I Taught My Dog to Whistle

A tip of the hat to Bud Blake, creator of
the Tiger comic strip.

Those of you at Hamilton Southeastern High School have seen parts of this before, but I'm taking a chance and repeating a bit.  In the past few weeks, I have been in several conversations that have included the topic of the importance of formative assessments. These recurring discussion have reminded me of Bud Blake's cartoon, which you can see below.  

From Phil: Our Focus is on Learning

Before reading further, think about this statement: The focus of our efforts at Hamilton Southeastern Schools must be primarily on student learning rather than on teaching. 

Quite a few years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Lindsay High School in the San Joaquin Valley, just south of Fresno, California. 

Lindsay is a school that is very different from HSE, but I met some outstanding and innovative educators on that visit.  They were working closely with Robert Marzano and Associates and were trying to turn around a school that by all accounts was struggling.  Perhaps the most daring move they made was to put every student on an individualized learning plan that included advancement and the granting of course credit based on performance. 

Lindsay was all about what the student learned.

In fact, they didn't call the kids “students.”  They were “learners,” and the teachers were “learning facilitators.”  If you can get over the awkwardness of the titles, the intent is excellent.

For good reason, we tend to focus on what and how we are teaching.  This is not a bad thing.  We should always strive to improve our teaching.  In fact, there is a direct correlation between how we teach and how well students learn, but the reality is that the outcome is the key.  Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe tell us students must understand to the level of “transfer.”   If students can transfer their learning to new situations, we are on the right track.  If we teach lessons that don’t result in students understanding at deep levels, then we need to change our approach.

The issue is, of course, that regardless of how we teach it, if the students don’t learn it, we haven’t really accomplished much. This makes a great argument for continuing our HSE²¹ journey.  For example, our work with Understanding by Design fits well.  A solid UbD Unit will include clear understandings of what we want students to know and be able to do.  It provides an assortment of assessments, both formative and summative, that allow teachers to monitor student learning and for students to transfer their learning to new situations. 

Click this link for a very short YouTube video of Thomas Guskey
talking about formative assessments:
Guskey YouTube

In reality, the most important assessments are likely the formative assessments.  Formative assessments tell you if your teaching is resulting in student learning.  They give you a chance to adjust instruction.

John Hattie, a widely published education professor at the University of Melbourne in Australia, said, “The mistake I was making was seeing feedback as something teachers provide to students….It was only when I discovered that feedback was most powerful when it is from the student to the teacher that I started to understand it better.”  He is talking about formative assessments—feedback from the students to the teacher.

Thanks again to Bud Blake!

The difficulty with formative assessments is that it requires you to adjust your teaching to meet the needs of the learner.  When Robert Marzano’s was asked how often you should give formative assessments, his response was interesting and memorable:  “As often as you are willing to change your instruction.”

It’s true that we may not be able to teach a dog to whistle, but we certainly can improve student performance when we know exactly what a student needs in order to take the next step. 

Avoid whistling in the dark, HSE.  Use formative assessment often.  Check where students are in their learning, and then make adjustments to ensure they reach the learning targets.

Respond to Phil at plederach@hse.k12.in.us.

Welcome back from the Thanksgiving break.  We hope you have a great week.

Your HSE Teaching and Learning Team

• Jan Combs, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning
• Stephanie Loane, Director of Elementary Education
• Tom Bell, Director of Special Education
• Jeff Harrison, Director of Educational Technology
• Phil Lederach, Director of Secondary Education