Warm up Question:

1.You are having dinner with

the greatest teacher in the
history of the world. What
question would you ask her?
Ice Breaker – Fresh Air
 Classroom Procedures:
• Are procedures different from
rules?
• What classroom situations would
you need procedures for?
• How can clear procedures help to
manage the classroom?
 Reduce Unnecessary
Questions
• What are we going to do today?
• What do I need to know after today’s lesson?
• I was absent . . .
• What did we do last time?
• Where do I turn in this homework?
• When is the test?
• When can I come in for tutoring?
Third Grade – “Power Teaching”
Could you use this?
Some of this?
None of this?

What does this method get right? Wrong?

 What did you like?
What did you dislike?
Fifth Grade – “Power Teaching”
 Over plan EVERYDAY
• It is always better to have too much to do…
than not enough
• Teach BELL to BELL
• No “Free Days”
• With any extra free time, create a discussion
about something happening in the school –
keep it positive
• With any other free time, discuss upcoming
student activities, games, etc.
 How to handle a discipline.
• Video example – teacher in the UK
• “Starting Over”
• 10 Min in length
• Jot down a few notes about what you liked
about the video. Could what the teacher
learned be useful to you?
Elementary School Teacher
“Starts Over” – will you have to?
 Do Not “Write Up” Students
• Can you diffuse the situation?
Needlessly
• Have you contacted home?
• Have you tried good cop & bad cop?
• Have you talked to his other teachers?
• Is the student disrupting the class from
learning?
• Is the student putting another student’s
health at risk?
What kind of communication do
most parents want from teachers?
 Part II – Make Assessment
Meaningful

First – we will do a
Philosophical Chairs exercise.

What is Philosophical Chairs?

 I have 5 simple rules for P.Chairs:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
 I have 5 simple rules for P.Chairs:
1. One minute in the hot seat.
2. Repeat or rephrase what the last person said.
3. Wait three seconds before responding; to be sure the
last person is finished.
4. You can not talk until the discussion passes 4 times
after you have spoken. Another way of saying it is
(someone else on your side must talk before you can).
5. MOVE. Philosophical Chairs is about movement.
Use your 5 toes and get up and walk to show support
for ideas expressed.
 P. Chairs Question:
“Should parents be fined if their
student misses school?”
Who is Ken O’Connor?
 Ken O’Connor’s Essential Question:
How confident are you that the
grades students get in school are…

• consistent?
• accurate?
• meaningful?
• supportive of learning?
Make Grading Meaningful
“… the best thing you can do is
make sure your grades convey
meaningful, accurate
information about student
achievement.”
Brookhart, S., Grading, Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall, Columbus, OH, 2004, 34
The Five Minute
University
 Click:
Father Guido Sarducci’s 5 Min. U.

It’s actually…
3 minutes 55 seconds long.

What do you want

students to learn
in your class?
P – Am I sending…
POSITIVE messages?

C – Am I offering…
CHOICES?

R – Am I
encouraging…
REFLECTION?
 Assessment Games in Middle
School Science Class–
10 min. could you do something like
this?
 #1 – Relate
grading to the
intended
learning.
 Purpose of Grades
“the primary purpose of…
grades… (is) to communicate
student achievement to
students, parents, school
administrators, post-
secondary institutions and
employers.”
Bailey, J. and McTighe, J., “Reporting Achievement at the Secondary School Level: What and How?”
Learning
“Targets”
or Power
Standards
How can we help them hit the target?
1961 – Norman Rockwell
 O’Connor – How Can We Relate
Grading to the Intended Learning?
Don’t assign grades using
inappropriate or unclear performance
standards; provide clear descriptions
of achievement expectations.
 Ken Reeves –
“Toxic Grading
Practices”