Part 2: Reframing Accountability in a comprehension based classroom

If you haven't read Accountability, Part 1,
please do so!  

What does it mean to reframe accountability for a comprehension based classroom?

Thanks for asking!  I think there are some very concrete steps that we can take to support learning for the sake of learning and move away from the point based transactions in our classrooms. 

Please remember that changing the culture of a classroom, department, school, and community is not going to happen at once. Sometimes, all you can do is start behind your closed door, and that's ok.  Sometimes you might have to be
quietly subversive- which is OK too because being subversive might mean doing what is best for your students behind closed doors.  

But what do I do???

1) Grade and report on mastery of standards.  

This is also known as standards based grading. You can do this even if your school reports grades on an  A-F scale.  A key idea in standards based grading is that teachers report accurate information about mastery of standards, and exclude information about engagement, timeliness, behavior, and practice in the mastery grade.   

• For tons more resources on standards based grading, take a look at this article: Assessment in SOMOS. 
• For some ideas of what goes in my grade book: What goes in the grade book?

2) Set standards that your students can reach, and celebrate what they can do!

Here is a brief article with suggestions for reasonable standards in a comprehension based classroom: Performance Targets.  

3) Change the focus from points to proficiency.

Teach what different levels of proficiency look like to your students and share that information with administrators and parents,  and be transparent in how you grade and assess.  Put rubrics directly on assessments and use consistent language for all assessments.  This helps change the conversation from "how many points is this worth?" to "look what you can do"!  Here are some ideas and a lesson plan to address how I did this with students.   I am proud to mention that the head of the school used the display  that we created from this lesson as a regular stop on tours for prospective families and school visitors.  It helped frame expectations for all stakeholders and create a common language. 

4) Build relationships and community. Connect with students.

Use all the wonderful comprehension based strategies that you learn in workshops (or wherever you get training!)  to build relationships, connect with your students, learn about their interests, and build a community where students feel seen, safe, and joyful.  

These strategies might include: Special Person Interviews, One Word Images, Chit Chat, Card Talk, Weekend Chat, Personalized Questions and Answers, and my all-time favorite: Story Asking.  There are SO many more things that can be done in comprehension based classes-don't be limited by my imagination!  

 Remember that learning how to do this kind of collaborative teaching takes some skill, practice, and might feel different for you as the teacher and very different for students. That's ok!  Give yourself some grace. 

Also remember that these strategies, when grounded in a framework of communicatively embedded input, are based on a principled understanding of the mechanics of language acquisition.  While it may look like just talk and play, these principles truly meet the definition of "student centered."

CARLA (The Center on Advanced Research for Language Acquisition (CARLA) defines student centered instruction as “Instruction that builds upon what students need, already know, and can do.” Note that the definition does not dictate roles or activities in a lesson, but instead tells us that the content of the lesson is what makes something student centered.  In our framework, what students need is consistent and comprehensible target language input, what they already know is about their own lives and interests, and what they can do is communicate (which includes interpretation) about those interests. Thanks to Martina Bex for making this important and relevant connection and her explanation in her article Proficiency Oriented Language Instruction.

Here are a couple of video resources about connecting with students: (Although I have been ignoring this little blog quite a lot lately, I have been incredibly busy doing other things!)

• Equity and Engagement in 2020 Online Teaching, with John Bracey, Meredith McDonald White, Dr. Robert Patrick, Dahiana Castro, and Elicia Cárdenas.
• Connecting with Students of Color with John Bracey, Martina Bex, and Elicia Cárdenas.

5) Find and teach content that is relevant and moderately interesting.

Use the information that you learn to find and create comprehensible content that is moderately relevant and interesting to your students. You don't have to have a home run story or unit each day or week or month- but trying to keep class personalized and connected to their lives is important.  

Even if I know that I want to teach about something that is content-related, I am going to try to use student experience and background knowledge to build interest and connect them to the content. Pro Tip: The SOMOS / Nous sommes / Sumus curriculum uses this framework for all units and it works incredibly well.  

A concrete example from my own classroom might be a learning sequence that looks something like this: 

Novice Spanish 

Note: I have done variations of these activities in Spanish 1a, 1b, and  1 honors. 

Content: Brandon Brown Quiere un Perro, by Carol Gaab (Fluency Matters)

Connection/relevance: Pets that students have or want to have/have had.  Responsibilities and fun/not fun parts of pet ownership.  

Ideas

Students submit 1-2 pictures of their pets (or pets they want/have had, stuffed & mythical animals included)  and a short L1 paragraph about their pets. I put together a slideshow of their pets with L2 sentences that I am confident that we can read together.  I show 1-2 slides each day as a warm up and lead a comprehensible L2 discussion about the information.

