Reply to HS teachers that give group projects

Forum Index » Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)

Reply to "HS teachers that give group projects"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Holy crap, English teachers. Your standards are so jumbly and illogically organized. I'm sorry VDOE gives you such a trash document.

By contrast, look how clear and concise the math ones I am given are: https://www.doe.virginia.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/48957/638315045918730000[/quote]

Yes the standards are very different and “literacy” encompasses four very broad spheres of reading, writing, listening, speaking. But some schmuck arguing with us that collaborative work is not in the standards when it is, in black and white, actually explicitly saying they are applying communication skills that we teach in “small group activities” is somehow just icing on the cake. I’m supposed to assess their ability to communicate, cooperatively build understanding of content, divide roles to share work, and reflect on their contribution to the group while also… never assigning any group work? [/quote]

DP. I’m an English teacher, but not in VA. That post confused me, so maybe you can help me out.

I popped into your standards (and I agree they are disorganized). I saw exactly what I expected to see: lists of skills. That PP was arguing that there are “content” standards, too? I didn’t see those.

To me, standards are the list of skills teachers teach and assess. Content is the vehicle used to deliver them. So I may teach plot structure while reading “The Most Dangerous Game.” Do you actually have a list of texts you must teach somewhere in those standards? [/quote]

No. The PP does not understand that something can be a content standard (ie skills that the students must learn and demonstrate mastery of- in this case, the standard 10.C.1 refers to communication skills and about 10 different skills students must demonstrate in order to show mastery of this standard) and an assessment method (ie a small group project is what you assign to assess the students’ ability to demonstrate the skills learned in the communication standard). Even when the actual standards are posted here showing all the skills that are named in this standard, including specifically “work collaboratively on small group assignments,” they argue that a) that is not a standard and b) somehow group work isn’t a valid assessment format to measure those skills.

You can teach plot with any fictional or narrative text. You can teach communication skills with any topic. But you assess the students’ ability to demonstrate collaborative communication skills via the assigned group work that requires them to apply those skills. Content is not the same as curriculum is not the same as skills is not the same as standards is not the same as assessment, but they all work together in the learning process. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics