Summer 2021 / Volume 79, Number 9 Digital Bonus Issue / www.ascd.org

Tech tips for in-person learning p.8 Accelerate, don’t remediate p.14 Small-group instruction that works p.44

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Innovative Lesson Planning 8 Planning Technology Integration 38 Lesson Planning with Universal for In-Person Instruction Design for Learning

Monica Burns Lee Ann Jung Strategic and resourceful use of technology doesn’t have to Using UDL principles upfront means making fewer adaptations disappear once distance learning does. later—and reaching more students.

14 Instructional Planning After 44 Planning for Fair Group Work a Year of Uncertainty Amir Rasooli and Susan M. Brookhart Craig Simmons Group projects have a bad reputation among students—but During pandemic recovery, schools must be especially educators can change that. intentional about planning and pacing. 50 Socratics, Remixed 20 How Innovative Teachers Can Start Henry Seton Teaching Innovation A lesson design for more focused and engaging student-led discussions. Jane E. Pollock, Laura J. Tolone, and Gary S. Nunnally Three ways to enhance your lesson planning to generate creative thinking. 56 Improving Lesson Planning with Pre-Work Jessica Holloway and Rebecca Doxsee 26 For School Leaders, Reviewing Isolated When teachers have time to think ahead and do pre-work, Lessons Isn’t Enough instructional planning meetings gain focus.

Jay McTighe SPECIAL TOPIC Evaluators need to consider lessons in the context of the overall curriculum unit, like the parts of a full-course meal. 61 Autistic at the IEP Table Julie Antilla-Garza 30 Developing Well-Designed Remember, disabilities aren’t confined to students. Small Standards-Based Units changes to IEP proceedings can make a big difference for some parents. Tim Westerberg A five-step framework takes the guesswork out of Cover: Adapted from Ron Dale / Shutterstock instructional planning.

74 JOURNAL STAFF Anthony Rebora, Editor in Chief Naomi Thiers, Managing Editor Tara Laskowski, Senior Editor Sarah McKibben, Senior Editor Kate Stoltzfus, Editor Esteban Bachelet, Associate Writer Noble Ingram, Associate Online Editor Lucy Robertson, Production Editor Judi Connelly, Senior Graphic Designer

Kelly Marshall, Project Management Manager 54 Shajuan Martin, e-Publishing Specialist

Ranjit Sidhu, Executive Director and CEO Ken Pratt, Chief Engagement Officer

Penny Reinart, Chief Impact Officer

LOCRIFA / SHUTTERSTOCK LOCRIFA Marge Scherer, Editor in Chief Emeritus Ronald S. Brandt, Executive Editor Departments Emeritus Educational Leadership (ISSN 0013-1784) is a benefit of membership in ASCD and Readers React is also available by subscription. Annual 4 member dues categories are Basic Online, $49; Basic Print, $59; Select Online, $79; Select, $89; Premium 7 Reader’s Guide Online, $169; Premium, $239. A Print Anthony Rebora + Digital Subscription to Educational Leadership is $59, and a Digital- Only Subscription is $49. Educational Leadership is published 65 Deeper Dive monthly September through May except bimonthly December/January. A digital- Lesson-planning and instructional resources only issue is available in June. Periodical highlighted in this issue. postage paid at Alexandria, Virginia, and at additional mailing offices. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: 1415 Janette Ave., Windsor, ON N8X 1Z1. 67 Tell Us About Postmaster: Send address changes to Membership Department, Educational Readers share how pandemic-era teaching has Leadership, 1703 N. Beauregard St., Alexandria VA 22311-1714. Known office influenced their lesson planning. of publication: ASCD, 1703 N. Beauregard 16 St., Alexandria VA 22311-1714. ASCD’S MISSION STATEMENT Educational Leadership is intended primarily for leaders in elementary, ASCD empowers educators to achieve excellence in learning, middle, and secondary education but is teaching, and leading so that every child is healthy, safe, also for anyone interested in curriculum, engaged, supported, and challenged. instruction, supervision, and leadership in schools. ASCD publications present a variety of viewpoints. The views expressed or implied in this publication are not necessarily official positions of CONNECT MORE FROM ASCD MORE WAYS TO READ the association. ASCD editorial office and advertising: 703-578-9600; e-mail: TWITTER ASCD Express Read current and past EL articles [email protected]. Educational Leadership and EL are registered twitter.com/ascd ASCD’s free e-newsletter www.ascd.org/el trademarks of ASCD. Copyright © 2021 by for educators ASCD. All rights reserved. (USPS 168-760). FACEBOOK Buy back issues Summer 2021. Stock No.121043. www.ascd.org/express facebook.com/ascd.org www.ascd.org/elbackissues DUPLICATING POLICY: Readers of ASCD Inservice Blog Educational Leadership are authorized to PINTEREST make up to 50 photocopies of up to three http://inservice.ascd.org pinterest.com/officialascd articles of any one issue of Educational Leadership. This authorization does not YOUTUBE apply to articles or photos copyrighted by individual authors, who must be contacted youtube.com/officialascd directly. If you want to copy more than the quantity listed above, please submit your INSTAGRAM copying request to the Copyright Clearance instagram.com/officialascd Center, 222 Rosewood Dr., Danvers, MA 01923; (978) 750-8400; fax: (978) 646- 8600. Charge is 25 cents per page plus an administrative charge. Individual copies of BECOME AN ASCD MEMBER www.ascd.org/membership Educational Leadership cost $9.95. Readers React April 2021 | The Empowered Principal

Powerful Pieces Great Observation The April issue looks like a winner for school A fabulous article that emphasizes bringing evi- leaders. I see that my peeps, Robyn Jackson dence to a conversation and opening it up for (@Robyn_Mindsteps), Sanee Bell (@SaneeBell), the teacher to share what they notice/wonder and Mark Anthony Gooden (@GoodenPhD) [“Making Classroom Observations Matter” have articles in this issue. I’m looking forward by Lynda Tredway, Matt Militello and Ken to this one. Simon]. Creating this space for teachers leads Baruti K. Kafele (@PrincipalKafele) to deeper reflection and changes to practice. Jenna Moller (@jenna_moller) Every month, EL magazine offers up something All About the Vision Love (or dislike) good, but I am really digging April’s theme. I catch myself doing a lot of head nods. Intriguing article [“The Most Powerful Tool in something in a a Principal’s Arsenal” by Robyn Jackson]. Chal- recent issue of Shaune Beatty (@ShauneBeatty) EL? We want to lenges the historic practice of shared visioning. Not 100 percent convinced but intrigued. Par- hear about it! This month’s EL magazine is full of great Write to us at allels with the best athletic coaches—establish articles for school leaders. Providing tools, edleadership@ vision and get players to buy in. ascd.org or on resources, and ideas to lead change in our Wade Smith (@WallaWallaSup) Twitter schools. @ELmagazine. Yesenia Mccleskey (@Ymcclesk34) Printed reactions Be the Leader You Want to Be Pretty great read [“What Kind of Leader Are may be edited Double Take for clarity and You?” by Bryan Goodwin and Kent Davis]. As Oh, hey, represen- length. we are recovering from a pandemic, what kind tation! Thanks for of leader do you want to be... transformational this month’s edition, or transactional? ASCD. David Huber (@DavidJHuber) Micah B. Harris (@MBH_Lead2Learn) People first! There are so many nice reminders in Goodwin and Davis’s article. Remember to establish trust and build capacity in your team. Then, no matter what beasts lurk before you, y’all can get through it... together! Principal Matters A great study! [“What Great Principals Really Pete Hall (@educationhall) Do” by Jason A. Grissom, Anna J. Egalite and Constance A. Lindsay] The principal matters! Ending on a Good Note I was happy to see the study draw out the This [“Getting the Endings Right” by Matthew importance of people skills. An often over- R. Kay] is one of the most brilliant and looked and underestimated skill. Great leaders important things I’ve ever read in EL magazine. leverage this skill to galvanize the belief, Really. efforts, and contributions of others to achieve a Brian Conant (@conantbrianedu) shared vision. Jennifer Collier (@drjencollier)

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Instructional Planning in a New Landscape

n planning Educational Leader- adopted out of necessity during units. This year especially, lesson ship’s free, online-only summer remote learning. For Burns, the planning can’t be a one-off matter. Iissue each year, we typically try return to “normal” shouldn’t mean to pick a theme that we think will going back to stale “best practices” Adapting to Students’ Needs resonate with educators as they and abandoning dynamic online Other articles in the issue look at prepare for the upcoming school discussions, open-ended content- specific aspects of lesson planning year. Given the situation this year, creation platforms, or digital that could play a critical role in as schools seek to regroup after resource curation. Instead, it’s adapting instruction to students’ more than a year of pandemic- an opportunity to be more inten- needs or making content more shaped learning conditions, the tional about using technology in engaging, accessible, and “sticky” possibilities were both limitless and lessons—a point that is echoed in in the year ahead. Lee Ann Jung difficult to isolate. In the end, we Jane E. Pollock, Laura J. Tolone, outlines practical ideas for inte- decided to go back to the and Gary S. Nunnally’s grating principles from Universal basics and focus on some- article on spurring student Design for Learning to create thing that we know will creativity. more inclusive and adaptable be at the heart of effective In his piece, instruc- lessons. Amir Rasooli and Susan M. schooling, whatever tional coach Craig Brookhart offer guidelines for its shape or form: Simmons tackles the making small-group instruction ­instructional planning. other big issue facing actually work. (Hint: Don’t just do As you will recognize educators as they prepare it because you think it’s good for as you read the stories in for the next school year: students—and don’t give whole- this issue, this is hardly addressing potential group grades.) And Henry Seton a side topic in the current envi- instructional gaps or disrup- shares a plan he devised for putting ronment. Initiatives to address tions from the previous year. As “more rigor and urgency” into so-called “learning loss” or instruc- Simmons describes it, this will Socratic seminars, or student-led tional gaps from disrupted school entail cross-grade-level collabo- discussions. routines implicitly depend on ration among teacher teams, pri- Summer planning will be filled effective lesson and unit planning. oritization of essential standards, with uncertainties and complex- So, too, do decisions on what creation of well-calibrated pacing ities for educators this year. But we to carry over and build on from maps, and a focus on acceleration hope this issue addresses some of educators’ mass experiment with rather than remediation—in other your core needs, gets you excited remote learning. Indeed, it’s likely words, intensive and multifaceted about possibilities, and helps you that schools’ recovery from the instructional planning. “Now focus on issues you can control, pandemic will entail a strong more than ever,” he writes, “it is such as the quality focus on the nuts and bolts—and imperative that we are strategic and depth of nuances—of instructional planning and intentional in our instructional instruction. Those in a changing landscape. To some planning decisions.” are things we know degree, this is already happening. These themes of instructional kids will need in In our opening article, for sequencing and alignment are the fall. EL example, Monica Burns offers sounded as well in Jay McTighe’s tips on planning lessons that inte- article on evaluating curriculum grate some of the “tech-infused units and Tim Westerberg’s guide- instructional strategies” educators lines on designing standards-based

A S C D / w w w . ascd . o r g 7 Planning Technology Integration for In-Person Instruction

Strategic and resourceful use of technology doesn’t have to disappear once distance learning does.

Monica Burns

hat does technology integration look like after more than a year of remote learning? As schools shift back to in-person instruction, there are certain aspects of remote learning worth holding onto. From theW use of digital tools to foster collaboration to the quick availability of presentation and publishing programs, some components of online teaching and learning have a place in traditional classroom settings. Of course, many teachers were using technology to help accomplish learning goals well before the pandemic. But the wider adoption of tech-infused instructional practices has put all members of a school community in a position to have deeper conversations around technology integration than might have felt possible in the past. Remote settings this past year have given more classroom teachers and school admin- istrators context and experience with how digital tools can facilitate teaching and learning. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve often heard calls to “get back to normal.” Both you and your students might be

8 E d u c a t i o n a l L e a d e r s h i p / S u m m e r 2 0 2 1 ready to embrace learning experiences that weren’t possible when learning at home, such as hands-on learning activities with supplies only a school environment can supply. There are many aspects of in-person instruction well worth returning to. In shared physical spaces for collaborative learning, students can move around a room and have a better sense of non- verbal cues and body language as they work together. However, this is also a moment to make changes and to let go of “best practices” that aren’t actually working. We can also incorporate the practices from digital classrooms that students loved or those we know had a positive effect on student engagement. The opportunities for online discus- sions, collaboration between students, and online publication and celebration of student work have increased greatly. Your “tech tool belt” has probably grown this past year to include new apps and websites, so a shift back to in-person instruction must include reflection about which tools to keep and which ones to toss aside. Here are three lesson-planning tips for strategic, intentional technology integration.

1 Use Thoughtful Curation for In-Class Resources Handpicking resources is not a novel idea, but digital tools can make it easier to locate and share resources with stu- dents. The quality of digital resources available for students varies greatly,

KOIVO / IKON IMAGES with many options for video, audio,

a s c d / w w w . a s c d . o r g 9 In addition to the collective knowledge shared among your colleagues over the past year, you may have found that you more regularly looked beyond your school for support and inspiration.

and text-based resources. The best resources in a platform where students access shared for your own classroom or group of students content, such as a Schoology collection or in might be different than the best resources for the “­Materials” section of Google Classroom. another group—even if the subject matter or course goals are identical on the surface. The ­combination of determining individual 2 students’ needs with a search for high-quality Embrace Open-Ended resources is what curation is all about. Creation Tools I often use the phrase “tasks before apps” An open-ended creation tool, like Adobe Spark, when having this conversation with educators, Book Creator, Buncee, or MS Sway, lets stu- meaning you should first take a moment to dents create a product reflecting their learning think about your primary goals for sharing and gives them a blank canvas as creators to a resource with your students. Goals might make their own movies, websites, or ­podcasts. include providing background information, I sometimes think of these spaces as an oppor- introducing new vocabulary, or making a con- tunity to “choose your own adventure.” Both nection between a high-interest topic and teachers and students can craft a unique personal experience. Then, consider the type ­experience inside such spaces to demonstrate of media available and why something like a their learning. podcast episode, explainer video, or online Although each creation tool employs dif- current events article might be the best fit. ferent ways to have students show what they As you lesson plan this year, you might know, these tools usually include an option decide to post two or three different resources for students to record audio or use a voice-to- for students, based on their needs, in an online text feature that turns a recording into a typed space. For example, if you know your students paragraph. Some (like Seesaw and Flipgrid) are often talking about what is happening in also have features like video recording and the the world or in the news, pulling a current ability to draw an illustration or annotate a events article from Newsela and using that text picture or piece of text. These types of tools are to explore an ELA topic (instead of the passage perfect for differentiating learning experiences you’ve used in years past) is a great way to for students and can help level the playing field leverage media available through an Internet for kids who shine when given the option to search and pique students’ growing curiosity. share their learning in nontraditional ways. Or, before a lesson, you might search through Giving students time to think deeply about TED-Ed’s website or a favorite YouTube their learning experience is a pre-COVID channel for a video that will introduce a topic best practice that should stay, but you might for an upcoming lesson. embrace even more ways for them to structure A key piece of an effective curation strategy that reflection and build skills in the upcoming is making sure the resources you share with school year. We’ll want to hold onto the student students are well-organized and easily acces- choice that’s often inherent in distance learning. sible for everyone. You can create a single A student who is hesitant to stand up and place to keep resources and links organized speak in front of their classmates might now

10 E d u c a t i o n a l L e a d e r s h i p / S u m m e r 2 0 2 1 prefer the option to share an idea with a video recording tool like Flipgrid. Or, instead of returning to weekly multiple-choice quizzes that limit student responses, for- mative assessment could involve a routine for students to respond to open-ended questions with their choice of a text, video, or audio. I saw many students thrive this past year when given more options and support for sharing their learning in digital spaces. I worked with a student who used Book Creator to create an e-book reflecting on her reading experience. In the past, a composition notebook might have been the only place for her to jot down a summary or lingering questions, but this space gave her more options to respond and an extra layer of creativity, and it made it easy for me to see her work in real time, even though we were connecting virtually and miles apart. Another reason to incorporate open-ended creation tools into your lesson planning is the ease and time- saving efficiency of using the same tool for multiple projects throughout the school year. If you are planning as a grade-level team or department, you might look at the curriculum map for your year together and decide what types of activities you will revisit more than once. Instead of introducing one tool in September for a project and another tool in January for a similar project, you can choose a tool that is flexible enough to appear in ­multiple lessons. One of my favorite examples from this year is Google Jamboard, a free whiteboard space that students can use individually or to collaborate with their peers. They have options to search for images or add virtual sticky notes, text, and annotations. They can brainstorm, create mind maps, and discuss ideas with classmates. A consistently used digital space also provides the ability to access notes, templates, and supporting resources from multiple devices, easily color code, and add links to additional resources. Not to mention, if this fall your school has stu- dents who are learning at home as well as in the physical classroom, everyone can access the same Jamboard space at the same time. 3 Find a Faraway Partner-in-Tech The use of video conferencing tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet has skyrocketed in the past year. Although you probably find that your “Zoom fatigue” is at an all-time high right now, you might want to consider

a s c d / w w w . a s c d . o r g 11 Your “tech tool belt” has probably grown this past year to include new apps and websites, so a shift back to in-person instruction must include reflection about which tools to keep and which ones to toss aside.

using video conferencing in new ways during already have them. Your partners-in-tech could the upcoming school year, especially if you be educators you have known for years or resume in-person instruction full-time. people you first connected with on Clubhouse In addition to tapping the collective or Twitter. A partner-in-tech can serve as an knowledge shared among your colleagues over accountability buddy, especially if you are both the past year, you may have found that you committed to trying out something new and more regularly looked beyond your school for want weekly check-ins, or as a fellow lesson support and inspiration. Perhaps you found planner, or as someone to bounce ideas off of a fellow 9th grade teacher on Instagram and while addressing common or complimentary conversed with them about how to support goals for tech-friendly instruction. your biology students’ online lab simulations, Though these partnerships might have using ideas no one else in your own school had formed because of distance learning, they don’t explored yet. Or maybe you connected with have to disappear as you resume in-person a teacher in a Facebook group who also uses instruction. You can maintain extended profes- Seesaw to organize differentiated assignments. sional cohorts, using virtual connections, to I suggest finding one or more faraway complement partnerships you have with your “partners-in-tech” for brainstorming and own colleagues. sharing ideas throughout the year, if you don’t Keep Your “Tech Tool Belt” Buckled The past year has posed many serious chal- lenges for educators—and nobody would want to return to those circumstances. But our imposed reliance on technology has also pre- REFLECT & DISCUSS sented us with the chance to plan with What are the most practical tools you ­intentionality and ensure students have an opportunity to explore essential, tech-friendly added to your “tech tool belt” this year? learning experiences. Let’s not squander the How might you incorporate them into opportunity. EL in-person learning?

