My assessments are full of text. And not fun text…boring text. Sometimes I try fun fonts or pretty colors or a thought-provoking pictures. But there are a lot of words. Seriously…look at this grade 6 assignment.
But it’s never the most entertaining. But it is important.
I’ve been using the sequencing brainframe* to help my kids break down what they need to do. Sequencing brainframe basically is a story telling device. First you do this then you do that.
Sometimes my brainframes are done online. This one was for our grade 7/8 2 day project based learning days and broke down the steps for the kids would do when working independently.
Sometimes I do them very neatly and post them on my blog. This one is for my grade 6 early man skits.
Most of the time I just quickly do it on the whiteboard and take a pic at the end of class. This one is for my grade 7 empires timeline.
Or my grade 7 Child Labor Trial, with the days written down for when they should finish each step.
This helps my kids SEE the steps. It also helps my kids CHECK that they have all the required bits of our pretty big assignments. And when I add the “check the TSC” (our word for rubric)” along the way it ensures that my kids are REFLECTING on their work
The final step is have my kids take all the text and make their own sequencing brainframe. Stay tuned for how that goes…
*brainframes are flexible visual organizers that help students visually communicate their understanding and their thinking. See Architects for Learning for more information about how they work.
Rebekah Madrid 