As the STAAR test became a large focus within my school, I completely changed many of my lessons. Our school became very data driven, and we had monthly meetings and district-wide unit tests, that allowed us to see where the students' strengths and weaknesses were. I really found this useful, because I was able to see where I needed to foucs more of my attention.
As a capmus, our main focus became that of rigor, and I needed to focus more of my lessons around the process of analyzing and applying knowledge. As I mentioned in my previous post, I no longer could act a a giver of information; I was now needing to focus on becomming more of a facilitator. As I began to reshape the scope of my lessons, I began with goals for each unit - essential questions that I wanted to make sure my students were able to answer at the close of each unit.
A couple years ago, I read about "flipping the classroom", a decided to implement this idea in my classroom. This new idea was was learner-centered, in that I did not orally give them the information they needed. Instead, I referred to the KHAN Academy and John Green's youtube series, and various written sources sent home, and the students were to learn the content on their own in thier homes. This way, the class period would be devoted to applying thier knew and prior knowledge. I created projects that would require them to apply thier knowledge, and in class lessons that required the students to analyze various ideas, as well as make decisions about how they felt about the things they were learning. My goal was to make World History relatable, so that they were able to apply the histoical content with real world issues. For example, when studying the Agricultural Revolution that occurred at the dawn of civilization, I had the studetns read about the causes and effects of the revolution, as well as compare and contrast that time with revolutions that might be occurring today. They had to decide whether they belived the postitive effects outweighted bad, and they were able to do this by using thier access to the web to reserach all the effects that Agriculture has had on our planet.
In order to measure the outcome of their learning in a meaningful way, I like to use DBQ's. DBQ's, are document based questions essays that require the students to analyze primary and secondary sources, in order to write an essay over various themes in History. Using these sources, the students are require to make important decisions about how they feel about the content. By reading thier essays, I am able to distinguish whether or not they have learned to make the content applicable. This is an excellent way for me to evaluate thier learning. Another way to evaluate thier learning, is that I have the students use our computer labs to create documentaries, movie trailers, and blogs. I love the blogs, because the students are very in tune with any type of social media, and they seem to involve themselves much more in the learning process.
The only portion of the six charactrstics that I have not been able to apply to my classroom, is team effort. Social Studies is unable to have common planning periods, and outside planning groups, because the majority of our teachers in that content area are coaches. They have very busy schedules and all of them have the same conference periods and athletic periods, leaving those of non-coaches to fill in for those class periods they are not in the classroom. I have seen two subject areas benefit greatly from working as a team and having common planning periods. Our Science and Math departments have heavily followed all six of these characteristics and the over success rate has been astronomical. It is evident to me that by reshaping their entire system, they have been able to reach so many students. They plan together, make use of technology, create innovative lessons that encourage the students to apply their knowledge on a DAILY basis. By doing these things, those two core areas have seen a great deal of success.
Your district sounds very similar to mine! We are focusing on the rigor and processing skills too! I love your ideas about the flipped classroom. I have read about it and seen the examples, but I always stuck in my comfort zone with student centered lessons! I see you teach history, but what level do you teach? I am a third grade teacher and would really like to implement the flipped classroom after Christmas maybe. Your classroom sounds amazing and I am sure your students are excelling! Putting the learning in the students hands is a very difficult thing for some teachers to do because we want to hold their hand and lead them through everything! With the world at their finger tips, students now have access to discover their own ideas and ways of thinking.
ReplyDeleteIt seems you adapted and applied all six charateristics to meet the new standard of the STAAR. It does not mention how this new method performed compared to the sit and get. I would love to know some of the data points if possible.
ReplyDeleteI mentioned the flipped classroom in your 3rd posting and I agree that it puts the student at the center of the process of learning. It takes follow through to sit down and work through the material. I like how you integrated the projects and DBQ's to hold them accountable for the content. I guess it was easy to think that they simply would not do it, or that they would not have access, but you mention that they were very involved in the learning process. I attribute that to the fact that it using the tools of their day, particularly the social media part.
Besides, who doesn't want to make a video or trailer, even if it is in a participatory role?
Regarding the team work. Although the department could not meet regularly, I suspect that even a team of two would suffice and afford the benefits that come with collaboration.