KARCHER STAFF BLOG
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Kudos
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- Kudos to the following Karcher staff members for your willingness and work to put together a technology session for our inservice day this past week!
- Molly Ebbers - Making the switch to Google Chrome.
- Suzanne Dunbar & Jeri Nettesheim - Breakout Edu where students are given critical thinking challenges in order to open a locked box.
- Eric Sulik - Learning how to create animated presentations and videos through PowToons.
- Kudos to Barb Berezowitz for organizing club pictures this past week during Huddle time!
- Kudos to Vance and Harley Wilks (Amanda Wilks's children) for their presentation this past week in the library to our student council on what the Vanhar foundation is all about! Our student council would like to assist with fundraising for the Vanhar foundation in the near future!
- Kudos to our high school girls volleyball team who will be playing this Thursday night at 7:30pm in Green Bay at the state tournament. They beat Westosha this past weekend at Elkhorn in order to move on to state! Congrats to all the girls and coaches and good luck this week at state!
- Thought I would share a great email received from a parent this week thanking Jenny Geyso, Stephanie Rummler, Stacy Stoughton, and Rod Stougton. (I did remove the student's name and put "student" in it's place) Emails like this remind you why we do what we do! Kudos :)
- Below is the email:
- Mrs. Rummler, Mrs. Geyso, Mrs. Stoughton, and Mr. Stoughton,I just wanted to reach out and say a sincere THANK YOU! After dinner tonight, "student" and I were taking a walk and he could not stop talking about school and how much he loves it all because of YOU! He told me how much he enjoys your classes, your energy, your positive attitudes, and your encouragement. I got to hear all about the Rocky theme song in ELA and the things Mrs. Geyso does to make it fun, the Oregon Trail and simulation activities in social studies, how much he enjoys the challenges in math, and the great time he had at vocal jazz today.I know it is not an easy task to motivate an 8th grader, but I am truly grateful for all you do. You are already making a big difference in "student's" life, and I am so thankful.Thanks for a great start to the school year!
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Information/Reminders...
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- Science you have this week to have the students construct an email to their parents/guardians about what has been happening within science class these past few weeks!
- We encourage all employees to sign up for Amwell as it is a online service to assist with smaller medical needs. You can call a doctor from home, they view the concern through your device, and can prescribe medications if needed over the phone without you having to go into the doctor. An online visit through Amwell costs 39.99 for those who have WEA and 59.99 for those who carry another form of insurance.
- Click HERE to sign up!
- If we get over 75% of our employees to sign up this will assist with our health insurance cost going up. Even if you do not use Amwell simply signing up assists with decreasing the increase by 1% for the next insurance cycle.
- If you have random little things at home you would not mind parting with we could use your random items for the "Trick" portion of the Trick or Treat KCB rewards that will be taking place during 7th hour on Tuesday. Give any donation items to Brad Ferstenou or Stephanie Rummler prior to Tuesday afternoon!
- Monday, October 30 - Teachers your SLOs and PPGs are due in MLP.
- Just a reminder when completing things in MLP make sure you "submit" once you are done as hitting only save does not allow me access.
- Tuesday, October 31 - Start of iTime rotation #2.
- Please make sure your locations are listed correctly within the Google Docs found on page one of the Karcher Calendar in order to know where to find students if and when it is necessary to locate them.
- Tuesday, October 31 - Special Education teachers will be participating in an Executive Functioning training with Peggy Black from 8:00 - 3:00.
- Wednesday, November 1 - Grading Window Opens.
- Wednesday, November 1 - PLC focus is on Essential Skills.
- Thursday, November 2 - A portion of the Secondary Curriculum Committee members will be going to Poynette for a visit to see how they implement Grading for Learning. Grading for Learning is a common term for grading based on proficiencies and grade level benchmarks. The team attending ranges from grade 6 - 12.
- The November 16 inservice from 1:00 - 3:00 will be focused around what the Secondary Curriculum Committee has been learning so far and for the rest of the 6 - 12 teams to hear about what were the take aways from Poynette.
- We do have an that was posted on WECAN and through our staff email this past week. The position is a four day per week position with Tuesdays off. If you know anyone interested please encourage them to apply on WECAN or email me directly.
Looking ahead:
- Monday, November 6 - Staff meeting focused on the use of Snap and Read.
- Monday, November 6 - Secondary Curriculum Committee from 3:30 - 5:00 @ Karcher library.
- Wednesday, November 8 - End of Term 1.
- Friday, November 10 - 7th grade field trip to the Field Museum in Chicago.
- Questions please ask Katherine Botsford or Brad Ferstenou.
Pictures from this past week!
Vance and Harley sharing about the Vanhar Foundation with our student council!
Based on what the students were conferring with their teacher on they are then asked to focus on a goal and to use these goal cards to assist with their next steps...
Vance and Harley sharing about the Vanhar Foundation with our student council!
Maddie Berezowitz is a member of the girls volleyball team going to state this weekend! Congrats Barb and Steve!
I was able to visit Cushing Elementary two weeks back and wanted to share some of the noticeable success criteria artifacts found in their writing classroom for grades K-3. Cushing Elementary is in the Kettle Moraine School District.
Based on what the students were conferring with their teacher on they are then asked to focus on a goal and to use these goal cards to assist with their next steps...
Article continued from last week focusing on cognitive rigor and the use of DOK (Depths of Knowledge)
Now That's a Good Question! How to Promote Cognitive Rigor Through Classroom Questioning
Chapter 1. What Is Questioning for Cognitive Rigor?
