Overview of Checking for Understanding (CFU)
Checking for Understanding is a powerful toolbox that master, champion teachers utilize on a daily basis. Doug Lemov (2015) states, "The champions of CFU win by making a habit of small intentional habits, some of which might seem trivial, but when applied consistently and in coordination, result in a reliable and trust safety for student learning." In this thinking, CFU is not about a pause for multiple-choice quiz after days or weeks and are not solely content-based, but rather opportunities for students to apply their newly gained skills and receive guidance on their path to mastery. These opportunities must also invite risk-taking and reduce fear of trying something new. Failure should not exist in schools for our students. This concept should simply be replaced with learning. Students should be thinking not that they failed at it, which is finite, but that they are learning, which is temporary and ongoing. CFU opportunities should happen often and early enough that 100% of students will not reach mastery during the first CFU. The educational organization may be ineffective if the CFU happens when 100% can show mastery.
Key constraints exist in proper use of CFUs: efficiency through time and efficiency through planning. Time is limited and obviously teachers should not spend 20 minutes a day assessing students' current mastery levels. Teachers must master time. Doug Lemov (2015) provides an idea as to why CFU is lacking in many classrooms: "If you can't gather data quickly and simply, you're less likely to do it at all." However, it is not a lost art and science; through collaboration and coaching, all educators can master checking for understanding. Part of this time efficiency depends on the technique toolbox a teacher has in their skill-set and the other part is based on their planning. Planning intentional CFUs assists the teacher in maximizing the amount of data collected and analyzed to use immediately. This data should drive the current and upcoming lessons if done correctly.
Key constraints exist in proper use of CFUs: efficiency through time and efficiency through planning. Time is limited and obviously teachers should not spend 20 minutes a day assessing students' current mastery levels. Teachers must master time. Doug Lemov (2015) provides an idea as to why CFU is lacking in many classrooms: "If you can't gather data quickly and simply, you're less likely to do it at all." However, it is not a lost art and science; through collaboration and coaching, all educators can master checking for understanding. Part of this time efficiency depends on the technique toolbox a teacher has in their skill-set and the other part is based on their planning. Planning intentional CFUs assists the teacher in maximizing the amount of data collected and analyzed to use immediately. This data should drive the current and upcoming lessons if done correctly.
Gathering Data
Doug Lemov (2015) provides several options for maximizing the use of data through CFUs:
Technique 1: Reject Self-Report
Technique 2:Targeted Questioning
Technique 3: Standardize the Format
Technique 4: Tracking, Not Watching
Technique 5: Show Me
Technique 6: Affirmative Checking
Technique 1: Reject Self-Report
Technique 2:Targeted Questioning
Technique 3: Standardize the Format
Technique 4: Tracking, Not Watching
Technique 5: Show Me
Technique 6: Affirmative Checking
Rejecting Self-Report
Self-reporting focuses on a practice that teachers use every day. While some teachers intentionally use self-reporting, others may do so unknowingly or as a requirement. Sometimes, I have observed in schools, this practice is forced upon teachers by instructional coaches and educational leaders, as it gives the appearance of checking for understanding. Doug Lemov (2015) writes, "Volumes of social science literature have established that self-report is highly unreliable. Questions that ask for binary (that is yes-no) answers are particularly suspect." Reflect on the previous lesson or week of teaching, how many times did you ask "Everybody got it?" or "Is everybody clear on..." or thumbs-up/thumbs-down or fist to five? Replacing these systems with those presented through Teaching like a Champion, by Doug Lemov, will make your practice and craft efficient and powerful.
Replace self-reporting with objective questioning that is intentional. These questions should be objective and target the specific skill or understanding currently being taught. Teachers should also purposefully call on students not by random selection, but utilize a data mindset. Teacher should organize classes into sampling groups and use their preplanned questions to create a data sampling that represents the overall competency and mastery. Also, this should take a minute or less in its ideal state.
Replace self-reporting with objective questioning that is intentional. These questions should be objective and target the specific skill or understanding currently being taught. Teachers should also purposefully call on students not by random selection, but utilize a data mindset. Teacher should organize classes into sampling groups and use their preplanned questions to create a data sampling that represents the overall competency and mastery. Also, this should take a minute or less in its ideal state.
Targeted Questioning
Doug Lemov (2015) describes the central idea: "--a quick series of carefully chosen, open-ended questions directed at a strategic sample of the class and executed in a short time period, often a minute or less" and continues on "The goal is to take a small, brief data sample where previously no data existed, and ascertain something about the general level of knowledge in the room."
Take a look at Lemov's provided exemplar:
Teacher: Ok so let's make sure we're clear on the difference between plant and animal cells. Jason, what does the presence of the cell wall tell me about the cell I'm looking at?...Good, and what else might tell me I was looking at a plant cell, Charlene?...And which cells have chloroplasts, Jose?...Yes, and why do they have them, Sasha?...Good; it sounds like we're ready to move.
