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This article is the twelfth in the Designing Performance-Based Learning at D51 series. A reminder: D51 uses the phrase performance-based learning or P-BL.<\/i><\/p>\nThis article is the twelfth in the Designing Performance-Based Learning at D51 series. A reminder: D51 uses the phrase performance-based learning or P-BL.<\/i><\/p>\n
The Dual Immersion Academy (DIA) is not one of D51\u2019s performance-based learning demonstration schools \u2013 it\u2019s one of the schools that is going forward and building the effective practices because it simply can\u2019t wait. Bil Pfaffendorf, a professional learning facilitator, and I made a quick stop to learn about how the efforts in building the effective practices were going. I am so glad I did, as I realized that the deep conversations about teaching and learning are rippling throughout the district \u2013 not just in the demonstration schools.<\/p>\n
Principal Monica Heptner outlined the structure of the school: Of the 285 students K-5 that DIA serves, approximately 50 percent are English Language Learners and the other half are there to learn Spanish. Language is an intentional set of skills developed at DIA, with students building their skills in both languages. There are two language progressions, and students are tracked on both. Students come to school with different levels of familiarity with each of the languages. Students receive literacy in both languages, with math and reading in English and science and social sciences in Spanish.<\/p>\n
Heptner provided examples of their progress in incorporating the effective practices, some of which had been previously used in the school to some degree:<\/p>\n
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In the fifth year, students begin to use Thinking Maps<\/a> and learn how to ask quality questions. They learn about Bloom\u2019s taxonomy to help them understand the depth of knowledge of the questions. Heptner noted, \u201cOne of the most important things is to make sure that students are learning the academic language and how to use it in academic conversation.\u201d DIA uses strategies from La Cosecha to build academic conversation in both languages.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nShe commented that the school is becoming better at \u201cfailing forward\u201d so that students are able to learn from errors and mistakes. In language development, this includes \u201chearing forward,\u201d as students are exposed to more and learn to use vocabulary in both languages. Mistakes are common, so the environment is bubbling over with learning.<\/p>\n
Our conversation turned to growth as Heptner explained DIA\u2019s practice of data digs<\/em>: After each twenty-one-day cycle, teachers look closely at how students are doing. Heptner explained that this process is increasing inter-rater reliability as teachers look at student work during this process. Bil emphasized that in a fully developed performance-based system, it is important to have continuous improvement processes like the data digs to ensure every student is demonstrating growth as well as processes that help the school look at its performance. He emphasized, \u201cThe only way you can tell if you are going in the right direction is to monitor student growth and respond immediately when there is a suggestion that there is a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n Our conversation also turned to the question about making sure students fully understand the core concepts that undergird the foundational skills in literacy and math. For example, in kindergarten, drawing is the beginning of writing. Children learn about symbols, which will help them understand the power of letters (and numbers) later on. They can begin to think about the flow of a story by creating storyboards for the beginning, middle, and end. Heptner mentioned that one of her concerns is that students have to have enough exposure to a set of concepts and skills to get to mastery. Doing something once, even if students do it correctly, isn\u2019t enough. Given that children develop differently during childhood (and in adolescence, for that matter) it is important that students who need more opportunity to explore the fundamental concepts do so until the concepts are fully ingrained in their understanding.<\/p>\n Bil noted that math requires vigilance in ensuring students are mastering earlier steps, as these become prerequisites for more advanced learning. \u201cThe math learning progressions are highly interdependent,\u201d he said. \u201cStudents need to deeply understand the early concepts, otherwise they are simply memorizing procedures later on.\u201d Heptner added, \u201cWe are locked into a traditional way of teaching math. As we think about the communities of our students, we want to be open to differences in how language and culture shape learning.\u201d (Recently, I listened to a Students at the Center<\/a> webinar with Rochelle Gutierrez<\/a> that opened my eyes to how narrow our approach to mathematics is.) One of the ways they weave the language learning component in mathematics is by having students defend in English the answer to the word problems, a good practice for any school. DIA is using Advantaged Math Recovery to help support students who need more opportunity to practice and reinforce mathematical concepts.<\/p>\n Heptner raised an important insight about what it means to have more student ownership in learning when they are learning both another language and other academic domains. \u201cOur teachers think about two types of scaffolding,\u201d she said. \u201cOne is for language and one is for content, with rubrics in both languages. Students need to have a strong set of Habits of Mind to make sense of the scaffolding, especially meta-cognition. They need to be able to think, \u201cDo I need help with the language or with the content in order to take advantage of the different scaffolds?\u2019\u201d Thus, students learning a language while also learning within the academic domains are going to have an even more refined set of metacognitive skills. If performance indicators included this capacity, it\u2019s easy to say that our ELL and dual language students would outperform others.<\/p>\n Read the Entire Series:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Post #1 \u2013\u00a0Designing Performance-Based Learning at D51<\/a><\/p>\n Post #2 \u2013\u00a0Building Consensus for Change at D51<\/a><\/p>\n Post #3 \u2013\u00a0The Vision of Performance-Based Education at D51<\/a><\/p>\n Post #4 \u2013\u00a0Holacracy: Organizing for Change at D51<\/a><\/p>\n Post #5 \u2013\u00a0Growing into the Framework: D51\u2019s Implementation Strategy<\/a><\/p>\n Post #6 \u2013\u00a0Laying the Foundation with Culture and Climate<\/a><\/p>\n Post #7 \u2013\u00a0Supporting Teachers at D51: A Conversation with the Professional Learning Facilitators<\/a><\/p>\n Post #8 –\u00a0Creating a Transparent Performance-Based System at D51<\/a><\/p>\n Post # 9 –\u00a0New Emerson: Learning the Effective Practices of the Learner-Centered Classroom<\/a><\/p>\n Post #10 \u2013\u00a0Transparency and Trust<\/a><\/p>\n