Discussion: Which pet would you rather have? I present 2-4 different types of animals as pets and we discuss the pros/cons of each, in a scaffolded L2 discussion.   

Story: We co-create a story or two (TPRS©) to pre-teach vocabulary from the book that is unfamiliar. Using actors, pictures, and student ideas, we build the story then play with it.  The story becomes part of our community narrative- relevant, personal, and usually hilarious.   

Having created some community experiences around pets, shared opinions and laughter and probably disagreed about pets, moving into the book (the content) suddenly feels more relevant. When Brandon's dog chews his favorite pants in the narrative, we can relate that to the time Luis' snake ate his sister's hamster, and then perhaps have a whole discussion about gross things that pets eat and shouldn't. (True story. One of my best classes ever!)  

But wait! Don't you have to give grades? Sure, of course!  The difference is that I don't want to trade points for behavior.  I want students to be interested in what we are doing in class because they are motivated by relationships and relevant content. (For more great information about motivation, please check out Liam Printer's The Motivated Teacher resources and podcast.)    

You can read about what goes in my grade book if you like.  Notice that I had to fit my beliefs about standards based grades and what should go in the grade book into the culture of my school (and make compromises).  

I recognize that all 5 of these steps are big. None of them can be accomplished over night, but I do think that in reframing accountability and points-as-motivation,

I am positive that we can make sure that all students feel like they can succeed and center our classrooms as places of joy, language acquisition, and equity. 

Part 1: The A word (Accountability)

Let's talk about the A word. I'm talking about accountability, friends.  I have been chewing on some ideas about this word for a long time, and have recently been able to put to words some concerns I have about this idea.  

Holding students accountable for their learning is not inherently bad.  Conflating compliance with evidence of learning (or in our case, acquisition) is not the same as holding students accountable for their learning.  And in fact, the whole idea of accountability might have some problems, at least the way it is used when applied to students.  

Accountability often comes up in discussions about student engagement.  It usually sounds like this: "How do I hold them accountable for ___?" and when teachers are more frustrated (sometimes feeling defensive, especially when we are talking about the intersection of grading, assessment practices, and equity), "but they won't do it if I don't hold them accountable/give them a grade for it."  

First, I hear you, and I feel you, and I am not in your context, and I am not here to judge.  We are all just trying to get through this crazy year, and all the crazy years.  

Second, I want to unpack a few ideas wrapped up in what teachers mean by student accountability.  

Finally, I hope to offer some fairly concrete ideas for how to reframe accountability in a comprehension based classroom.  (See Part 2.) 

Since this is my blog, this is real talk. This is me, unfiltered, and asking hard questions.  It's ok if you don't agree with me, but I do think it is worth asking hard questions about our classroom practice. Don't give up on me. 

What "holding students accountable" looks like (based on observations and discussions with teachers) 

• Assigning point values to every thing done in class and collecting and grading it all, e.g. collecting and grading bell work/starters.
• Requiring that students complete "proof of learning" such as graphic organizers (that don't prove anything, really) or filling in guided notes. 
• Giving students assignments to complete that have little-to-no relevance for learning or acquisition, e.g. assigning busy work to be completed after free voluntary reading to prove that students did something.
• Believing that students won't do work unless there is a grade attached.
• Rewarding compliance (doing the work) and conflating compliance (or lack thereof) with learning.

(Please know, I have done most of these things and held these beliefs, and I am not in your context nor do I have to comply with your school's expectations. These are just examples.  #nojudgement)

Who gets held accountable in our general adult world?

Well, I am accountable for being licensed to drive and having insurance- or at least, if I was caught without those things, I would have some kind of consequence.  Often, our society talks about holding people accountable for misdeeds and violence against others.  In fact, accountability seems to be very closely related to punishment or consequences for doing harm. 

I am sure that there are a million other ways to consider accountability, so please forgive me if this is just one facet of this complicated concept.  But- as we are seeing such a disproportionate rate of students of color receiving behavior referrals¹, it does seem pertinent, right? Holding a kid accountable for their behavior/compliance  often results in punishment. This punishment might be low grades, which research shows is not a motivating factor².

Why do you do your job? What makes you accountable?

Then there is the idea of holding people accountable for doing their job.  I am expected to show up to events and workshops and classes that I have scheduled and contracted, and provide the services that I have agreed to provide.  I am held accountable by the very real consequences of losing my job.  But that's not why I show up. I show up because I chose this work, I like this work, and I am motivated to engage in this work.  

Few teachers are motivated by money (although there is *no* doubt that we should be paid fair and equitable wages, and not be shamed into working 60+ hours a week or risking our lives "for the children").  And if you are just motivated by having a job- that's ok- we all need a job! 

