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Academic Vertical Alignment Training and

Renewal (AVATAR) Project Fall 2011 Pilot Project

Module SixSecondary and Postsecondary Course Profiles

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Student achievement is a product of rigor and relevance.

Rigorous and Relevant Standards

Rigorous and Relevant Curriculum

Rigorous and RelevantAssessment

Rigorous and Relevant Instruction

Student Achievement

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Creation of secondary course profiles aligned to the ‐ Enduring Understandings‐ Key Concepts‐ Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)‐ Texas College and Career Readiness Standards‐ STAAR End-of-Course‐ ACCUPLACER‐ Instructional Strategies‐ Assignments/Activities‐ Resources

Secondary Course Profiles

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Creation of postsecondary course profiles aligned to the ‐ Enduring Understandings‐ Student Learning Outcomes ‐ Texas College and Career Readiness Standards‐ ACCUPLACER‐ Instructional Strategies‐ Assignments/Activities‐ Resources

Postsecondary Course Profiles

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Secondary ELA Course Profile Template

AVATAR Secondary ELA Course Profile Alignment Template

Course: Course Description: Enduring Understandings / Essential Questions:

Key Concepts Key Terms

Texas Essential

Knowledge and Skills

(TEKS)

Texas College and Career

Readiness Standards (CCRS)

CCRS Cross-Disciplinary Connections

End-of-Course (EOC) Assessment

Readiness and Support Standards

Instructional Strategies

Formative Assessment Strategies

Resources

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Secondary Science Course Profile Template

AVATAR Secondary Science Course Profile Alignment Template

Course: Course Description: Enduring Understandings / Essential Questions:

Key Concepts Key Terms

Texas Essential

Knowledge and Skills

(TEKS)

Texas College and Career

Readiness Standards (CCRS)

CCRS Cross-Disciplinary Connections

End-of-Course (EOC) Assessment

Readiness and Support Standards

Instructional Strategies

Formative Assessment Strategies

Resources

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Postsecondary ELA Course Profile Template AVATAR Postsecondary ELA Course Profile Alignment Template

Course: Course Description: Enduring Understanding/Essential Question:

Key Concepts/Student Learning Outcomes

Texas College and Career

Readiness Standards (CCRS) - ELA -

Texas College and Career

Readiness Standards (CCRS)

- Cross-Disciplinary -

Summative Assessment Instructional Strategies Formative Assessment

Strategies Resources

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Postsecondary Science Course Profile Template

AVATAR Postsecondary Science Course Profile Alignment Template

Course: Course Description: Enduring Understanding/Essential Question:

Key Concepts/Student

Learning Outcomes

Texas College and Career

Readiness Standards (CCRS)

- Science -

Texas College and Career

Readiness Standards (CCRS)

- Math -

Texas College and Career

Readiness Standards (CCRS)

- Cross-Disciplinary -

Summative Assessment

Instructional Strategies

Formative Assessment Strategies

Resources

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Enduring Understanding

Essential Question

Concept

Student Learning Outcome

Instructional Strategy

AVATAR Course Profile Template Definitions

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Statements summarizing important ideas and core processes that are central to a discipline and have lasting value beyond the classroom

Synthesize what students should understand—not just know or do—as a result of studying a particular content area

Articulate what students should “revisit” over the course of their lifetimes in relationship to the content area

Enduring understandings: ‐ frame the big ideas that give meaning and lasting importance to such discrete

curriculum elements as facts and skills ‐ can transfer to other fields as well as adult life ‐ “unpack” areas of the curriculum where students may struggle to gain understanding

or demonstrate misunderstandings and misconceptions ‐ provide a conceptual foundation for studying the content area and ‐ are deliberately framed as declarative sentences that present major curriculum

generalizations and recurrent ideas. Enduring Understanding Example

‐ Reading is a process by which we construct meaning about the information being communicated by an author within a print or non-print medium.

This is an Essential Question‐ How is reading a process of constructing meaning from text?

