Phillip Moulds and Sue Wirsig, our Teaching to Standards with New Technologies co-instructors, talk about the ongoing assessment puzzle

"Summarizing is an important learning process because it requires student to identify what is most important about what they are learning and then state that understanding in their own words. Although summarizing is one of the most useful skills a person can develop, often teachers do not explicitly teach or use these summaries for ongoing assessment of student understanding, or to develop students' abilities in this area.

Ask your students at the end of each page or section of work to place three headings:

• What I understand;
• A question I have;
• How this work links to previous understanding (both things I've learned inside and outside school).

At the end of a particular learning sequence ask the students to respond to these questions, and then collect their answers. You may do this by having students write responses on an electronic discussion board, compose responses in an e-mail, or write thoughts at the end of the lesson on paper.

By collecting information electronically, you can more easily transport it into other settings, like a "reflection on learning" page in an eportfolio, but the assessment performance still holds value if you choose not to use technology.

Whatever medium you choose to collect their ideas, you will gain a quick perspective on what the students understood in the lesson, where they might be having difficulties, and how they have linked lesson content with previous experiences - all of which are important pieces in the ongoing assessment puzzle."

"I am a wolf from the north." Meibao Wang, a teacher at the Minhang Teachers' Professional Development College, couldn't quite believe what she heard. Her student's unusual answer to the question, "What do you know about wolves?" was most unexpected. But in keeping with the Teaching for Understanding idea of encouraging "wild" student thinking, it opened a way into a deeper teaching experience.

"Inspired by this story, I designed a new performance of understanding: 'Please imagine you are a(n) ___wolf and tell us [about] your habitat, food, family, situation, etc.'" Ms. Wang said. "A good teacher should be able to capture those 'teachable' moments, which naturally occur, and use them to lead students to deeper, wilder thinking and understanding."

Read more of Meibao Wang's Story in English or Chinese

Ms. Wang's intriguing account is the result of a pilot project in which 256 teachers from Shanghai took Teaching for Understanding 1 (TfU 1) through a collaboration between WIDE World and the Shanghai Distance Education Group (SDEG). (See our December newsletter issue for more on this project.)

"Now I have changed my former ways and tried this idea [of understanding] in my teaching. I have tried to invite students to set the judging standards [assessment criteria] with me. This makes them more active in class," one participant noted.

Here are some salient statistics from the first intake:

• 84% of respondents said that the course has significantly or dramatically improved their professional practice
• 79% said the same about improved student learning in their classrooms
• A whopping 92% participant of enrollees actively participated in the course
• 98% of respondents said that the course was better than other professional development programs and would recommend TfU 1 to a colleague

In April WIDE World staff traveled to Shanghai to participate in the special graduation ceremony for the pilot group. Certificates were presented to the 86% of learners who completed 35 hours or more in this elaborate, highly publicized ceremony hosted by SDEG. To celebrate their teachers' success, SDEG is issuing a special commemorative book with accounts of teachers' positive classroom experiences. Mary McFarland, TfU 1's instructor, and Sue Curtin, TfU 1 coach, have both contributed their points of view.

"We all realized that this was a very special 'first,'" Mary said, "none of us, however, could imagine the extent to which we would all enjoy meeting and learning with our Shanghai colleagues; nor could we imagine the enthusiasm, interest, and diligence that these talented educators would demonstrate session after session."

Read Mary and Sue's Essays (English and Chinese)

From this initial TfU 1 group, 59 participants were nominated by coaches to go through WIDE World's coach development process, and an additional 26 were selected by the coaches as being particularly "excellent learners." Some have found that the course's pedagogical focus isn't limited to the classroom:

"The idea of ongoing assessment can be used not only in my teaching of physics, but also in my school management," another participant suggested.

WIDE World is very proud and honored to have been a guide in creating new paths of understanding for these special Shanghai learners.

See pictures of the ceremonies and participants working on TfU projects.

David Perkins, WIDE World's co-principal investigator, is heading to Australia in July and August for a series of Teaching for Understanding events.

In sunny Queensland, A.B. Paterson College is hosting its first ever Teaching for Understanding conference from July 22-24. David will be a keynote speaker, joining colleagues from Project Zero, Mark Church and Ron Ritchhart. Discussions about how to create and sustain a culture of understanding in education will be sparking new ideas!

Continuing his peripatetic lifestyle, David will be the guest of Victoria's Office of School Education (PDF file) at the Department of Education and Training and will be in Melbourne in early August. The Department also sponsors a number of Teaching and School Leadership Excellence Awards. If you are in Victoria, spread the TfU word and nominate a colleague or friend who embodies the true meaning of teaching for understanding.

Mid-August sees David in Tasmania, a guest of the School Education Division. More about Tasmania's educational vision for the future, which includes constructivist learning, can be found on their website.

Ever wondered what a school can do to transform itself with Teaching for Understanding? As promised, we've posted Victoria School's wonderful variety of student and teacher work in understanding on our website.

In the Classroom offers Brandon's Geography Essay or Varun's Reflection on Group Writing, and much more...

Or you can read Mrs. Lee's presentation to Stone Wiske's class and download the flyer to pass out to interested schools in our Case Studies area.

Congratulations go to to Mimi Kopp, assistant superintendent of the Messalonskee School District, and David Barnett, middle and secondary consultant for the Vermont State Department of Education and Differentiating Instruction coach, who have had their speaking proposal accepted by the ASCD Conference Committee. Mimi and David will be speaking at the ASCD Annual conference in March, 2007. The title of their talk is Teaching for Understanding: Unlocking School Renewal through Differentiated Instruction. We're so early on this one that you can't book yet, but mark your calendars!

We'd also like to celebrate with Kevin McGonegal, Teaching to Standards with New Technologies and Coach Development coach, who will be speaking at the annual MassCUE conference in Sturbridge, MA, on November 15. He'll be talking about WIDE World's CCDT tool and how to use it in conjunction with our courses in - Designing Curriculum Units Online and Improving Classroom Technology Integration.

July 16-19, 2006

WIDE World will be exhibiting at the NSDC Summer Conference in Washington, D.C. NSDC (National Staff Development Council) is a non-profit organization that produces the acclaimed Journal of Staff Development (JSD).

July 18-20, 2006

Ann Koufman-Frederick, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in Watertown, will be talking about how to use WIDE World's CCDT (Collaborative Curriculum Design Tool) at the November Learning Conference in Weston, MA. Details of the talk can be found on the conference's updated blog.

Bring along 3 of your colleagues as a team of 4 into a September-December course and your enrollment is free! (a $399 value)! Or, better yet, finagle your school into a group enrollment at WIDE World's special rates! You can choose from:

• Leading for Understanding
• Teaching for Understanding
• Technology Integration
• Differentiated Instruction
• Multiple Intelligences
• Reading, Writing, or Math

Courses start September 19, 2006 and registration closes on September 5, 2006. Every child deserves the chance to understand, not just to know - email wideworld@gse.harvard.edu and quote "June Newsletter" to receive your discount.

Thinking about coming to Harvard for the fall? PPE has three new programs to tickle the professional development tastebuds:

• November 2-4: The Redefined Principal: Lessons Learned, Lessons to Learn
• November 8-11: Leading & Managing the Independent School of the Future
• November 9-11: Closing the Achievement Gap: Linking Families, Schools, and Communities

For more information or to register, visit their website: www.gse.harvard.edu/ppe or call 1-800-545-1849.

Have an idea or classroom story? Email us: wideeditor@gse.harvard.edu