What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve Monica Burns is an EdTech and Curriculum learned about how to apply technology Consultant, ASCD author and faculty member, to teaching practices this year? and former New York City public school teacher. She is the author of the ASCD Quick Reference Guides Classroom Technology Tips and Distance In what ways might a district harness Learning Essentials, and the book Tasks Before educators’ collective learning and use of Apps (ASCD, 2017). Her upcoming book, EdTech pandemic-era technology to implement Essentials: The Top 10 Technology Strategies for All Learning Environments, will be published best practices across the school building? by ASCD in July 2021. Follow her on Twitter and ­Instagram @­ClassTechTips.

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PROVIDE HIGH LEVELS OF LEARNING FOR ALL Learn more at SolutionTree.com/Coach Instructional Planning After a Year of Uncertainty 14 E d u c a t i o n a l L e a d e r s h i p / S u m m e r 2 0 2 1 During pandemic recovery, schools must be especially intentional about planning and pacing.

Craig Simmons

h, how things have schools and whose families or com- changed. I never thought munities have been disproportionately we would be in a virtual affected by the pandemic. teaching space for this Now more than ever, it is imperative long. One pandemic year that we are strategic and intentional in Odown and another school year quickly our instructional planning decisions. approaching. As many educators prepare While there have been variables outside to return in-person full-time this fall, of our control, such as economic issues there is one thing weighing heavy on our and technical difficulties facing families, minds: How are we even possibly going a variable that we can indeed control is to mitigate the likely gaps in students’ the quality of instruction we provide to progress? students. Now especially, it is incumbent During the transition from brick-and- upon us to do so. mortar to virtual learning, I visited Zoom classrooms every day as a turnaround Planning Starts in PLCs instructional coach. I saw firsthand Since the beginning of last school year, how teachers quickly adjusted their I’ve been inundated with emails from instruction to meet the new demands of education companies promoting their pandemic teaching. I saw their creativity wares to help schools close pandemic- in the use of instructional materials and related learning gaps. When it comes to the presentation of instructional content. student learning, however, I can’t help But I also saw the stress on teachers’ faces but think about the more pivotal role as they struggled to keep up with the teacher collaboration will play in miti- academic demands of a “typical” school gating instructional gaps this school year. year, although nothing about this past One way that schools can get instruc- RAWPIXEL.COM / SHUTTERSTOCK year has been typical. Even in the early tional planning right is by implementing months of the pandemic, teachers felt vertical and horizontal professional like they were falling behind (Mader, learning communities (PLCs). 2021). Schools struggled to keep up As we know, PLCs are collaborative with pacing, and student participation— educator teams that ensure all students whether it was in the form of student learn by establishing a common mission engagement during class, work com- and vision and shared values and goals; pletion, or attendance—was dwindling. building collective knowledge; centering Although there has been much debate work and discussions on continuous about how we conceptualize “learning improvement, student learning, and loss” and the degree to which the pan- results; and being action oriented. demic has affected it (Dickler, 2021; These learning communities were Jacobson, 2021; Strauss, 2021), one thing critical to student success prior to the is certain: the pandemic has likely exac- pandemic, and they will be even more erbated the instructional gaps that stu- critical in the years to come. Why, dents already had, especially in the case exactly? Because this will be the first time of those who attend under-resourced in our careers that we will be responsible

a s c d / w w w . a s c d . o r g 15 for recovering from such an enormous aca- not taught in the previous grade due to pan- demic disruption. The days ahead will require demic-related disruptions. Teams can use this an unprecedented level of collaboration, inten- ­qualitative data when planning for gaps. tionality, and intensity from school faculty. The n Discuss students’ readiness—the ­challenges synergy that happens among teachers in well- they had with grade-level standards, and mis- run PLCs, in particular, can facilitate the kind conceptions students had at the end of the of knowledge sharing and collective problem school year. Did the students master the prereq- solving that will be necessary to positively uisite content? Do they have the knowledge and impact teaching and learning. skills needed to begin mastering new content? Coupling the qualitative data from these Vertical Planning Teams vertical planning conversations with quanti- Curriculum alignment requires teachers to col- tative assessment data will give teachers a better laborate with other teachers in grades below understanding of what students know and can and above the grade they teach. The collabo- do, as well as what students will need to know ration that takes place in vertical planning and be able to do. teams yields pertinent, qualitative Vertical planning impacts learning for all information about instruction and students by providing horizontal, grade-level student learning that teachers teams with the information they need to fill can only get from colleagues in gaps. When horizontal teams don’t collaborate different grades. In the case of with teams above and below the grade they planning for learning gaps and teach, teachers are forced to make assump- learning loss, in the immediate tions about what their students have learned, and long-term, vertical teams especially when quantitative data is the sole will play a critical role. source of information. With vertical planning, Vertical planning teams will however, horizontal teams can make better need to spend more time this informed decisions. year planning to make up for lost ground. Specifically, they will need to: Horizontal Planning Teams n Identify and discuss essential standards Made up of teachers who teach the same grade (more on that later) that connect between level, horizontal planning teams engage in grade levels. ongoing collaboration to strengthen teaching n Identify and discuss gaps in the essential and continuously improve student learning. standards between grade levels. For example, In thinking about the multilayered work that a gap can occur when (1) content previously teachers will have to tackle this upcoming taught at one grade level is now included in the school year (addressing previous grade-level standards of an earlier grade level, (2) previous standards, current grade-level standards, grade-level standards don’t fully prepare stu- and varying differences in learning loss), dents for mastery of the standards in the sub- before developing specific instructional plans, sequent grade(s), and (3) content skips grades ­horizontal collaborative teams must spend time (like when something is taught in 5th grade answering these critical questions: and not taught again until 7th grade). 1. What are students expected to learn (with n Discuss what needs to be done to a focus on the content that is essential)? strengthen the coherence in the standards 2. How much time will we allot to teaching between the two grade levels. This will the essential standards? help prevent future learning gaps from 3. How will we address the non-essential ­surfacing because of holes in the cohesion standards? of the ­curriculum. 4. How will we know that students learned n Discuss essential standards that were the essential content?

16 E d u c a t i o n a l L e a d e r s h i p / S u m m e r 2 0 2 1 Key Strategies to Address 5. What learning experiences Instructional Gaps being able to define them won’t will we plan to support learning the n Implement skills-based, flexible impact student mastery. Therefore, essential content? groups in reading and math in these definitions would be considered 6. What will we do for students addition to groups based on non-essential content (and teaching who struggle and those who excel? readiness. them might adversely impact pacing) 7. What can we do to stay on pace? n Use morning work and when teaching the essential standard. In my work as an instructional homework as opportunities to Essential content is the requisite coach and teaching and learning address previous grade-level knowledge and skills students consultant, I’ve found that schools content that students didn’t need to demonstrate mastery of the that have a large percentage of stu- master. standard. Teachers determine the n Spiral previous grade-level dents with learning gaps and/or essential content by unpacking the content throughout the school year. schools that get far behind in pacing standard and determining exactly n Plan in vertical teams at the do so because they don’t make time what it is that students need to know, end of the school year, at the to reflect on these kinds of ques- understand, and be able to do to beginning of the school year, and tions. Instead, these schools go into before planning new instructional demonstrate mastery. the year without a plan and end units. Horizontal teams can identify up ­scrambling to teach essential essential standards using the REAL ­standards or complex concepts. criteria, created by Horrell and Many (2014). REAL stands for: Back to the Essentials divide whole numbers using the n Readiness: Requisite knowledge So, what is essential content? First, standard algorithm. When teaching and skills students need for subse- it is important to note that the terms this standard, in addition to teaching quent grades, courses, or classes. essential standards (or “power stan- the algorithm, some teachers might n Endurance: Knowledge and skills dards”) and essential content are often include a focus on (and assess) stu- students will be able to use beyond used interchangeably. However, dents being able to define the terms their schooling. I believe a nuance exists between dividend, divisor, and quotient. While n Assessed: Knowledge and skills the two. For example, consider a memorizing these definitions won’t that will be assessed on high-stakes representative essential standard: adversely impact student learning, tests.

Focusing on remediation before moving on to grade-level standards isn’t the answer. RAWPIXEL.COM / SHUTTERSTOCK n Leverage: Knowledge and skills for pacing, they inadvertently plan to that we provide all students with that can be applied across disciplines. get off pace. To increase the chance appropriate instruction that is aligned Identifying essential standards and of staying on pace, horizontal teams to their needs. This means that we content will give schools the infor- need to map out the school year by need to consider quantitative and mation they need to effectively plan creating instructional calendars that ­qualitative data, including end-of- for the multilayered work and pacing indicate what they will teach, when year test scores, universal screening of instruction. This doesn’t mean that they will teach it, and for how long data, pre-assessment data, and teachers don’t teach non-essential they will teach it. Unlike in previous teacher input. standards and content; what it does years, developing instructional cal- mean is that these things aren’t endars might be a more complex Pre-Assessment for Learning instructional priorities. undertaking this year, because teams This year especially, we don’t have time to waste. And we need to use the time that we do have strategically. PLCs were critical to student success prior Reteaching material that students already know and teaching remedial to the pandemic, and they will be even skills before moving on to grade-level more critical in the years to come. content are not best practices. Unfor- tunately, this type of instruction happens all the time, exacerbating Determining essential standards will likely have to fit in some pre- delays in student progress. This and content shouldn’t be an arduous vious grade-level content. When school year—and for as long as we process. It can, however, become creating these calendars, horizontal teach students—I recommend that difficult to do when teachers have teams also need to build in days for we make pre-assessment a regular differences in opinion about which reteaching. practice. standards have endurance, readiness, Teachers can pre-assess before they and leverage—and which standards Triangulating the Data teach a new standard or unit that is don’t. To minimize conflict, I rec- I sometimes hear educators say that composed of several standards. Pre- ommend that PLCs have a process “data tells a story.” This is only par- assessments don’t have to be long. in place for making decisions when tially true. In fact, data only tells a For example, in a subject like science, all parties are not in agreement. story when we consider more than teachers can task students with Regardless of how challenging iden- one data source or data point; this is explaining why some places have tifying essential standards becomes, known as data triangulation (in this four seasons to determine what they collaborative teams must do the case, the prefix, tri-, doesn’t mean know about the Earth’s tilt and orbit. work. As noted in Horrell and Many three). Unlike what is gleaned from A few questions or a well-designed (2014), the “instruction of essential a single data source or data point, task that addresses the standards can concepts and skills is more effective data triangulation yields consistencies provide useful information to inform than superficially ‘covering’ every and inconsistencies about what instruction, allowing teachers to concept in the textbook.” ­students know and can do, which is answer the following questions: Once horizontal teams identify critical when it comes to planning 1. What do my students already essential standards and content, they for learning. know? can begin mapping out the year. Too often students are placed in 2. What can my students do? remedial classes or inappropriate 3. What learning gaps and miscon- Mapping Out the Year reading and math groups due to ceptions do my students have that Developing carefully thought-out specious conclusions that are made will interfere with their mastery of instructional calendars is a key way based upon one data source or data the upcoming standard(s)? for schools to plan for the pacing of point. To avoid this, we must spend 4. How will I address misconcep- instruction. When schools don’t plan time triangulating data to ensure tions and close learning gaps so that

18 E d u c a t i o n a l L e a d e r s h i p / S u m m e r 2 0 2 1 my students experience success with The Road to Recovery the upcoming standard(s)? Since the pandemic began, there has 5. What will I do for students who REFLECT & DISCUSS been much speculation about its already know the content? long-term impact on student These assessments for learning How will vertical and horizontal learning. While we don’t quite know provide teachers with the answers PLC planning play a role in the extent of learning loss students they need not only to plan for whole- making up for your students’ will have experienced, we do know group instruction, but also to address pandemic-related that we have to do something to students’ individual learning needs. instructional gaps? address it. The instructional planning teachers do in PLCs will be crucial to Accelerating Learning pandemic recovery. With the positive How might the REAL criteria, As I mentioned, focusing on remedi- interdependence and focus on described here, help you ation before moving on to grade-level planning and problems of practice determine what standards isn’t the answer. Instead, essential that characterize professional schools should focus on acceleration content should be covered? learning communities, I am confident (Rollins, 2014). In this case, to accel- that we can recover what was lost and erate doesn’t mean to go faster; it What planning can you and fill the gaps. EL means teaching remedial content or your colleagues do prior to pre-requisite content in context— next school year to address References when it is needed—as opposed to potential instructional gaps? Dickler, J. (2021, March 30). Virtual teaching it in isolation before moving school resulted in ‘significant’ academic learning loss, study finds. CNBC. on to grade-level standards. Well- Harwin, A., & Sparks, S. D. (2017, April designed pre-assessments will give effective ways to check for under- 18). How parents widen—or shrink— teachers valuable information to standing during a lesson. Be sure to academic gaps. Education Week. teach students the remedial skills sequence the questions and tasks in Horrell, T., & Many, T. (2014). they’ll need to be successful with a logical order so that students move ­Prioritizing the standards using R.E.A.L. criteria. TEPSA News. grade-level expectations. along a progression of learning. Plan Jacobson, L. (2021). ‘Not the kind to ask essential questions or have of growth we need’: Despite some Checking for Understanding students show their work after each recovery of learning lost during pan- Have you ever created and imple- critical idea, concept, or skill you demic, test results reveal larger gaps. mented an engaging, standards- expect them to master by the end of The 74. aligned lesson and discovered at the the lesson. Mader, J. (2021, February 4). 5 ways schools hope to fight COVID-19 end that students just didn’t get it? If All that being said, checking learning loss. Hechinger Report. so, it was probably because you didn’t for understanding at the end of a Rollins, S. P. (2014). Learning in the fast plan to check for understanding lesson is just as important. Be sure lane: 8 ways to put all students on the during the lesson. Waiting until the to collect evidence that shows what road to academic success. Alexandria, end of a lesson to check for under- students know and can do at the end VA: ASCD. Strauss, V. (2021, March 10). What standing is too late. Checking for of the lesson. This is the data you’re ‘learning loss’ really means. Washington understanding throughout the lesson going to use to make adjustments to Post. will provide formative, real-time data, upcoming lessons and activities. enabling you to make quick instruc- Successfully getting through tional pivots that are intentional each lesson is every teacher’s goal. Craig Simmons is a turnaround and aligned to students’ immediate However, a lesson can only be con- instructional coach in Atlanta instructional needs. sidered a success when students Public Schools and owner of CAP Asking questions and having stu- demonstrate that they learned the ­Curriculum Educational Consulting and dents demonstrate their learning by intended outcomes—the lesson’s ­Services, LLC. Follow him on Twitter showing their work are two easy and objective. @_­craigasimmons.

a s c d / w w w . a s c d . o r g 19 How Innovative Teachers Can Start Teaching Innovation

