Every school year brings with it new possibilities with each new students and each new class. Last school year, I made the decision to move to a reading/writing workshop classroom model. This move not only changed the way I taught, but more importantly it changed the way most of my students experienced English class (and school). So many of my students finished 4-5 books over the course of the semester, and for many these were the first books they had read since childhood.
In addition to moving to a workshop model, I added a piece of self-directed learning with Genius Hour. While most students attacked this time with a real desire to learn something new, some students did not fully commit to a 16-week project. I was unhappy with many of the final projects and sought to find a new way to give students self-directed time and a way to develop research and presentation skills. This year students will be researching and writing a feature article that they will present at the end of the semester. Their project will require them to reach out to experts in the field/topic they are researching and will have a social media component. I'm asking students to follow a minimum of 5 "experts" to learn how to use social media as a learning and research tool.
I've done some reading this summer dealing with the move to a gradeless classroom. I know that my school is not ready for that big of a switch, but I am working with not grading student essays until they have been revised a minimum of two times and students will need to write a letter making a case for the grades they believe that their essays deserve based on merit and standards we have agreed upon as a class.
I want my students to learn and I want them to understand the process of learning. So many of them just want the grade--even though the grade is arbitrary. I want my class to be about learning and I hope to be able to make slight changes each semester. I'm looking forward to see how this essay writing and revision process goes and hope to see better essays and learning from my students.
In addition to moving to a workshop model, I added a piece of self-directed learning with Genius Hour. While most students attacked this time with a real desire to learn something new, some students did not fully commit to a 16-week project. I was unhappy with many of the final projects and sought to find a new way to give students self-directed time and a way to develop research and presentation skills. This year students will be researching and writing a feature article that they will present at the end of the semester. Their project will require them to reach out to experts in the field/topic they are researching and will have a social media component. I'm asking students to follow a minimum of 5 "experts" to learn how to use social media as a learning and research tool.
I've done some reading this summer dealing with the move to a gradeless classroom. I know that my school is not ready for that big of a switch, but I am working with not grading student essays until they have been revised a minimum of two times and students will need to write a letter making a case for the grades they believe that their essays deserve based on merit and standards we have agreed upon as a class.
I want my students to learn and I want them to understand the process of learning. So many of them just want the grade--even though the grade is arbitrary. I want my class to be about learning and I hope to be able to make slight changes each semester. I'm looking forward to see how this essay writing and revision process goes and hope to see better essays and learning from my students.