Often, late at night, or at the end of a particularly long school day, I find myself wondering about what I'm doing right in the classroom and what I might be missing.
Today, I found out about one of my grade 12 students who happened to have anxiety problems who also spent a portion of today in the bathroom throwing up due to these issues. The question I was asked, then, was "does this student need to finish the novel and the booklet to receive their credit?" Immediately, the strict teacher within me jumped up and down, screaming "yes, yes - YES!" After some conversation about the structure of the course (a basic grade 12 Transactional course) and explaining how this unit had started well over a month ago, the strict teacher within me compromised on the issue, and I explained the expectations for the course with another teacher in our school who this student trusts and works well with.
I thought that what I was doing in the classroom was right. I still maintain that my expectations are not too high. They are high, but not unreachable - after all, with a week left in the course, I have two students who have completed the course and all of it's outcomes. And those students are choosing to still attend school - one to finish his history course work, and the other to help his girlfriend receive her English credit.
I hope that in the classroom my students are feeling like they are learning something, or at least understanding that they need to do something to receive their credit. Granted, some of my grade 12s put their work off to the last minute and are now frantically trying to receive their credits.
But next semester, things will be different.
Before I begin explaining how things will be different, let me explain two things about what is right now going in my school:
1) We are currently an essential outcome-based school
This means that our administration has required all of it's teachers to study their particular content areas and decide which outcomes are essential for their courses. For example, in the Manitoba ELA curriculum, we have approximately 56 outcomes (I haven't counted for a while) - and while these outcomes might be essential for a student to learn, it's impossible to assess each one every year for every course.
This is where the teacher's discretion comes into play. At the same time, it's purely subjective. I am currently the core ELA teacher in our school, but this year, we have another teacher teaching the other section of grade 9 ELA, and another teacher covering a second Transactional ELA in the second semester. The essential outcomes that the three of us have identified are different. I met with the other grade 9 ELA teacher at the end of last year to ask her what she covers with her students, and I tried to follow suit, but I assessed less outcomes than her this semester.
Once a teacher has identified their outcomes for their course (I have 16 for grade 9, 9 for grade 10, 12 and 14 for my different grade 11 courses, and 14 and 17 for my different grade 12 courses) they begin assessing based on individual outcomes. At the end of the last school year, I spent nearly 2 weeks re-writing the Manitoba ELA curriculum into plain language (student and parent friendly language - and Ms. B friendly language too). In the content areas like Science and Mathematics, it's much more cut-and-dry, because for each unit, a teacher can have 2-3 outcomes, assess those on an assignment, quiz, and test, and move onto the next section of outcomes. But ELA is different.
I find that I am constantly re-visiting my outcomes with my students, with the exception of the "learning goals" section of GLO 1. I have the outcomes posted on the side of my classroom, with the essential outcomes marked with arrows so the students can see the entire curriculum as well as what I have chosen for them to learn. Some of the outcomes have been assessed 3 times, some 5 or 8. It depends on the outcome and how they have performed in the past.
Based on these outcomes, they are assessed on a scale, explained in #2.
2) The scale
The scale that we are currently using (and I'm not particularly fond of calling it a scale, but it's the only thing that comes to mind to explain it) specifies that a score of 0 on an outcome means anywhere from 0-49% in the traditional marking scheme.
A 1 is the equivalent of a limited understanding of an outcome, and represents an understanding of 50-60% of the material.
A 2 is the equivalent of a developing basic understanding, the 3 is representative of basic (at the low end) or clear (3.5+) understanding, and the 4 is representative of exceptional/sophisticated/thorough (where the / = OR) understanding. The percentages also increase, with the 3.0+ being 80%+
I still haven't memorized those numbers. And I'm writing this from my desk at home, not school like I sometimes do.
With this scale, combined with the outcomes, students are assessed a variety of times, like I mentioned before. The marking looks like a nightmare, and we use excel spreadsheets, but now, I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm not sure if I could go to another division or school for that matter and feel like I was assessing appropriately.
This brings me to the "experimental" part of this post.
We are having "learning vision" meetings at our school and within our division. A great way for staff to come together and discuss what we'd like our schools to look like. A few days after the first meeting, I was talking with our Mathematics/Chemistry/Physics teacher (also a second year teacher) and we were brainstorming how to reach our kids who are not attending school. I would go as far as to say the single biggest issue right now with our kids at our school is attendance. Unfortunately, we cannot say "10 unexcused absences and you're out of the course," but that is okay. We can work around this belief.
Our students are not attending for a variety of reasons: they don't like their classes, they're bored, they feel held back, they have other interests (like work - it's really important to mention our school is in a rural community, where significant value is placed on hard work in a number of our families), or they may already be academically at a higher level than they are currently practicing.
What we came up with (and I decided to take on) was my plan for my second semester, to address most of these issues. My plan is this: spend 4-6 weeks in-class with all of my grade 11 students in their respective courses (Transactional and Comprehensive), teaching them the skills they will need to meet their outcomes for their ELA course and doing a preliminary evaluation of each of them. Following the 4-6 week period, they are given the option of taking the course outcomes and coming up with their own projects, working on them, and meeting the outcomes in whatever way they choose to.
For example, a student really interested in music might decide to write a number of songs and produce their own album for a semester-long project. Side assignments might include physically writing out the connections the songs have to one another, or experimenting with other musical forms. They will be required to meet with me once a week during a pre-determined time slot where we will chart their progress and determine what next steps they need to take. It is not realistic to say that every student will work on their ELA every single day, but they will be required to keep a log of when they DO work on their ELA.
My classroom will always be open to these students who choose to opt into this "Alternative Delivery" program, but regular class will still be held. Regardless if I have students in my classroom or not. Students may choose to attend these classes and "audit" them during the semester, but completing the in-class assignments/work will not be required. This "Alternative Delivery" model will allow students to demonstrate knowledge and learning on their own terms, on their own time. I'm hoping that this delivery will be beneficial for students who find it difficult to come to school (either on time or at all), struggle with suspensions, or may not feel challenged enough in the classroom. So far, I've run the idea past some of the grade 11s and many of them seem very receptive to the idea. Especially the idea that if they can demonstrate their knowledge and learning right away, they may receive their credit as early as a few days or a few weeks following the 4-6 week in-class instruction.
Another aspect to mention, though, is at the end of the semester, all of my students will come back together during the last 2 weeks of the semester to do an exam review and complete an examination similar to the provincial exam administered in grade 12.
I am very excited about this new venture, and feel the support of the staff, administration, and the school division behind me. I cannot wait to get started next week!