Depth of Knowledge
Depth of knowledge designates the context in which students will demonstrate and communicate their learning. The context is situational and depends upon the extent the text, the topic, or even the teacher expects the student to demonstrate and communicate learning. Is the student expected to develop deep knowledge and understanding of the text or topic being read and reviewed? Is the student expected to demonstrate and communicate how or why the concepts and content can be used to attain and explain answers, outcomes, and results? Is the student expected to transfer and use the concepts and content to address academic and real-world ideas and issues across the curriculum and beyond the classroom? When we refer to depth of knowledge, we're determining not only how much a student knows but also how extensively he understands and is aware of the concepts and content he is learning.
Teaching and learning for cognitive rigor uses the Depth-of-Knowledge (DOK) model designed by Norman Webb (1997, 2002) to designate how extensively students communicate their knowledge and understanding of concepts and content. This model, shown also in Figure 1.4, consists of four levels:
- DOK Level 1 (Recall and Reproduction): Students describe what knowledge needs to be acquired and developed in order to think deeply about texts and topics.
- DOK Level 2 (Application of Skills and Concepts): Students convey how the knowledge can be used to answer questions, address problems, or accomplish tasks or analyze texts and topics.
- DOK Level 3 (Strategic Thinking and Reasoning): Students examine and explain why the knowledge can be used to defend and support responses and results.
- DOK Level 4 (Extended Thinking): Students study and share what or how else the knowledge can be used in a variety of academic and real-world circumstances.
Figure 1.4. Good Questions and Depth of Knowledge
The categories in Bloom's taxonomy define the subject matter and describe the skills students must learn, whereas the levels of Webb's DOK model designate the scenario, setting, or situation in which students demonstrate and communicate their learning. Webb's levels do not scaffold in their complexity but indicate four different ways that students share the depth and extent of their learning. Hess (2013) describes the DOK levels as ceilings that designate how deeply students are expected to explain and use what they learn. Therefore, a higher DOK level does not necessarily mean it is "better" or even more desirable than other levels. It just provides a deeper context for the transfer and use of student learning. Consider how the following scenario engages students to share the depth of their understanding of the Pythagorean Theorem and its converse.
You are teaching a unit on the Pythagorean Theorem. Your students are expected to do the following:
- Explain a proof of the Pythagorean Theorem and its converse. (CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.8.G.B.6)
- Apply the Pythagorean Theorem to determine unknown side lengths in right triangles in real-world and mathematical problems in two and three dimensions. (CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.8.G.B.7)
- Apply the Pythagorean Theorem to find the distance between two points in a coordinate system. (CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.8.G.B.8)
Your students will respond to the good questions in Figure 1.5.
Figure 1.5. Good Questions and The Pythagorean Theorem
ESSENTIAL
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Universal
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How can objects in life be categorized, classified, defined, described, determined, and quantified?
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Overarching
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How can mathematics be used to solve problems in everyday life, society, and the workplace?
How can the characteristics and properties of two- and three-dimensional geometric shapes be analyzed?
How can mathematical arguments about geometric relationship be developed?
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Topical
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How and why can the Pythagorean Theorem be used to address and solve problems involving right triangles?
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Driving
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How can you explain a proof of the Pythagorean Theorem and its converse?
What kind of mathematical or real-world problem could you design that would require using the Pythagorean Theorem or its converse?
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FACTUAL
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What is a right triangle?
What is the Pythagorean Theorem?
What is the converse of the Pythagorean Theorem?
What do the lettered sides of the triangle represent?
What is the hypotenuse of a right triangle?
What is a coordinate plane?
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ANALYTICAL
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How can the Pythagorean Theorem be applied to determine unknown side lengths in right triangles in real-world and mathematical problems in two and three dimensions?
How can the Pythagorean Theorem be applied to find the distance between two points on the coordinate plane?
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REFLECTIVE
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What is the relationship between the length of sides, the length of the hypotenuse, and the angles of the triangle according to the Pythagorean Theorem?
What effect does the length of the sides and hypotenuse of a triangle have on the angles of the triangle and the type of triangle a shape is?
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HYPOTHETICAL
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What if the length of the hypotenuse is given but the length of one of the sides is not?
How could the following individuals use the Pythagorean Theorem in the following situations?
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ARGUMENTATIVE
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AFFECTIVE
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How would you use the Pythagorean Theorem in the following situations?
How could you use the Pythagorean Theorem and its converse to determine what kind of triangle is presented in a given problem?
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PERSONAL
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What do you want to learn about the Pythagorean Theorem and its converse?
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Notice how the levels of thinking scaffold progressively, moving from basic levels (recognizing, understanding, and applying) to more complex levels of demonstrating learning (analyzing, evaluating). However, the depth to which students express their learning depends upon the context. Some questions focus specifically on reciting and reproducing specific knowledge about the Pythagorean Theorem and its converse (DOK-1). Some questions ask students to explain how the Pythagorean Theorem can be used (DOK-2) or why the theorem can be used (DOK-3) to attain and explain answers and solutions. Some questions ask students to share what else could be done with the Pythagorean theorem and its converse or how else could the Pythagorean Theorem be used (DOK-4) in different academic and real-world situations. Although the level of thinking is progressive, the depth of knowledge is more extensive.
When teaching and learning for cognitive rigor, keep in mind that depth of knowledge is not the same as higher-order thinking. Higher-order thinking defines the action or cognition (thinking). Depth of knowledge designates the context or scope in which the cognitive action is performed. Together, higher-order thinking and depth of knowledge promote cognitive rigor by setting the instructional expectations for how deeply and extensively students will demonstrate and communicate—or show and tell—what they have learned.
Article will continue into next week as well focusing on rigor and how it relates to standards-based grading.
