How do we measure success?
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| PLG 8 'The Strivers' |
Internationally there are multiple groups of thought but realistically they come to align to two main theories. That education is about either Actualisation or Idealisation and never the twain shall meet.
What I mean by this is Actualisation = "Maslow's belief was that self-actualization – the need to be good, to be fully alive and to find meaning in life." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-actualization
Suggesting that all humans want to be the best that they can be and enjoy the process.
Whereas Idealisation = "Marx's theories about society, economics and politics—hold that human societies develop through class struggle." This theory suggests that in the last 100 years this trajectory of thought has led humanity down an academic route that has led to labeling success based on money, power and academic attainment.
As long as we have these two opposing views of the purpose of education, we will never be able to agree on the outcome, as in what success looks like for our learners.
What I found interesting was the latest PLG that came through the Teacher Academy workshop had their feet firmly in both camps of thought, when asked to brainstorm: How might we ensure that every student at Westmount gains success?
There is increasing support for reality based or contextualized learning creating projects where the learning has real life situations/problems that students need to solve.
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| http://www.fastcocreate.com/3043107/most-likely-to-succeed-shows-how-classrooms-modelled-after-real-life-can-help-kid |
So what is being done at Westmount?
On my recent trip to Waikato's Eureka campus I came across this fantastic example of project based learning happening in front of me.
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| Alan Clark, Waikato Campus working alongside year 3 & 4 students |
The group above were year 3 and
4 students from Mrs Kelli-Brooke Pace's class. As a part of their class technology inquiry study into
structures they are collaboratively constructing models of the Eiffel Tower as
well as bridges using craft materials like dowel, kebab skewers, MDF, glue and
cable ties. You can see from this quick snapshot both the high level of engagement, focus and collaboration needed.
Another example would be the multi campus BP challenge organised earlier in the year by one of our three Regional Principals, Mr Phil Muir. Where students worked in groups to produce a solution to societal issue.
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| Auckland Campus BP Challenge 2016 |
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| Auckland Campus BP Challenge 2016 |
I am sure that there are many more examples of such learning occurring across Westmount, but I would like to challenge you as a teacher to think beyond the silo of your subject area and see if we can get more cross pollination of subject skills happening in contextualized learning.
But how do we measure Contextualized learning?
and should we as facilitators of this learning be the ones to measure it?
I would like to pose those two questions to the teaching faculty across Westmount New Zealand. feel free to comment your thoughts below or email me directly and hopefully as you respond it will enable a deeper discussion going forward.
Reflecting back on my latest journey to Waikato Campus I wanted to share two examples of Students tracking and monitoring their own learning progress effectively and efficiently in a way that informs their planning.
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Year 7 - 8
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| Laura Jackson & Jonathon Pace from Waikato Campus - SDL progress sheet |
The idea behind the tool was;
"Jonathan and I have recently introduced SDL lessons into our weekly programme and to make this effective and structured, while also being completely student-led, we created this tracking sheet so the students know where the gaps in their learning are.
The aim of having this information available to them is that they are aware of the specific skills and concepts that they need to work on. The sheet is made up of the skills and concepts that are relating to each question from the Maths and Writing PAT tests. Using the 'Individual Report' from the PAT website, they have highlighted their 'gaps' (questions they got wrong below the line) in one colour and their 'to be achieved' (questions they got wrong above the line) in another colour so that they can differentiate between the two.
We then created a bank of resources for each skill/concept in each subject area. Students have a planning sheet where they plan out what area they want to work on in that lesson and what specific activity they have found to help them learn and practise that skill, such as a worksheet, text book, Mathletics tutorial, or teacher workshop.
As students get into the hang of how SDL works, they will be able to use teacher feedback, other assessments and their own monitoring to find new gaps and add new areas to add to their list so that it's not solely led by PAT results. So far the students are using the sheet and system effectively and can articulate their own gaps and what they are doing/have done to work on these. They are engaged with the process and get excited about attending workshops and understanding things that they previously didn't understand."
"Jonathan and I have recently introduced SDL lessons into our weekly programme and to make this effective and structured, while also being completely student-led, we created this tracking sheet so the students know where the gaps in their learning are.
The aim of having this information available to them is that they are aware of the specific skills and concepts that they need to work on. The sheet is made up of the skills and concepts that are relating to each question from the Maths and Writing PAT tests. Using the 'Individual Report' from the PAT website, they have highlighted their 'gaps' (questions they got wrong below the line) in one colour and their 'to be achieved' (questions they got wrong above the line) in another colour so that they can differentiate between the two.
We then created a bank of resources for each skill/concept in each subject area. Students have a planning sheet where they plan out what area they want to work on in that lesson and what specific activity they have found to help them learn and practise that skill, such as a worksheet, text book, Mathletics tutorial, or teacher workshop.
As students get into the hang of how SDL works, they will be able to use teacher feedback, other assessments and their own monitoring to find new gaps and add new areas to add to their list so that it's not solely led by PAT results. So far the students are using the sheet and system effectively and can articulate their own gaps and what they are doing/have done to work on these. They are engaged with the process and get excited about attending workshops and understanding things that they previously didn't understand."
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Senior School
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| Rakesh Nand - Waikato's senior form class |
Rakesh has enabled his form class students to visibly display and manage their results for assessments in a central location. He feels that the students like to see how they are progressing through the year and are able to identify gaps in their own trajectory and then put in the hard work to tray and negate these gaps.
"The board has been prepared by the students to have a visual display of the credits each student has received. The students keep updating the board by putting up the credit as they receive the grades from their subject teachers. It is the responsibility of the individual student to put up his/her credit on display. As tutor teachers we keep reminding and the students to put up their credits and also congratulating them for achieving well. The different colours are very much visible and it is easy to see who is doing really well."
What else is happening across Westmount?
Please share your examples of where students are leading their learning path.
"The board has been prepared by the students to have a visual display of the credits each student has received. The students keep updating the board by putting up the credit as they receive the grades from their subject teachers. It is the responsibility of the individual student to put up his/her credit on display. As tutor teachers we keep reminding and the students to put up their credits and also congratulating them for achieving well. The different colours are very much visible and it is easy to see who is doing really well."
What else is happening across Westmount?
Please share your examples of where students are leading their learning path.