Three ways to enhance your lesson planning to generate creative thinking. Jane E. Pollock, Laura J. Tolone, and Gary S. Nunnally

ithout question, 2020 was a year for inno- vative teaching. The teachers we worked with in professional developmentW sessions around the world wholeheartedly plunged into hybrid schedules, synchronous teaching, and asynchronous classes. They experi- mented with blended learning, hoping the models that propose individual- ization using digital resources would increase student engagement, creativity, and higher-order thinking. Teachers pored over online resources to solve problems and made decisions about how to use technology to motivate students. As teachers used digital programs and video, they sought feedback and revised their teaching; in short, they innovated. Tyler Douglas, a history teacher we worked with, admitted that prior to the pandemic, he considered ­technology-assisted instruction optional

PROSTOCK-STUDIO / iSTOCK in ­conjunction with in-person Did the last year of innovative teaching; now, he believes blended learning is here to stay. teaching result in students learning His question to us was: Did that year of innovative teaching result to be more innovative, too? in students learning to be more innovative, too? In other words, since teachers experimented, solved successful practice is the ability to problems, and made decisions about ­replicate the procedural knowledge. using technology, was it true that When the “practice” approach is students also developed those same used for declarative knowledge— critical and creative thinking skills? such as facts, concepts, and infor- Innovative teaching means the mation—however, the result is teacher is the creator, but unfortu- memorization, and usually only for nately it does not necessarily mean the short-term. Do you remember the same for the students. Inno- studying the content for a test and vation is not just doing something forgetting it within a few days? Most new; it is thinking of new ways to students feel the same way. improve a product, a method, or an In contrast to procedural idea. How can educators like Tyler knowledge, declarative knowledge teach students to become better is easy to learn and just as easy innovators themselves? We believe to forget. So let’s consider: Is it there are three key adjustments to important for declarative knowledge lesson planning that can help them: to be retained in long-term (1) teach declarative knowledge so memory—and, if so, why? that it sticks, (2) teach thinking skills In his book, The New Executive explicitly, and (3) use technology to Brain: Frontal Lobes in a Complex maximize access to information. World, Elkhonon Goldberg (2009) describes the brain as an orchestra, with the pre-frontal cortex as the 1 conductor. He observes that the Teach Declarative Knowledge fortuitous “emergence of language So It Sticks and the advent of the frontal lobes” Neuroscientists confirm that struc- contribute to how we connect tural components of the human brain new sensory data and declarative uniquely process different types of knowledge with our previous expe- knowledge. For instance, proce- riences to make meaning (p. 23). dural knowledge, such as reading, This generative transformation, or computing, singing, and drawing, is thinking, leads to new ideas, or inno- best learned through practice. This vation. And it makes sense that the type of skill-based knowledge can be more knowledge you retain, the more hard to learn because it requires a productive your thinking. Indeed, lot of practice, but it is also hard to we believe that teaching declarative forget. Once you have learned how knowledge so that it sticks—so that it to ride a bike, you have learned how is retained in long-term memory—is to ride a bike forever. The result of a cornerstone of innovative thinking.

A S C D / w w w . ascd . o r g 21 Figure 1 - GANAG: 5 Steps for Every Lesson

SET THE GOAL HIGH-YIELD STRATEGIES Research suggests tech- Reinforcing effort and providing recognition Setting objectives and providing feedback 1–2 niques to help students MINUTES TEACHER ROLE STUDENT ROLE remember material better. G Make the declarative or procedural lesson goal clear Write and/or say the lesson goal and rate self on current In Classroom Instruction and visible and teach a strategy so students know degree of knowledge or skill That Works, one author of how to interact with it this article (Jane Pollock) Opportunity for Feedback: Self-Assessment and her colleagues intro- duced nine high-yield ACCESS PRIOR KNOWLEDGE strategies teachers can HIGH-YIELD STRATEGIES Nonlinguistic representations Cooperative learning Questions, cues, and advanced organizers 2–3 teach students to help MINUTES them retain information TEACHER ROLE STUDENT ROLE (Marzano, Pickering, & A Provide students with a prompt that anticipates the Connect to the visual prompt provided by the teacher, lesson content or cues the new information to be think about it in relation to current knowledge, and talk Pollock, 2001). In order learned with partners to clarify thinking of effectiveness, they are: identify similarities and Opportunity for Feedback: Peer Assessment differences; summarize and take notes; reinforce INTRODUCE NEW INFORMATION effort; practice; use non- HIGH-YIELD STRATEGIES Nonlinguistic representations Cooperative learning Questions, cues, and advanced organizers linguistic representa- 10–20 tions; use cooperative Summarizing and note taking MINUTES learning; set objectives N TEACHER ROLE STUDENT ROLE and feedback; generate • Introduce new information to students and model • Take notes to gather new information as guided by the how to take notes to gather and organize declarative teacher and test hypotheses; and knowledge or practice procedural knowledge • Seek clarification from peers and/or the teacher during employ questions, cues, • Pause frequently throughout the delivery of content pauses by generating questions and advance organizers. so students clarify their thinking by generating or • Edit notes with the new information gained and/or answering questions, or using other strategies solve a problem after an example A teacher should plan lessons to ensure that Opportunity for Feedback: Peer and Expert Assessment ­students regularly use these high-yield strategies. APPLY NEW INFORMATION To support such HIGH-YIELD STRATEGIES Identifying similarities and differences Generating and testing hypotheses planning, we have 10–20 adapted Madeline A Questions, cues, and advanced organizers Homework and practice MINUTES Hunter’s Master Teaching TEACHER ROLE STUDENT ROLE lesson plan model Explain the learning task and circulate among students Individually apply what is being learned, use thinking to incorporate these as they independently apply the new information to skills for declarative knowledge or practice procedural check understanding and provide feedback knowledge, and seek feedback from peers and the strategies. Our Master teacher Learners schema involves Opportunity for Feedback: Self-, Peer, and Expert Assessment five steps—set the goal, access prior knowledge, REVIEW THE GOAL introduce new infor- HIGH-YIELD STRATEGIES mation, apply new infor- Reinforcing effort and providing recognition Setting objectives and providing feedback 3–5 MINUTES mation, and review the TEACHER ROLE STUDENT ROLE goal (known as GANAG G Ask students to rate their understanding of the lesson Rate own understanding in relationship to the lesson goal for short). It also includes goal at the end of the class session and effort exerted in the class session ways a teacher can deliver Opportunity for Feedback: Self-Assessment lessons to actively engage all students by teaching Source: Pollock, J. E., Hensley, S., & Tolone, L. (2019). High-Quality Lesson Planning (QRG). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

22 E d u ca t i o n a l L eade r s h i p / S u m m e r 2 0 2 1 them to use the strategies (Pollock, her class; now, using GANAG, think about which song to pur- 2007; Pollock & Tolone, 2020). she designs her slides to teach chase online, how to analyze their Figure 1 shows how to use GANAG. ­students how to take notes during schedules to find time to attend a Each step in GANAG states the the Introduce New Information phase party, or how to compare various teacher action and describes how to (note taking). She adds “pause” restaurant options. Given that stu- actively engage all students during slides between her content slides dents are already thinking naturally the lesson. and teaches students to use inter- to process the world around them, For example, one math teacher active notebooks, so they have time why would we argue that teachers who worked with us used to write to think about the content. They should explicitly teach thinking skills his learning objective on the board, might add information to a diagram in school? Because many of students’ assuming students would read it. (­nonlinguistic), talk with a tablemate assignments ask them to remember Now he teaches students to write briefly about an issue (cooperative information, but not to compare, down the objective and pre-assess learning), or generate questions to analyze, or make associations about their knowledge and their effort. Stu- connect more deeply to the content the topics in the same way they do dents assess themselves again at the (questions). The frequent pauses re- in their daily lives. To teach inno- end of class to gauge their learning. engage students during this phase, vation, teachers can explicitly teach Students noticed that when they increasing the likelihood that they thinking skills by encouraging stu- increased effort, they learned the will retain the information. dents to think about the declarative math better. In only a few days, stu- Teachers who intentionally plan knowledge within the lesson’s goal. dents began to ask for the objective for student engagement in these ways To teach thinking explicitly, our and often would question its con- have reported that their students’ GANAG framework suggests using nection to previous goals. Their long-term retention of declarative some of the 12 skills listed in The engagement, the teacher says, has knowledge noticeably increased. i5 Approach: Lesson Planning that allowed the objective to serve as the Then they could tackle the next Teaches Thinking Skills and Fosters students’ learning intention, rather step: teaching critical and creative Innovation (Pollock & Hensley, than it being purely teacher driven. thinking skills. 2018), such as, classifying, using Similarly, another teacher we analogies, analyzing perspectives, worked with, Trish Harry, used to 2 investigating, and finding logical review the previous day’s lesson at Teach Thinking Skills fallacies. Each of the thinking skills the start of each class. Now she delib- Returning to how the brain func- includes a series of steps. Here’s one erately plans for students to access tions, Goldberg writes that humans, example: prior knowledge, step 2 in GANAG. uniquely, can “create models of Trish shows a visual and provides something that does not yet exist but Systems Analysis: Know how the a question for students to discuss that one wants to bring into exis- parts of a system impact the whole. in pairs (cooperative learning). She tence” (p. 23). To adapt one of the 1. Identify an object, event, or thing as might show a political cartoon or an examples Goldberg provides (2009), a system. image of an artifact (nonlinguistic) it makes sense that you do not need to cue the new information tied to to use your frontal lobes to remember 2. Describe its parts and how they function. the goal. Trish notes that her lesson what a person looks like or to make reviews in the past only engaged a mental image of a bird, but you do 3. Change a part or function and five or six students, whereas using have to use your pre-frontal cortex explain how that affects the whole. an image and pair/share in this step to think of how to design a way for 4. Change other part(s) and explain piques every student’s attention humans to fly. When we think, we the results. every time. generate new ideas. We innovate. 5. Summarize and use the findings to In the past, chemistry teacher In their daily lives, students are generate deeper understandings or an Amber Greer would spend her exposed to volumes of stimulation improvement to the system. (Pollock planning time creating slides for and information that makes them & Hensley, 2018)

A S C D / w w w . ascd . o r g 23 Many of students’ assignments ask can students access enough information that can lead to deep thinking about any given topic them to remember information, but in a school’s curriculum? We expect that most educators will have a resounding answer— not to compare, analyze, or make the Internet. In the world outside of the classroom, we see, associations about the topics in the hear, smell, touch, and taste as ways to gather same way they do in their daily lives. information. Traditionally in school, students have only been able to see and hear about a topic from a teacher. Textbooks and print mate- rials can only provide so much information and Adapting this approach, a history teacher generally not enough to create the environment like Tyler Douglas might plan a lesson about that engenders deep thinking. When a teacher the settlement of the West in the United States. plans lessons that incorporate technology, After the lecture and discussion, he could teach however, students have access to almost infinite students to apply the newly acquired declar- multisensory stimuli. ative knowledge by using systems analysis. The concept of the i5 Approach mentioned Tyler could then frame the time period as a above emerged from blending the current system and suggest that certain changes, such expectation that students use technology in as revising the Homestead Act or relocating school with the neurological finding that people the Transcontinental Railroad, would result need to know a lot to think productively. By in different settlement patterns. This type of searching online, students can literally find thinking task allows students to deepen their something to “think about,” to generate better understanding of history while generating new original ideas. Searching online provides insights about historical concepts. more than just basic textbook information. Of course, teachers from all disciplines It can also provide video, pictures, diagrams, can teach thinking skills. A math teacher can ­opportunities to modify models, and ways to use classifying as a method for 1st graders to seek and receive feedback. learn the differences among shapes; a middle The i5 Approach calls for teachers to show school science teacher can teach students to students how to use their devices during use analogy to describe the endocrine system the instruction or new information part of a like a vending machine; and physical education lesson, as opposed to using them only for the students may investigate ways that people guided practice or independent practice. When recover from different types of exercise and teachers plan lessons for teaching students to sports injuries. To think deeply, students need use critical and creative thinking skills, they to learn to use thinking skills, and they need should consider how to maximize access to a lot of information about the topics. That information. When planning lessons, teachers leads us to the third aspect of lesson planning can ask themselves the “i5 questions” about for ­innovation: using technology to maximize using technology: access to information. 1. How would more information help ­students see the details and breadth of this topic? 3 2. How would images or nonlinguistic repre- Use Technology to Maximize sentations add meaning or context to the topic? Access to Information 3. How would interacting with programs or We have explained why and how to teach stu- other people provide clarifying and corrective dents to retain declarative information and use feedback? thinking skills, yet the question remains: Where 4. How would inquiry—a thinking skill—

24 E d u ca t i o n a l L eade r s h i p / S u m m e r 2 0 2 1 enrich the depth of a topic? and much better at gathering the curricular content with effective strat- 5. What innovative ideas could right information, so they can create egies to enhance long-term retention, ­students produce? original ideas. they become more engaged. By One educator we worked with, Teachers can plan for students applying thinking skills as a spring- Frank Korb, teaches about chiar- to use digital platforms to gather board for creating, they naturally oscuro art. While a textbook may large amounts of content about the seek more information. Finally, they provide a few paragraphs and images lesson’s topic; this enhances the need to readily have access to large to explain the concept, Frank asks students’ ability to sort, anticipate, amounts of information in multi- his students to search for information plan, predict, and evaluate. They will sensory formats to make connections about the technique online, where have plenty of declarative knowledge between existing knowledge and they could view multiple sites—from to “think about,” opening doors to new possibilities. museums to private collections— innovating. Teachers, whether teaching in- with related information and images. person or remote, can have confi- Students use digital devices to gain Turning Students dence that by making the few access to the volume of information into Innovators changes to lesson planning and and images that enrich interaction How can educators ensure that inno- delivery described here, their with peers and the teacher about vative teaching results in students ­innovative lessons will also turn the lesson’s content. To process this being innovators? Students come to ­students into the innovators. EL inundation of knowledge, Frank’s class actively seeking information and students learn to use inquiry, setting feedback. They need lessons planned References the stage for innovation. They use and delivered in a slightly different Goldberg, E. (2009). The new executive the knowledge they gained to push way than in the past. When students brain: Frontal lobes in a complex world. New York: Oxford University Press. further in their thinking by creating have opportunities to regularly learn Marzano, R. J., Pickering, D. J., & their own art pieces or producing Pollock, J. E. (2001). Classroom ­critiques to share with the class. instruction that works: Research- In an advanced Spanish course, to based strategies for increasing student take another example, students might achievement. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Pollock, J. E. (2007). Improving student read a picaresque novel. They could REFLECT & DISCUSS learning one teacher at a time. learn to search online for information ­Alexandria, VA: ASCD. about the genre, including exam- Pollock, J. E., & Hensley, S. M. (2018). Do you think your students got ining images from books, cinema, The i5 approach: Lesson planning that and other forms of art. Students more innovative while learning teaches thinking and fosters innovation. may listen to podcasts or lectures by during the pandemic? Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Pollock, J. E., & Tolone, L. J. (2020). Why or why not? authors and critics; for inquiry, they Improving student learning one teacher might engage in problem solving at a time, 2nd edition. Alexandria, VA: about whether certain texts should be What’s one small way you ASCD. considered part of the genre. might rewrite a lesson plan to When technology coach George encourage innovative thinking Jane E. Pollock, author of many Santos works with elementary in students? teachers, he reminds them that stu- ASCD books, works with teachers to dents need to learn how to search improve learning. Laura J. Tolone has How can teachers use served students in the United States for information. In addition to technology in their teaching to and abroad as a teacher, librarian, training teachers how to use pro- broaden student thinking administrative leader, and consultant. grams, he employs the i5 Approach Gary S. Nunnally works with schools and learning, but not to help them ensure that the content to develop curriculum, research-based of lessons will result in students overwhelm them? instruction, and standards-based becoming both technologically savvy assessments.

A S C D / w w w . ascd . o r g 25 For School Leaders, Reviewing Isolated Lessons Isn’t Enough Evaluators need to consider lessons in the context of the overall curriculum unit, like the parts of a full-course meal.

