11 January 08h45: Next CAISLisbon Coffee Morning

Please post suggested agenda items below
or
simply post questions to which I will try to respond.

Agenda items need to be posted no later than the end of the day on Wednesday, January 4, so that I can compile the suggestions and post the agenda, linked from the Friday newsletters, on January 6.

Have a peaceful and pleasant holiday season!
Blannie

Follow-up to 30 November Director's Coffee Morning

Dear CAISL Community,

It was good to see many of you at the “Coffee Morning” on Wednesday, November 30.  The discussion was very positive and productive and I thank each of you for your thoughts and contributions. 

The next “Coffee Morning” is Wednesday, January 11, 08h45 to 09h45 so the blog is now open for suggested items.    Also, if you would like to attend a meeting but cannot do so in the mornings, please post a comment suggesting an alternate time and we will see what the general sentiment is.

Summary of 30 November 2011 Meeting:

Below I am attempting to summarize briefly what was a quite lively exchange,  There is no way I could take “minutes” of exactly what was said or who said what and also participate in the discussions so I am resorting to brief explanations and bullet points which, I hope, will be clearer and more easily readable than a lengthy text.   I ask those of you who attended to please add things I have forgotten or provide further perspectives on our discussions or to ask other questions which perhaps occurred to you after the meeting.   

The agenda was the online reporting and learning systems CAISL uses (Edline and Moodle) and the distinction between formative and summative assessments and grading.  

Formative and Summative Assessments:  CAISL is making an effort to make a distinction between formative assessments (work students do which helps them learn) and summative assessments (where they show what they have learned.)     A Powerpoint presentation I did for faculty last year is on the school web site and is the first document shown on this page:  http://www.caislisbon.org/about.cfm?subpage=2028

Homework:  That discussion led to the issue of homework with the following being what I believe were the main points: 

·         Some parents would like more information on what homework/formative assessments their children have and whether or not they are putting in the effort necessary.  We discussed homework diaries which have in past years been the main communication link between teacher and parent about homework but, with the increasing use of Moodle, these seem to be not used as consistently.   As CAISL makes the transition to a formative/summative process, we need to ensure that we continue to provide parents with sufficient formative data and, in fact, this has already been recognized as a need and our reporting systems being improved. 

·         Whether or not homework “counts” for a grade, it needs to be assessed by the teacher to indicate which sections the student did successfully and which need improvement.  This is essential to learning. 

·         We recognized the challenge of nurturing intrinsic motivation so that students put effort into their homework without the enticement of a reward (in the past a grade).  Parental suggestions included ensuring that discussions about homework between parent and child focused on what the child was learning, not whether or not homework had been done.  Another parent commented that if a child does not do his/her homework, he/she would not be able to participate fully in the class the next day and would feel embarrassed.     It is unfortunate that so much of life is based on immediate, short-term rewards and it will take effort on the part of both home and school to nurture the effort which is the key to long-term success.   

Moodle:  This is a way of organizing lessons and communicating assignments, calendars, etc.  Right now, the only grades/classes which are required to make use of Moodle are English, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Portuguese/Native Language in grades 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10.  In reality, other grades and courses are using it also as teachers become more familiar with it.   The use of Moodle right now can be as simple as a “filing cabinet” so teachers do not hand out assignments on paper but post them on Moodle.   Ultimately, quite a lot of assignments will be done on Moodle and there are teachers piloting this this year as well. 

·         Each Moodle class has a calendar which shows when assignments are due.  It was asked if the calendar could be exported to Outlook or to one’s PDA.   After our meeting I asked this question of Ms. Vera Tamen, CAISL Educational IT Coordinator and she says she believes it is possible but will need to investigate.  When she has an answer, I will post it but it is not likely to be immediate.  

·         It was also asked if the calendars for several classes (such as all classes taken by an individual student) could be integrated.   Again, I did not know the answer to this and it seems a bit more difficult considering the variety of classes taken by students but I will check and post when I have the answer.  Ms. Tamen is investigating this also. 

Edline is simply the way CAISL is reporting student work/grades.  It has replaced the paper “report cards” in the Secondary and eventually may do so in the Elementary (Grades 1 and above).  In Grades 4 and 5 this year, Edline is a pilot program which runs parallel with report cards.  Parents who wish access may contact Helena Santos, IT Assistant, at 1to1itsupport@caislisbon.org.  Edline is different from a report card in that parents can see the grade a student received on each summative assignment, rather than merely the end-of-term grade.

·         The information on Edline is often not sufficient or specific enough to provide parents with the information they want.  Mentioned particularly was information on the student’s formative work.   As indicated above, this is something the school has already recognized as a need and we are working on improving our reporting in this area.

·         Also brought up was that grades were sometimes not posted often enough and some parents would like to see grades posted not just at mid-quarter and end-quarter.    This has been extensively discussed by the professional staff and it is a delicate balance between keeping parents informed in a timely manner and posting so often that learning takes a backseat to the percentage.  We are still working to get the balance right.    

As I come to the end of this edition of the blog (and my notes from the meeting), I again invite comments and questions and also ask anyone who attended the meeting and wishes to remind me of a critical point which did not get into the narrative above to post a comment.

Thanks

Blannie