1. Unpacking the Standards: |
As a teacher, one of the first things you can do for your students is to know what exactly your teaching. So often we put the objective on the board in student friendly terms and we don't look back. I must confess I have done that myself, especially in my first years of teaching. While the intentions are good, it's easy to get lost in the shuffle and forget the importance of what we need to unpack the standards. With time being precious for educators it is important to take the time beforehand to look at the standards and know the direction you will be going with your students, standards are the road maps for student leaning and outcomes.
With time being of the essence unpacking standards may actually be a time-saver in the long run. "Once you determine whether a standard is asking for content or procedural mastery, you can actually save yourself time because you will only focus on the skills or knowledge that is required by the standard. You will inevitably find that some of the things that you are doing to get your students ready to pass the big test are not actually moving students towards mastery of the standards on which they will be tested. So taking time to unpack the standards will actually help you be more efficient in your preparation for the test" (Jackson, Robyn, 2009, p. 59). In order to best prepare our students we must know the direction we need to take our students and figure out what is truly essential for student outcomes.
Here is an example of unpacking an 8th grade common core math standard:
CCSS.Math.Content.8.EE.C.7.b (8.EE.7b Colorado CC Standards) Solve linear equations with rational number coefficients, including equations whose solutions require expanding expressions using the distributive property and collecting like terms.
(The bold words are the actions that students will actually need to do, the verbs. the words that italicized are the important vocabulary that students will need to understand in order to master the objective.)
In this standard students will need to do the following:
-Students need to know inverse operations.
-Students will need to know and identify the coefficient, constant, and variable.
-Students will be able to solve equations that are one, two, and multi step equations with rational numbers.
-Students will need to know how to combine like terms.
-Students will need to know and apply distributive property.
Once we break down what it is that students exactly need to do and understand to master the objective we need to create an essential question.
Please see below for the essential questions on the standard above.
· What are some similarities to solving all equations?
· How can equations help us interpret real world problems?
Here are some resources for unpacking standards:
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/acre/standards/common-core-tools/
With time being of the essence unpacking standards may actually be a time-saver in the long run. "Once you determine whether a standard is asking for content or procedural mastery, you can actually save yourself time because you will only focus on the skills or knowledge that is required by the standard. You will inevitably find that some of the things that you are doing to get your students ready to pass the big test are not actually moving students towards mastery of the standards on which they will be tested. So taking time to unpack the standards will actually help you be more efficient in your preparation for the test" (Jackson, Robyn, 2009, p. 59). In order to best prepare our students we must know the direction we need to take our students and figure out what is truly essential for student outcomes.
Here is an example of unpacking an 8th grade common core math standard:
CCSS.Math.Content.8.EE.C.7.b (8.EE.7b Colorado CC Standards) Solve linear equations with rational number coefficients, including equations whose solutions require expanding expressions using the distributive property and collecting like terms.
(The bold words are the actions that students will actually need to do, the verbs. the words that italicized are the important vocabulary that students will need to understand in order to master the objective.)
In this standard students will need to do the following:
-Students need to know inverse operations.
-Students will need to know and identify the coefficient, constant, and variable.
-Students will be able to solve equations that are one, two, and multi step equations with rational numbers.
-Students will need to know how to combine like terms.
-Students will need to know and apply distributive property.
Once we break down what it is that students exactly need to do and understand to master the objective we need to create an essential question.
Please see below for the essential questions on the standard above.
· What are some similarities to solving all equations?
· How can equations help us interpret real world problems?
Here are some resources for unpacking standards:
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/acre/standards/common-core-tools/
References:
Common Core State Standards Initiative. (2010). Colorado Academic Standards in Mathematics and The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. Retrieved from:
http://www.cde.state.co.us/sites/default/files/documents/comath/documents/math_8th_grade.pdf
Jackson, Robyn. (2009). Never Work Harder Than Your Students & Other Principals of Great Teachings.
Alexandria, VA: ADCD
NC Common Core Instructional Support Tools. (2012). Retrieved from:
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/acre/standards/common-core-tools/
Devlin, Maureen. (2014, March 12). Unpacking the Standard. [Video file] Retrieved from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl5VmqiciIo