Jay McTighe based administrators, instructional coaches, department and grade-level chairs—usually n schools, a lesson functions as an indi- look for these elements when reviewing lesson vidual building block to support the learning plans and observing lessons being imple- of new material. Experts have identified mented in classrooms. While there is certainly key elements in an effective lesson,1 and value in examining individual lessons, I offer Ieducation leaders—including school- a ­cautionary note: Don’t miss the forest for the 26 E d u c a t i o n a l L e a d e r s h i p / S u m m e r 2 0 2 1 VIKPIT / SHUTTERSTOCK trees. Specifically, I contend that school and While there is value in examining district leaders need to consider lessons in the context of the overall curriculum unit those individual lessons, don’t miss lessons are part of. In developing Understanding by Design the forest for the trees. (UbD), our well-known curriculum planning framework, Grant Wiggins and I chose the unit ideas;” introduce key academic vocabulary as a focus for instructional design because the (such as through a word wall); forecast sum- key elements of UbD—“big ideas,” enduring mative assessments so that students know understandings, essential questions, and per- how their learning will be gauged; and present formance assessment tasks—are too complex (or codevelop with students) the “success and multifaceted to be satisfactorily addressed criteria” by which their learning will be eval- within a single lesson.2 For instance, essential uated. Beginning lessons should also include questions are intended be explored over a pre-assessment to check on students’ prior time, not fully “answered” by the end of one knowledge and skill levels, as well as check for lesson. Similarly, authentic performance tasks potential misconceptions prior to introducing a and projects (as in project-based learning) new topic or skill. cannot be fully accomplished within a 45- or By contrast, the lessons that comprise the 52-minute lesson period. bulk of the unit (the meal’s entrée) should systematically build targeted knowledge and How Is a Unit Like a Full-Course Dinner? skills over time. Like the carefully selected Consider an analogy to dining: Think of a cur- spices in a main course, the particular instruc- riculum unit as a full-course meal, with indi- tional technique(s) used in a given lesson vidual lessons representing the various parts of should align closely with the targeted learning the meal–aperitif, appetizer, entrée, side dishes, outcomes. For example, there are times for bread, dessert, and digestif. While a school leader can review discrete lesson plans (just as a diner can take a few bites of an appetizer), it’s important to recognize that a single lesson General “Look-fors” in Unit Plans is a necessary but not sufficient part of an overall, in-depth learning experience (just as an When reviewing unit plans, leaders should consider to what ­appetizer is a key but insufficient element of an extent: entire meal). n The unit and the associated lessons are focused on priority Reviewing lesson plans or viewing lessons standards, “big ideas,” and transferrable skills. in the context of a larger unit underscores n Students are helped to understand a unit’s overall goals, how another key point: Lessons vary across the they will be assessed, and the “success criteria” by which their scope of a unit. Like an appetizer served at the learning will be judged. beginning of a meal, initial lessons will have n The targeted instruction in lessons is well aligned to these certain features that differ from later ones, unit goals. and in reviewing all the lessons in a unit plan, n Lessons include opportunities for students to actively make a leader should expect to see different kinds meaning of, and apply, the content and skills of the unit (such as of lessons containing different elements at through Socratic questioning, thinking frames, etc.). the beginning, middle, and end of the unit. For example, we would expect the opening n Opportunities for students to receive specific, timely lesson(s) of a unit to begin with some “hook” feedback, and opportunities to use it, are built-in. to engage and focus learners on the new n The unit’s summative assessments collect appropriate evi- material; provide an advance organizer of the dence for the targeted learning goals. new content to be learned; present essential questions for the unit that focus on its “big

a s c d / w w w . a s c d . o r g 27 A leader should be able to see, in reviewing what you [learned, accomplished, or produced]? the progression of lessons in a unit, that n What would you do differently next time? students are moving from guided practice n How does what you’ve learned to increasingly independent applications. connect to other learnings? A final lesson might also include a celebration of worthy achievements direct instruction and modeling by The Unique Flavors and preview of the next unit. the teacher and times when Socratic of Unit Endings questioning or cooperative learning And just as a dessert differs in size Enjoy Your Meal will be most appropriate for engaging and taste from the main meal, the In sum, just as I encourage teachers students in active meaning making. concluding lesson in a unit will to frame out an entire unit before Main-meal lessons should also likely include unique elements, focusing on developing the discrete include formative assessments whose such as opportunities for students lessons, I recommend that leaders results give teachers insight about to self-assess and reflect upon their look at a teacher's overall unit plan, whether some reteaching or differ- experience. Teachers might pose to see where individual lessons fit in, entiated instruction may be needed. questions like: before reviewing any specific lesson Information from ongoing formative n What do you now really plan or observing a lesson being assessments also enables teachers to ­understand about [key concept(s) taught. In the spirit of “backward provide timely and helpful feedback or process]? design,” leaders need to clearly have to students, along with opportunities n What are you most proud of in the end in mind—the overall goals for learners to use that feedback of a unit—before they analyze and (such as focused practice, revision of evaluate individual lessons—the drafts, revisiting key concepts). means to those ends. Another reason for viewing a So, think of your role in reviewing series of lessons, rather than only lesson plans like being a restaurant one, is to enable leaders to observe REFLECT & DISCUSS reviewer. You need to sample the whether the lesson sequence shows entire meal (a full unit) in order to a “gradual release of responsibility” For principals: Do you better understand and appreciate the over time. A leader should be able generally review teachers’ qualities of a single course (lesson). to see that students are moving lesson plans in the context of Bon appétit! EL from guided practice to increasingly the overall unit the lesson is ­independent applications as they part of? How might it change 1Silver Strong & Associates. (2013). develop their skills. your review of a lesson The thoughtful classroom teacher effec- tiveness framework (Resource guide). Toward the latter part of the unit, if you did so? Franklin Lakes, NJ: Author. we would expect to see lessons 2Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005). designed to prepare learners for cul- Does it resonate with you the Understanding by Design, expanded 2nd edition. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. minating assessments. Just as athletic way McTighe describes how coaches employ scrimmages and lessons in the early, middle, and theater directors use dress rehearsals later part of a unit differ? What to prepare for the opening-night would need to change in your performance, so should teachers Jay McTighe (jay@mctighe-associates. include experiences in final lessons school or district for the lesson- com) is an education writer and that prepare students for summative planning process to include consultant, and coauthor with Grant more emphasis on the different Wiggins of The Understanding by assessments. These could include Design Guide to Creating High-Quality parts and functions of a unit? “practice” tests, mini tasks, or tasks Units (ASCD, 2011) and other books in guided by the teacher. the UbD series.

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I WOULD LIKE TO LEARN MORE SolutionTree.com/RedwoodLearning Developing Well-Designed Standards-Based Units A five-step framework takes the guesswork out of instructional planning.

Tim Westerberg

espite the best of intentions on the part of overworked and undertrained classroom teachers, instructional planning can too often be described as idiosyncratic, haphazard, and lacking any logically or pedagogically defensible structure. What passes for planning often involves some version of: (1) thinking about Dthe next day’s lesson based on what is suggested by the next section in the textbook, under the unquestioned belief that if what is in the textbook is “covered,” important state standards will be addressed; (2) creating formative assessment tasks on the spot each day; and (3) coming up with a summative assessment the night before it is to be administered. What is missing from this approach is a unifying planning framework that ensures alignment between stated curriculum, taught curriculum, and assessed curriculum. A sound structure that guides teams of teachers in developing tightly aligned units of instruction, before the first lesson of the unit is taught, has the potential to significantly improve student performance

30 E d u c a t i o n a l L e a d e r s h i p / S u m m e r 2 0 2 1 ALEXTANYA / SHUTTERSTOCK (Westerberg, 2016). A standards-based learning what students must show the teacher they know planning framework, encompassing the five steps and can do in order to meet a particular level of below and field-tested in my work with schools proficiency for a given standard. Marzano (2006) across the country, provides such a structure. recommends what is in effect a five-point scale (0–4) with proficiency levels ofbelow basic, STEP 1 basic, proficient, and advanced. An example of a Identify Priority Standards for proficiency scale can be found in Marzano and Grade-Level Subjects and Courses Heflebower’s 2011Educational Leadership article Simply put, it is unrealistic to expect teachers “Grades That Show What Students Know.” to design units of instruction that promote deep The success criteria listed next to each pro- learning around every listed academic content ficiency level take the guesswork out of what standard. There just isn’t enough time. Effective is expected for students and help guard against unit planning begins with identifying a limited implicit bias on the part of teachers. For instance, number of overarching or enduring standards for the topic “Animal and Plant Survival” noted and moving from what Douglas Reeves calls in Figure 2 of the article just mentioned, students “fragmentation to focus” (Reeves, 2021). Criteria must, among other things, (1) “recall specific for identifying priority standards are well-estab- terminology related to the topic, such as plant, lished in the professional literature (see Marzano, animal, and survival” to be certified at the basic 2006; Heflebower, Hoegh, & Warrick, 2014). level, (2) “describe and give examples of what plants and animals need to survive” to be cer- STEP 2 tified as proficient, and (3) “compare and contrast Identify Existing Units of Instruction the different ways plants and animals breathe and that Address One (or More) Priority find nourishment” to be considered advanced. Standard(s) Success criteria identify the work for students Although there are exceptions, it is my expe- (and parents) and direct the development of rience that teachers traditionally organize assessment tasks and instructional strategies by instruction by topical units; for example, you teachers (see steps 4 and 5). might have “Solids, Liquids, and Gases” in a 2nd grade science class or “Reconstruction” in STEP 4 a high school U.S. history course. These units Design Assessment Tasks Tied may range from several days to several weeks in to Each Unit’s Proficiency Scale(s) length and are a useful way to “chunk” learning. Perhaps the strongest feature of this unit It is now expected in every state that instruc- planning framework, in addition to that of tional units be based on identified subject and providing clear expectations for student per- grade-level or course standards. It is not always formance, is the tight alignment the structure necessary, however, to develop new units from demands between the stated curriculum (as out- scratch. To honor teachers’ prior work, teams lined in unit priority standards and proficiency can examine existing units of instruction to see scales), the taught curriculum (instructional where priority standards are already addressed tasks, assignments, and resources), and the or to pinpoint units which can be redesigned to assessed curriculum (summative and formative include them. assessment tasks). The standards-based learning planning STEP 3 framework does not limit the types of summative Create a Proficiency Scale for and formative assessment tasks that teachers Each Standard in Each Unit can design—quizzes, tests, performances, Essential to effective unit planning, assessment, projects, labs, structured observations, and and instruction—whether for in-person or virtual oral ­examinations can all be valid and reliable learning—is identifying, clearly and specifically, assessment strategies.

a s c d / w w w . a s c d . o r g 31 What the planning structure does of what plants and animals need do is provide focus by tying each to survive.” assessment task to one or more of REFLECT & DISCUSS It is patently unfair to hold stu- the success criteria in the unit’s pro- dents accountable for something for When planning units, how ficiency scale(s). Particularly with which the teacher has provided no do you determine which regard to summative assessment, viable means of instruction. Every there should be no assessment standards to cover? How might success criterion at every proficiency task that cannot be linked directly you identify only those that level for every unit proficiency to one or more unit success cri- are the most “overarching or scale needs corresponding planned terion, and there should be no unit enduring”? instructional strategies. Alignment, success criterion for which there alignment, alignment! isn’t at least one (preferably more) What could you do to ensure assessment task. In other words, that every assignment or task Beyond Haphazard Planning valid and reliable assessment tasks is tied to one or more unit Alternatives to idiosyncratic, hap- should be incorporated for every unit success criterion? hazard, and unfocused instructional success criterion, nothing more and planning do exist. A standards-based nothing less. learning unit planning process, What would need to change Summative assessment tasks briefly outlined here, is one such in your school or department should be developed first, as they will alternative with a research base to then guide the development of appro- for teachers to undertake support it. Why not give teachers priate formative tasks. Formative standards-based unit planning support by introducing structure to assessments, like summative assess- as outlined in this article? the lesson-planning process? Why ments, are planned in advance of not provide students with a trans- teaching the unit and are tied to key parent system of aligned curriculum, junctures in the learning progression ­corresponding unit proficiency scales. assessment, and instruction? Why for the targeted topic or standard— As is the case with assessment not plan forward? EL points at which students must show tasks, in-class and out-of-class some level of mastery of key content strategies and assignments and the References and skills in order to be successful resources that support them must Heflebower, T., Hoegh, J. K., & Warrick, at the next stage in the progression. be tied directly to the success cri- P. (2014). A school leader’s guide to standards-based grading. Bloomington, Checks for understanding, employed teria listed in the unit proficiency IN: Marzano Research Laboratory. on an almost daily basis and not nec- scale(s). An instructional strategy or Marzano, R. J. (2006). Classroom essarily developed prior to the start of assignment that cannot be clearly tied assessment and grading that work. a unit, augment less frequent planned to one or more unit success criterion, ­Alexandria, VA: ASCD. formative assessments. even if it is the teacher’s favorite Reeves, D. (2021). Five professional learning transformations for a post- activity (six weeks of building COVID world. Educational Leadership, STEP 5 ­Conestoga wagons in 5th grade, unre- 78(5), 44–48. Identify “High-Probability” lated to any grade-level standard, is Westerberg, T. (2016). Charting a course Instructional Tasks and an example with which I am painfully to standards-based grading: What to Assignments Tied to Each familiar from my time as a principal), stop, what to start, and why it matters. Unit’s Proficiency Scale(s) is time not well spent. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. The last step in the unit planning On the other hand, for the topic process is to identify how the unit “Animal and Plant Survival,” having will be taught—what instruc- students grow plants under different Tim Westerberg is a former high tional strategies, assignments, and conditions (soil/no soil, water/no school principal now serving as an edu- resources will be deployed to best water, light/dark conditions, etc.) cation consultant. He is the author of Charting a Course to Standards-Based enable all students to reach the unit seems directly tied to the success Grading: What to Stop, What to Start, priority standards as defined in the criteria “describe and give examples and Why It Matters (ASCD, 2016).

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Visit www.ascd.org to learn more. Lesson Planning with UNIVERSAL DESIGN Lee Ann Jung for Learning s. Talbert felt great about the lessons she had planned for her high school seniors using Universal Design for Learning, a framework for differenti- Intentionally using UDL principles ating learning experiences. Her learning Mintentions were for students to evaluate sources of evi- upfront means making fewer dence and use evidence they gathered to support claims. adaptations later— The lessons built from activities like combing through social media and news sources to find claims that weren’t and reaching more students. adequately supported to making their own claims ­supported by evidence. Ms. Talbert included issues and topics that were on students’ minds. She clarified

38 E d u c a t i o n a l L e a d e r s h i p / S u m m e r 2 0 2 1 ­vocabulary and used multimedia, print, and celebrate one another’s unique qualities. audio as ways to access the content. Diversity is in no way a limitation as long Later in the year, her students explored and as we keep it top of mind when designing analyzed the effects of baseless claims made instruction and assessment. online through fast-spreading social media. Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Finally, the class moved into discussions and originally designed by the organization debates. The class discussion became close CAST, is a framework that guides pro- to tense at times when students had con- active design of classroom instruction flicting opinions, all supported by evidence and learning opportunities to make them they deemed credible. But with Ms. Talbert’s effective for a broad range of learners.1 UDL feedback and guidance, the groups used the offers guidelines on how we can make our class norms of collaboration to work through the dialogue in a productive manner. She beamed with pride as she watched the groups Providing students with navigate difficult topics, strong opinions, and conflicting evidence. options for how to express Not everyone spoke in class or led discus- their learning gives each sions—but Ms. Talbert knew some students showed their best work by writing, others by student the chance to speaking, and others through producing a cre- ative product. She provided all these options show their best work. for students to show their learning over time and was open to students’ additional ideas of how that learning could be shown. instruction and classroom environments STOCK welcoming, responsive, supportive, and Why We Need Universal flexible, so that the fewest students possible Design for Learning require additional support or adaptations. TWINSTERPHOTO / i Like Ms. Talbert’s, every classroom is filled The developers of the framework orga- with individuals who vary wildly—and nized UDL strategies into three categories: interestingly—in who they are as people. (1) multiple means of engagement—how Their many experiences and genetics make we engage and sustain students’ interest them who they are—each one unique and and persistence; (2) multiple means of wonderful. Some are strong with math, representation—how we ensure our others are talented artists; some light up instruction is accessible and improves when it’s time for science, and others love students’ understanding; and (3) multiple nothing more than getting lost in a fic- means of action and expression—how we tional work. Some students speak multiple support students to show their learning languages, but struggle in the language of in multiple ways. Such strategies, indi- instruction that is new to them. vidually, are neither new nor revolutionary. For every student who loves a particular But UDL, informed by these three prin- subject, there is another who is afraid of it, ciples and connected to neurological and and another who finds it uninteresting. educational research, offers an actionable Students not only vary in their skill level framework that educators can use to and preferences for academic content, but increase the accessibility and power of also in their social-emotional skills, devel- every lesson we design. opment, and learning. This diversity in our classroom can pose instructional chal- Planning for Multiple Means lenges, but it’s also an asset! It presents the of Engagement opportunity for students to learn from and Every teacher can relate to occasional dif- with one another, gain an understanding ficulty in gaining students’ interest. What if, of the interdependence within society, and when a student is having trouble engaging

a s c d / w w w . a s c d . o r g 39 KEVIN DAVIS in the classroom, instead of attrib- have used a GPS or map and books strengths. By investing effort in mul- uting the problem to the student, for translating languages. Now, all tiple means of representation during we reframed it as our problem with these needs are met with one device. lesson planning, we minimize special engagement, asking ­ourselves what Because we have a customizable adaptations, because we’ve designed the students’ behavior might say device with many options and func- up front for many types of variability. about our teaching? tions, fewer people need specialized Figure 2 shows some strategies for If we presume variability in equipment. And while some still may doing so. students’ interest and plan our prefer a physical calendar, say, we’d Giving options for multiple ways engagement strategies with the be hard pressed to find many people you present information to stu- least engaged student in mind, we’ll who own and use all those items. dents is not the same as segmenting probably engage all the students in Think of multiple means of rep- students using the long-debunked the class. Figure 1 shows some smart resentation—how we make our notion of different learning styles. strategies for universal engagement. instruction accessible to all stu- It simply means that, in instruction, dents—as a smartphone with many you always present content in various Planning for Multiple Means features and apps. Without a base ways that resonate with students’ dif- of Representation of multiple means of representation ferent strengths and preferences for Fifteen years ago, you may have had planned into each lesson, teachers processing information—based on a phone, a camera, a calendar, a video become exhausted trying to con- what you know of each learner and recorder, a device for listening to tinually figure out how to differen- what you’ve seen in their learning music, and a computer for accessing tiate content and deliver support to experiences. the Internet. For traveling, you may meet individual needs and maximize

40 E d u c a t i o n a l L e a d e r s h i p / S u m m e r 2 0 2 1 FIGURE 1. Strategies for Engagement

1. Start by connecting with students using positive interaction. • Use warm facial expressions and eye contact. • Individually greet and acknowledge students with warmth. • Show students empathy and support.