 So what motivates you to be accountable for your work? Is it fear? Is it the paycheck/health benefits (no judgement!)? Is it the sense that you are doing something bigger for your community? Is it that you adore the students and love what you do? Is it your love of your school community and colleagues?  Are you motivated to show up for work or are you held accountable? Are those factors in balance?  

Let's talk about the kids in the classroom

Considering a few different reasons to be held accountable and some motivations for doing what we are asked to do- as adults-is it reasonable to expect kids-to be motivated by external factors?   I mean- we are talking about kids, not fully formed adults.  And to be clear- I am speaking now very specifically about kids in a classroom context, and how they are held accountable or not for doing their job of learning in the classroom.  

 

 This leads me to consider motivations- my own and those of students.   Giving grades to increase motivation really comes from a behaviorist framework of punishment and rewards.  This framework, also known as extrinsic motivation, has some problems.  Joe Feldman shares this critique:

[...] extrinsic motivation is not an effective motivation strategy for authentic learning. While extrinsic motivation yields benefits for menial and repetitive tasks- such as offering prizes for stuffing the most envelopes [...]extrinsic rewards and consequences have been found to be wholly ineffective to engage people in tasks that require higher-order and creative thinking [...]. (Feldman, Grading for Equity, 2019)³ 

Grades as Rewards

This idea of grades as rewards- also known as a points economy- is so deeply embedded in our school culture that it is incredibly hard to reframe.  But consider: do we want students to be engaged in learning for the sake of learning? (Also, do we want them to be engaged in order to contribute to their community, to develop connections with each other and their community, and all those things we talk about when we create vision statements for learning?) Or, do we want students to be engaging in points transactions in classrooms?  Are we, as teachers, the brokers of points or guides for learning/language acquisition?  Rick Wormeli, a teacher and leader in supporting teachers in implementing equitable assessment practices, wrote this amazing response to a concern about moving to standards based grades. Take a moment and read it.  

OK, welcome back to talking about accountability.

When we talk about giving points for assignments (because otherwise students won't do the work) and rewarding the "good" behavior, we are doing harm.  Grades should not be rewards for compliance.

We are engaging in points transactions rather than engaging learners. And, if students aren't engaged in the work, if they are not "paying attention" or "just turning in blank papers", isn't that a big neon sign pointing to the lack of connection and relevance of the learning to their lives?  Or...perhaps something else that is really important to know about the learner?  

This is a BROAD statement- but dig in with me here.  I know that teachers are social workers, food providers, emotional support providers, nurses, therapists, tech support, and all the other things that have been put on our plate.  And I know that it might feel like I am telling you that you have to do more. And it might feel overwhelming-especially this year, especially with remote and hybrid and roomies and zoomies and the global trauma that we are living through.  Give yourself some grace, but please, keep reading.  

When a teacher says to me "but I have to hold them accountable" by assigning a grade to each piece of learning, I want to ask the following questions:

1) Do you know why the student is not engaged? Have you asked them or their care givers? Have you listened to the answer? Have you used that information to support that learner within your means? (And if the answer is yes, or I have done all I can, that's ok! Read this great article: When is it ok to say you've done "enough" for a student? from Angela Watson.) 

2) Is what you are asking the students to do something that they can and wish to engage in?  Is your content relevant to their lives or at least moderately interesting? Do they feel respected as learners? Do they feel like they are capable of doing the task, and that it has a point?  Do they feel like they are part of a community? Do they believe that you care for them and see them as for who they are?  

3) How deeply are you and the students engrained in the points transaction universe?  

4) Do students think that they have a reasonable path to success in your class, despite not having the requisite points or making the choice to not do work? Can they recover? 

The Hard Work

I know. I KNOW.  I am telling you the hard stuff. I am asking you to think and dig in and reflect and perhaps admit something uncomfortable, and yes, work more, and harder.  

But this work- developing engaging curriculum, connecting withs students and building relationships, and giving students the opportunity to succeed- this is good work. It is important work.  If you can focus on this, and try to minimize (or even eliminate) the work that doesn't serve students, then you will have more time for building connections and creating curriculum that is truly engaging and relevant.  Here are some thoughts about focusing on what matters.

OK, you've made it this far. Thank you. In my next post, I will talk about reframing accountability and what this looks like in a comprehension based (acquisition driven, proficiency oriented, CI) classroom. This is getting REALLY long!  

References

¹Riddle, T., & Sinclair, S. (2019). Racial disparities in school-based disciplinary actions are associated with county-level rates of racial bias. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America, 116(17), 8255-8260.)

²Selby & Murphy, 1992 as referenced by Tom Guskey, "Five Obstacles to Grading Reform," Educational Leadership, ASCD, November 2011

³Feldman, J. (2019). Grading for equity: What it is, why it matters, and how it can transform schools and classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, a Sage Publishing Company.