With this being my first year teaching Grade 8 at BSS I wanted to use this time to also implement some of my personalization goals stated in my previous post. I wanted my girls to use this time effectively, identifying what they need to review, use resources useful to them and see the result of their personal dedication to improving their understanding. I didn't want the review to be teacher directed or have students isolating themselves to complete pages and pages of questions.
My plan in a nutshell was to put the students in the driver seat while I sat as a driving instructor. I would be calmly aware of the danger that could happen at any moment with a new driver, but also the thrill of being there when someone finds that independence of directing a vehicle for the first time. But of course you don't give a new driver the keys right away and hit the highway, but let them practice on side roads and develop their personal driving style.
On the first days back after the holidays the girls collaboratively created "I Can" statements for all of the concepts they had learned over the past two years using a google doc. They did this by looking over all the old notes and assessments, digging deep and using the Bloom's Taxonomy of questions for math to guide their statements. This process allowed the girls to see all the things they had learned how to do which made a few of them say "I can't believe we learned all of this!". This was their start, going through and identifying concepts of confidence and areas of challenge.
Next, a diagnostic. The girls have been using diagnostics throughout the year before any new unit to help them see what they already know, take a guess at ideas and also check their past understanding. They know that diagnostics are for their own learning and used to help show them where they are coming from and also what we are moving towards. And then the review began!
Students came into class with personal goals. They were not waiting for me to tell them what we would be reviewing, but driving the questioning themselves, guided by their personal reflections and diagnostic. As their driving instructor I provided them with a framework to use that focused on concept understanding rather than question completion. They used this framework and graphic organizers found by clicking on the flowchart to help guide their review time and ensure their understanding. Through this process they have shared what they have learned with their peers by creating a group glossary of important terms with urls that help explain ideas further, a list of valuable online resources to help review and understand concepts, creating screencasts on ipads and also designing their own review package of great questions.
At the end of our time, they will take the check in to see their improvement. As their teacher I know that the main outcome that won't be shown by the results is the ownership the girls now have over their learning. They are not waiting for me to tell them step-by-step how to parallel park, but seeing their peers, websites, analytical skills and also their own creative methods to find answers to questions, and generate new questions to help them move forward.
By having my girls learn these 21st Century Skills when not learning new concepts or with a calculated grade at the end gave them the time and comfort to take the wheel and cruise their first solo test drive. I don't know if this was done during an assessed unit they would have accepted the independence as readily.Moving forward I am eager to see how these skills and confidence will transfer into our next unit. Will they be able to identify when they properly understand a concept, find that multiple explanations are important? In the end I do wish that they see me as not the driver of their learning, but just along for the sometimes scary but exciting journey.
