Peer Power: Unite, Learn and Prosper - Activate an Assessment Revolution

by Paul Bloomberg, Barb Pitchford, Kara Vandas

Overview

Activate an assessment revolution with the Peer Power Feedback Framework! Formative assessment produces greater increases in student learning and is cheaper than other efforts to boost achievement. Peer Power gives teachers a practical 6-step framework for empowering students to take ownership of their learning through the self and peer assessment process.

The Peer Power Framework:

expands feedback to learners

amplifies quality classroom discussion

expands student goal setting

infuses dispositional learning

strengthens metacognitive thinking

integrates SEL practices into classroom culture

Thirteen practitioners offer concrete, practical strategies to support peer assessment in primary, upper elementary, secondary, math, English, social studies, and science. There is content dedicated to supporting English language learners and the use of technology to support goal setting and reflection.

Peer Power isn't just for students; there are three chapters written by experts on how to harness the capacity of teams (PLC's and Impact Teams) to strengthen their collaborative expertise to put learners at the center of the assessment process.

If you are a fan of formative assessment and feedback, if you believe in student-centered approaches to learning, if you want to increase student achievement by developing self-directed learners -- you will be a big fan of Peer Power.

Contributions By: Eric Bjornstad, Lisa Cebelak, Rupa Chandra-Gupta, Lori Cook, Rachel Fairchild, Gary Giordano, Dave Horton, Katie Smith, Sarah Stevens, Isaac Wells

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781950089000
Publisher:	Mimi and Todd Press
Publication date:	08/27/2019
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Paul Bloomberg is a practitioner who believes in the power of student-centered learning. Paul has been a part of multiple, successful school turn-around efforts and has great admiration for the work of public educators. In addition to being a lead author on Peer Power, he is the co-author of Leading Impact Teams: Building a Culture of Efficacy and the Empowered Learner Toolkit. Paul partners with schools and districts nationally and internationally with a focus on expanding student ownership and agency through collaborative inquiry.

Barb Pitchford's passion and expertise is strengthening building leadership around high impact collaborative practices that focus on developing student and teacher efficacy and agency. Barb is also the co-author of Leading Impact Teams: Building a Culture of Efficacy. With a deep background in the Visible Learning research, Barb partners with schools to operationalize the research around collective teacher efficacy.

Kara Vandas is an educator with an enduring passion for empowering learners. In addition to contributing to Peer Power, she is the co-author of Clarity for Learning: 5 Essential Practices that Empower Students and Teachers and Partnering with Students: Building Ownership of Learning. Kara works with districts and schools across the country and presents nation¬ally and internationally at conferences with a focus on learner agency and efficacy.

Table of Contents

Contents

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii

Part I: Growing Empowered Learners

Chapter 1 Unite, Learn, and Prosper! Activate an

Assessment Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Chapter 2 What’s My Contribution? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Chapter 3 The Peer Power Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Chapter 4 Proving Learning: The Power of Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Chapter 5 Expanding Meta-Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Part II: Voices from the Field

Chapter 6 The Reflective Learning Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Chapter 7 Lifting Language Learning With Peer Power . . . . . . . . . 105

Chapter 8 Igniting Goal Setting With Emerging Readers . . . . . . . . . 121

Chapter 9 The Anthem of Empowerment in Grades 3–5 . . . . . . . . 135

Chapter 10 Learning to Learn With Students for

Effective Collaborative Conversations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Chapter 11 The Case for Problem Solving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Chapter 12 Yes! #PeerPower in Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Chapter 13 Learning for Democracy With #PeerPower . . . . . . . . . . 187

Chapter 14 History Class: A Microcosm of Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Part III: Empower Teams to Empower Learners

Chapter 15 Five Keys to Developing High Impact Teams . . . . . . . . . . 231

Chapter 16 Relational Trust: The Glue That Holds Teams Together . . . . 237

Chapter 17 Empowering Teacher Teams to Drive Their Learning:

Transforming Professional Learning with

Impact Team Inquiry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Part IV: A Call to Action

Chapter 18 Unite, Learn, and Prosper . . .

Become a #PeerPower Activist! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Editorial Reviews

Paul Bloomberg and Barb Pitchford teamed up with Kara Vandas for another fabulous book. Peer Power offers a practical process to expand peer assessment in the classroom with a goal of amplifying meaningful dialogue and feedback to learners. It will guide, inspire and encourage you in equal measure!

James Nottingham, Creator of the Learning Pit and President of Challenging Learning, USA

Peer Power is a must read book for all educators who are looking to empower students in a more comprehensive and collaborative way. It is set up in an easy to read and practical way that any educator can approach. Since there are multiple entry points, the reader can follow his/her own path to get what he/she needs to build a better, more student-centered space. In its purest form, Peer Power illustrates what it hopes to inform about with the power of collaboration and multiple voices. We are better together.

Starr Sackstein, author and thought leader

PeerPower models collective efficacy with multiple authors who incorporate peer- and self-assessment through transferable skills and dispositions, protocols, goal-setting, feedback on feedback, building relational trust, and more. Each chapter includes stories, evidence, criteria for success, examples, and strategies to transform assessment at all levels. I highly recommend PeerPower for educators and teacher teams who want to revolutionize assessment so they can empower students to take ownership of learning.

Barbara Bray, creative learning strategist, podcast host, speaker, author of Define Your Why

From the Publisher