After 20 years of teaching at Brookfield Central, I am saying goodbye. Although I spent the majority of that time in the physics classroom alongside my learners. That changed for my last 18 weeks. I ended up in a place similar to where I started, teaching chemistry and biology. So, rather than dealing with juniors and seniors at the end of their high school careers, I was in classrooms with freshmen and sophomores still trying to find their place. At the same time, I was learning and teaching a set curriculum I hadn't taught in over a decade. So, we were learning. But, of course, I already knew the content. The point of this post is to take a step back, take in, and share the gratitude from the last students I had in my 20 years at Brookfield Central High School through the cards and notes they made for me on my last day with them. I don't take many yay me moments. But after 20 years, I think I'll soak this one in.
I like to get my students perspective on how our class in terms of how class is going in terms of the process of learning and assessment. Informal interviews provide that opportunity. I'm always afraid it will turn into an interrogation. I never want students to feel like Dustin Hoffman in this intense scene from Marathon Man. Not for the Squeamish.
I've written up a few blogs from my perspective of the Continuous Classroom Improvement Cycle as I begin to get my feet wet in the process. I wanted to get the student's perspective of the process, though. Last week I asked my students to give informal presentations on each stage of the cycle as it is run in our class. I put these interviews together into a rough video. The major document that drives this process from class centered to student centered is described in a previous post.
The students have been through several cycles so far and are very accustomed to the rhythms of the cycle. I hope to collect some anonymous feedback on the process at the end of the year to see what the strengths an weaknesses of the process are from their perspective. I look forward to using that feedback to make the cycle more effective at making students reflect on the learning process.
I've written up a few blogs from my perspective of the Continuous Classroom Improvement Cycle as I begin to get my feet wet in the process. I wanted to get the student's perspective of the process, though. Last week I asked my students to give informal presentations on each stage of the cycle as it is run in our class. I put these interviews together into a rough video. The major document that drives this process from class centered to student centered is described in a previous post.
The students have been through several cycles so far and are very accustomed to the rhythms of the cycle. I hope to collect some anonymous feedback on the process at the end of the year to see what the strengths an weaknesses of the process are from their perspective. I look forward to using that feedback to make the cycle more effective at making students reflect on the learning process.
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