This year is the first time I feel comfortable differentiating in my 9th grade engineering class. This is the third year that I have taught this class. I have two students that are now officially one month ahead of the rest of the class. These two students are very bright, work well together, and are very patient and kind. They were getting done with everything so quickly that I decided to push them ahead and see how much they can learn. They will learn more than the rest of the class by the end of the year. I will be able to teach them things that I typically don't have time for in the curriculum.
I met with their parents over conferences, and their parents were so thankful that I was doing this with them. I told them that I know these two boys can do it, and I want to keep them learning and not have to wait for the rest of the class or become the helpers in class. The parents said that it was okay if the boys do help other students which I agree is a valuable lesson to learn, however, I didn't want it to be their main focus in class. I want these boys to walk out of class feeling like they can do anything and are really good at engineering.
Being able to push these boys ahead of the rest of the class has been a learning process for me. Thankfully I know what's coming next and have it all set up on Moodle, so I can keep them going. We work together and communicate the plan for them each lesson. At times, they work with the class when I am presenting information, and then the rest of the time, they are working on the next project.
It has been exhilarating having them be able to work ahead and learn more then I can typically get to. It also keeps me on my toes in planning.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Monday, December 2, 2013
Curricular Design - Grading
Belief:
I believe that grading should reflect students' abilities. There should be a progression of grading from formative to summative within a unit. Students should be able to practice the skills before they are tested on them. Summative grading does not have to be in the form of a test; it can be a project.
Why:
Based on the engineering curriculum that I teach, students are graded based on projects, not tests. However, I have also incorporated quizzes and tests into the curriculum as well. I like to have a variety of summative projects/tests to vary how I am grading the students and give them different opportunities to excel. Also, I believe that students need to practice before they can master a lesson. I give them chances to practice using various formative activities before the summative project/test.
This year in my PLC, we are working on summative based grading across grades. This is challenging since we teach different classes however, the classes are all engineering based. We have identified the standards that we need to meet for grades 6-9. Now, we are in the processing of working on common assessments. These common assessments will be based on the standards that we need to meet.
Actions:
I need to continue to create formative and summative assessments for both of the classes I teach. I feel that this helps reinforce the concepts in a way different from summative projects. I feel that both are necessary for a student to be successful learning.
I believe that grading should reflect students' abilities. There should be a progression of grading from formative to summative within a unit. Students should be able to practice the skills before they are tested on them. Summative grading does not have to be in the form of a test; it can be a project.
Why:
Based on the engineering curriculum that I teach, students are graded based on projects, not tests. However, I have also incorporated quizzes and tests into the curriculum as well. I like to have a variety of summative projects/tests to vary how I am grading the students and give them different opportunities to excel. Also, I believe that students need to practice before they can master a lesson. I give them chances to practice using various formative activities before the summative project/test.
This year in my PLC, we are working on summative based grading across grades. This is challenging since we teach different classes however, the classes are all engineering based. We have identified the standards that we need to meet for grades 6-9. Now, we are in the processing of working on common assessments. These common assessments will be based on the standards that we need to meet.
Actions:
I need to continue to create formative and summative assessments for both of the classes I teach. I feel that this helps reinforce the concepts in a way different from summative projects. I feel that both are necessary for a student to be successful learning.
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