2. Demonstrate clarity of intentions and criteria for success. • Describe purpose for upcoming learning, in writing and orally. • Clarify vocabulary by highlighting words and lead groups to discuss these words’ meaning. • List, describe, and provide examples of success criteria for the learning.

3. Connect the purpose of the lesson to something of current relevance and value to students. • Tell a story your students can relate to. • Relate the lesson to a current event or pop culture for students’ age group. • Dialogue about the purpose of the lesson (beyond posting or reading the purpose).

4. Provide students choices—from simple to significant—for their learning. Have students • choose roles within small groups. • choose learning activities or assignments from a menu. • select the topic for their reading, research, or writing. • codesign a lesson.

5. Make the learning space safe for taking risks and making mistakes. • Let students choose where they sit and whether to work in a group or alone. • Avoid public displays that compare performance or behaviors. • Use small groups, where taking risks may feel safer. • Ensure “participation” includes options other than speaking in a large group.

6. Use novelty to gain students’ interest. • Use humor. • Start with a thought provoking or controversial statement and dialogue. • Use a short video that captures interest.

7. Design activities that involve active exploration. • Include opportunities to investigate, reflect, make, create, or dialogue. • Have students move about the room during learning.

8. Design for small group instruction. • Use short, whole-group instruction followed by stations. • Let small groups determine their own norms of collaboration and goals for learning. • Have flexible groups so students work with a variety of learners, with choice in group membership.

9. Use strategies to balance participation. • Use “no hands up” think time before inviting contributions from the whole group. • Use a talking stick. • Rotate assigned roles of “talker” and “questioners.”

10. Offer strategies for students to cope with frustration, anxiety, and low confidence. • Offer mindfulness exercises (or apps) to help students cope with difficult learning. • Help students break learning into smaller chunks. • Have students reflect on a time when the learning was difficult, listing strategies they used then and applying them to current learning.

a s c d / w w w . a s c d . o r g 41 Planning for Multiple Means FIGURE 2. Strategies for Multiple Means of Representation of Action and Expression There are many ways to measure 1. Teach metacognitive strategies for learning within context of this concept or skill. a student’s learning of any • Use analogies and metaphors. given skill or understanding. • Teach notetaking and study strategies. But too often, we use a single, • Present a mnemonic orally and visually to help students remember new teacher-designed assessment ­information—or help students create a mnemonic, such as a song. • Connect the concept to something students already know, using several modalities. for all students. The premise is • Chunk material into smaller pieces. that a standardized assessment • Create study guides with strategies for learning embedded. makes for a fairer assessment. In fact, giving a single option 2. Use multiple means to represent content, concepts, and skills. for showing learning advantages • Use slides with photographs and text, or a video, to enhance a mini-lecture. those students with strengths in • Give students the option to listen to text, read it, or both. that option. Some of our students • Present content through a graphic organizer. are talented presenters but lack • Use illustrations to support comprehension. confidence as “test takers.” Some 3. Provide help with vocabulary, syntax, notations, and symbols. find tests easy but are afraid of • Use translations for English learners. speaking in front of the class. • Provide support for decoding text. Some have strengths in writing • Clarify the meanings of symbols and notations. or graphic design. For many, the • Use scaffolds to support syntax and sentence structure. idea of something being timed produces a great deal of stress 4. Gradually release support to promote independence. and interferes with showing • Model and use examples and non-examples. their learning. • Use guided practice and collaborative learning experiences. This variability in performance • As assessments show students gaining capability with a skill, move to ­independent practice. under different conditions affects educators’ ability to see what 5. Create experiences for deliberate practice, spaced over time. students understand and can do • Help students select the level of difficulty that’s just beyond what they’re confident if they only use a single type of they know/can do, but that can be achieved with practice and concentration. assessment. For example, if the • Provide learning experiences that allow and require students to persist with only option we give is a timed ­concentration across many days, with time between each experience—such as test, then students who have problems that include provocative questions, conflict, and contradictions. test anxiety or need more time • Let students identify and select conditions under which they concentrate and for processing can’t show what persist best. • Minimize distractions during times of deliberate practice and concentration. they know. The validity of the test is compromised because we 6. Give formative feedback. didn’t offer another option. The • Provide clear, ungraded feedback on products of learning and the process assessment is less fair because of learning. it’s standardized. • Guide students to evaluate their own learning. This isn’t to suggest that we • Conference with individual students about a product or process; help them ­generate give students options for the a plan for what to do next. level of proficiency they show, • Share feedback in ways that show confidence in the student’s ability to learn. • Connect feedback to specific learning goals. only for the way they show it. We can have the same expec- 7. Use formative assessment to change instruction. tations for skills and under- Use formative assessment of students’ work and learning to: standing shown through a class • inform the strategies you use in the remainder of the unit. presentation, say, as through a • determine whether students are ready for more independent practice and learning. paper, test, or other measure. • make decisions about flexible grouping. (Note that even when we use • make decisions about supplemental instruction for small groups.

42 E d u c a t i o n a l L e a d e r s h i p / S u m m e r 2 0 2 1 What if, when a student is FIGURE 3. Strategies for Multiple Means of Action and Expression having trouble engaging in Ways Students Can Demonstrate Their Learning the classroom, instead of • Videorecorded presentation • Live presentation to the class—or to a teacher or external audience attributing the problem to • Infographic the student, we reframed • Multimedia presentation • Individual conference with a teacher it as our problem? • Written answers to given questions • Lesson taught live to another person • Physical model student constructs alternative measures, it’s still important to • Illustration or other visual art product document the need for extended time for • Diagram or graph ­students with ­disabilities, who will need this • Essay, story, or other written product ­accommodation for state or national testing.) • Skit or play Figure 3 shows many of the nearly countless • Revision or improvement of an existing product ways we can have students demonstrate their • Solutions to given problems understanding and skills. If the idea of giving • Newly created problems students many different options for showing • Service activity related to the content/skill their learning feels overwhelming, teachers • Being interviewed on the content can start by identifying the typical assessment • Verbal response to given questions, or responding with a gesture or image for an upcoming unit and selecting one alter- • Musical performance native. Regardless of whether educators take this on full force or start small, the need for this practice is pressing. options for expression, we may never fully Realizing Their Brilliance realize the brilliance many of our students Many teachers recognize that each of their have—brilliance often disguised by a ­students is (wondrously) different, in how they ­counterfeit definition of how success in take in information, how they practice and school must look. EL engage with content to learn it, and in how they 1CAST. (n.d.). About CAST. show their learning. UDL gives teachers a way to present information in many formats, as Ms. Author’s note: “Ms. Talbert” is a hypothetical Talbert did in her unit, so instruction can hit teacher and situation. The strategies outlined here as many students’ preferred ways of learning for engagement, representation, and expression as possible. And UDL strategies make the most are drawn from UDL resources, the professional research literature, strategies I’ve used, and my of assessment, since the purpose of our day-to- observations within classrooms. For additional day classroom assessment is to inform teaching strategies for applying UDL in lesson planning, visit and learning. Providing students with options http://­udlguidelines.cast.org/. for how to express their learning gives each student the chance to show their best work. Copyright © 2021 Lee Ann Jung The resulting assessment types lend much more valid information and give teachers more precise direction on how to maximize learning Lee Ann Jung is CEO of Lead Inclusion and a for each child. clinical professor at San Diego State ­University. Without providing multiple means of pre- She consults with schools internationally on inclusion, Universal Design for Learning, senting concepts and information, we won’t assessment and grading, and Response to reach all students. And without providing ­Intervention. Follow her on Twitter @­leeannjung.

a s c d / w w w . a s c d . o r g 43 Planning for Fair Group Work Group projects have a bad reputation among students— but educators can change that.

Amir Rasooli and positive interdependence and indi- Susan M. Brookhart vidual accountability, but not always. Often students are simply assigned a roup work has a lot going project or task to carry out in a small for it. It incorporates group, the final project is graded, and the social-cognitive and that same grade is assigned to each of social-emotional aspects the members of the group producing of learning and can lead it. Students perceive this practice Gto memorable, engaging lessons and as unfair—which can make them increased learning for students (Forsell, reluctant to participate in group work Forslund Frykedal, & Hammar Chiriac, (Forsell et al., 2020). Unfair group 2020; Fung, Hung, & Lui, 2018). But experiences put students in a difficult group work can also fall flat—and position, as students expressed in cause student disengagement—if not interviews Amir did with 27 Canadian ­carefully designed and assessed. high school students in 2020. The The original cooperative learning interviews were part of Amir’s doctoral movement, energized in the 1970s, dissertation investigating students’ emphasized that group work must be experiences of fairness in classroom designed to feature positive interdepen- assessment (all student quotations here dence (each student’s work depends are taken from this unpublished quali- on the others’ work) and individual tative study). One student expressed accountability (individual learning is his feelings about group work this measured and reported)—methods way: “I’ve definitely been in a lot of found to increase student achievement. groups where people don’t contribute, Since then, group work has grown but I don’t go to the teacher and try in popularity, under various names and tell them the problem because . . . (cooperative­ learning, collaborative you don’t want to, you know, be a learning, and group work, to name snitch. Like, we don’t want to tell on a few). Teachers use group work to our friends.” promote active and deep learning and foster students’ collaborative skills So How Do We Do Group (Tomcho & Foels, 2012). Work Right? Sometimes group work is still To implement and assess group work designed according to the original fairly, teachers should focus on four

BJORN LIE / IKON IMAGES cooperative learning principles of elements: purpose of the group work,

A S C D / w w w . ascd . o r g 45 group composition and student choice, physical the question of whether each individual student environment and task design, and assessment in the group achieved the target standard or and grading. Let’s look at each element in turn. learning goal (we’ll say more on how to do this later). Group work can also be designed specifically Establish a Clear Purpose to teach collaboration skills. In this case, work 1 for Working in Groups can be assessed at the individual or group level, Teachers generally use group work for at least depending on the kind of skills entailed—but two purposes: to support students’ progress it shouldn’t be graded in a way that counts on toward learning goals and to develop collab- students’ official records. orative learning skills. Each of those goals can be assessed at the group or individual level Use Heterogeneous Groups, (Forsell et al., 2020), creating four possible purposes for implementing and assessing 2 But Offer Choice If Possible group work: Teachers give students choice during group n Individual learning: Did work in two ways (Rasooli, Zandi, & DeLuca, an individual student 2018). Students can choose which group they achieve a standard or will join or students can be assigned to a group learning goal? and given choices about their role and work n Group learning: within that group. Did the group project At times, it’s best for the teacher to create the meet standards for groups; for one thing, this makes groups less quality work? homogeneous. To form heterogeneous groups n Individual col- based on ability levels, teachers usually select laboration skills: Did a mix of lower, middle, and higher-performing an individual student students (Williams, Cera Guy, & Shore, 2019). work effectively as a When groups are diverse in aspects other than member of the group? academic ability—for example, in terms of stu- n Group collaboration dents’ backgrounds and experiences relating skills: Did the students function to the work at hand—groups will include a well as a group? broader range of points of view. Teachers’ understandings of their intended Allowing students choice in selecting their purposes for a group work project and what group members, however, seems to enhance specifically they will assess are often vague students’ perception of fairness in group work. (Forsell et al., 2020). Sometimes, teachers just People perceive fairness when they are given have a general sense that it’s good for students choice and control over decisions that will to work together, without any consideration impact their outcomes (Forsell et al., 2020). of how the students’ learning will benefit from Students may also assume more ownership of a particular group task. This may be part of the work when they’ve chosen their group. the reason some teachers give group grades— For some group activities, then, teachers and it’s one reason students perceive group may want to give students choice about which grades as unfair. group they will be in; for others, they may give Report card grades are assigned to individual students choice about which role they will play students and are intended to be measures of in the project or task. These decisions should achievement against curricular standards. be aligned with the purpose of the group work, Therefore, group work that’s going to count on and are made easier if students have many individual students’ report cards should answer opportunities to do things in different groups

46 E d u ca t i o n a l L eade r s h i p / S u m m e r 2 0 2 1 throughout the course. Giving students voice, control, and agency over group work procedures to the greatest extent possible will enhance most students’ learning and What a Well-Designed perceptions of fairness. As one high school student said, Group Project Looks Like “I think giving us the chance to pick people—you know what you’re getting yourself into from the beginning. So Here’s an example of a successful, fair group if there really is a problem, you should speak up. If not, I project a teacher designed, keeping in mind think you kind of just have to deal with it. It’s kind of like four principles: (1) establish a clear purpose a life lesson.” for group work; (2) use heterogeneous In even the most carefully composed group, however, groups and give students choice when pos- free-riding (when one member of the group does not sible; (3) use functional, flexible seating and contribute) can occur, and high-performing members well-designed materials; (4) grade individual might reduce their contributions to preserve the sense learning and assess collaborative skills of fairness (Webb et al., 1998). Careful task design and separately. role scaffolding can reduce free-riding and develop group Classroom groups have been given a members’ collaborative learning skills. As with any skill, project to investigate the impact of World collaboration can be taught. Teachers can develop rules War I on the social, cultural, and economic or criteria for fostering trust and respect among group conditions of a region in North America. members and communicate these rules to students Students were given the chance to select upon the beginning of the group work. These rules can their group members, with each group include: (a) everyone should be respected in the group; having four students. The teacher shares with (b) everyone should recognize and appreciate diverse students the rubric she will use for grading ways of thinking, working, and behaving as beneficial the project (principle 1). Groups must find to the group learning; (c) no one should be left outside multiple sources, including multimedia of the group; and (d) everyone should contribute to the resources, and must present the product of group work as much as they would like others to con- their collective work on a poster. Students tribute. This relational approach to establishing group may choose which region they will inves- dynamics has been found to be a key strategy for an tigate and may divide up the research work as they choose (principle 2). When they have effective group work process (Fung et al., 2018). collected their sources, they meet as a group to integrate their findings (principle 3). Use Flexible Seating and Design Each group exhibits their poster in a 3 Tasks So Everyone Contributes classroom gallery walk. The teacher and students use peer assessment to provide Learning is a social phenomenon and takes place in a feedback about each group’s poster and physical and social environment. Arrange seating for achievement of learning outcomes, and self- groups flexibly so that all group members can effectively assessment for feedback about their group interact. For example, arrange seats in a shape such as a process (principle 4). After the gallery walk, circle to give all students access to the work and similar the teacher asks students to write individual physical representation. Since regularity brings focus to essays about the impact of World War I on complex tasks such as group work, groups may benefit the social, cultural, and economic conditions from knowing ahead of time which area of the room they of a region of their choice in North America. will work in. The teacher provides feedback on each Tasks, assignments, or projects should also be designed student’s essay and assigns individual grades to encourage interactions among group members. For based on the rubric (principle 4). example, a project may have divisible segments so that group members can distribute tasks and all ­contribute to the workload, then combine their individual work

