Proctoring Exams with the Won'ts

Soul Crushing Work Continues 

Reading Load

STAAR blueprints tell us that the reading load is 

English I: 6000 words for the base passages and 1950 for the field test

English II: same

Retests don't have field test questions as far as I know. And the word count does not include the questions. 

Hasbrook and Tindall tell us that oral reading fluency norms by 6th grade ought to be at 204 words per minute to be in the 90th percentile. This was for word accuracy and did not include comprehension. 

So...if a kid were reading aloud the 6000 words at 204 words correct per minute, they'd need 29.4117647 minutes to read all the passages. I haven't counted the number of words in the questions in a while, but it's a lot. 

MOST of the time needed for the exam is COGNITIVE rereading and reasoning. Even if they could read it all. in 29 minutes, that's not enough time for the questions or the actual work of the exam. 

Are we teaching that it takes more than 30 minutes? And why don't they have something to pace the exam like the driver's education courses or the food handler's license? "You haven't viewed the whole module. Please revisit the course material." "You haven't spent enough time on this content for mastery. Please resume the course." "You finished too quickly, please revisit the module." "Your test patterns suggest guessing, please resume the test to avoid invalidating your results." 

So why do kids who won't turn in their tests so early? Why will they probably fail again? 

Test administrators can't make them take longer. They can't make them use strategies. In one school, kids started the retest at 8:30 and only 2 of those who showed up - even the late ones - were still testing at 10:30. Most of them turned in the exam before an hour was up. And several of those turned in the exam before 30 minutes. 

They didn't read the essays. They didn't look for text evidence. They didn't do anything they had been taught. They didn't write much on the ECR/SCR, if anything. No one picked up or asked for a dictionary or paper. And they couldn't do a dad gum thing about it except watch the same train wreck again.

Y'all. This ISN'T an instructional issue. Teachers have zero control over this stuff. And you can argue with me and point to making relationships and positive classroom environments. Teachers ARE doing that. It's not enough. You can talk to me about poverty, and I'll agree with you. But anything else is a mell of a hess. 

Soul Crushing Solutions Work Isn't...

Soul crushing work. It's not about the TEKS. Or instruction. Or instructional materials. I don't think there's a damn thing most teachers can do about the kinds of problems I wrote about with Cal and Tanya. 

It's Not: 

It's not that the learners can't...not anymore. That can't stuff has gone way beyond ability by high school for sure. Once you stop trying, can is no longer possible. 

It's not because they haven't been taught or haven't had opportunities. For goodness sake, English has been the same class with the same topics and activities since first grade. 

It's not because they haven't had remediation or reteaching. The same class for years? Extra tutorials and groups before, during, and after school? Extra classes instead of electives? Retakes for credit in summer school? Credit recovery? Assessment retakes ad nauseum? Frankly, it's more sane NOT to keep trying or to participate. 

For some, it's not decoding or comprehension. I've heard them read. I've listened to insightful dialogue and explanation. 

For some, it's not a skills or test prep issue. They know HOW to infer and use the computer. They are familiar with the assessment and question types. They can demonstrate each skill assessed. 

For some, it's not that they haven't been taught strategies or that they don't use them. Or even that they do use them and still fail. 

It's not the parents and society. They aren't having any more success than the teachers and are probably more frustrated. 

But We are Told...

We are told the problems lie in not understanding the standards. We are told to analyze the data and give assessments to monitor progress, but the data and assessments fail to predict or point to the problems. We are told the problems are in our instructional prowess and capacity. We are told that the problem is because we can't make good lesson plans or weren't taught well in college. We are told that we can't make our own decisions about texts and that our choices are the problem. The instructional materials must be the problem. The school leadership and curriculum systems must be the cause. The instructional design must be the cause. It's the kids, right? Because they don't know anything, didn't have SOR, don't know any vocabulary or sophisticated syntax, can't read grade level text? But then all of that stuff would be teacher-school problems because, well, who's supposed to make sure they know stuff? 

Frankly, the things that we are told are the problems, aren't the problems. 