Enduring Understandings

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Essential questions‐ are important to argue about‐ are at the heart of the subject‐ recur - and should recur‐ raise more questions – provoking and sustaining

engaged inquiry‐ must become habits of mind when we face real

problems‐ often raise important conceptual or strategic

issues in the subject‐ can provide organizing purpose for meaningful

and connected learning

Essential Question

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Concepts focus on principles or processes rather than discrete facts or skills.‐ Universal and timeless‐ Applies to more than one time or place or culture ‐ Has many layers and nuances, not obvious to the naïve or

inexperienced person‐ Yield great depth and breadth of insight into the subject‐ Used throughout K-12‐ Dig deep to really understand its subtle meanings and

implications even if anyone prone to misunderstanding as well as disagreement

‐ Likely to change your mind about its meaning and importance over a lifetime

‐ Reflect the core ideas in a field or in life, as judged by experts

Key Concept

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Applicable to new situations within or beyond the content

Concept Examples:‐ conflict ‐ change‐ migration‐ adaptation‐ place value‐ function‐ Equity

Key Concept

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‐ “Good triumphs over evil”‐ “the outsider”‐ “the more we learn the less we

know”‐ “Nature vs. nurture” ‐ “offense vs. defense”‐ America as seen by ourselves,

our allies, and our foes; ‐ Euclidean vs. non-euclidean

geometry‐ freedom involves responsibility

‐ no force is acting on a body moving at a fast constant speed

‐ form follows function‐ you are what you eat ‐ less is more ‐ history as a march of human

progress‐ anything can be measured if

we can identify what it is we want to measure

Key Concept More Concept Examples

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What are the concepts in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)?

What are the concepts in the postsecondary courses?

Key Concept

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Statements that specify what students will know, be able to do, or be able to demonstrate when they have completed or participated in a program/activity/course/project.

‐ Outcomes are usually expressed as knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values.

What are the characteristics of good SLOs?

‐ Specify an action by the student that must be observable, measurable, and able to be demonstrated.

Student Learning Outcome (SLOs)

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How can SLOs help students and organizations?

‐ Help departments understand how to better facilitate student learning

‐ Provide departments with feedback (e.g. Are your services providing what they are supposed to beyond customer satisfaction?)

‐ What skills are students learning? Are these the skills we want them to learn? Are these the skills we are teaching them?

‐ Enable students to articulate what they are learning and have learned from attending URI, inside and outside of the classroom

‐ Help students be able to explain what they can do and what they know

‐ Enable students to better understand where they can go to learn particular knowledge, skills, attitudes or values

‐ Ultimately, provide students with a map of where various learning opportunities are available throughout the university

Student Learning Outcome (SLOs)

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Instructional strategies involve techniques, methods, materials, and other means that are used to assist a student to achieve an educational goal.

Examples: ‐ activating prior knowledge‐ using appropriate reinforcement and practice‐ implementing cooperative learning‐ creating graphic organizers‐ applying efficient note-taking skills

Instructional Strategy

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Formative assessment is assessment of how students are progressing in their learning, while summative assessment is a final assessment of learning.

Provides checkpoints of student’s progress in meeting learning goals

Conducted in individual, small group, or large group settings

Formative Assessment

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Response cards Hand signals Response boards Oral responses Audience response systems Written summary statements (Exit Ticket) Self assessments Performance tasks Blogs Journals Visual representation Collaborative activities Graphic organizers

Formative Assessment Examples

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The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a

very different kind of mind – creators and empathizers,

pattern recognizers, and meaning makers. These people

– artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers,

consolers, big picture thinkers – will now reap society’s richest rewards and share its greatest

joys.

-Dan PinkA Whole New Mind

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Identify a common concept‐ Concept shared by secondary and postsecondary core learning 

Define the concept depth and complexity‐ Secondary setting‐ Postsecondary setting

Identify the following critical attributes of the teaching of the concept‐ Prior Knowledge‐ Instructional Strategies‐ Activities/Assignments‐ Resources

Align concept to the ‐ Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills‐ End-of-Course‐ College and Career Readiness Standards

Vertical Alignment Process(Writing a Course Profile - Not a Complete Curriculum Document)

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Secondary and Postsecondary partners work groups ‐ English III‐ English IV‐ Chemistry

Work Groups

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Three things I learned today.

Two ideas I want to know more about.

One idea I will use in my teaching next week.

Work Group Debrief

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If you always do what you’ve

always done, you’ll always get what

you’ve always got.