A S C D / w w w . ascd . o r g 47 together. Or a project may be divided into Grade Individual Learning and Assess several steps (like planning, outlining, 4 Collaboration Separately researching, and writing). Students can do For grading purposes, assess individuals— the steps collaboratively and receive formative don’t give “group grades” (Brookhart, 2013). feedback from their teacher about both the Teachers generally assess learning goals during learning content and the group process after group work with either group assessment, a each step (Brookhart, 2013). combination of group and individual assess- Alternatively, a single task may be scaffolded ments, or individual assessment. Research with role divisions to encourage interactions shows individual assessment is clearly best, and positive interdependence. A classic format and fairest, for the purpose of individual for this is reciprocal teaching (Palincsar & grade reporting. Brown, 1984), which aims to help all students While group grading may be the easiest comprehend an assigned text and develop approach, it encourages free-riding and pro- vokes unfair experiences for students. As one high schooler Amir interviewed for his disser- When students are asked about tation project said, “Ninety percent of the time, group work is unfair, unless the teacher is really fairness, group work—especially on the ball and knows what’s going on. I find that either 25 or 50 percent of the group does group grades—often top their all the work, and the other [group members] are just along for the ride.” When group grades list of unfair practices. are given to groups with mixed ability levels, high-ability students often receive lower grades than they usually get individually; the reverse skills in independent reading. After reading the is true for low-ability students (Forsell et al., text, students take turns fulfilling four roles: 2020). Finally, group grading ignores the questioner, summarizer, clarifier, and predictor. fact that report cards are issued to individual The teacher first models these functions until ­students, and therefore individual measures of the students are able to become the “teachers” achievement are needed. (hence the name “reciprocal teaching”) and Another method teachers report for grading perform the functions themselves. In addition group work is to assign grades based on two to focusing students on the strategies good components: a group’s product (such as a pre- readers use, the four roles ensure that everyone sentation) and individual grades derived by in the group has something specific to do that peer assessment or peer assessment combined contributes to the group understanding. Per- with self-assessment (Dijkstra et al., 2016). But formance in these roles isn’t graded; student with this method, the group component has understanding should be assessed individually the same shortcomings described for group after the reciprocal teaching. grading, and the individual component also Group tasks, assignments, or projects poses challenges for fairness. Plus, research should also have adequate complexity for has challenged the validity, reliability, and group work to be effective. Tasks that aren’t fairness of peer assessment, indicating that sufficiently complex lead to more free-riding. peer assessment is only weakly correlated with Research also shows that groups of three to teacher assessment (Forsell et al., 2020). With four students and tasks of shorter duration self-assessment, in addition, high-performing result in better learning outcomes than students often underrate themselves for their larger groups or longer tasks (Tomcho & performance in group work, while low-ability Foels, 2012). students overrate themselves (Forsell et al.,

48 E d u ca t i o n a l L eade r s h i p / S u m m e r 2 0 2 1 The original cooperative learning movement held that group work must be designed to feature positive interdependence and individual accountability.

2020). Overall, a combination of Putting It All Together Science and Mathematics Education, 16, group and individual assessments Research indicates that group work 1291–1314. doesn’t seem like a sound approach can be an important part of both cog- Palincsar, A. S., & Brown, A. L. (1984). to grading group work. nitive and social learning. However, Reciprocal teaching of comprehension- fostering and comprehension- Individual assessment, however, such work has to be done carefully if monitoring activities. Cognition and addresses the shortcomings of other it’s to enhance learning and not Instruction, 1, 117–175. approaches and makes for fairer alienate learners; when students are Rasooli, A., Zandi, H., & DeLuca, C. assessment of learning objectives. asked about fairness, group work— (2018). Re-conceptualizing classroom Students work collaboratively on a especially group grades—are often at assessment fairness: A systematic meta- task, but are assessed individually the top of their list of unfair practices. ethnography of assessment literature and beyond. Studies in Educational for their learning of the curriculum We believe that when teachers hew to Evaluation, 56, 164–181. objectives (Brookhart, 2013, 2015). the four principles outlined here as Tomcho, T. J., & Foels, R. (2012). Meta- Generally, after group work, teachers they plan collaborative tasks and analysis of group learning activities: provide students with individual projects, group work can be a highly Empirically based teaching recommen- dations. Teaching of Psychology, 39, tasks aligned with that work and satisfying experience for students. EL 159–169. its associated learning objectives to Webb, N. M., Nemer, K. M., Chizhik, A. grade each student’s achievement. 1Good rubrics for this purpose can be W., & Sugrue, B. (1998). Equity issues Students tend to find this fairer. One found in Brookhart, 2013, pp. 9, 12 and in collaborative group assessment: told Amir, “Teachers usually assigned on the Learning Sciences International Group composition and performance. group grades, which was hard. But website. American Educational Research Journal, 35(4), 607–651. if you get individual grades while Williams, J. M., Cera Guy, J. N., & Shore, working in the group, you would References B. M. (2019). High-achieving students’ think it is fair.” Brookhart, S. M. (2013). Grading and expectations about what happens in Teachers do value assessing social group work: How do I assess individual classroom group work: A review of learning when students work together? skills such as group members’ coop- contributing research. Roeper Review, Alexandria, VA: ASCD. 41, 156–165. eration, positive engagement, and Brookhart, S. M. (2015). Performance communication (Dijkstra et al., assessment: Showing what students 2016; Forsell et al., 2020). But these know and can do. West Palm Beach, FL: skills can be assessed separately Learning Sciences International. Dijkstra, J., Latijnhouwers, M., Norbart, Amir Rasooli is a doctoral candidate from the academic grade, through A., & Tio, R. A. (2016). Assessing the in educational assessment and mea- teacher observation, peer- and self- “I” in group work assessment: State 1 surement at Queen’s University, report surveys, or rubrics. Feedback of the art and recommendations for on social and collaborative skills practice. Medical Teacher, 38, 675–682. Canada. Amir’s research focuses Forsell, J., Forslund Frykedal, K., & on enhancing fairness and equity in can be given at the individual and assessment. Susan M. Brookhart group level, so students can learn Hammar Chiriac, E. (2020). Group work assessment: Assessing social is professor emerita in the School of and improve in these areas. With skills at group level. Small Group Education at Duquesne University this approach, the academic grade Research, 51, 87–124. and author of many books, including reflects curricular learning goals at Fung, D., Hung, V., & Lui, W.-m. (2018). Grading and Group Work: How Do the individual level and other assess- Enhancing science learning through I Assess Individual Learning When ments address individual and group the introduction of effective group Students Work Together? (ASCD, work in Hong Kong secondary class- 2013). Follow them on Twitter ­collaborative skills. rooms. International Journal of @­AmirRasooli15 and @SusanBrookhart.

A S C D / w w w . ascd . o r g 49 Socratics, Remixed A lesson design for more focused and engaging student-led discussions.

Henry Seton KATOK_ELALOK / SHUTTERSTOCK

50 E d u c a t i o n a l L e a d e r s h i p / S u m m e r 2 0 2 1 s more classrooms return to method, I have found, can work effectively with ­in-person instruction, many other subjects and age groups beyond high teachers (including myself) are school English. longing for lessons built around student discussion. Student dis- Remixing the Classic Structure Acourse frequently floundered over the past In reworking the Socratic lesson, I sought year amidst inconsistent camera usage, weak to empower my students as problem-posing microphones, internet lags, and the overall scholars while still maximizing the impact of ­awkwardness of virtual classrooms. every instructional minute and allowing for The Socratic seminar is a particularly seductive individualized data collection. I wanted a design lesson structure. Its origins reach back as far as that would improve students’ skills not only ancient Greece and more recently to influential as discussants but also as readers and writers. 20th century educators such as Mortimer Adler. And I needed a simple yet versatile structure. I Exact definitions vary, but in its most essential wanted to use it repeatedly during a unit without form, students gather into one or more circles boring students. I also wanted to be able to target to discuss a text. They take the lead in not only whatever student growth areas might arise. formulating ideas but also constructing the ques- tions that guide their discourse.1 Educators, in turn, are drawn to the potential for student- This approach organically integrates directed inquiry, critical questioning, and collab- orative teamwork—not to mention the possibility the holy trinity of literacy skills: of sitting back and putting the heavy lifting on students’ shoulders. reading, writing, and discussing. Yet Socratic seminars frequently fall flat. Teachers can intervene too much or too little. Because students do not know what We can rely on complex protocols that overly passage is going to be on the exit ticket, restrict student discourse or conversely fail to provide adequate scaffolds. Students can arrive class becomes a treasure hunt. unprepared. Discussion can dwindle into long, awkward silences or drift into tangents and lose any sense of urgency. Rigor can evaporate. Without careful calibration, Socratics result I hit upon the idea of developing an indi- in lost lessons. vidual post-discussion assessment that would Many teachers have experimented with meet these criteria. Socratic lessons typically lesson design elements to address these issues. end with some sort of silent writing task—a For example, Alexis Wiggins has developed an final take on the ideas in the discussion, a approach where the whole class gets the same reflection on the discussion process itself, or grade for the seminar to encourage all students some combination of the two. I wanted to find to participate and collaborate.2 Over the past an alternative assessment that would encourage decade, however, I have developed an approach students to bring greater focus and urgency to to Socratic seminars with my high school their ­conversations, but would not straight-jacket English students that I have yet to encounter in student discourse. the literature or in dozens of school visits. This I eventually settled on what English teachers approach, what I call a remixed Socratic, has call a passage analysis or passage identification heightened the rigor and urgency of my class assessment—a common summative English discussions while simultaneously increasing language arts exam in high school and college. engagement, collaboration, and joy. And this For those not familiar, this approach usually

a s c d / w w w . a s c d . o r g 51 takes the form of a test that FIGURE 1. Sample Remixed Socratic Lesson: Gem of the Ocean Act 2, Scene 1 asks students to identify and analyze a variety of passages 1) Pre-work: Students read Students read and annotate Act 2, Scene 1 from the entire semester. For assigned text before class— of August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean for each excerpt, students must e.g., a chapter in a novel or a homework with a focus on key themes that I not only identify the text selection of poems. previewed at the front end of the unit. and author but also contex- tualize and closely read the text. Students are typically 2) Warm-up (10 min): Students silently read Monique’s exit ticket asked to make connections Students evaluate an exit ticket from the previous day and then write about to relevant moments and or two from the previous lesson, what she does well and what could be larger themes outside the usually in a write-pair-share stronger. I chose her exit ticket because format. she is struggling with embedded quota- passage, so it requires broader tions, which is a growth area for many of ­comprehension as well. her peers as well. After students talk briefly Over time, I mixed this with a partner, I cold-call on students to method into my Socratic share their thoughts. Before moving on, I lesson design, so that open- make sure to emphasize a class-wide focus ended student discussions are area (embedded quotations) captured by anchored by a brief passage- Monique’s work and ask them to revise her analysis assessment at the end writing right then and there with this focus of each class as a low-stakes area in mind. exit ticket. See Figure 1 for a description of what an hour- 3) Discussion (30 min): Students circle up into two simultaneous dis- long lesson might look like. In one to three large groups, cussion groups. I sit in the middle between This revised lesson structure students identify the most the two circles and mostly take notes—only is simple, but its elements important passages from the jumping in occasionally if I am worried they work together powerfully. homework reading, close-read are getting off track. In their groups, students The approach organically these passages together, and take turns highlighting key passages from the integrates the holy trinity of connect them to larger themes. homework and analyzing them together. For literacy skills: reading, writing, example, Kerwean might point her peers to and discussing. Because Solly’s long monologue early in the scene and students do not know what ask if they think it sheds light on the theme passage is going to be on the of economic freedom. A few minutes later, exit ticket, class becomes a Jeremy might ask about the stolen bucket of treasure hunt in which stu- nails and wonder if it might be a symbol to dents must do the work of unpack. Students work quickly to explicate a identifying and discussing handful of moments like this in their groups the most important passages. before time runs out. Because there are most likely multiple salient passages, stu- 4) Exit ticket (20 min): Students I put one of the important passages from dents cannot spend the whole have to write a page in which the homework—a monologue by Aunt time digging into just one; they identify, contextualize, and Esther about the nails—on the exit ticket. they have to work together to analyze a passage chosen by me Students, working independently without balance depth and breadth in (their teacher) from the reading their books, now have to identify first who is their analyses. they did for homework. speaking to whom and what is happening in Students take notes during that moment. Then students close-read the the discussion, since even passage and connect it to larger themes and the strongest readers will not other relevant moments in the book. While have explicated every textual they silently write, I circulate and coach them nuance ahead of time, and on their writing skills.

52 E d u c a t i o n a l L e a d e r s h i p / S u m m e r 2 0 2 1 I allow students to reference these written by a peer during the previous a minimum. While the teacher may notes during the exit ticket. Students lesson, identifying and explaining want to intervene occasionally in the are also incentivized to collaborate a few strengths of it, and if there is first few lessons—for example, to more conscientiously, because the time, considering how to improve it. encourage students to slow down or more effectively they identify and During a later lesson, a teacher might speed up their analysis of a particular analyze key passages, the more likely juxtapose a stronger and weaker passage—most of the heavy lifting they will be to crush the exit ticket. exit ticket before asking students to should be done by the students. The While students are initially intimi- explain which is stronger and why. students should feel that the onus is dated by the pop quiz awaiting them If time permits, students could even on them to identify and explicate the at the end of each lesson, most revise the weaker one to match the key passages without counting on the quickly become fans. I interviewed quality of the stronger one. teacher to rescue them. several former 10th grade students, For early discussions, teachers who, even years later, recalled the The Discussion may want to keep students in one format fondly. Iverson loved the Before the first major discussion, larger group to better monitor and challenge and compared it to leading teachers should explain the coach their discourse. Later his own bible study group because overall lesson structure on, however, shifting to everyone could bring their own to students—that multiple simultaneous interpretations to the table. Sam said they will need to groups will allow stu- these remixed Socratics reminded identify and analyze dents to double or him of a “themed potluck” where all key passages with triple their opportu- the dishes work together as a well- an eye to being nities to participate. balanced meal. Judeline felt “like prepared for the After the discussion, a teacher for a day [or] a college surprise passage on the teacher might take student, with a more independent the exit ticket. It is a couple of minutes to role.” Satoya likened the process to helpful to do a quick debrief with the whole a Where’s Waldo? book because stu- think-pair-share mini- class. The teacher can lift up dents “have to look closely and sift lesson beforehand about what moments of skillful facilitation or through the text.” Even though she clues indicate that a passage might be insightful analysis that the whole is a strong reader, Satoya said she important and worthy of discussion. class can learn from. After some time, had to work carefully with her peers The class can then brainstorm and students can often lead debriefs like because they would inevitably find take notes on these clues. We might, this on their own. key moments that she missed. for example, discuss how a lengthy speech by a character or the reoc- The Assessment Secrets of Success currence of a symbol could indicate Lastly, how does regular assessment Within this relatively simple lesson a passage’s significance. I also often work within this lesson design? In structure, there is room for nuance, model how to make comments in addition to the occasional reading so let’s examine three elements of this the form of a question to spur and quiz, I recommend daily in-class design in more depth: the warm-up, deepen a textual conversation. Even homework checks for some sort of discussion, and assessment. if students are unclear about the meaningful reader response, whether meaning of a particular passage or sticky-note annotations in their book The Warm-Up symbol, they can point peers to it and or a two-column journal. Teachers The warm-up can be used for many ask for their input, maybe sharing a will likely want to grade discussions purposes—such as a quick reading few tentative hypotheses as they do. to encourage participation by quieter quiz for accountability or brief Each day, it helps to give stu- students. I usually do not grade for vocabulary drills. However, I find dents a few minutes to test out their the quality of student responses since that a read-write-pair-share activity initial thinking about the reading students already have an incentive examining earlier student work is in smaller duos or trios before the to work as efficiently as possible, often most fruitful. Early in the unit, larger discussion begins. During the but I do track the frequency of their students might silently examine for a larger group discussions, teachers ­participation on a clipboard (or enlist few minutes an exemplary exit ticket should keep their own remarks to student volunteers to do this for me).

