Allowing for Choice in the Classroom

In Weatherford ISD, we are making steps to move from a traditional teacher-led instructional environment to a more student-centered learning environment. This shift is less about tools and more about mindset, which is sometimes a bit more challenging. And while our goal would be to create a more personalized approach to learning, some of our first steps are working on providing opportunities for choice and voice. 

In the last few weeks, there have been some good examples of this seen in middle school science classrooms. In 8th grade science at Hall Middle School, Coach Kerfoot offered his students the choice of demonstrating their mastery of the learning by either a traditional test or through other means. In an effort to build a tool box for students, Kerfoot has pre-selected some choices for the first couple of units. Eventually, students will have free choice, but for this unit they were able to choose a traditional test, create a comic, or write a poem or rap to show that they had learned the content presented. In addition, Kerfoot worked with students to create a rubric based on standards for this unit. As background, this classroom is equipped with a Chromebook cart, so students have access to technology while in the classroom. These devices are not checked out to students, so time is provided in class for students to work on their projects, including work sessions on Fridays.  At this time, many of the learning components are digital, using STEMScopes and Google Classroom. Even with technology available, many students chose to create on paper. A few students tried Powtoon and one or two turned in a recording of their rap or poem.  When students were asked their thoughts on having choice, one student said that they like that they are able to be creative. Another student talked about how they look forward to working on the project and liked having options. In the next unit, students will be using some type of video to show their mastery, which this will lend itself to being a perfect opportunity to discuss digital portfolios with the students!

Across town at Tison Middle School, Ms. Harris's 7th grade science class is also being provided choice in how they demonstrate their knowledge. Through our Roos Go 1:World initiative, students in 7th grade are issued a Chromebook that they bring to school each day.  Students are studying the human body systems in Harris's class and are working in groups to show what they have learned. Harris uses Canvas LMS regularly in her classroom, so when students walk in there is a routine set to log in to Canvas for the day's assignment. In this classroom, students were not provided a list of options for how to show their knowledge, but some tools were suggested. Walking around the room, you could see that several groups have chosen Google Slides, and a few others had selected Emaze and Prezi.

In both classrooms, in addition to choice, the 4 C's were also included! Students were able to work in groups, which allows for collaboration and communication. Creating these products also encourages creativity, which many of the students seem to enjoy. It will be interesting to watch the progression of choice and the development of a set of tools students can use to show their mastery of concepts being taught.  An individual reflection piece built into the group presentations would give good insight for the teachers as to the level of understanding and engagement of each of the students. This would be easy to incorporate into a Canvas course, which is the direction we are headed with our secondary classrooms.

These are all steps in the right direction for creating student centered classrooms! 

Being Future Ready in an A-F World

This week, Texas public school districts were notified of "preliminary" results of the new A-F rating system that was created by the 84th Legislature. Although these results have been labeled a "work in progress" and ratings will not become effective until August 2018, it was required by the Legislature that they be presented in January 2017. These ratings take pages and pages of explanation to understand and rate campuses on four different domains at this time (there will be five in the final system) - Student Achievement, Student Progress, Closing Performance Gap and Post Secondary Readiness. There is information available on TEA's Webpage and on TASA's Webpage if you would like to read more about it. 

I will not try to explain this rating system, as it certainly seems like it has flaws and that it is far from easy to understand. My question though, is where does "preparing students for their future" fit in here? Where do the 4 C's (Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, & Creativity) fit in? Where do global connections fit in? Where does innovation & student-centered learning fit in? How can we move forward in the 21st century when our legislature keeps pulling us back into the 20th century? 

In our district, we are preparing for a 1:1 roll out at the 7th grade, a grade level that is responsible for preparing students for Reading, Math & Writing STAAR tests. During this school year, we have been working on integrating technology into classroom instruction, working through becoming proficient with our LMS (Canvas) and understanding how the 4 C's, SAMR & personalized learning all fit in. Every 7th grader will be issued a Chromebook for the 2017-2018 school year and learning should look different in these classrooms. Unfortunately, the new rating system will not take into account any of this. Much of the rating consists of how students perform on their standardized tests. So I wonder, will we lose momentum with this "preliminary" rating? Will educators and administrators become more focused on test prep and less focused on personalized learning for their students? As I read blogposts and letters from administrators all over Texas, I have come across people talking about "getting back to the basics" and "structured learning" for 4 year-olds.  Is this truly what is best for our students? Might this just be what is wrong and why we don't seem to be making the strides we should be making? We are 17 years into the 21st century... when will our education system catch up? 

I don't have answers to this right now, but I truly feel that it is TIME FOR CHANGE. I have not heard people in education arguing against accountability. That is not the change that we need, but should we be looking at different measures? Measures that ensure our students leave us with the skills that will help them be prepared for whatever their future holds? Can standardized tests be just ONE way that we look at our schools instead of the bulk of how we measure our schools? Can our Texas Legislators visit classrooms and talk to educators before they add another 50-60 pages to our already overloaded Texas Education Code (it has over 3,000 pages right now) this Legislative session?

Thankfully for the students of Texas and beyond, groups are working to make and support a shift in education. The Office of Educational Technology created Future Ready Schools. Here superintendents pledge to focus on digital learning, empowering educators, and supporting other district leaders as they embark on this journey. Hopefully the new administration will continue the forward progress made by this organization. In addition, Digital Promise is another group working to promote and support innovation in education. In Texas, we have Raise Your Hand Texas, an organization that "focuses on identifying breakthrough ideas to improve education, piloting them in our public schools and supporting the conditions and public policies that allow them to scale to reach all Texas students." Our district has used the Texas Visioning Document to create our belief statements and to focus our journey. There is certainly support for transformation in education, if educators are open to it and not penalized for moving in that direction.

Thinking about all of this, what comes to mind is that we must stay the course. The journey is sure to be rough, and we will want to turn back to safer shores, but we must continue to focus on transforming education. The Texas Legislature could focus on helping to bring our public education system into the 21st century and not slowing progress with 20th century accountability ratings. We owe it to our students, our families and our communities. 

Stay strong educators!