October 23, 2017

KARCHER STAFF BLOG

Karcher 2017-2018 School Calendar

Students of the week!!!!!!! 
(Running slide show) 

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Kudos

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• Thank you to the entire staff for putting on a nice lunch this past Monday for "Bosses" day!  Ryan and I really appreciate all of you and all of your efforts!  Thanks again and thank you for the gift cards as well.  
• Kudos to our teachers for a nice first parent/teacher conference this past Monday.  We had a smaller turn out than usual but from the conversations had they were positive!  Thank you also to Jodi Borchart for coming to assist with the social media conversation with parents in the library during parent/teacher conferences.  

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Information/Reminders...

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• October 23 - 25 = Huddle Week
• Huddle week means students will stay with their advisory teachers for an extended advisory.  
• The focus of Huddle Week is for each advisory teacher to conference with all of your advisory students (so about 5 conferences per day) during the three days.  During this time the focus is going over their grades, items needed, how their year is going, concerns, etc.  
• While you are conferencing with students the rest of the students should be using the time for completion of needed work with the end of the term coming up and/or SSR.  
• October 24 and 25 - Club pictures will be taken during Huddle Time. 
• Click HERE to see the times and groups that will be called for pictures.  
• October 23-25:  It is MATH's turn again to have students send an email home to their parents/guardians.  Please think of a stem starter to assist students with what to share within their emails!  
• During conferences parents did bring up the emails to me and said they really like them as they like hearing from their son/daughter about their school day/week.  
• October 23 - BLT Meeting from 2:40 - 3:30 (conference room) 
• October 24 - Picture Retake Day!  
• October 25 - iTime PLC - we will meet in the library in our advisory teams.  
• October 26 - 8:00 - 4:00 inservice day @ BHS.  
• safe
• Karcher staff who participated in the golf simulation lesson last year do not need to attend the "Best Practices" session on October 26.  If you did not attend last year (or were not here last year to attend) you should have signed up for a session no later than this past Friday.  Click HERE for the "Best Practices" session if you have not done so already.  
• Click HERE to see the other sessions for the day.  There is no sign up for these... it will be a first come/first serve kind of a situation where once the room is full people will need to pick a different session.  
• October 27 - No School!!!
• October 30 - Your SLO and PPG beginning of the year information is due within MLP.  
• The grading window will open on November 1 and close on November 10 @ 3:00pm.  The end of the term is November 8!

• Reminders/information:  
• Please make sure you are checking your Chromebook carts to make sure students are plugging them in every night.  We are having students come to the library stating their chromebooks are dead so please assist in reminding them to plug them in every night.  
• All staff... please utilize our parking lots to the best of your ability on a daily basis.  If lots are full or you need to park on a specific side of the building and the lots/circle drive on that side is full I encourage you to park on Robert Street versus on Henry Street when possible.  

Pictures from this past week!
Our 8th grade students sold over 17,000 dollars worth of Kringles for the Outdoor Education fundraiser!  Pick up and delivery took place this past week!  

Mr. Block and Mr. Nelson have been working with all of our students getting used to utilizing the Go Polar Fit sensors and bands this past week!  Students are able to see their heart rate, understand the importance of staying in their targeted heart rate zone, and were able to see how long they stayed in their targeted heart rate zone during the class period. 

Students in yearbook collaborating with each other after school.  


8th grade trip to Madison this past week!

GREAT VIDEO Synthesizing the purpose of the work we are all doing towards Essential Skills.  

This article focuses on cognitive rigor and determining the rigor within the questions we ask...

Now That's a Good Question! How to Promote Cognitive Rigor Through Classroom Questioning

by Erik M. Francis

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. What Is Questioning for Cognitive Rigor?

You are teaching a unit on the themes of heroism and courage using different texts of literary fiction and nonfiction. Your students are expected to do the following:

• Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.3)
• Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.4)
• Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.9)
• Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.2)
• Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.9)

Your students will address and respond to the good questions in Figure 1.1 during the unit.

