Professional Learning + Data = analysis student learning – Part 2

Last month I began the journey of discovery about Professional development for this academic year.  Part one in my reflecting is here.  I have taken more time to reflect on this and also chatted to Jarrod Robinson who gave me a very interesting book – Essentialism – which amongst a lot of the things that I am digesting has made me wonder What is/are the things that give the most impact to the work I am doing? What is Essential in this moment (and what can be trimmed away or left out)?  If the focus is Student Learning and I have specific outcomes, then they should be explicitly taught and planned for and ultimately assessed and everything else is an extra and could conceivably be stripped out.  I am also thinking about the things I do with students – and to consider whether they are Essential (do I need to setup folders for every student?  do they use them?  How could I use my time more efficiently in the spaces that have the most impact on learning?)

I have also chatted with a lot of amazing minds but around this theme, I gleaned a lot from Dean Dudley, Adam Llevo, Nathan Horne, Carrie Wood and Andy Vasily about lots of amazing things at ConnectedPE which gave me more ideas and considerations and with time I have decided on the following algorithms to guide me this year:

Active time in game sense activities + knowledge + skill reinforcement + explicit Personal/Interpersonal skills + diagnostic (in-the-moment) feedback – competent bystanding = student learning

Collection and Use of meaningful data (based on above) + Essential focus (more effective use of time) = (hopefully) Greatest Impact(s) on student Learning 

2016-17 Professional Goal:

Looking at the middle students in my class I want to ensure that the middle or more average set of students are being challenged in my sessions to perform at a higher level across all three PE areas (skills/ game sense and personal/social learning).   

I will use Diagnosis/ Intervention and Action/ Reflection based on real time in my classes.  I will use formative data (what I see, hear in my class) as well as student self assessment (using SOLO rubrics) as well as summative data (my final grades) to better see if my actions are impacting learning for these students.

Background:

It is usually the bottom and top set of athletically challenged or skilled students who get most of a PE teacher attention.  I differentiate and challenge in my classes quickly for these students but it can be the middle students who miss more direct and ongoing feedback.  I would like to  

• Ensure there are no competent bystanders (involved but not actually playing)
• Enhance social structure to include everyone in the learning – teach using this explicitly in my class  
• Differentiate PE experiences in class for every student through:
  • Diagnosis – look at what is going on – is this working in this moment for these students?   
    • Yes = keep going, make change where necessary for more effective student learning
    • No = what do I need to do (Action or intervention) to see more effective learning?
  • Action – make sure the action or Intervention is going to improve learning for students in that activity at that moment.  Action/Intervention should be directly linked to what is happening in the class (eg move to new activity or modify game or ask questions based on what is happening).
  • Reflection – make notes on student learning and on lesson outcomes.  Be explicit about what the learning is for students so that they can link explicit learning together from class to class.

Action points for me

• To decide who my ‘3’ students are and ensure that I am able to take formative notes and see what is happening in my class.
• Reflect on what I do with some notes where possible – eg. choose specific students each lesson and observe and make notes only on them/ take data from parent-teacher conferences/ talk to EAL or LS or mentoring teachers to get guidance/ talk to the students about their learning through reflections or other means
• Be more specific in my learning outcomes and have a stronger understanding of the links between class learning and assessment outcomes.
• Talk to experts in curriculum thinking in my Professional Learning Network
• Complete Data Wise MOOC course over Semester 1 to allow me time to consider how to use data more effectively – will this change my practice?

Questions I have

• Is my practice really teaching students about the important outcomes in all 3 domains? (skills/ game sense and social/personal skills)?
• How do I formatively assess students so that there is even attention in my class?  Can even be spread out over a unit and broken up into lesson objectives (eg. set students to see in each class or is there another way to go about this?)
• What practices could I use to make this more fair and for me to record my observations in real time without adding to my ‘out of class’ workload?
• What am I going to reflect on – how will I do this (paper/video?)
• How can I ensure that my rubrics are clear for students to understand?
• How do I link my outcomes to the learning in each class for clearer explicit links in student learning?
• Do I know what the purpose of each unit is? (who can I ask for guidance?)
• What data can I easily collect that will back up my diagnostic class work?
• What is my greatest impact area or areas?  How can I apply my time using the 80/20 principle to see what I am doing that has the greatest impact on learning and leave out those things that are time intensive but don’t offer as much to students?