Project Submission

KSP 643 – Inquiry Lesson Project Scott Tiedens

My district has invested considerable time in vertical teaming amongst disciplines and we had a PE meeting about the time that this class started. Currently, the different levels of PE in our district are not at all united as to the direction that our program must be going. There are those of us who are progressive thinking and there are a number of folks resistant to any change. Assessment seemed to be a sticking point at the aforementioned meeting. I left that meeting very frustrated and decided to take a more active role in educating myself and trying to find a way to make some progress toward improving our assessment.

Focus of the Investigation
The focus of the investigation was narrowed quite quickly in the process. In our district, the elementary levels and the middle school levels were lacking in objective assessment of their students. There were many excuses or justifications made but they were not very willing to make changes. I needed to convince them that there are other and better ways to assess students and I chose to focus on the elementary level. I have taught at all levels in the district and I felt that this effort would be more productive if I focused on the elementary level. I had better relationships with a couple of those folks.

Questioning
Questioning was both directed toward actual assessment protocols and also personal attitudes and group dynamics. Who are the experts? Which of our teachers are on board? Will our administration back the changes? Can assessments be done efficiently with our schedules? Not all Elementary schools are on the same class rotation, how does that affect the process? Where do we go to get practical information? The early steps generated more questions and I gradually was able to answer those and focus on collecting actual assessment samples and share these with the team.

Information Gathering
Information was gathered primarily through networking and searching the internet. This was done both individually by me and collaboratively with the help of Steve Hack, administrators at multiple buildings and contacting other professionals.

Information Evaluation and Analyzed
The primary litmus test was; was the assessment already being used by a teacher/school and did it align with our district standards and benchmarks. A secondary consideration was the practicality of being modified to meet our teacher’s schedules, how many minutes and how often they see their students. Only information from credible professional sources was used.

Variety of Information Types
Information was gathered electronically and via personal discussions. The sources of information included; professional organizations, other districts, and professional publications.

Synthesis of Information and Organization of Finding
Personal communication and discussions were added to the blog for review and collaborative discussions. File and electronic data / templates were disseminated through the PE department Wiki. Templates and ideas were shared with department members at our last vertical team meeting in February.

Shakopee Physical Education Department Wiki Assessment Page

Seeking Outside Help

Scott
Check out this eamil. We should try and get Leigh Anderson to come and see us. 651-653-1351 ________________________________________
From: Donald Glover [donald.glover@uwrf.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 9:30 AM
To: Hack, Steve
Cc: leighanderson@comcast.net
Subject: RE: Help

> Don,
> Thank you for getting back to me soon.
>
> Arizona. Very nice! I hope you are enjoying the Arizona winter.
>
> I hope that Leigh Anderson is able to help us and come to our
> in-service day in February. I think it would be a huge help. I
> really like what we are teaching. I think we have a top notch
> curriculum. Our only down fall is assessesment. As a group we don't
> like skill assessment either but we are struggling in what and how to
> assess. We want to fix it but we need a gentle push in the right
> direction. Thank you for your help I truly appreciate it!
>
> Take Care
> Steve Hack

Hi Steve:
I talked to Leigh Anderson and she would very much like to talk to you. I don't think she will have time to do an in-service ,but, she would like to talk to you. Her number is 651-653-1351.
She also thinks you should look at the assessment chapter in Character Education and pick and choose. The reason I don't like skill assessment is because our students do not get enough practice time. It is easier to improve in math or reading as they have books they can take home to practice with as well as daily classroom practice. It is tough to check out volleyballs and nets for at home practice -plus you only see them twice per week.
Physical Education fitness/wellness homework is very appropriate , however Using partners for peer assessment of skill during class time is very appropriate as well, as long as they are not graded on it. The assessment will give you information as to how to improve their skill--or help in planning activities Look closely at that chapter in Character Education and talk to Leigh.

Sorry I could not be of more assistance

Don Glover

Candid Discussion

This is very good stuff I'm glad we can have this discussion. I think you and I are on the same page when it comes to most of these matters. However we need to compare apples to apples. Let me explain. You (or someone) want us to do the same kind of paper work that a classroom teacher does but it is impossible. A classroom teacher sees their students every day and are able to assess their 25 to 30 kids. Elementary Pe teachers teach 5 grade levels with an average of 4 sections per grade level. I would have to assess 420 plus kids. We see each class and therefore each student 74 times out of 176 student contact days. That works out to 3,700 minutes per student per year. That is 62 hours per student per year. That comes down to about 42 % of the school year. I see my students less then half the year!



Let’s compare that to classroom time. On average a classroom teacher teaches 6.5 hours a day with a 30 minute duty free lunch and a 50 minute prep. That means they teach 24 students for 5 hours per day. That come out to 52,800 minutes or 880 hours per year. If the classroom teacher teaches about 5 different subject and would get 176 hours per subject per student. Classroom teachers have 65% MORE time for each subject then PE does.

