To Exist or Not to Exist?

I recently went through yet another experience where I was being convinced that I should not exist here.....So, I'm going to exist here....on this blog.

Journal #6: Alternative

Alaska’s Chulage School District offers a glimpse into something quite powerful and inspiring. The fact that there are no grade levels in this rural district reveals something quite extraordary going on. A closer look reveals more. For instance, in order to move ahead to the next level of learning, you must master the level that precedes it and each and every child is required to master every level of every subject with 80% proficiency in order to graduate.

Individuating the pace of learning is both logical and brilliant. Not sending kids through and out the other side of the educational system while shifting responsibility to the student for their own learning and success, can only lead to something much better than what we see going on in most schools across the nation. Students being not only aware of, but in an intimate relationship to, what they need to achieve, takes the obligation and places it right where it needs to sit.

Working with the subject areas of math, reading, writing, science and social studies in ways that matter to the students is key. Working with methods and opportunities for learning that are broad and innovative, such as community service-learning, career development, personal, social and health development, technology and cultural awareness. brings a deeper engagement which all teachers are wanting.

Employing assessment tools for evaluating learning like observations, projects, written work, performances, tests and portfolios and using terms such as “emerging”, “developing”, “proficient” and “advanced” in place of letter grades to inform students and teachers about the success of both learning and teaching are all vital to genuine reform.

With learning as the constant and time as the variable in the education equation, new doors open. The challenges that accompany reform on this level are complex. The willingness to let go of the familiar and embrace the unknown with all it’s accompanying vulnerabilities may feel frightening, yet that fear can be translated into exhilaration which, in turn, can help to fuel the desperately needed change.

Failing Grades

Journal #5

Failing Grades for Late Assignments:
Teaching Responsibility or Giving Permission to Fail?

I find this topic interesting. It is obviously one riddled with challenges. I myself have had teachers who give their students lots of opportunities to succeed and I must say that this is the most appealing approach I have seen from the perspective of being a student. I have watched my fellow students who would have gotten C's with other instructors, rise up to get A's just because they were given the chance to succeed.

Working with Fs as weapons and tools of punishment seems to be a setup for hardcore power struggles. The notion of giving students clear guidelines for how to succeed which escort them through a process that includes addressing their late assignments with specific steps on how to rectify the situation makes the most sense to me.

Creating systems where not turning in assignments is not an option seems like a good starting point. Then, designing clear ways of handling the students who are late with their work, by working with the assignments as “Incomplete” until they are done, makes sense.

Working with homework assignments that are manageable and that are intentionally designed to assess student learning for formative reasons and to review and prepare for the next day, as well as teaching the students how to become more responsible, seem to me to be valid reasons for the assignments that will inspire students to engage willingly in the process. If they see that there are benefits on multiple levels for doing their homework, and that not doing it only leads to a more cumbersome path to the same end, they will be more likely to do the work.

Just giving failing grades seems to me to be more of a disciplinary action than a bridge-building act to reach learners.

Journal #4: Performance Based Assessments

Where would performance-based assessments fit in your world? Where would product-based assessments fit?

I am excited at the sight of the potential for performance-based assessments to provide opportunities for students to express learning and knowledge and skills gained through lessons presented by teachers. As a secondary education teacher in art, I will be utilizing performance-based assessments extensively.

The process of creating art pieces allows students to express what they are learning and have mastered through performance and product creation. The products they create are concrete representations of skill and knowledge acquisition. For instance, ongoing sketchbook work provides an open-ended opportunity for students to demonstrate a progression of knowledge through chronicling the daily learning activities. Both the student and teacher have a product to work with that reveals this progress.

I will work in depth with portfolios in art. As with sketchbooks, these provide students and opportunity to chronicle and demonstrate their progress. Students can include their best work here and learn about selection, refinement and presentation. The portfolios themselves, as well as the products included within them, are authentic representations of students’ skill and knowledge acquisition, application and mastery.

I plan to give students the opportunity to reveal understanding through oral presentations as well. Performing critiques and giving presentations on their own work and on the work of others offers great opportunities for assessment.

Clearly designed and well defined criteria for evaluating the components to be assessed is key in all of these cases. The specific criteria being assessed, as well as the levels of performance success, need to be clarified in advance so that both the teacher and student know what they are expected produce.

