Even though my level of exhaustion at the end of the day continues to be high. Overall, it has been a good week filled with student progress and administrative conversations. Here's the highlights!
Positives:
Students are getting the hang of the process and I have several who have finished the first unit ahead of schedule. Everyone has made some progress, some more than others.
I have tweaked my organization for quiz retakes to help me better pull together students who need small group interventions. When I grade that day's quizzes I have half sheets for quiz retakes and fill them out for students who need to retake, noting their original score. I then gather these by concept and work with students in groups. I'm finding that some students can explain concepts when we work in a small group adequately although they may do poorly on a paper & pencil quiz. Therefore, if they show me mastery of the concept in small groups I give them a passing score on the quiz.
Negatives:
I have some students falling behind and really struggling. There are so many that need help that I find it difficult to get to everyone. I also have some who are resisting flipped. I expected this. Students who are used to "playing school" tend to resist flipped because it requires that they take responsibility for their learning. I will be calling home for my struggling students this week.
Positive or Negative?
I'm not sure if this is positive or negative. I have begun to realize that flipped mastery is magnifying the need for differentiation in my students. It would normally take quite some time for those who might be disengaged, not really taking notes, and not being authentic on the practice problems to be identified. But now they are quickly identified. This is good because then it allows me to more quickly get them help. The difficulty is that there are so many. I just can't seem to keep up.
Conversation with Administration
I asked my principal to come in and observe me this week. I just asked him to be an objective pair of eyes and tell me what he sees. It was a very good experience. He noted that when I talked to groups I would inadvertently put my back to the rest of the room. As soon as he mentioned it I remember making the conscious effort NOT to do that last year when I flipped. It was a good reminder. He also noticed that when students would encounter a question they would just stop, put their hand up, and wait for me. This will be something I need to work on. I'm thinking about something like "ask three before me" kind of thing. It will be part of our focus for this week. Most students were on task most of the time. Given that this is the second week of school and these are freshmen says a lot. They have much individual work time and they are using it well, most of the time. I'll take it! He was also impressed with how well they have have learned the procedures of the class. He stopped a few when they were turning in quizzes, etc. and asked what they were doing and what they were supposed to do next. They seem to understand and I'm proud of their efforts.
My assistant principal, who oversees our Freshman Academy, had some wonderful advice for me this week. Breathe! She was right. It was time to breathe and get to know my students. I'll continue to do that this week. When introducing the procedures of the class I struggled with whether or not to take the band-aid off slowly or just rip it off, so to speak. I was a bit too focused on getting that right and because of that I had a less intensive focus on my students themselves. It's good reflection to keep in mind for next year.
So this week I will continue to breathe. To get to know my students. To get them to buy into me and my devotion for them. It was a good week.
No comments:
Post a Comment