Thursday, November 21, 2019

Chopped Inspired Professional Development and Lessons


I love professional learning! I know not every teacher shares my love so when it comes to professional development I try to get creative. Our district PD focus this year is writing quality standards-based assessment items. Item writing is not the most glamorous topic of professional learning! So I started the session with this video.


On Chopped, chefs create a delicious offering on the spot using ingredients they're given. In my version of this concept, I provided teachers with three ingredients: a standard, a DOK level, and a template.


There were three rounds: appetizer, entree, and dessert. Teachers could also use items from the "pantry" such as Item Specifications, the Course of Study, their computer, flip books, DOK Level guides, or Google!


Teachers were given a "basket" for each round and a time limit of 10 minutes to create their assessment item. We focused on having a rationale for answer choices, not just trick questions, so you can see what student misconceptions are. 



Each teacher then presented their "dish" or assessment item to their content group. Unlike what happens on the show, no one was "chopped!" Whenever I facilitate professional learning, I try to deliver it in a way or use a strategy my teachers could take back to their classrooms and use with their students. And that happened with Chopped


One of my English Language Arts teachers used Chopped to practice summarizing and paraphrasing paragraphs. Her baskets contained a paragraph, oversized note cards, and rubric. She also gave a time limit.


The ELA teacher had celebrity judges come and judge their paraphrasing and summarizing! It added so much excitement to the writing to have their principal, assistant principal, counselor, fan fave previous teacher, and SRO come to judge! 





Another one of my teachers was inspired to do a Chopped lesson with her Civics classes. She also had a three course, timed challenge. Jurisdictions Sampler was her first course. Students had to know how many Federal District Courts are in our state and find information about them using the QR codes in their basket. The next course was the Dual Combo Entree. Students completed a scavenger hunt on the Dual Court System using our county Circuit Court website. The last course was Dessert Supreme. Students created 45 second skits acting out how each court tries a case. 


She also got into character with an apron and chef hat! The possibilities are endless with this Chopped inspired strategy. You could make baskets with ingredients for any content area. It really engaged the students and my teachers! 

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