a s c d / w w w . a s c d . o r g 53 I typically enter this as a small through even more extensive and/ close- and open-reading strategies. classwork grade every few days. That or less obvious analyses. Even if And when students are infectiously way, students who struggle to join teachers do not grade each day’s exit and insatiably engaged by a text, I the discussion one day can make up ticket, they can still circulate and give sometimes drop the exit ticket quiz for it with their participation another formative feedback while students and revert to the traditional, more day. I also award daily bonus points write them in class. open-ended Socratic lesson structure. to the students who first lead their And what about a culminating That said, I have yet to find a more peers to the passage chosen for each assessment? While one can end a potent student-centered lesson design day’s exit ticket—a beloved bit of Socratic-centered unit like this with for my English classes. This principle daily suspense and gamification! a longer, multi-day paper, the natural of pairing open-ended, student- As for the exit ticket itself, I tend conclusion is a longer passage-identi- centered discussions with a more to choose just one passage for each fication test similar to the exit tickets focused, individual post-assessment lesson for students to analyze and students have been completing daily. can easily be applied to other subjects then ask students to write anywhere Since many students may be new as well. History teachers could have from a paragraph to a couple pages to the longer passage-analysis test students read and discuss a packet of of text. The basic who, what, how primary sources—à la the document- prompts are as follows: based question on the AP U.S. history n Who is talking? Who are they I have yet to find a exam—before choosing one source talking to? for students to analyze independently n What is happening at this more potent student- for the exit ticket. STEM teachers moment? What is the context? centered lesson design could have students wrestle with a n How does this moment shed textbook chapter or problem set in light on the larger themes of the for my English classes. groups before choosing one concept text? Make sure to close-read for the or word problem to break down on ­significance of at least a couple words their own at the end of class. or phrases in the text. This remixed lesson structure is far I usually give students anywhere format, it is useful beforehand to from perfect; but it is a starting point from 5–20 minutes to work on this. do one final think-pair-share mini- for further innovation using student- Students at first often benefit from lesson in which you ask students to centered discussions. I hope teachers more time to craft their analyses and brainstorm how to study for such an continue to refine this method and can start their nightly readings once assessment—for example, by having share their results as we continue to they are done. a family member quiz them on ran- pursue lesson designs that find that Some teachers may have the domly chosen passages or building a magic balance between autonomy capacity to grade them each day while set of notes about key symbols and and accountability, between joy others might grade only one les- their meanings. That said, students and urgency. EL son’s worth of exit tickets per week. usually excel on these final passage- Either way, feedback can be brief—as analysis tests since they have been 1Copeland, M. (2005). Socratic circles: simple as a quick grade, a commen- practicing this skill in each lesson Fostering critical and creative thinking in middle and high school. Portsmouth, NH: dation, and a recommendation. The and usually have plentiful notes to Stenhouse. grade can be based on the accuracy support their studying. 2Wiggins, A. (2020). A better way of students’ contextualization and to assess discussions. Educational the depth of their analysis, but it can That Magic Balance ­Leadership, 77(7), 34–38. be tailored to whatever reading and Is this lesson design so perfect writing skills the class is working that I use it for every unit? Hardly. on. Typically, a student who meets There is a place for assigning longer Henry Seton ([email protected]) is expectations correctly identifies the papers, at least quarterly. I also find a humanities teacher-leader, writer, “who” and “what” of the passage as that this type of lesson goes better and presenter. He formerly chaired the humanities department at the Com- well as close-reads at least a couple in the second half of the year after munity Charter School of Cambridge in phrases for thematic development. I have used more traditional lesson Massachusetts. Follow him on Twitter Students can exceed expectations ­structures to teach and model various @­HenrySeton.

54 E d u c a t i o n a l L e a d e r s h i p / S u m m e r 2 0 2 1 TM

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I would like to learn more Resources MarzanoResources.com/MyHRS Improving Lesson Planning with Pre-Work When teachers have time to think ahead and do pre-work, instructional planning meetings gain focus.

Jessica Holloway and Rebecca Doxsee

ducators have many “meetings of the minds”: to ­students the following day or week. Grade-level planning sessions, PLCs, coaching There’s a way to prevent such missed opportunities, meetings—which together should allow however. If teachers are able to brainstorm, think, and/ teachers ample opportunities to create high- or reflect before they come to a collaborative planning quality, rigorous lesson plans that deepen session, the meetings themselves could be more pro- Estudent learning. ductive and helpful. Preparing for planning can make But do these meetings actually work? Frequent teachers’ time together richer and generate better ideas. planning sessions often become a time for teachers to discuss the standards for the week, think about the What Really Happens in “Planning Sessions” content, or talk about what they may or may not use. Over the years, the phrase “planning session” has taken But before they know it, the bell rings, and the only on many different definitions in education. Some schools thing accomplished is an idea of what might be taught use this time for professional development, delivering

56 E d u c a t i o n a l L e a d e r s h i p / S u m m e r 2 0 2 1 FG TRADE / iSTOCK school initiatives, or faculty or grade-level tasks and content, their individual ownership of meetings. Coaches may use this time to discuss the process increases and richer conversations the data, weekly reports, or the newest school around the components and direction of the initiative with teachers. Researcher Eileen lesson can take place. Merritt notes that teachers have reported that Teachers should be given at least 30–45 planning time is critical to their job satisfaction, minutes prior to planning meetings to prepare and that adding planning time would positively for planning. This time can come from a affect their ability to help students reach their teacher’s individual planning time during potential.1 When “planning” time is used for school or before or after the school day. a myriad of reasons, however, teachers often Coauthor Jessica Holloway has found that feel frustrated about the lack of time for . . . “pre-thinking” activities using technology can actually planning lessons. Since additional extend teachers’ collaborative planning time meeting time is usually not an option, we must and expand access to shared lesson plans. shift our focus to how to maximize allotted Teachers can create a shared document prior planning time. As an instructional coach for seven pri- ority schools in Hamilton County, Tennessee, coauthor Rebecca Doxsee spends time in Teachers create a digital record classrooms and works with coaches to support student academic success. Because planning is of the pre-thinking and prep work where the magic happens, she initially spent needed to develop and improve time discussing with building-level coaches and principals the school’s requirements for lesson plans for years to come. planning sessions. Then she attended several planning sessions with teachers. There seemed to be a recurring theme in these discussions and planning meetings: Lesson planning to the official planning session to capture their wasn’t happening. Discussion about content thinking and allow each person to contribute and assessment was happening, but no deep initial thoughts and processes. The shared discussions around rigorous learning tasks, document can have different starting points, guiding questions, or student discourse were depending on the goal of the planning session taking place. Teachers were leaving their and content area: a question, list of standards, planning meetings with only a few or no previous lessons, or a text, to name a few completed lessons, which meant they had to options. Creating this document ahead of time spend even more time on their own to do the allows teachers to process independently and hardest parts of planning: alignment, rigor, and add their ideas before the group meeting. This ­differentiation. This prompted Rebecca to try a method also allows exceptional education new approach to maximize planning time. teachers, English Language Learner teachers, and educational assistants to participate in pre- Preparing for Planning paring for planning, setting the groundwork for Rebecca’s new approach was “preparing for more meaningful and equitable conversations planning,” which provides teachers inde- for all students in the classroom. Best of all, pendent time to “pre-think and prepare” for technology tools can create a digital documen- planning meetings, resulting in a more powerful tation of each teacher’s thoughts, ideas, plans, and meaningful session time with grade-level and reflections—the pre-thinking and prep teams and coaches. When teachers come to work needed to develop and improve lesson the table with prior knowledge of the relevant plans for years to come.

a s c d / w w w . a s c d . o r g 57 Preparing for planning includes these three ­document annotations, questions, and notes. phases: Be the Learner, Be the Curator, and One path is to use digital annotation tools. Be the Planner. When using a Google document, Microsoft Word, or Kami document, teachers can Be the Learner ­highlight, strikethrough, make and/or assign In this phase, teachers examine a part of the comments, insert links, and color-code annota- curriculum and take on the role of a learner— tions, to name a few features. If the tasks are that is, they put themselves in their students’ not digital, teachers can make annotations shoes. For literacy planning, they might on a physical document and take a photo of annotate, mark up a text assigned to students their mark-ups on their phone or laptop. Both with highlights, jot notes and questions, and versions can be stored and shared using a digital drive (such as OneDrive, Google Drive, or Dropbox). Keeping a digital copy of the teacher’s annotated work creates a model for When “planning” time is used for a students and provides insight into potential myriad of reasons, teachers often barriers to student learning. feel frustrated about the lack of time Be the Curator The next phase of pre-planning asks teachers for actually planning lessons. to review all the relevant published instruc- tional and assessment resources provided in the curriculum for the particular lesson or unit circle key points, like they would as a reader. (quizzes, comprehension questions, writing For mathematics or science planning, they can prompts). This helps the teachers organize work out a math problem as if they were doing their thinking around the trajectory of learning it for the first time, or analyze a science text and the goal of the planning session and pre- and graphs. In other words, they experience vents them from “recreating the wheel” when the task as a learner without an agenda or resources are already available. Teachers ­preconceived ideas. can pick and choose from various sources to Once teachers can empathize with a learner’s help them create and align a strong opening, perspective of approaching the text or task, learning task, and assessment to maximize they are ready to examine the learning event to student learning. ­critically evaluate strengths and shortcomings: To organize the curation, teachers can use n How can the annotations, questions, or something as simple as a document with hyper- comments guide them in designing the lesson links to various resources and work samples. to help students better grasp the information? Another option is to create a collection on n What sections may need to be clarified? Wakelet, which allows teachers to add links, n Is there a place students can or should upload images and documents, and add text connect to prior lessons? (notes) and content from other applications n What background knowledge is required into one collected group. Having all resources for students to understand the concept or idea? available in one location can expedite the n What vocabulary is needed for students to planning process by eliminating time spent grasp the concept or central idea? searching for desired resources. n What tools, videos, collaborative spaces, and digital platforms can be used to eliminate Be the Planner barriers and increase student engagement? Planning requires teachers to think backward To make their thinking visible while acting to move forward. What do they want their as the learner, teachers have two options to ­students to produce at the end of the lesson

58 E d u c a t i o n a l L e a d e r s h i p / S u m m e r 2 0 2 1 that will show they mastered the skill or standard? In shifting the approach to planning, teachers are asked to focus on the end goal instead of the beginning. Once teachers have deter- mined how students will demonstrate mastery, then learning targets for the trajectory of lessons can be chosen or designed that best align to the standard(s) of the lesson. In starting this process of backward planning, Preparing for planning teachers can ask themselves: n Which standard(s) can be cap- can make teachers’ time tured in this text (or problem or together richer and concept)? (In most cases, curricula will have several standards associated generate better ideas. with a text or task, so reading the text or doing the task ahead of time PASUWAN / SHUTTERSTOCK will help teachers understand which standard or standards should be the items can be included in required lesson or focus of the daily lesson.) unit planning documents to preserve teachers’ n What are the most important concepts, thinking and preparation process. ideas, or skills we want students to grasp and apply? More Meaningful Meetings n How will students demonstrate mastery of With preparing for planning completed, the learning objectives? teachers are now ready for in-person Planning with the end in mind may require a ­collaboration and to be the designers of clear learning target to be written in a way that learning experiences for students, thus elimi- captures only part of the standard(s) taught nating the “in-the-moment” or “on-the-spot” during the lesson. The alignment of the clear decision making. Teachers and coaches are learning target and exit ticket (assessment) equipped to engage in deeper conversations and with the learning task is critical in making sure prevent misaligned lesson planning. Conversa- that students understand the why and how of tions move from just talking about standards the lesson. or curriculum resources to how students will To plan out the path to mastery, teachers learn and demonstrate mastery, ensuring all can use digital tools such as Google ­Jamboard, components—curriculum, instruction, and which provides a collaborative space for assessment—are aligned. teachers to post notes and images, ­rearrange This focused conversation keeps teachers ideas or lessons, and draw connections from getting stuck in the “what” of lessons, and between items. Padlet is a similar collaboration they are not left alone to make tough instruc- platform where teachers can add notes, links, tional decisions. They can be thoughtful and and videos or images while being able to drag intentional in exploring engaging strategies, and drop to rearrange items. There are also a questions, and knowledge checks to ensure that variety of online whiteboard options (such as students are on the path to mastery. Lesson ­Whiteboard.fi or Explain Everything) to use for design discussions may also include: sketching out a plan for student mastery. n What questions can be used or developed With digital tools available for each phase to provide access for all students? of preparing for planning, links to created n What instructional strategy will effectively

a s c d / w w w . a s c d . o r g 59 The lesson plan is a vehicle that moves the learning forward, a record of the student learning process, and a teacher roadmap of the instructional journey.

move students towards mastery? is a vehicle that moves the learning forward, a n Does the lesson require direction record of the student learning process, and a instruction, modeling, and/or gradual release? teacher roadmap of the instructional journey. n How can you strategically plan for student When teachers do the work beforehand, discourse that will impact student learning? it makes the learning trip safer and allows n What technology tool or platform will teachers to remove barriers, plan for stops, and enhance or extend student learning? prevent students from running into dead ends. n How do I intentionally provide equity of Preparing to plan is the best map for getting us student voice? to our final destination: student success. n What modifications can be made to Though some teachers may view preparing adhere to a student’s individualized education for planning as “just one more thing,” when the program, 504 plan, or individualized language process is implemented well, teachers begin to learner program? see the value in having the pre-work done and realize how planning sessions can produce Valuing the Process high-quality, engaging lesson plans that are When teachers realize how much time they ready to be implemented. It takes support from can save by implementing a collaborative pre- instructional coaches and administrators to paring for planning framework versus creating help teachers take the hard step of changing a lesson plans on their own, the shift can be easy. routine that has been “working” for several However, we know that for teachers to feel the months, or even years; however, with the need to change, they have to see a difference in proper support, teachers can begin to value the student learning. “No matter how big an ‘effect time they gain back. Once teachers see they no size’ research shows for the innovation, people longer have to do the “hard” part alone, and usually aren’t convinced it will work until they that purposeful lessons can be created in see it make a difference for their students,” says their allotted planning periods, preparing for Jim Knight.2 “This creates a catch-22: People planning becomes a welcome change in don’t like to implement a new strategy unless practice. EL they have seen it be effective, but they can’t experience its effectiveness unless they try it.” 1Merritt, E. (2016). Time for teacher learning, As teachers internalize the “preparing for planning critical for school reform. Phi Delta Kappan, 98, 31–36. planning” process and see how it leads to 2Knight, J. (2021). Moving from talk to action in improved lesson planning, the shift in practice professional learning. Educational Leadership, 78(5), will have tangible benefits, such as more 16–21. effective planning sessions, aligned formative ­assessments, high-quality tasks, and shared ownership of student learning. Moreover, the Jessica Holloway is an innovation coach for Ham- impact on student learning becomes visible ilton County Schools in Tennessee, a 2019 ASCD Emerging Leader, and a Tennessee ASCD board and affirms the process. member. Rebecca Doxsee is an area learning Keeping students engaged in any learning coach for priority schools in Hamilton County environment can prove to be challenging if we Schools in ­Tennessee. Follow them on Twitter do not know our destination. The lesson plan @­hollowayreader and @r_doxsee.

60 E d u c a t i o n a l L e a d e r s h i p / S u m m e r 2 0 2 1 SPECIAL TOPIC

Autistic at the IEP Table

Remember, disabilities aren’t n early December 2020, in the middle of the pan­ demic, the Individualized Education Program (IEP) confined to students. Small changes team at my son’s school met with me online about supporting my autistic son in his general education to IEP proceedings can make social studies class. As I looked at the many faces Ion the screen who had gathered to support my son, I a big difference for some parents. realized how grateful I was that they provided key accom­ modations for me as well. I, like my son, am autistic. Julie Antilla-Garza I was diagnosed with autism three years ago, and I want to share what has helped and hindered me as I’ve worked with my son’s team around the IEP table. I hope that it will prompt educators to consider reasonable

ROY SCOTT / IKON IMAGES A S C D / w w w . ascd . o r g 61 ­accommodations for adults, as well as for in the IEP meetings. She initiated the practice ­students, when gathering for IEP meetings. of taking periodic breaks from talking so that I could have time to catch up on writing The Gift of Accommodations my notes. This gift of time kept me from As of 2017, more than two percent of the asking questions out of context or needing adult population in the United States had been statements repeated.­ diagnosed with autism,1 with females often Related to this accommodation is the second: receiving their diagnoses later in life than the gift of processing discussions before actions males.2 Most educators are familiar with autism are taken on the IEP. The special education in children, but there are many autistic adults director who attends my son’s IEP meetings who interact with the school system as well. determined that it would be good for the team I was an educator in public preK–12 schools to wait for a few days after meetings before for 16 years, working as a classroom teacher, revising any IEP items to give me time as the a program director, and a school principal. parent to think about proposed changes. This communicated to me that the team knew my Most educators are familiar with input was as essential as theirs in key decisions for my son’s education. autism in children, but there are The third and fourth gifts are so common that they may hardly need mentioning, but many autistic adults who interact they are powerful, and I’d be remiss to exclude them. My son’s IEP team always makes sure to with the school system as well. send me copies of draft IEPs and potential goals in advance of meetings. They ask for my draft During those years, I attended more than goals as well. This advanced sharing makes the 100 IEP meetings, most of them as an adminis­ IEP meeting much more efficient. I have also trator. While those experiences have definitely appreciated the gift of prompt responses to any informed the way I view IEP meetings, it is very communication I have with the members of different to attend such meetings as a parent. the IEP team. I usually write emails as opposed My son’s IEP team has provided several gifts to making phone calls, and I have found of accommodations that have allowed us to that the timing as well as the content of the work together productively. I call them gifts response emails are supportive. I have received because I have not had to push the team to multiple emails from team members sharing provide the accommodations I need. I have their compassion, empathy, and respect. They been a member of this IEP team longer than acknowledge that the IEP process is hard I’ve had my diagnosis, and we have worked and that we are all learning in the journey together over the years to find what practices with my son. work best. Knowing how beneficial accom­ After one particularly emotional IEP meeting, modations can be, I would encourage IEP case I received an email that encouraged me to managers to ask family members before IEP “hang in there” and to be kind to myself. This meetings what accommodations they might was not necessary for the functioning of the need to ­successfully participate on the team. IEP process, but it did prompt me to trust I can identify five accommodations that have the IEP team more than I would have oth­ made a significant difference in my experience erwise. Other emails have stated clearly that as an IEP team member. the team wants my son to succeed and that we The first accommodation began when my share the same ultimate goal for his academic son was in 3rd grade and his special education journey. As a parent, this makes me feel that case manager took note of my processing speed my ­contributions are valued. These emails put

62 E d u ca t i o n a l L eade r s h i p / S u m m e r 2 0 2 1 me at ease, and they reduce my anxiety as an The biggest challenge for autistic parent with a key role at the IEP table. The fifth gift from the IEP team is perhaps me as an autistic parent at the most amazing. My son’s IEP team allows takebacks! There have been a few times when the IEP table is that I do not I have agreed to a change in services and then know if I am interpreting discovered that it was not best for my son. I’ve been able to reconvene the team to tell certain facial and vocal them that I want to take back my consent, and they’ve agreed. While there is language to expressions accurately. support this in the procedural safeguards, it still feels meaningful to have the IEP team listen and agree with my parental choice. All these accommodations make the IEP table a more welcoming place for this autistic parent.

