New Wave Science

Hope
December 2, 3007

Friday was our workday following the end of the trimester. It was a quick job to post grades this trimester...I felt I really knew what my students knew. The hardest part was giving those few students who hadn't demonstrated mastery no grade. That in itself wasn't hard...but I really needed to examine why they hadn't mastered the targets. What choices did they make? What needs were they trying to satisfy? What do I have to do in order to create a more need satisfying environment for those students? Have I built enough of a bond with them?

Tough questions without quick easy answers. I will spend some time with each student talking to them and trying to find out what we can do together to get them to master the targets and hopefully value learning and helping them understand that no grade isn't the end, but rather the beginning.

During the course of the day Vicki and I also had several opportunities to share choice theory and quality classrooms with other teachers. It was great. Many are interested in my use of the A, B No Grade option. They asked how it was working, which was a bit hard to answer. While I feel it is working quite well, I am concerned about those students who didn't achieve the targets. I have a plan and we'll see where it leads. The main thing I emphasized to the other teachers was knowing what quality looks like. Teachers have to be experts in their area of expertise. They have to work with the students to make the learning targets student friendly and they have to have a clear idea of what quality looks like. They also have to know that each student in their class is starting from a different point and the expectations have to match each individual student.

In working with students, I found that my questions for some were more straight forward and knowledge based while others were of a more analytical nature. That doesn't mean that some students "got it" more than others, it just means that some were more ready to move from the concrete to the abstract than others. I learned so much more about what my students knew by talking to them than by just marking their answers either right or wrong. It takes time to do this, but while I was conferencing with one, the others were working on another aspect of chemistry. Chaos doesn't reign in my class....it does get loud at times, but the "science talk" that I hear is incredible.

The second conversation took place later in the day. That discussion centered around learning targets and possible ways to change what is currently being done in another class. This conversation was interesting. I saw myself of 2 or 3 years ago in many of the things that were said. It is so hard to give up things we as teachers enjoy teaching. We see value in it and want to share that with our students which is admirable however, it sometimes leads to curricula that are all about schooling and not about learning. We have to be willing to let go of some things in order to help our students not only reach the targets, but also learn what quality looks like and strive to get there.

I'm thrilled that others are asking about choice theory and quality classrooms. I hope that their interest continues as our success continue.

On another note...I had one student who was really struggling to understand some of the more abstract concepts. In talking with him I asked if he would be willing to work with one of his classmates who really got it. He agreed and the two spent about 20 minutes working through the material. At that point they came to me and said they were ready to talk to me. I asked a few questions and found that there were still some gaps in the students learning. They went back and worked some more. When they came back again, the concepts were mastered. Both students were beaming. When I asked the student who had received the help how he felt, he replied "great". I asked him if he had anything to say to the other student and he said yes. He then put out his hand and said "thank you. You really helped me understand this stuff" They shook hands with huge smiles on their faces. When I asked the student who did the tutoring how he felt, he said "awesome". It was one of those great teacher moments when you know something great happened.