Ideally, these students were preselected for that day or week to sit in as representatives for the understanding of the whole class. This does not mean they are told or a poster hangs with names listed, but rather the teacher is purposeful in who is being called on in the class to provide the data.
Some tips for Targeted Questioning:
1. Preselect key points of transition in the lesson (2-3 transition points)
2. Plan CFU right before moving on
3. Prewrite multiple questions (mainly open-ended; have multiple prepared {call these At Bats} for each CFU point)
4. Speed counts and the more you use integrated CFU questions, the faster students will be at answering them
5. Be precise with phrasing and word choice to deliberately connect or spark answer format and content
6. Use Cold Call as a strategic format for speed and better data
7. Be careful in how you view the answers and see them as a data set.
*Consider the last time you questioned the class and it took till the fifth or sixth student for the right answer to be stated. One might think "Great! They got it!" or even worse "Now we can move on!" Doing so actually shows the need to reteach and not move on as the sample set shows that 1/5 or 1/6 got it correct. Those are not great data points to show mastery and readiness for progression.
Take a look at Lemov's provided exemplar:
Teacher: Ok so let's make sure we're clear on the difference between plant and animal cells. Jason, what does the presence of the cell wall tell me about the cell I'm looking at?...Good, and what else might tell me I was looking at a plant cell, Charlene?...And which cells have chloroplasts, Jose?...Yes, and why do they have them, Sasha?...Good; it sounds like we're ready to move.
Ideally, these students were preselected for that day or week to sit in as representatives for the understanding of the whole class. This does not mean they are told or a poster hangs with names listed, but rather the teacher is purposeful in who is being called on in the class to provide the data.
Some tips for Targeted Questioning:
1. Preselect key points of transition in the lesson (2-3 transition points)
2. Plan CFU right before moving on
3. Prewrite multiple questions (mainly open-ended; have multiple prepared {call these At Bats} for each CFU point)
4. Speed counts and the more you use integrated CFU questions, the faster students will be at answering them
5. Be precise with phrasing and word choice to deliberately connect or spark answer format and content
6. Use Cold Call as a strategic format for speed and better data
7. Be careful in how you view the answers and see them as a data set.
*Consider the last time you questioned the class and it took till the fifth or sixth student for the right answer to be stated. One might think "Great! They got it!" or even worse "Now we can move on!" Doing so actually shows the need to reteach and not move on as the sample set shows that 1/5 or 1/6 got it correct. Those are not great data points to show mastery and readiness for progression.
Standardize the Formats
If the goal is to be efficient in the use of time for CFUs and maximize real-time data collection and analysis, then educators will want to standardize the format for collecting data (way everything looks and is asked) as well as the recording of data. At a minimal level, all CFUs are done the same way all year in all subjects and units in the classroom. Learning schools will seek to have standardization of CFU forms throughout all classrooms, regardless of teacher, subject, or grade level.
There are many considerations when looking to standardize the field from arrangement of the classroom to color of half-sheets for three question CFUs to a specific format students use when speaking in the class (SLANT, etc.).
There are many considerations when looking to standardize the field from arrangement of the classroom to color of half-sheets for three question CFUs to a specific format students use when speaking in the class (SLANT, etc.).
Tracking, Not Watching
Some of the high impact changes stem from deeply rooted beliefs of the student to teacher relationship; however, the behavioral output costs little to classroom time or planning. When working with new teachers, and even some veteran teachers through coaching, I explicitly observe teacher movement through the class during CFUs and student work time. Doug Lemov seeks to push educators beyond the "traditional teacher is there to control" view, watching, to a more systematic and scientific take on teacher purpose when students are working, tracking. Lemov (2015) states, "Tracking, Not Watching means deciding specifically what you're looking for and remaining disciplined about it in the face of a thousand distractions."
Some teachers may need a specific form that they design or receive coaching in design to assist in tracking the students. The concrete form in front of the educator pushes and guides the thinking when observing students. It should begin with a simple question, "What do you specifically want to see your students doing?" The internal dialogue and observed behavior might return that the teacher wants to see the student doing work, maybe even doing work studiously! However, it must be specific and directly connected to the most immediate learning. Consider an ELA high school classroom...Do you want see them writing a paragraph? OR A paragraph with a topic sentence and transitional phrase? OR A paragraph with a topic sentence and transitional phrase and a concluding sentence with an outgoing transitional phrase? You probably get the idea at this point. If the educator explicitly knows what they are looking for from the students, they can better track who is at which stage of mastery. As better tracking occurs then more planning for opportunities directly related to student mastery can occur.