My point is there is a great disparity between classroom and specialist student contact time. Creating an imbalance in assessment opportunity. If I had 65% more time I would assess more. At the elementary level all specialist are graded very subjectively by the teacher. Not because we are afraid of assessment it’s because we DON'T have the time and we have so many students to assess.



I like you want our PE department to be one of the better ones in the state. If assessment is that big of a deal then we need to find someone who knows how it do. I have been struggling with this for years and have been trying to find someone or somewhere that has a good elementary assessment and grading system and have come up with nothing. I don't feel the people in that room who don't teach elementary PE are going to be able to help me come up with assessments for students they know nothing about. Please don't get me wrong if there is something better out there, if there is someone who has a great way to assess and grade, I'm in.



I would tell the person who asked you the question about pay that you are going to take 65% of classroom teacher time away give them more students, expect them to teach a new grade level each hour (1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade) still expect them to teach their full curriculum at each grade level, and still assess the same. At the same time you are going to give PE classes 65% more time with fewer students and expect them to start assessing. In one year I bet you would see the classroom teachers having some major problems and PE thriving. Not a realistic scenario but obstacles we face are huge and can’t be denied. If classroom teachers had the same obstacles they would have the same problems I'm sure of it. So we can’t compare apples to apples. It’s not the same.

Curriculum Maps and Assessements

Maybe this will help us a little




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From: Michael Doyle [mailto:Michael.Doyle@wayzata.k12.mn.us]
Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 12:17 PM
To: Hack, Steve
Subject: FW: Maps



Here is info from our PE curriculum person. These are the curriculum maps for our elementary schools.



My DAPE curriculum map is on my website below.





Mike Doyle

Physical Education/DAPE Teacher

Wayzata High School

4955 Peony Lane

Plymouth, MN 55446

763-745-6847

michael.doyle@wayzata.k12.mn.us



Wayzata High School DAPE Website

http://www.wayzata.k12.mn.us/whs/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=670&Itemid=1461



From: Kris Jones
Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 10:45 AM
To: Michael Doyle
Subject: RE: Maps



Hi Mike-

I’ll send you the documents to date. I think our elementary teachers did a great job. They are in their final revisions now.

Should have final docs in the next month or so.

Kris



From: Michael Doyle
Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 8:38 AM
To: Kris Jones
Subject: Maps



Quick Question.



I have a old college roommate teaching elementary PE in Shakopee and he is getting pressure to map his curriculum.

Is the Wayzata elementary PE curriculum map online yet? I was looking for it and could not find it.

He is looking for some guidance.



Thanks.





Mike Doyle

Physical Education/DAPE Teacher

Wayzata High School

4955 Peony Lane

Plymouth, MN 55446

763-745-6847

michael.doyle@wayzata.k12.mn.us



Wayzata High School DAPE Website

http://www.wayzata.k12.mn.us/whs/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=670&Itemid=1461

Assessment Links

http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/examples/tasks_elementary_physicaleducation.htm

http://www.pecentral.org/assessment/assessment.html

Here is what he does. We are looking to incorporate some of it into what we do at Shako.

Steve


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From: JERAD HAMPTON [mailto:Hampton_Jerad@salkeiz.k12.or.us]
Sent: Friday, February 05, 2010 10:15 AM





Good Morning,



I've attached the assessment forms for you to look at. Let me know what you think.



Jerad Hampton

Forest Ridge Elementary

Keizer, OR

Elementary Follow Up

Scott,

I want you to know that I’m pushing hard to make changes. I want our program to be good. The elementary (believe it or not) is on board. I’m working really hard trying to get good information that can help us make a good curriculum and assessment. It’s not going to happen all this year but we have a good start.



We did meet with Chris Correa in the afternoon yesterday. What she tried to have us do really confused everybody. Nobody understood exactly what she wanted. It was frustrating for her and us. She was trying to get us to align our essential questions with our benchmarks. However the wording and how it was explained left all of us in the dark. Either she didn’t explain it well enough or we need to be on IEPS J. I’m sure we will revisit it. I think with what I got from Wayzata will help us a lot next time we meet.



As for the assessment piece. Here is what we are thinking at the elementary. We are going to assess in 3 areas. Psychomotor, Cognitive, and Affective in each unit we teach. Right now we are top heavy in the affective domain. As a matter of fact that really is the only thing we grade in. We will continue to use our check sheet to grade the affective piece. For the Cognitive domain we are going to start doing a “unit finale.” Check out the attachment its going to look something like that. We are still struggling with is the Psychomotor piece. I think its going to come down to another check list with a rubric.



For example



Task: Dribble and shoot an object at a goal.



Rubric

4. Displays all the essential elements with fluid motion

3. Dribbles the hockey puck with all essential elements (grip, continuous dribble, use both sides of stick, maintains slow jog)

2. Dribbles with 3 of 4 essential elements

1. Dribbles with 2 or fewer essential elements

0. Violates safety procedures and or does not complete the assessment task



This is what we came up with so far. What do you think?