A Cold Hearted-Scenario

We'd been working with some kids one on one. The kid I helped was nice. But he wouldn't agree to do anything. "Yeah, I'm not gonna do that. Any of it. I could. But I won't. I just don't care. I know I'll fail and I know what it means for what will happen to me and everyone else. I'm not doing it. There's not a thing that will change that." 

It's Not Necessarily Academic

It's not necessarily an acedemic problem unless it's an overall systems issue that teachers cannot resolve in an assessment regime. The problem seems to be more of a social response...it costs too much to try...to care...to fail. Emotional. Ecclesiastical blowing of the winds. Meaningless. Life - especially academic life, is futile and wisdom is limited in value. 

Students who won't fail to see themselves in anything we are doing in school that is relevant to their current and future lives. They know it wasn't relevant for their past. School isn't worth doing. 

At this point, failure of the won'ts becomes cognitive...an emotional poverty of personal chaos, an experiential disconnect to eduction. Ultimately, the needs of the won'ts are NOT the purview of how public or private schools work and run in this era. 

Better instruction, better materials, better testing-data analysis, better test prep, better interventions, better tech, better discipline, better accountability, better funding, better architecture, better teacher prep, better teachers, better leaders, better community involvement, better technology policies, better subs, better pay for better data, better master schedules, better coaching and models, better staff development, better science, better time allocation, better legislation banning this and that and mandating other nonsense. And MORE of all of that. I think this needs to be a checklist about school improvement. If the plan mentions any of these things, it ought to be discarded and avoided as a waste of time.

No. 

Because NONE of those things solve the cause of the problems behind our data and the lived experiences of people the data represent. The cures don't match the illness. Because what we are told causes the problems, doesn't. And what we are told are solutions, aren't. 

Soul Crushing Work with Those Who Won't: Tanya

 She'd been asleep in class all week while I worked with other students. Today, she slumped over her desk again, head buried in her hoodie sleeves, her manicured and sculpted nails peeking from the cuffs, relaxing on the paper she was supposed to complete for the DO-NOW. 

I sat down and explained that I would be her partner today. Bubbly. Open. She raised her head and looked at me. "Let's start with this part; we're suppposed to..." 

And she put her head back down. 

"I'm here to help. Do you need x, y, or z? What about bananas? Oranges? A new car?" I didn't really say those things, but I went through all the academic ideas and suggestions, some social emotional stuff. 

She didn't need anything. Gave me disgust and her annoyance. 

I switched from bubbly and open to serious and hard. "Why are you here? Is someone making you? Should we call them and discuss what's going on? Because, at this point, this is a discipline issue and not an academic issue. 

"No," she replied. I'm sure you can fill in the tone.  "If I do the work, will you just leave me alone?" 

"Absolutely!" I rose immediately and left as she angrily typed her essay. 

The next day, she came 30 minutes late, spent 20 minutes in the bathroom, and did nothing. Was it an improvement that she was awake? 

On the day of the exam, she slept. After 40 minutes, she turned in her exam. 

Soul Crushing Work with Those Who Won't: Cal

The teachers told me about him before he ever arrived for STAAR bootcamp. For the entire year, he had disrupted class and refused to do ANY work. Capable. Agreeable and likable. What? Who does that? 

But he arrived at summer school on time, smiling, smartly dressed and well-groomed. He flirted with the girl next to him, charming her with his banter, preventing her from completing the introductory tasks. 

So I pulled up and sat next to him. He smiled, ignored me, and continued his budding relationship. 

Using the paper we were supposed to be referencing for the DO-NOW, I asked the same question aloud to engage the pair in the academic conversation. Again, he looked at me, smiled politely, and continued his unrelated conversation. 

I began writing on the paper. 

Cal - I know you hate me being here and asking you to engage in the lesson. Apologies. 

I nudged his elbow and he read the paper. He looked away after reading. He smirked and returned to talk to the girl, but she had stopped talking and was looking at her paper. 

How do we best help you? 

Imperceptible shrug. 

