Author: Chrzanowski, Noel

Si Se Puede...Yes We Can!

Pamela Williams, Curriculum Director
Quarterly Newsletter

Fall 2014

CCA will Master the M-STEP!

M-STEP Michigan State Testing of Educational Progress review

M-STEP 3rd—8th Grade
The M-STEP assessment will include English language arts and mathematics for grades 3–8. This will include a Computer Adaptive Test (CAT), a Classroom Activity, and a Performance Task aligned to CCSS
Students in grades 4 and 7 will be tested in science.
Students in grades 5 and 8 will be tested in Social Studies.
The science and social studies test are online Michigan developed fixed-form, multiple-choice based items.
2015 MME
The Michigan Merit Exam consists of the ACT Plus Writing, WorkKeys, and M-STEP summative in English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies.
Key points about M-STEP
M-STEP consist of performance tasks that measure a student’s ability to integrate knowledge and skills across multiple standards
The Spring 2015 assessment will include Michigan-developed content as well as content from the multi-state Smarter Balanced
To adequately
prepare students for
M-STEP we must
Increase the
Cognitive Rigor and Depth of Knowledge

M-STEP is on the move

Preparing for M-STEP with DOK

Depth of Knowledge (DOK)
The Depth of Knowledge (DOK) is depth of understanding that is required to answer an assessment question. The model analyzes the cognitive expectation demanded by standards, curricular activities and assessment tasks (Webb, 1997).
Levels of DOK
Level 1 – Recall & Reproduction. Tasks at this level require recall of facts anddoes not require any cognitive effort beyond remembering the right response or formula.
Level 2- Skills and Concepts
At this level, a student must make some decisions about his or her approach. Tasks with more than one mental step such as comparing, organizing, summarizing, predicting, and estimating are usually Level 2.
Level 3- Strategic Thinking
Task at this level require students to plan ,use evidence, and abstract thinking.
Level 4 — Extended Thinking
This tasks require the most complex cognitive effort. Students synthesize information from multiple sources, often over an extended period of time, or transfer knowledge from one domain to solve problems in another
The objective’s central verb(s) alone is/are not sufficient information to assign a DOK level.

Inside this issue:

M-STEP is on the move...	2
Depth of / Knowledge	2
Graphic / Organizers	3
Marzono’s High Yield Strategies	3
Differentiated Instruction	4
Bloom’s Taxonomy	4

M-STEP Assessment Test.
Assessment Schedules will be provided by your Instructional Coach…..

Example of 5th Grade DOK Level 4 -

Example of 5th Grade DOK Level 1/2

This example item was provided by the FCAT (Florida’s Computer Adaptive Test) developers as an example of a high complexity and low complexity item. The Level 4 item takes the requirements of the last item up one more step by requiring students to consider an additional variable, the inclination of the plane and therefore requires them to consider multiple variables and explain, in terms of forces, how these variable affect the movement of the blocks. The student is required to predict the effect of a change within the system which requires them to think beyond the image provided.

Graphic Organizer plus…...

There are a number of Graphic Organizers that can be used increase reading comprehension and support the Sheltered Instruction model
T– Chart-The T– chart can help students by adding the main idea on one side and supporting ideas on the other
Story Star
The FIVE POINTs of a star, can help students identify Who, What, When, Where and Why. The star can also be used as a pre-reading activity. Show student the cover a a book or novel and ask them to write their predication about the story.
Spider Map
The Spider Map is used to describe a central idea: a thing, a process, a concept, or a proposition.
Story Board
The Story Board graphic organizer can show a series of illustrations or images, displayed in sequence ,for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence, including website interactivity.
Network Tree is a graphic organizer that helps students visualize the relationships . The tree's trunk represents the main topic, and the branches represent relevant facts, factors, influences, traits, people, or outcomes.
Fishbone
A diagram that helps students show the causes and effect of a certain event or depict a story
Frayer Model
Students are asked to provide a Definition of the word, Facts or Characteristics Examples, and Non examples. This graphic organizer will lead students to a deeper understanding of a word and its relationship to their own lives.

Group Work redefined………..

CHALK TALK
The teacher can divide the class into 5 teams. Each team will walk around and answer the question posted on the sheet or respond to another students comment:
FIRST ONE , LAST ONE
After reading a section, ask students to summarized what they read. Depending on the maturity level of the group, students may need to hold an object, such as a rubric cube, in their hand to remind the other students that it’s their turn.
Lead Teacher
Allow one of the students to trade places with you. The student would lead the class in a discussion to complete on of the graphic organizers

Structure multiple opportunities for peer-to—peer interaction. Lecturing is the least effective practice for educating English Language Learners

Marzano’s High Yield Instructional Strategies

In Classroom Instruction that Works: Research-based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement, Robert Marzono (2010) and his colleagues identified nine high yield instructional strategies through a meta-analysis of over 100 independent studies.
Identifying similarities and differences
Summarizing and note taking
Reinforcing effort and proving recognition
Homework and practice
Nonlinguistic representation
Cooperative learning
Setting objectives and providing feedback
Generating and testing hypothesis
Questions, cues and advance organizers

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CCA will Master the M-STEP!

Strategies for Differentiated Instruction in Project-Based Learning

Reflection and Goal Setting- Reflection is an essential component of PBL. Throughout the project, students should be reflecting on their work and setting goals for further learning. This is a great opportunity for them to set personalized learning goals and for you to target instruction specific to the goals they set.
Mini Lessons are is a great management strategy to maximize instructional time and a great way to differentiate instruction. And support your students' learning. After reflection and goal setting, this is a great way to have them connect their goals to specific mini-lessons.
Not all students need the mini-lesson, so you can offer or require it for the students who need additional support.
Differentiate through Teams– Homogenous grouping can be an effective way to differentiate in a project. Sometimes in a novel- or literature-based PBL project, it might be appropriate to differentiate by grouping into reading level.

Bloom Taxonomy is HOT! (Higher Order Thinking Skills)

Listed below are Bloom’s cognitive activity from simple to complex
Knowledge by defining, locating, underlining, labeling, or identifying.
Example: “What is the capital of Maine?”
Comprehension by describing, summarizing, explaining, or paraphrasing.
Example: “What do you think Hamlet meant when he said, "to be or not to be, that is the question?"
Application by computing, building, employ, dramatize or giving an example.
Example: According to our definition of socialism, which of the following nations would be considered to be socialist?
Analysis by categorizing, classifying, comparing and contrasting and differentiating.
Example: Why was Israel selected as the site for the Jewish nation?
Synthesis by combining, creating, designing, constructing or predicting.
Example: Write a letter to the editor on a social issue of concern to you or make a collage of pictures and words that represents your beliefs and feelings about the issue
Evaluation by concluding, defining, justifying , compare, estimate and prioritizing.
Example: Do you think it is true that "Americans never had it so good?"

Caption describing picture or graphic.

Thank You for all you do!

César Ch◙vez Academy District Mission statement
"To provide an opportunity for all students to learn in a safe atmosphere of academic excellence."

Pamela Williams, Curriculum Director
Quarterly Newsletter

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"Every day thinking, like ordinary walking, is a natural performance we all pick up. But good thinking, like running the l00-yard dash, is a technical performance... Sprinters have to be taught how to run the 100-yard dash; good thinking is the result of good teaching, which includes much practice."
David Perkins, Howard University