Complex Needs, Ongoing Challenges These gifts outweigh the challenges I have at the IEP table, but there are still some chal­ lenges. First, it is not uncommon to have a dozen people at my son’s IEP meetings. My son has complex needs, so he has many educators who support him. I am often physically uncom­ fortable in a small, enclosed room with the limited physical space that it affords each of us around the table. Due to the sheer number of attendees, I often It can be an added challenge if students and encounter a second challenge: I find it hard adults are moving around and talking outside of to remember the team members’ names and the meeting room. One of my more memorable roles. I do not remember the pairing of names IEP meetings took place in a conference room with faces, so even if the team members have that looked out at the parking lot. In the middle introduced themselves to me several times, I of the meeting, the car closest to the building have difficulty remembering who each one is had its car alarm triggered. What made it worse in a large group setting. Holding IEP meetings was I realized that the car with the obnoxious virtually helps with this because the names alarm was mine! I was thoroughly distracted on of the participants are listed on the bottom of multiple levels at that point. each picture. But the biggest challenge for me as an autistic There are also the typical sensory chal­ parent at the IEP table is that I do not know lenges—lighting and sound—that are amplified if I am interpreting certain facial and vocal in an IEP meeting. There is almost always expressions accurately. Sharing a common ambient noise in school meeting rooms. Neuro­ understanding of all modes of communication typical individuals can filter out background is especially important in IEP meetings because noise and focus on the conversation. This is not a lack of uptake can be interpreted as being easy, and sometimes not possible, for me as an oppositional to the gentle guiding or sugges­ autistic individual to do. All noise is distracting tions being made. I know that there are most noise—have you noticed how loud electronic likely messages being conveyed, so I am always equipment and HVAC systems are in schools? trying to figure out what they are. I try to pick

A S C D / w w w . ascd . o r g 63 Allowing family members to attend IEP meetings via online synchronous conferencing will likely increase attendance as well as put autistic family members more at ease during the meetings.

up on the slightest eye movement or change of the emotions that I am experiencing, by looking tone to decipher the hidden meanings I may at myself on screen, I can make sure that I am be missing. This takes my focus away from the appearing interested, pleased, or concerned at content of the meeting and negatively impacts appropriate times in the meeting. my processing speed. One way to minimize For these reasons, I hope that schools will this challenge would be to have educators consider keeping virtual meeting options commit to being direct when conveying their available even after everyone is back to a full- reporting, their concerns, and their suggestions time, in-person instructional setting. Allowing in IEP meetings. family members to attend IEP meetings via online synchronous conferencing will likely The Plus Side of Virtual Meetings increase attendance as well as put autistic As an autistic parent participating in IEP family members more at ease during the meetings, I’ve come to prefer video confer­ meetings. encing using Zoom or Microsoft Teams to in-person meetings. In addition to being able Show You Care to avoid some of the challenges listed above, I As educators, we can often get in the mindset have found four distinct advantages to online, that we work with students with disabilities and synchronous meetings. First, as mentioned, forget that many of the adults we work with participants’ names are displayed—which gives have disabilities, too. But if educators work to me the opportunity to address an educator by understand and accommodate the adults as well name without having to remember it or worry as the students they interact with, it can min­ I may have gotten it wrong. Second, I never imize the challenges of family members with have to make direct eye contact, which I find disabilities. Whether an IEP team member has to be distracting to the point that I am not able an identified disability or not, caring for them to track the conversation or understand what and accommodating their needs will help make is being said. In virtual meetings, I don’t have the IEP process smooth and successful. EL to look directly at the camera to look like I’m participating—facing the screen is enough. 1Dietz, P. M., Rose, C. E., McArthur, D., & Third, I can choose to look at only one face at a Maenner, M. (2020). National and state estimates of adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of time to help my concentration. Other space and Autism and Developmental Disorders, 50, 4258–4266. sensory issues commonly found around the IEP 2Leedham, A., Thompson, A. R., & Smith, R. table are also minimized, and I can control my (2020). ‘I was exhausted trying to figure it out’: The own environment. experiences of females receiving an autism diagnosis in middle to late adulthood. Autism, 24(1), 135–146. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, I can look at my own image to make sure that I am masking appropriately. Masking is the term Julie Antilla-Garza is an associate professor of for when autistic individuals work to make educational leadership at Seattle Pacific University. their facial expressions and bodily movements She worked for 16 years in preK–12 education in appear neurotypical. Since I know that my California before transitioning to higher education. facial expressions often don’t convey to others Follow her on Twitter @autisticprofJAG.

64 E d u ca t i o n a l L eade r s h i p / S u m m e r 2 0 2 1 DEEPER DIVE: Lesson-Planning and Instructional Resources Highlighted in This Issue

Strategic Use of Technology Addressing Learning Gaps Tasks Before Apps: Designing Rigorous Learning in the Fast Lane: 8 Ways to Put All Learning in a Tech-Rich Classroom (ASCD, Students on the Road to Success by Suzy Pepper 2017) by Monica Burns. Burns share strat- Rollins (ASCD, 2014). Rollins lays out a plan egies, tools, and insights that teachers can use of action teachers can use to immediately move to effectively incorporate technology in the underperforming students in the right direction classroom, with an emphasis on the “three C’s” and differentiate instruction for all learners, of creation, curiosity, and collaboration. without falling into the remediation trap. Google Jamboard, a free whiteboard space, “Prioritizing the Standards Using R.E.A.L. one of several open-ended creation tools that Criteria” by Tom W. Many and Ted Horrell give students engaging ways to map out ideas (TEPSA NEWS, February 2014). Educators or demonstrate their learning. Many and Horrell outline a framework for iden- TED-Ed has collaborated with educators and tifying essential content standards—a key for TED speakers to create free video-based lessons, targeted lesson and unit planning. as well a tool to help teachers plan lessons based on short, engaging videos. Teaching Innovation The i5 Approach: Lesson Planning That Teaches Thinking and Fosters Innovation by Jane E. Pollock and Susan Hensley (2018, ASCD). Pollock and Hensley explain the five i’s—infor- mation, images, interaction, inquiry, and inno- vation—and how they contribute to student learning. They provide step-by-step procedures for teaching 12 key thinking skills and share lesson examples from teachers who have ­successfully “i5’ed” their instruction. High-Quality Lesson Planning (Quick ­Reference Guide) by Jane E. Pollock, Susan Hensley, and Laura Tolone (ASCD). In this brief guide, the authors present GANAG, a classroom-tested, five-step schema for planning effective instruction.

Evaluating Curriculum Units Solving 25 Problems in Unit Design: How Do I Refine My Units to Enhance Student Learning? by Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins (ASCD, 2015). In this short book, Wiggins and McTighe

KACHKA / SHUTTERSTOCK A S C D / w w w . ascd . o r g describe the 25 most common problems in unit design and recommend ways to fix them—and avoid them when planning new units. Understanding by Design Video Series (ASCD). Based on the pioneering work by Wiggins and McTighe, this video series goes through the steps of designing curricular units that promote deep content understanding and provides an overview of the powerful concepts in Understanding by Design. Interviews with teachers describe real-world applications of the unit-planning process.

Designing Standards-Based Units Socratic Seminars Charting a Course to Standards-Based Grading: The National Paideia Center, cofounded What to Stop, What to Start, and Why It Matters by the philosopher Mortimer J. Adler, offers by Tim R. Westerberg (ASCD, 2016). Former teaching and planning resources on Socratic principal Westerberg outlines a framework, seminars. along with a continuum of options, to ensure Socratic Circles: Fostering Critical and alignment between stated curriculum, taught ­Creative Thinking in Middle and High School curriculum, and assessed curriculum. by Matt Copeland (Stenhouse, 2004). This “Five Professional Learning Transformations coaching guide offers straightforward answers for a Post-COVID World” by Douglas Reeves to frequent questions on Socratic seminars. (Educational Leadership, February 2021). Effective unit planning begins with identifying Additional ASCD Resources a limited number of overarching or enduring “Designing Authentic Performance Tasks standards and moving from what Reeves calls and Projects” (on-demand webinar). ASCD “fragmentation to focus.” authors Jay McTighe, Kristina Doubet, and Eric “Grades That Show What Students Know” ­Carbaugh offer in-depth advice and examples by Robert Marzano and Tammy Heflebower on planning for authentic performance tasks (Educational Leadership, November 2011). This and longer projects in the classroom. article on standards-based grading includes an Improving Every Lesson With SEL by Jeffrey example of a proficiency scale that that can be Benson (ASCD, 2021). Benson draws from his used for planning, assessment, and instruction. 40-plus years of experience as a teacher and administrator to provide explicit, step-by-step Universal Design for Learning guidance on how to incorporate social and The UDL Guidelines from CAST are a set emotional learning into lesson planning— of suggestions, presented in graphic-organizer without imposing a separate SEL curriculum. format, that educators can use to ensure New Teacher’s Companion (Chapter 7) by their lessons provide greater opportunities Gini Cunningham (ASCD, 2009). This chapter for student access and understanding. The of Cunningham’s foundational book for new ­guidelines are organized across the UDL teachers discusses the basic building blocks domains of engagement, representation, and of lesson planning, including an eight-phase action/expression. model that engages students by building on their knowledge.

66 E d u ca t i o n a l L eade r s h i p / S u m m e r 2 0 2 1 KACHKA / SHUTTERSTOCK Tell Us About DRAZEN ZIGIC / SHUTTERSTOCK How has pandemic-era teaching influenced your lesson planning?

The “Fake Test” by coaching them through making corrections (answering When is a test not a test? When it’s one students have to questions, giving clues, explaining concepts), all take during a worldwide pandemic. without giving away the actual answer. This allowed our The pandemic has made me completely re-examine ­physically distanced and cohorted students to connect, the planning and purpose of a traditional Latin test. Is it share, and support each other in their learning. so students can prove they’ve mastered the dative case? The “Fake Test” results were fascinating. Students Or the academic skills they need to practise as engaged who usually struggle on tests really learned and ended learners? Or is it the chance to develop that sense of up “owning” their errors, feeling more confident about connection that students so deeply crave? Rather than their understanding of the concepts. Students who tra- choosing just one, why can’t our lesson have it all? ditionally do well on tests found it a welcome challenge With students on board for the experiment, we set having to make their thinking process explicit, thus about planning how to have our cake and eat it too. I also consolidating their learning. I definitely plan on created a “Fake Test” assignment, which was broken ­continuing this experience with students upon our return down into three steps. In the first step, I asked students, to ­in-person learning. either individually or in small groups, to come up with —Diana Pai, Classics teacher, Languages Curriculum and test questions. These were used for their practice and Department Leader, Saint Clement's School, Toronto, Ontario, Canada preparation, not for the actual “Fake Test” experience. For step two, inspired by their exemplars, I composed the Becoming More Tech-Savvy actual “Fake Test.” Although students completed it under The challenge was to figure out how to use best instruc- “real” testing conditions, I told them the test would not tional practices while teaching remotely. I chose to get be graded, and so the stakes were low. Level 1 Google Certification and become a Seesaw Pioneer Afterward each student received the answer key to a to make the task easier. I used that knowledge to recreate different section of the test. Then they paired up to share my assignments, projects, and formative and summative­ their test responses. Their partner would identify errors assessments in digital formats. Like most teachers during

A S C D / w w w . ascd . o r g 67 “The challenge was to figure out how to use best instructional practices while teaching remotely.” the pandemic, my technology to explain their thinking and rea- support reason #1 knowledge increased, and I learned soning has helped them to clarify and n 5th sentence: Example of support many new apps and programs. I have articulate their understanding. reason #2 a Viewsonic Viewboard and a tablet, Another change has been to My model: so I was able to have the whole class find creative ways to help students Do you know what my hardest on the viewboard and teach small use resources available at home challenge was? I will never forget the group on my tablet. This allowed to develop understanding. We endless hours to complete and defend me to do reading and math groups. I are always asking ourselves what my dissertation. I couldn’t have done also had material pick-ups so I could everyday materials our students it without my wonderful parents. They give art and project materials to my can access easily at home for math, gave me helpful advice. My parents students. We took several virtual science, PE, and other subjects. made me not want to quit. field trips through theCalifornia­ Student voice and choice is a pri- I used this type of concrete model Department of Parks and Recreation, ority in lesson planning. We build to help my students to become Walk Through Ancient Civilizations­ , in time for one-to-one chats with confident, engaged, and ­proficient STEMapalooza, and Earth Day students every week, which has led writers. websites. I was put to the test with to the development of positive rela- —Todd Feltman, educator, Hunter College, distance learning, but I truly feel tionships and also deeper knowledge New York City that I provided my students with an about the individual child. This, in engaging, quality 6th grade year. turn, has provided us with infor- —Roseann Graf, 6th Grade Teacher, Wickman mation about student interests and Share your responses to upcoming Elementary, Chino Valley Unified School Dis- passions. questions at www.ascd.org/tellusabout. trict, Chino Hills, California —Sneh Wadhwaney, Cross Phase Leader, The British School Delhi, New Delhi, India Less Is More “Less is more” has been the Modelling Skills greatest change in the way we have As a remote English language arts approached lesson planning. We 1703 N. Beauregard St., teacher, I needed to strategically plan Alexandria, VA 22311-1714 identify priorities in our standards during the pandemic. Not only did Service Center: (703) 578-9600 and ensure time is spent on checking I need to focus on the content, but I or 1-800-933-2723 for understanding, using strategies also needed to examine my techno- Permissions: www.ascd.org/permissions such as cold calling, waterfall chat, logical practices. I created exemplar Fax: (703) 575-5400 Email: [email protected] and constant questioning. models that would support my 4th Online Store: http://shop.ascd.org Teaching for “stickability” has graders as writers. Advertising Representative: helped remind us about what it is For example, I asked students to M. J. Mrvica Associates, Inc. that we want students to learn. What write a paragraph­ about how they Phone: (856) 768-9360 Fax: (856) 753-0064 Email: [email protected] do we want them to take away and overcame a challenge with the help remember from that day’s lesson? ASCD BOARD OF DIRECTORS of someone else. I gave them the fol- DOLORES CORMIER-ZENON, PRESIDENT; NEIL We’ve focused on one activity and lowing model: GUPTA, VICE PRESIDENT; KAREN BAPTISTE; ALINA allowed students time to go deeper DAVIS; PATRICE DAWKINS-JACKSON; BART EPSTEIN; Paragraph one: Introduction SANDY HUSK; PHYLLIS LOCKETT; MATTHEW into the learning rather than moving n 1st and 2nd sentences: Hook— MINGLE; AVIS WILLIAMS; CHARLES BADU YEBOAH from one activity to the next without gets the reader excited ASCD EXECUTIVE STAFF RANJIT SIDHU, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND CEO time for students to stop, learn, and n 3rd sentence: Support from KEN PRATT, CHIEF ENGAGEMENT OFFICER consolidate. We also try to talk less who—family, classmates, or friends PENNY REINART, CHIEF IMPACT OFFICER DANA SHANKS-WILLIAMS, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER and listen more. Giving students time n 4th sentence: Example of

68 E d u ca t i o n a l L eade r s h i p / S u m m e r 2 0 2 1