My heart wants success for you.

He watched as I scribbled. Breathing. Maybe a nod? Eye contact. 

I'm really worried about kids like you that just don't care and want to be left alone. What do I do? 

No response. 

What do I do? 

He stared at me. Emotionless. 

It's obvious that you can.But you don't. 

Nodded. 

So...don't hate me. I help write your lessons and assessments.

He smiled and laughed a little. 

It's important to me. My goal is: Are kids fools? Or can they read and make decisions to prove they CAN'T be taken advantage of. 

No response. But he was reading along as I wrote. 

I feel like teaching people to read is my purpose in life...my charge from God. I guess I care about it too much. 

He tilted his head to the side. Eye contact. Blank face. 

There are lots of people like you. What is the solution? 

Pause. Nothing. 

We'd be RICH if we could fix that problem. :)

A wry smile. 

Can I be honest and cuss? 

A Smile. A nod. 

This test IS bullshit. 

So...when I meet someone like you...I worry. And...I feel like a failure. I don't have a clue about how to help. 

Clearly, it's not an intelligence issue or a reading comprehension issue. HOW do we help reach...connect to...help YOU? 

The instruction had moved from the DO-NOW to an activity at the chart paper where learners evaluated text evidence. 

He spoke. 

"I'm gonna go over there." 

He actively participated for the rest of the day. Ignored me actively as well. 

The following days of summer school, his desk was empty. On the English I retest day, he came for 30 minutes and left. He didn't come for the English II exam. 

STAAR ECR Retesting Lesson: Comprehension before Author's Purpose; Naming Moves before Composing

Today - I was working with some students about the process they use to answer ECR questions. We learned some important things. All of these kids made zeros on their essays in April. Most of these kids made a question: What is the situation in Antarctica? And then didn't answer it. Then they said, "The text says..." and copied a bunch of text. That's it. 

Previous lessons involved using the online tools and reasoning processes to diffuse the prompt. Then we collected text evidence. 

Selecting, Using and Incorporating Text Evidence

But...here's the kicker. Kids don't really know how to USE the text evidence to answer the questions. And, they have a problem putting the ideas into sentences. Here's a few solutions. 

Diffusing and Writing from the Prompt

The source: Sirius Online Solutions for English II STAAR Practice

The text: Wild Orchards

The prompt: Explain how the poet uses sensory details to establish the contrast between the orchard and the landscape. 

The strategy: Ultimately, we use Gretchen Bernabei's QA12345. We replaced the Q with P for prompt. 

Analyzing the prompt: Explain how the poet uses sensory details to establish the contrast between the orchard and the landscape. We use the highlighter tools to make sure we are answering all parts of the prompt. Then we use those ideas to help us craft questions to guide our search for text evidence. 

Rewriting the prompt: Delete the question words and start a sentence. Change the verbs if you need to. 

The poet uses sensory details to establish the contrast between the orchard and the landscape. 

Flashback and Connecting to the Released Exam: 

This was the same process we used in the EOC II - Explain what makes the situation in Antarctica unusual.   If kids wrote about a situation in Antarctica that wasn't in the text, they scored a zero. If they scored about a situation in Antarctica, but didn't explain how the text expressed how the situation was unusual, they made a zero. What was the situation in Antarctica described in the text? What words expressed those situations? What would we call those situations (inference)? That's the original writing that was expected. If kids just quoted from the text but didn't name the situations these words expressed, they got a zero for unoriginal writing. Too much quoting from the text and no real proof from their own words that they understood what the situations in Antarctica were.

Additionally, writers had to express what evidence from the text proved that these situations were unusual and name these inferences to prove their comprehension.

If they didn't write about the (situation + Antarctica + unusual characteristics) squared with text evidence and multiplied with inferences and connections of their own comprehension and interpretations, then they got zeros.

Kids wrote: The situation in Antarctica is unusual because... OR The situation in Antarctica is unusual.

NOTE - we had to tell them that the topic sentences of their body paragraphs were the ANSWERS to the prompt. They thought rewriting the prompt WAS the answer. NOPE. They still have to have answers to how and why.

