My Goal: Increase student engagement and achievement by using student learning profiles with every student to design lessons and assessments that address the different learners within my History/Social Studies and Science classes by providing choice of summative assessment at the end of each unit. 1. Was I successful in meeting my SMART goal? What were my outcomes? AND 2. What success did I experience? I would say that I was partially successful. I did not use these types of assessments as much as I thought I would but I offered choice as much as I could. I was most successful in Environmental Science 20. I ended each unit with a choice of project or test. No one ever chose to write a test. This class also had the most success with this type of assignment. I had a wide range of products handed in ranging from models, plays, posters, and even a song. The students in this class really enjoyed the options. Initially some were overwhelmed with the amount of choice but soon became engaged in the process when they realized they could show their learning in a way that made sense to them and was more enjoyable. 3. What were my struggles? I found it difficult to separate the need to cover certain content while still allowing complete choice. In History I made some compromises. For example, students needed to study a Revolution in history 10 but they had a choice as to which one they studied and presented. In History 20 students followed a specific country through the history of the war. They were allowed to choose from a list of countries but no two students could have the same one. In other assignments students had to research a certain event but were allowed to choose how they presented it or what type of product they created. Final projects for both History 10 and 20 will be very open but will need to focus on certain themes to cover course outcomes. I also struggle with motivating the students to try something different and to be motivated and self-driven. Again this was more successful in ES 20 perhaps due to the organization of the course or the students themselves. It is difficult for them to look beyond the PowerPoint and try something they haven’t done before. For ES 20 I did have a rule that students couldn’t produce the same type of product more than once. Perhaps I should instate this type of rule in other classes to get students creating a variety of products. 4. What goal will I set for next year? How can allow more choices in content heavy courses such as math and science? Perhaps even introducing a weekly problem-solving task in math for students to work collaboratively to solve a so-called “impossible” problem. Samples of Student Work
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About the AuthorVanessa L. Warnock Archives
May 2018
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