Choose a strategy from this chapter and answer the following questions. You DO NOT need to respond to colleagues for this chapter.
1. What are the key components of the strategy?
2. How would you need to adjust your planning in order to use the strategy with fidelity?
3. What are some other questions or factors you need to consider as you plan to implement this strategy for the purpose of differentiation? Chapter 7
1. The key components of agendas:
(1) Agendas are personalized for each student.
(2) They must be completed in a specified time.
(3) The duration of agendas is usually 2-3 weeks.
(4) Students usually determine the order of the tasks to be completed.
(5) A particular time of day is "agenda time". It is often done in the first part of the day for elementary classrooms and block-scheduled secondary classrooms. Other classes use agendas once a week or as activities to be completed when other assigned work is complete.
(6) Teachers use agenda time to work with small groups of students who need extra help on certain concepts or skills.
(7) Teachers use the time to meet with individual students to check their progress.
(8) Agendas can be used for homework, for both classwork and homework, or for extra activities to be worked on when students complete assigned classwork.
2. I have used agendas in the past. I used them when I had literature circles and each group was reading a different novel. At the end of the novel the students chose from among a list of tasks to complete. All of the tasks could be used with each of the novels. Currently, I have my 5th graders read four novels throughout the year. At the completion of some of the novels I have the students complete one major task. Agenda were not used on a regular basis. If I were to use agendas again and on a regular basis, I would would have one major task of my own to complete! I would need to decide what to cut out of my curriculum. Certain mini-units and other projects would need to be eliminated. Much time would be needed to plan and organize tasks that would cover the educational standards that were being covered by the other things I delete from the curriculum. I would
NOT want the tasks to just be busy work. The tasks would need to be purposeful and ones that deal with the standards.
3. I would need to spend major amounts of time creating rubrics for the tasks. Subjective grading has never been a favorite of mine, but it is so much easier with a good rubric. However it takes a lot of time to create a good rubric. Would one be needed for each differentiated task to be completed? I think so. If I were to incorporate agendas into my classroom, I would start with using one at the completion of a novel for Reading class like I have done in the past. I would start with a small one. I just think an agenda of 2-3 weeks is too much time. Would students tire of the agenda if it took that long to complete? What about the students who can't keep up with day-to-day assignments? This is where differentiation would
really come into play as being necessary! I see agendas as being overwhelming for certain students. I just think a shorter agenda would be better.
tough one!