We are a proficiency-based classroom. All of our work is aligned with the Common Core State Standards which have been renamed in our state to the Career and College Readiness Standards which are measured by the SBAC test which has been renamed the Maine Educational Assessment. I'll blog about how I feel about the renaming of everything another day......
Today I want to talk about students and standards. We use Springboard for our grade 6-12 math program. If you are trained in Springboard it is the greatest program ever. If you are not trained in Springboard. Get trained. It isn't worth trying to use it if you don't understand the philosophy or how it is supposed to be implemented. It drives me crazy that teachers try to use a program by winging it. If a program is research based, get the research, get the training and implement correctly. End of rant. Actually, one more thing. A good program, a really good program, let's you meet the needs of your students. It gives you options and choices and multiple avenues. Springboard does that extremely well. But you have to know how to use it. Ok. Now end of rant. Dang.
We have identified our promotion standards by working the progressions of standards from the graduation standards for our high school. We are a local control state so it is possible (and is very likely) that all of our high schools in Maine will have different graduation standards. Don't even get me started about how I feel about this. Still, we are aligned completely and our work is based on the CCSS or the CCRS depending on who you ask. Seriously, they are the same thing.
My students and I unpack the identified standards into performance indicators at the start of each of our trimesters. We list out specifically what we need to know and be able to do. We also do this with our Springboard work including units and assessments. We want to know what to expect, what our targets are so that we can know when we get there. Yes my students know what is on the test. How else can they prepare for it? I'm not sure why assessments are secret. My kids know what they need to know. And there is another blog in the making.....
Now there is a lot of jibberish about standards. Parents and politicians sometimes want to rant and rave about the standards. I hope that those same people remember that parents and politicians are the ones who demanded that they be put in place. I don't think it is actually the standards that have people worried. Although some feel that we are expecting too much. I think our structure is expecting too much- we need to be looking at what kids need to be successful instead of trying to cram standards into an old structure. Get rid of the grading / leveling system we have and let's meet kids where they are. And there's another thing I can write about on another day....
Back to the kids. We identify those performance indicators within each cluster so that we can have a clear direction. It is all very linear. It is neat and tidy and we do lots of formative checks to see how we are doing along the way. We document learning and use MasteryConnect to keep track of where we are with each and every one. But there is something missing. Everything has been chosen for the kids. Everything has been pre-determined and the kids have had no say. Well, we just can't have that for my students. If something isn't working for your students, your school, or your community, be a part of the solution. In my room, kids have a say.
I challenged each and every student in my middle school to come up with at least one personal standard. I asked each of them to take some time and think about what interests them. What are they curious about. What is something that they don't understand or think they understand but want to know more. What is something they disagree with? What is something that makes them angry or frustrated? What do they love? Then I set aside time each week- it isn't a lot- but time to think about, explore and learn about that idea that sparks something within them. A personal standard to unpack and follow.
I told them the learning doesn't have to be pretty. It doesn't have to follow a straight line. They don't have to finish it. It can meander and grow and shrink. It can change completely. The only thing it has to be is something that they are curious about.
I had them do this at the beginning of the year. I encouraged them to think about it, work on it and explore it occasionally. I gave them time to work on it each week. I have reminded them about it throughout the year. And now we are in the third term. Next week, I have told the kids that I want them to put together a short presentation of their learning about their personal standard.
One of my top students brought me a paper she had written about her personal standard as a response to my "assignment" for her presentation. It was lovely. It was neat and well written. She had pulled illustrations (and cited their sources) and explained it out fully. She had done it ahead of schedule and wanted to turn it in and be done with it. And I refused it. She's never failed anything in her life. She gives her best 100% of the time- and I said no. She was not happy.
The work she gave me was complete. But when I asked her what she learned and was she excited by it, she said no. She hadn't really learned anything. She just got it done. She was honest with me- I love that about my students. If I ask a question, they tell me what they think. Sometimes it stings a little but I can count on them telling me straight out their opinion on anything.
So I stopped the class and we talked about our personal standards and the purpose of them. We had a beautiful chart where we had listed them all out when we began but I had failed somehow to convey the real purpose behind the assignment. I didn't want them to do something for me. I wanted them to have at least one opportunity in their public school career where they got to say, 'I want to learn this thing for the sake of learning for me. Not you. Not the state. Not a report card. For me.'
I reminded them that their presentation might not be pretty. It might just be a list. It might not be complete. It could just be a beginning. In fact, what a powerful statement to have something that couldn't possibly be completed because you still had so many questions and ideas and things that you want to know..... What I wanted to see was their path. What questions and ideas did you start with and where did you go? What did you learn along the way? What happens when you are giving a choice that lets you choose what you learn? Was it a silly assignment or do you think that students should always have a personal standard to think about? Did you abandon your first choice? second choice? third choice? Why? What are you curious about now? And then I took it one step further. Since everything in life is really math based (I do believe this) then your topic does not have to be just math related. It seriously can be anything....as long as it is appropriate for school. (You have to set this limit with middle school kids because some of the things they are curious about are not going to be discussed in our classroom. No thank you. :) )
Next week I am away from school for a couple of days for a conference. I am attending the NCTM national conference and I can't wait. I am going to learn learn learn. My students will be working on this presentation and their portfolios. I have no idea what they will come up with. None. I just hope that in the midst of it they are inspired to be curious. If I can provide a venue for that curiosity, then my students will have a way to be life-long learners and isn't that the point of this entire educational system? I'll let you know how it goes...
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