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 ...
It’s nearing the end of term 3 here and I have a little time for reflection. As a part of their final exam, students are working on their digital portfolio for my class. As I reevaluate everything that I am doing, I am struggling with the “why” and “so what of ” of the portfolios. So it’s time to revisit the why of the portfolio in my class and let that inform what the function of it in my course. Currently in my class, the portfolio has become a vehicle for students to catalog and present summative assessments. Each page is categorized by objective. On a given page, students state the unit objectives and embed their summative assessment. In addition, they provide reflective feedback on the unit in terms of what helped their learning and didn't help their learning. The portfolio has become a place for these student artifacts to be curated and organized based on learning objective. The fact that it’s organized by learning objective p...