Teaching, coaching, and modeling: school learns from all three

Barbara A. Cleary, Ph.D.

Parents know well the power of modeling behaviors for their children. Small children watch as parents sweep the floor or run the lawnmower, and the next thing you know, they’re imitating these actions, inspired by seeing adult behaviors.

Teachers and other adults benefit from modeling as well, and Sally Duncan has brought this kind of learning to the faculty of Springfield Middle School (Springfield Local School District) in Holland, Ohio, as well as other schools throughout the state.

Looking for a formative assessment method, Susan Johnson, Ph.D., assistant principal of the school, heard about a presentation on short cycle assessment (SCA) that Duncan was leading, so she took some of her math teachers for the presentation, and others for a later session. Both groups, Johnson says, “loved it—it made sense!” She continued to arrange for teachers to participate in training sessions related to SCA.

After all math teachers had been trained, they were asked to use the short cycle assessment process in their classrooms, and they began to do so. As they launched their own practices, however, questions arose whose answers weren’t immediately apparent. “Our teachers were doing very well with the process, but had questions we felt only Sally could answer,” Johnson says. So she invited Duncan to return to meet with teachers to answer questions, and to actually model the short cycle assessment process in the classroom.

On her first visit, Duncan met with the three sixth grade math teachers for an hour, then modeled in one of the sixth grade classrooms while the other sixth grade teachers watched. She went through the same process with seventh and eighth grade math teachers. “All three grade level math teachers were really pumped up by the end of the day!” Johnson says.

Johnson acknowledges the role of Mary Richter, Regional School Improvement Team Leader from the Lucas County Educational Service Center, who was instrumental in arranging the sessions with Duncan. Marilou Jewett, customer representative for PQ Systems who works with schools to schedule Duncan’s training, says that some districts are finding that grants are available to fund these sessions. “The state may be willing to support individual districts or regional centers to provide this training,” she says.

Sixth grade teacher Stephanie Setmire says she found it “very beneficial” having Sally Duncan model the short cycle assessment process. “I took the in-service during the spring of the previous year, and didn’t implement the use of assessments right away, so I had forgotten some of the information,” she acknowledges. But seeing Duncan model the use of these assessments with students was “better than hearing about the assessments in a classroom full of adults. I appreciated hearing how she responded to the students, especially when they asked questions about things we haven't covered.”

Duncan assured the students that they should “feel good” if they earned only 40 percent on the assessment, since they were only 40 percent into the school year. Setmire found this to be a reassuring approach. Now she has plans for next year, even as this school year comes to a close: “I want to start right out in the fall and develop a ‘word wall’ with new vocabulary as we encounter new concepts. I plan to make it a part of my weekly routine from the start.”

Cindy Creech, a seventh grade math teacher, saw benefits accrue from the experience, including the fact that students can follow their own progress; both teachers and students garner immediate feedback; and students become familiar with objectives that they need to learn. “The students saw that they could learn from a short lesson,” she says, adding that the teachers saw the ways in which students can be assessed on topics not yet taught, learning from ‘mini-lessons.’ Kelly Lozier, who also teaches seventh grade math, says the process helped her determine when to move on to a new content standard, and provided opportunities to conduct mini-lessons to introduce new concepts. “When we actually started the concept, students had a little bit of background knowledge to draw from,” she adds.

As far as benefits to students, Erin Kwiatkowski (seventh grade math) says that the modeling process helped students become familiar with the types of questions that they would be likely to see on the state test. “It was also a great way to go back and review topics we had covered at a previous time, since the questions were all mixed up.” As far as her own learning, Kwiatkowski says she realizes that “I need to start this from day one.” She plans to do just that in the fall, starting with sixth grade questions and moving to seventh grade questions in order to boost their confidence.

Students were unsure about short cycle assessments in the beginning, says Lisa Seitz, sixth grade math teacher, since they saw each assessment as just another quiz. But by the third week or so, they began to see patterns of growth in specific standard areas, and to recognize where they needed extra help. Accountability was assured as students enjoyed keeping track of their own progress, Seitz says. Her sixth grade colleague, Tenley Draheim, agrees that the modeling was beneficial, especially with respect to demonstrating the scoring/graphing process.

Eighth grade teacher Barb Judd gained “a very clear idea of exactly how the short cycle assessments can and should be done with students.” Like the child watching her mother mow the lawn, Judd points out the benefit of modeling: “Reading directions from a manual for such an activity is helpful. Watching a videotape of a person teaching is also helpful. The ideal situation is what I had the pleasure to experience…having the ‘author’ do model teaching of her activity.” Colleague Jerry Stirn says that he, too, learned from Duncan’s model classes.

Stirn appreciates the ways in which short cycle assessment gives each student a sense of accomplishment and builds confidence. The same may be true for teachers, when they have an opportunity to participate in a model teaching session.

For more information, call PQ Systems, Inc. at 800 777-3020 or visit the K-12 portion of the PQ Systems website, www.pqsystems.com. To view videos documenting College Corner Union Elementary School’s use of data folders and short-cycle assessments, click here.

To comment on this article, email k12@pqsystems.com. We'd love to hear from you.

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