Figure 1.1. Good Questions: Heroism

ESSENTIAL	Universal	What is heroism? What is courage? What makes someone heroic or courageous?
	Overarching	How do characters develop and interact over the course of a text? How can words and phrases be interpreted as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings? How do two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take? How do narratives use effective techniques, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences to develop real or imagined experiences? How can evidence from literary or informational texts be drawn to support analysis, reflection, and research?
	Topical	How do the heroes and acts of courage presented in literary fiction and nonfiction text reflect the beliefs, ideals, and values of different authors, cultures, eras, generations, and societies?
	Driving	How could you create a character who does the following? Embodies the qualities and traits of a hero Reflects your personal beliefs and traits of a hero Represents your culture or generation's beliefs and ideas about heroism
FACTUAL		Who is the hero in a story? What are the character traits of a hero? What are the different types of heroes? Who is the hero in the texts read or reviewed as part of this unit? What is a "mirror character"? What words do the authors of these texts for this unit use to describe the hero in the story, the situation encountered, or the actions and deeds committed by the hero?
ANALYTICAL		What distinguishes a hero from the main character or protagonist in the story? What are the similarities and differences among different types of heroes? What distinguishes the hero from all other individuals in a text? What is the difference between a hero and an idol? How does the author characterize, describe, or portray the hero in the text? What is the tone of texts that express and share acts of heroism and courage? What does it mean when a hero "falls from grace"?
REFLECTIVE		What is the relationship between the hero and the villain? The hero and the literary foil? What influences do tales of heroes, heroism, and courage have on an audience? What influence does time, geography, and social factors have on the definitions and perceptions of a hero, heroism, or courage? What effect does the language the author uses have on how a hero or heroic act is presented or portrayed?
HYPOTHETICAL		How could a hero be tempted or "fall from grace"? What could turn a hero into a villain? How could a villain become a hero? How could the flaws of a character make the character more heroic? How could a hero and villain be "mirror characters"? How could a hero and the foil be "mirror characters"? What if the hero or villain was female and a male character was in peril?
ARGUMENTATIVE		Are the protagonist and antagonist of a story also the hero or villain, or do they have different meanings? Must a hero be perfect or can a hero be flawed? Must a hero be fearless in order to be heroic, or can fear help the hero become more heroic? Is there a universal understanding of what makes someone heroic or courageous, or does it depend upon certain factors (e.g., people, place, time)?
AFFECTIVE		What do you think it means to be a hero? What do you think makes someone heroic or courageous? Who is your hero and why? What is a heroic act committed by a real person or group of people that deserves to be acknowledged or recognized? How would you clearly and effectively share this act of heroism with an audience? Is the hero in the story you are reading a hero or an idol? Is the hero in the story you are writing a hero or an idol?
PERSONAL		What do you want to learn about heroism and courage and how they are portrayed in literary fiction and nonfiction?

Take a look at the questions that students will address as part of this literary genre study (set aside the figure's format for now). Notice how the questions engage students to do—or demonstrate—the following:

• Recognize and understand data, definitions, and details.
• Apply concepts and procedures.
• Analyze and evaluate causes, connections, and consequences—actual, hypothetical, or potential.
• Think creatively about what they personally can design, develop, or do with what they have learned.

Demonstrating thinking is half the battle. These questions also encourage students to communicate the following:

• What is the knowledge that must be read, researched, and recognized?
• How can this knowledge be used to answer questions, address problems, accomplish tasks, and analyze texts and topics?
• Why can this knowledge be used to study phenomena, solve problems, and solidify ideas?
• How else could you use this knowledge in different academic and real-world contexts?

These are the actions and conditions that define rigor—and in particular instructional rigor—that challenge students to learn concepts and retain content at higher and deeper levels (Blackburn, 2008). When we describe a learning experience as rigorous or having rigor, we are talking about its level of cognitive rigor—the extent to which students are challenged to demonstrate higher-order thinking and communicate depth of knowledge.

What Is Cognitive Rigor?

Cognitive rigor has received increased attention primarily due to instructional shifts in K–12 education that place importance on developing 21st century skills, which are generally agreed to be skills that prepare students for college and career success. As a result, greater expectations are now placed "on education systems around the world to teach in ways that produce the knowledge workers and innovators businesses need to compete in the 21st century knowledge economy" (Trilling & Fadel, 2009, p. 61). Students still need to acquire and apply knowledge accurately. However, they must also be able to analyze and articulate knowledge authentically through critical thinking and problem solving, collaboration and communication, and creativity and innovation.

Cognitive rigor measures the depth and breadth of topics that should be taught as part of an educational experience based on the following criteria:

• Complexity of the concepts and content taught and obtained
• Kind of knowledge acquired
• Type of thinking demonstrated
• Depth of knowledge communicated (Hess et al., 2009a, 2009b; Walkup & Jones, 2014)

Cognitive rigor provides this enhanced educational experience by superimposing two academic frameworks that define how deeply students demonstrate their knowledge—Bloom's Revised Taxonomy and Webb's Depth-of-Knowledge (Hess et al., 2009a, 2009b). Bloom's taxonomy categorizes the kind of knowledge and type of thinking that students demonstrate to answer a question. Webb's Depth-of-Knowledge model designates the depth of knowledge that students express in a given context to answer a question. By aligning these two frameworks, cognitive rigor acts as a high-quality instructional tool to ensure teachers prepare their students for success in and out of the classroom. (We'll discuss how these two frameworks work together to promote cognitive rigor in just a bit.)

Another important aspect of cognitive rigor is that it promotes intellectual involvement by challenging students to explain what they have learned in their own unique way. Students must learn how to become meaning-seeking critical thinkers who can sift through and process vast amounts of information and then use the deeper knowledge they gain in a variety of academic and real-world contexts. It is the job of educators to provide learning experiences that encourage such deep examination of knowledge. In this way, the use of cognitive rigor as a measurement tool supports the use of cognitive rigor as the comprehensive learning goal for students.

