Monday, December 30, 2013

Webb's Depth of Knowledge & DOK Posters FREEBIE!

Everybody is talking about RIGOR or asking, "What is rigor?"  If you do any research on rigor, you will find that rigor does not mean difficulty.  Instead rigor means the level of mental processing that must occur to answer a question, perform a task or generate a product.   Two widely used measures of rigor are Bloom's Taxonomy and Webb's Depth of Knowledge Levels.  Both measures of rigor go from the simple to the complex. Karen Hess' Cognitive Rigor Matrix integrates these models as a strategy for analyzing the level of teacher lessons and assessments.  Bloom's verbs indicate the level of performance or the level of questioning.  Webb's Depth of Knowledge focuses on the complexity of standards in order to successfully complete an assessment or a task.  The outcome (product) is the focus of the depth of understanding.  

In my district, we have been using Karen Hess' Cognitive Rigor Matrix to map out our learning events in our UbD units  This matrix allows you to map out your lessons and assessments to ensure a balance at all levels.  Certainly there is a place for recall and reproduction or routine thinking, but this matrix can be used for "tweaking" some of our lessons to make them more rigorous.  When you unpack the Common Core Standards, look at the verbs and align the standard with the level of Bloom's taxonomy.  Then check out what follows the verb to indicate the level of understanding.  What comes after the verb is more important than the verb itself.  For example, 
                     DOK 1 Describe three characteristics of metamorphic rocks. 
                     DOK 2 Describe the difference between metamorphic and igneous rocks.
                     DOK 3 Describe a model you might use to represent the relationships 
                                  that exist within the rock cycle. 


                                  
Online, you can easily find copies of the Cognitive Rigor Matrix for ELA, Math, Science and Social Studies.  You can also find the Bloom's Posters created by Wake County Public Schools System Academically Gifted Program. 


 I am attaching a link to my free flipchart on DOK in the Content areas on TPT.


You can also download my free Depth of Knowledge  posters for your classroom.  

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Unique Interactive Word Wall & Student Journal

Check out these Alphabet Posters or Alphabet Posters & Student Journal
with Embedded Sight Words and High Frequency Words by clicking on TPT


ABC Posters alone 

ABC Posters & Matching Student Journal
Word walls can be effective literacy tools that have the potential for enhancing vocabulary learning when used in conjunction with effective instructional practices.  Reading fluency is one of the primary elements in the reading process.  It is the ability to read orally with speed and efficiency, including word recognition, decoding, and comprehension (Chard & Pikulski, 2005).  Research has shown that one effective way to improve reading fluency is by interacting with a word wall and its related activities to develop high frequency word recognition. 

Be the Teacher students make up a quiz and quiz their partners on ten self-selected word wall words.
Guess That Word  - students give hints to what word they are thinking of by describing the formation of the word.
Let’s Be Creativestudents write a story that includes as many word wall words as possible.
Letters in My First Name  - students write their name vertically and then match two word wall words to each letter in their name.
Letters in Words  - students pick ten word wall words and then find two or more words that have the same letter as the original word
Rainbow Writing  students write the words from the word wall in different crayons focusing on the configuration of the word while writing.
Shape of Words  - students focus on letter formation (tall, small, and dropped letters) in the word wall words and write the words that are tall, small, and dropped.
Cloze Sentences  - students will fill in words from the word wall to complete cloze sentences from the teacher.
Play Clue  - the teacher will give a clue about a word and then ask students to find the word on the wall that goes with the clue.
Scramble the Letters  - the teacher will scramble letters of a word wall word and give a clue to its meaning.  Students will try to guess the correct word wall word. 
Share a Topic  - the teacher will share a topic with the class and ask students to find all of the words on the wall that connect with the topic.