The 16 Week Challenge: Week 4

 

Welcome to week 4 of our Fall 2024 16 Week Teaching Challenge!

Is this your first time checking in? No problem. Take a minute and read The Big Launch post here. You can also get caught up on previous weeks by scrolling to the "Labels" section at the bottom right of this page and clicking "The 16 Week Challenge."

However, if you're ready to jump right in, here you go!

Week 4: Sept. 2 - Practice Checking for Understanding

The challenge is to put into practice what you learned last week by planning for and using at least 3 checks for understanding (CFU) in at least 3 upcoming lessons. (And feel free to revisit last week's reading from EL if you need a refresh.)

What does this look like? For each lesson, you'll:

1. Internalize the lesson. Be sure to identify its purpose, the heart, the student work that aligns with the purpose, and how independently that work is supposed to be done.
2. Plan at least 3 checks for understanding in the lesson. This means you'll identify at least 3 places in the lesson where you want to pause, check for understanding, and plan for any needed adjustments based on what you learn. For each, you need to:
1. Know the exemplar response you are looking for.
2. Decide what you will check. It must be visual or verbal. Will you look at an annotation, check white boards, look at the first box on their graphic organizer, check their gists, or listen for an ideal spoken response?
3. If needed, decide who you will check. Are you going to check every student, or a representative sample? If a representative sample, who is that going to be?
4. Plan what you will do if you do or do not get the ideal response. Will you have a student who got the ideal response share with the class through a show call? Will you drive them back to a specific place in the text and check again? Will you have them turn and talk and then revise their answers? Will you ask a quick follow up question to press for all-the-way-there right? ("That's strong evidence, Cathy. Can you explain how it supports your answer?") Because you know what's coming up, will you move on and keep an eye on how they do the next time this kind of thinking pops up? Will you move a bit quicker because they are with you solidly?
3. Capture notes at the end of each lesson on how this went.
1. Did you use the CFU you planned?
2. What did you learn about your students and their work?
3. What did you learn about your instruction? 

Completed that? Fantastic! You just completed your Week 4 Teaching Challenge. If you're working for that small prize, you can log your success here, and be sure to check back next week - September 9 - for Week 5!

Here's to simply teaching well,