As a student now, I am working with performance and product based assessments to demonstrate knowledge and skill. I appreciate these opportunities so much. I am in the midst of creating an e-portfolio for the School of Education, I have created a research proposal, many PowerPoint presentations, lesson plans and many more products which allowed me to learn deeply and gave me a fair and empowering avenue to both develop and express the new knowledge and skills I was acquiring.

Issues of Cheating

Journal #3: Cheating

How should a teacher respond to cheating? Should all forms of cheating be treated in the same way? What cautions should a teacher keep in mind before accusing a student of cheating?

I think that cheating is symptomatic of deeper issues and problems at hand. I believe that it is important for teachers to have clearly defined ways of handling issues of cheating in advance of possible situations arising. I think that different issues of cheating should be addressed differently. The more blatant the act of cheating, the more easily a teacher can confront the student and hold him/her accountable. For instance, if a student is seen looking at another student’s test, the teacher can confront that student, and make adjustments to create a more difficult testing environment to deter this type of behavior. In other cases, where there is clear material evidence of cheating, such as crib sheets, or documentation of plagiarism, then the protocol for addressing cheating should be followed in a straightforward manner.

I think issues of cheating should be addressed and demystified for students. For instance, many students do not understand what comprises plagiarism. A simple brief lesson clarifying this concept could help. Empowering students to trust their own voices and giving them the tools for expressing their thoughts can lessen the likelihood they would choose such a course.

Accusing a student of cheating is a big deal and teachers need to be cautious in how they approach the student with accusations. Student’s have rights of due process and it is important that educators are made aware of the rules and the protocol of their particular institution so they are empowered to deal with cheating when it arises.

Journal #2: Challenges

What challenges do you see during instruction in the need to both monitor your student's learning and maintain the right level of tolerance? What is likely to be difficult for you about doing both more or less at the same time?

In the area of student learning, it seems to me that matching lessons to the student’s interests, ways of learning, background in content knowledge, etc., all seem important to start with. Creating probative questions in advance seems important to me as well. Especially initially, as I have no experience with classroom teaching. I think that considering different types of questions and being prepared with them in advance, will help me to avoid the pitfalls of being too simplistic and only posing lower-order questions. In order to question students in deeper ways that require contemplation, analysis, syntheses, and understanding in order to answer, I think I will need to prepare myself ahead of time. These types of questions take some forethought to construct. I can see how just posing simple questions to eager students is not going to give a teacher a true representation of the actually learning taking place overall.

As far as maintaining the right level of tolerance in the classroom, I believe that truly engaging students and having a lot of alternative approaches to presenting the material will be helpful. I notice that students seem to act out when they are not invested or engaged in what is being presented. So, it seems to me that working to develop lessons that the students enter into and become involved with, lessens disruption. I had a class recently where my teacher’s tolerance of a student who constantly talked to his neighbors throughout each class was definitely higher than mine and I finally told her that I wasn’t able to concentrate when he was talking. So, I can see how we are all different. I think that the teacher’s obligation regarding “level of tolerance” has a lot to do with maintaining a safe and conducive environment for learning for the entire class and that when they allow students to act out in ways that disrupt the experiences of others, then their level of tolerance is too high.

Journal #1: Assessment and Learning

How can assessment improve learning?

Honestly, I had never really considered the concept of “assessment” in learning until beginning my graduate work in the field of education in recent years. As a young student, I don’t think I felt a clear connection between what I was supposed to be learning and the evaluation of what I had or had not comprehended in terms of assessments used to judge my progress.

I find the whole concept of the untapped power in the toolbox of assessments to be inspiring. Harnessing and honing assessment tools to really bridge and clarify the desired learnings for both the student and the teacher makes all the sense in the world. It is so much more empowering. I remember feeling so lost in school as a child. I never felt like I understood what it was that I needed to understand. It felt like it was always a sort of shot in the dark. Working with assessments to learn about the students’ existing comprehension and to clarifying the goals for learning (by delineating for them the nature of the coming assessment) and offering different options to students to express what they learn is so much healthier and hopeful to them. Clearing considering and consciously creating applicable tools for assessing students seems to be key.