Suggestions to consider while tracking:
Some teachers may need a specific form that they design or receive coaching in design to assist in tracking the students. The concrete form in front of the educator pushes and guides the thinking when observing students. It should begin with a simple question, "What do you specifically want to see your students doing?" The internal dialogue and observed behavior might return that the teacher wants to see the student doing work, maybe even doing work studiously! However, it must be specific and directly connected to the most immediate learning. Consider an ELA high school classroom...Do you want see them writing a paragraph? OR A paragraph with a topic sentence and transitional phrase? OR A paragraph with a topic sentence and transitional phrase and a concluding sentence with an outgoing transitional phrase? You probably get the idea at this point. If the educator explicitly knows what they are looking for from the students, they can better track who is at which stage of mastery. As better tracking occurs then more planning for opportunities directly related to student mastery can occur.
Suggestions to consider while tracking:
- Specific Errors
- What aren't they getting?
- Who isn't getting it?
- Ideally, quantify the data
- Success Points
- What are they getting?
- Know the different between excellence and just completion. What qualities distinguish those for the specific opportunities?
- Who mastered it and who is getting it?
- What are they getting?
- Preplanned Sheets for Tracking
- Design sheets to write the tracking points the morning before you do the CFU
- Use the same sheet in the same form
- Preplan boxes and a system to reduce the cost of time in recording data
- Student names down on the sheet, using symbols +, -, #, <, >
- Create a system that works for you
- Student names down on the sheet, using symbols +, -, #, <, >
- Design sheets to write the tracking points the morning before you do the CFU
Show Me
Students must become independent learners and this means releasing the responsibility of the class. Instead of thinking on the large-scale flipping of the classroom from the onset, consider the embedded day-to-day routines that students can take over and build lifelong skills. While obvious, Lemov (2015) presents this idea to build into the teacher toolbox: "In Show Me, students actively show the teacher evidence of their understanding, a reversal that also makes misunderstandings more evident, students own the responsibility for facilitating the data gathering.
Hand Signals
Students use their hands to signal the correct answer. This might also take some preplanning and changing the use of A, B, C, D to 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. Lemov (2015) points out an important misconception: "Notice that it's their actual answer, not their perception of it."
Slates
Teachers often provide small erasable whiteboards to students to complete their work and write their answer. Students can then hold this up to signal to the teacher to check their understanding. There are several enticing factors of using this format. First, the teacher can view the actual work and thinking in reaching the answer. Doing so allows the teacher to mark the specific point the student made an error and provide time for them to get it right. Additionally, students have the ability to erase and work through, rather than just give the answer to the teacher.
Digitals
Much like slates, computers provide a similar ability with more options. Programs like NearPod and Spiral offer teachers the ability see student work and the answer. Also, the programs usually offer the means to record data on the students and doubles as the tracking sheet then.
Tips from Lemov (2015)
Hand Signals
Students use their hands to signal the correct answer. This might also take some preplanning and changing the use of A, B, C, D to 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. Lemov (2015) points out an important misconception: "Notice that it's their actual answer, not their perception of it."
Slates
Teachers often provide small erasable whiteboards to students to complete their work and write their answer. Students can then hold this up to signal to the teacher to check their understanding. There are several enticing factors of using this format. First, the teacher can view the actual work and thinking in reaching the answer. Doing so allows the teacher to mark the specific point the student made an error and provide time for them to get it right. Additionally, students have the ability to erase and work through, rather than just give the answer to the teacher.
Digitals
Much like slates, computers provide a similar ability with more options. Programs like NearPod and Spiral offer teachers the ability see student work and the answer. Also, the programs usually offer the means to record data on the students and doubles as the tracking sheet then.
Tips from Lemov (2015)
- Make sure you are asking for objective answers (data) and not subjective views on the process (feelings)
- No circulation is necessary, students are showing it to the teacher. Don't confuse this with circulation
- Unison: students need to show answers at the same time to make sure there are not piggybacking or changing answers
Affirmative Checking
Doug Lemov (2015) provides a clear description of this planning technique: "Insert specific points into your lesson when students must get confirmation that their work is correct, productive, or sufficiently rigorous before moving on to the next stage." Whatever the topic or skill is in the current lesson, actual checking for understanding provides students with continual feedback that they got it right before allowing them to practice and repeatedly do it wrong. This may produce a false perception to the student that they got it but actually make a false positive.
Common tips for Affirmative Checking:
Common tips for Affirmative Checking:
- Checkpoints should ideally pass quickly
- Move fast and have a rubric if necessary
- Asychronous checkoff
- Students don't wait for others, they get checked when they are done
- Provide "extra credit" problem of greater difficulty if the student masters the first one or two
- Signal used by students should not prevent them from continuing their work
- Raising a hand and keeping it in the air prevents additional work from happening
- Student self-checking
- Leave a key around the room for students to go and check when finished
- Include thought process or work need to get to the answer/solution/etc.
- Leave a key around the room for students to go and check when finished
Lemov, D. (2015). Teach like a champion 2.0: 62 techniques that put students on the path to college.