Use the prompt for prewriting and rereading questions

For the Wild Orchard and prompt, we also have to divide the prompt into questions that guide our thinking/reasoning and search for usable text evidence. Furthermore, this prompt was an author's craft prompt and not just a comprehension one. Again, it's one prompt, but multiple questions and steps to answering. Here's the questions the kids composed with me today. 

• What are sensory details? (And note - don't TELL them what these are. We had to make the kids look this up in their dictionaries.) 
• What are the sensory details for the orchard? What are the sensory details for the landscape? 
• How do the details show contrast? 
• What is the contrast? Why did it matter?  

Analyzing the text to Collect Evidence

Students used one color to collect sensory details about the orchard and another to collect details about the landscape. 

So, imagine the colored text - blue for the landscape, yellow for the orchard. (One conceptual problem was that the kids didn't realize that the landscape and orchard were occupying the same space - spatial issues here complicated the visualization beyond what the assessment is supposed to measure. But don't let that get in the way right now. We can't really fix that part globally. This variability of spatial reasoning within text visualization as a tool for comprehension is another reason the test doesn't measure what they say it does.)

Kids had something like this on their papers: 

P: The poet's use of sensory language in the poem establishes a contrast between the orchard and the surrounding landscape.

He highlighted: "soft, ripe, heavy", "apples green and red stand out" and "broken", "rugged", and "rocks." 

C: The poet's use of sensory details in the poem's purpose is for more of a feeling of what the contrast is between the orchard and the surrounding landscape. 

She highlighted "laden with fruit", "rugged", and "rocks". 

It was at this point that we realized that kids didn't understand what to do with the evidence. And we realized that they didn't realize that they had to have sentences for BOTH the orchard AND the landscape.  We now had multiple problems to solve. 

What do we do with the evidence? Name the connection

The kids usually write something like this as stems: The text says... and This means/shows... But that wasn't working. We got things like: 

The text says "soft, ripe, heavy" and "broken." This means that the apples are big and the landscape is messed up. 

That won't work because the kids are just paraphrasing and not connecting to why the contrast matters.

or

The text says, "the apple trees are laden with fruit." The text says, "it is a broken country." 

That wouldn't work because the kids copied text but didn't explain why the author needed to contrast them.

Basically, kids are just copying the text. The stems don't help the kids understand why the ideas are important. We needed an intermediary step. Which text evidence goes with which idea? 

But what do we DO with that to find the inference? 

First - we decide if the words are positive or negative. 
Second - we ask what the contrast is between the two terms

Third - Some kids could find text evidence for one, but had trouble finding what text evidence matched for the other topic. We focused on what is the opposite. We asked them to name what was opposite about the ideas. As you can see in the image above, the kid decided that the orchard was alive but the landscape was dead. Now we had some ideas that were effective and were closer to meaning...

Before you can have author's purpose, you have to understand what they are saying. 

Putting it into words with text organization sentence stems: 

So now we used our other questions to help us - Why did the author need to show the reader a contrast? 

The kids needed contrast language to add to the text says stuff. The text says ______ about (topic one) while _____ about (topic two). This means that topic one is ____ and topic two is _____. This helps the reader (see, visualize, compare, contrast, understand, etc.) the big idea of ___________. 

Your sentence stems must hold the organizational structure that matches what the prompt asks you to do. 

Samples: 

Student one wrote and then dictated as I copied her language: 

Student Two wrote and then I showed him how he could use the names of contrast as the answers in his conclusion. It's a start at getting something on the paper that will count. Lots of things we can still teach. 

More Practice on Naming Moves with Comprehension

 

So, we crafted the activity below for tomorrow. Students have to match evidence, select evidence, name what the evidence is doing and meaning. Then we are going to show them how to use those ideas in the intro and conclusions. 

We started with pretty obvious text and moved to the more sophisticated imagery and symbolism. We also tried to select evidence that could have multiple right answers/names/interpretations.