In my previous school district, I was the only teacher teaching a physics course with set, district-wide learning outcomes. These same outcomes were also taught in physics classrooms at the other high school in our district. But at our school, I was one of the 2 physics teachers. The other teacher taught the AP-level physics courses. So, in many ways, I had opportunities to incorporate strategies I believed were best for learners and that I found worked best for them without being seen as out of alignment with anyone in our building. My amazing friend and one of my teaching philosophy goddesses, Katie Novak, stated the following misconception about alignment: All teachers must deliver instruction in the exact same way. True alignment, she says, is about shared goals, rigor, and outcomes. Thank you, Katie! Katie has taught me to truly believe that learner variability is the rule, not the exception. I encourage you to take 10 minutes to listen to Katie Novak explain it in the ...
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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