Later in this chapter, we will discuss how this learning goal promotes cognitive rigor through better classroom questioning (i.e., asking good questions). First let's take a look at how cognitive rigor fosters authentic teaching and deep learning experiences for teachers and their students. Refer to Figure 1.2.

Figure 1.2. Good Questions and Bloom's Taxonomy

Source: Categories adapted from Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001

Higher-Order Thinking

The revised version of Bloom's taxonomy developed by Anderson and Krathwohl (2001) models cognitive rigor by clearly differentiating knowledge (What is to be learned?) from thinking (How is learning to be demonstrated?) by splitting both into two dimensions. The Knowledge Dimension defines the content or subject matter students need to learn—the facts, the vocabulary, the concepts, the procedures, and the criteria for using all four. The Cognitive Process Dimension describes the thinking or skills students must develop and demonstrate. Anderson and Krathwohl's (2001) revised version rephrases these cognitive skills as verbs to help teachers develop learning goals and performance objectives, which is the intent and purpose of both the original taxonomy and its revised version. However, as formatted and presented, the taxonomy still remains limited as a resource for classifying and creating good questions.

To develop good questions with Bloom's Revised Taxonomy, we can use the basic categories from Bloom's Questioning Inverted Pyramid to replace the cognitive verbs of performance objectives with the following question stems:

• Recognize: Who? What? Where? When?
• Understand: How? Why?
• Apply: How does it work? How is it used?
• Analyze: Why does it work? Why is it used? What does it imply/infer? What does it mean? What does it suggest? What is the cause? What is the connection? What is the influence? What is the reason? What is the relationship?
• Evaluate: What is the effect? What is the impact? What is the outcome? What is the result? What if? What would happen? What could happen? What do you believe about it? How do you feel about it? What do you think about it? What is your opinion about it?
• Create: What can you create? What can you design? What can you develop? What can you plan? What can you produce? How could you innovate? What could you invent? How do you? How could you? How would you? How could you develop and use a model? What kind of original text could you produce? What kind of problem could you present?

By replacing the cognitive verbs with the correlating question stems in Figure 1.2, students will be challenged to demonstrate—or show—and also to communicate—or tell—the depth of their knowledge and understanding. Figure 1.3 demonstrates how rephrasing questions creates more cognitively complex performance tasks.

Figure 1.3. Good Questions and Learning Objectives

LEARNING OBJECTIVES	GOOD QUESTION
Compare and contrast stories in the same genre (e.g., mysteries or adventures) on their approaches to similar themes and topics.	How are stories in the same genre similar and different in how they address and approach similar themes and topics?
Determine the central idea and themes addressed in the novel The Outsiders.	How does The Outsiders address the following themes: stereotyping, wealth and poverty, honor and loyalty, friendship and family, book smart vs. street smart, school vs. experience?
Analyze the role of women in Romeo and Juliet and how that affects the development of the plot and characters.	What role do women play in Romeo and Juliet and how does that affect the development of plot and characters?
Solve these equations. 9 x 2 =      5 x 6 =      7 x 3 =      4 x 6 =      10 x 8 =	How can multiplication be used to solve these equations? 9 x 2 =      5 x 6 =      7 x 3 =      4 x 6 =      10 x 8 =
Use the four operations to solve word problems involving distances, intervals of time, liquid volumes, masses of objects, and money, including problems involving simple fractions or decimals, and problems that require expressing measurements given in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit.	How can the four operations be used to solve word problems involving the following? Distance Intervals of time Liquid volumes Masses of objects Money Simple fractions or decimals Converting smaller or larger measurements
List 5 ways energy can be conserved in the home.	How can energy be conserved in the home?
In its orbit around the sun, Mars is 154,900,000 miles at its most distant point. Express this distance in scientific notation.	How can the mileage of Mars be expressed in scientific notation at its most distant point from the sun?
Explain what turgor pressure is and why it is important to plants.	What is turgor pressure and why is it important to plants?
Compare and contrast family life historically and presently among various cultures. Consider such things as communication, technology, homes, transportation, recreation, schools, and cultural traditions.	How has family life among various cultures changed or remained the same (historically and presently) in regard to Communication Technology Homes Transportation Recreation School Cultural traditions
Understand that the U.S. government was formed by British colonists who fought for independence from England.	How was the U.S. government established by British colonists who fought for independence from England?
Debate whether President Truman was justified for dropping the atomic bomb on Japan.	Was President Truman justified, unjustified, or did he have no other option but to drop the atomic bomb on Japan?

The performance objectives in column 1 of Figure 1.3 provide explicit learning expectations. They also challenge students to demonstrate—or show—how deeply they can think about the texts and topics they are reading and reviewing in class. However, performance objectives are limited in engaging students to communicate—or tell—the depth and extent of their understanding, which is a key component of teaching and learning for cognitive rigor. With good questions such as the ones posed in column 2, students are prompted to think deeply and share the depth of their learning by explaining how and why the answer is correct.

This article will continue next week.