proficiency
• Should be rigorous and challenging=students can learn and grow
• Not so rigorous that few students can reach them
• When grading, only looking for the targets, only a few
• Able to read and assess quickly, becomes a gut reaction

19. How it works in the curriculum
• Summatives are designed first then the unit is designed backwards
with the end in mind.
• Formatives serve as benchmarks of skill and its development
• Skillbuilding along the way to develop aspects of the targets and
practice using tools of thought.
• Skillbuilding: weighted zero but still tracked
• Formatives: formatted the same as summatives, count until then
• Summatives: What the ultimate grade is based on

20. Student example
• Learning targets are frontloaded.
• Divided by standard
• Letter grades used, correlate to rubric
• All weighted the same

21. Student example
• Assignments recorded as either
skillbuilding, formative, or summative.
• Problem: formatives and summatives may assess
several targets, hard to know which is assessed
without looking at rubric.

22. What I LOVE!
• Actual conversations about
learning and skills that need to
be improved.
• Puts power back in student’s
hands.
• Can show actual learning taking
place!

23. Reassessment
• Students have options and choices:
• Redo formative: all skillbuilding leading to that formative MUST be
completed.
• Redo summative: all formatives leading to that summative MUST be
completed.
• Student must also explain either verbally or in writing what he/she has done
to prepare for reassessment. No preparation=no reassessment.
• Format could be the same, or different. Students can also pitch
assessments.

24. Activity #3:
• Looking at gradebook is key!
• Take a few minutes to write down/sketch your gradebook.
• What does it look like?
• What does it show about what you value and award credit for?

25. What does this show I value?

26. Your gradebook:
• Does your gradebook provide an accurate assessment of where
students are in relation to the objectives of your course?
• Or does it record points for completing tasks or completing them
accurately?

27. Activity #4
• Make a quick list of the activities you are currently using in your
class.
• What is the ultimate learning goal for each?
• If you cannot articulate the learning goal implied in each activity
in one sentence, consider whether or not the activity is best
suited to helping you achieve your learning goals.

28. Activity #5: Understanding your core values
• Make a list of the 10 most important attributes of a teacher (ie.
Integrity, love, truthfulness, wisdom, ability to manage a
classroom effectively, intelligence, charisma, sense of
humor, etc.).

29. Activity #5 cont…
• Go back over your list. Cross out the three characteristics that are
least important to you.

30. Activity #5 cont…
• Next, narrow down the list to five by crossing out two more
characteristics.
• Then, narrow the list to three by crossing out two more
characteristics.

31. Activity #5, cont…
• Finally, of that list, choose two that are most important to you.
These represent your core values in teaching for which you are so
passionate that you would never give them up.
• Next, examine whether your current teaching practice reflects
your core values.

32. Activity #6
• To understand what you truly believe, pay attention to both your
assessment of your teaching situation and your assessment of your
own ability to handle that situation.
• On one side of a sheet of paper, list your teaching strengths. At
what parts of teaching are you really good at?
• On the other side of the paper, list all the constraints of your
current teaching situation.

33. Activity #6 cont…
• Now compare the two lists. Do you believe that your teaching
strengths are enough to overcome your constraints? Are there
some constraints that are too overwhelming given your current
teaching abilities? What strengths might you need to develop to
overcome any constraints you face?

34. What Activity #6 illuminates
• What do we have control over?

35. Epiphany
• How do you get grade hungry students to see the value of
learning?
• They need to reflect on what they’ve done and the feedback
they’ve received just as much as we gain from reflection.

36. Checking for understanding
• Has to happen authentically during instruction
• Want to try:
• Giving students whiteboards and providing an opportunity to answer random
questions about what we are doing, hold up the white board, so I can scan
and check for understanding.
• “Can you hear me now”—what’s your signal strength(correlates with how
much the students feel they understand)

37. Other strategies
• Data notebooks
• Students collect their own feedback about their learning
• Determine their own goals in achieving these objectives
• Create action plans that are designed and deployed to meet these goals
• Identify evidence that they will use to determine whether they have met
their goal and how they will monitor their progress.
• Students can create data charts to monitor their progress toward each goal.
• Helping students collect and analyze feedback helps them keep track of
where they are in relationship to the course objectives, set goals, and make
corrections towards achieving these goals.

38. Learning vs collecting points
• Shift in perception regarding grades
• Not a definitive of themselves as individuals
• Not a judgment
• Grades are a checkpoint, a snapshot of their progress at a single point in
time
• Not a final evaluation of who they are and what they are capable of
• There is a fear in rejection, in failing; helping students to see the real
measure of grades versus the collection of points and judgment.

39. Other things I’ve tried
• Test analysis:
• Connecting individual test questions with various objectives and
standards the test is designed to measure.
• When students receive their graded tests, help them break down
their performance based on the standard.
• Then, help them determine which objectives and standards they
still need to master.

40. Other things I’ve tried
• The power of the anchor sets
• Give students clear criteria for success and models of successful
performance. Explain to students why the model meets the
criteria for success.
• Have students apply rubrics to sample assignments, explain why
they gave the scores they did, calibrate, then have them grade
skillbuilding for practice not only applying the original skills but
their ability to assess their and their classmate’s work.

41. Other things I’ve tried
• Color-coding assignments
• Have students indicate in their assignment where they have
attempted to demonstrate certain skill.
• Annotate an evaluation of their own work next to where they have
marked that skill using a certain color.
• Different color=different skill
• Students are able to see how they did before they turn in the
assignment, then make the decision whether to submit or
reassess.

42. Final reflection
• Please use your Smartphone or laptop to go to www.socrative.com
• Log in as a student into room number: 793326
• Complete the exit ticket:
• Your question: Was there something you thought I was
going to cover today but didn’t?