Coalescence and Integration

There are several initiatives and issues brewing at school:  advisories, capstone, scheduling, pathways, etc.. I'm
starting to see how we could integrate these initiatives and others such as service learning and Professional Learning Communities.  Each program on its own is worthy but I believe there is
potential for unity and, dare I use a chemistry word, catalyzation--toward achieving the
mission of our school if we take a holistic approach by integrating these programs.

How That à Can Support This . . .	Schedule	Advisory	Capstone	PLC’s
Advisory	Give frequency and quantity of time required for a productive and effective program.	X	Provide   the achievable ultimate “in school” goal of the curriculum.
Capstone		Prepare for success as a senior in initial years by scaffolding skills required later.  Expose to a variety of career and college options.	X	Provide training and coordination venue for staff .
Pathways		Organize by career interest.	Coordinate student interests with capstone.	Means of grouping faculty.
School-wide Rubric Performance Evaluation and Tracking		Advisors and students track progress on performance standards.	This is the final exhibition of learning that shows mastery of learning expectations.	An opportunity to train and unify faculty in use of these rubrics.
PLC’s	Formally schedule collaborative time into the day.	Use the same faculty groupings to conduct PLC’s.		X
Service Learning	Flexibility to allow for big projects away from school and/or scheduling in a large block to accomplish this (beginning, middle or end of semesters?)	Integrate into the advisory curriculum.	Perhaps capstones will have a service component to them.  Students must find a way to impact society with their focused abilities.	Provides the adult leadership to enact large service projects.
Interdisciplinary Curricula	Match teacher schedules to allow for team/co-teaching.	Have school-wide or grade wide themes and essential questions for the year.  The combined learning of all advisory members from all of their coursework can be exhibited at the end of the year at an event answering the EQ.	By its nature it is an interdisciplinary course/project/endeavor.	Might be organized heterogeneously by discipline of faculty, could be the same as advisory/capstone grouping.

Another Form of Formative Assessment

Professor Breidenstein was quite brave.  She used a rubberstamp on us in graduate school.  I don't remember the validating term on it-- perhaps it was AWESOME!  But, even an old lady like myself was thrilled to receive the impression during our classwork.
Serendipitously, I had been collecting rubberstamps for the past several years.  Her example gave me permission to use my collection in my classes.  Generally, I use them during guided practice.  I circulate stamping off student correct work.  This way I get to see how students are solving problems and give needed correction.  The students receive a little reward for letting me get close to them.
Surprisingly, those who express the most joy in getting the images onto their papers are young men.

Are the Students Engaged?

Engaged Until Proven Un-engaged?

What are the indicators of engagement? Active physical participation?  Question asking and answering?  Of course in some measure the expected behavior depends on the lesson activity.  But even in an activity that involves manipulation of objects a student might fall into a reverie. Contemplation based upon the work at hand may be considered engagement of the highest order. Sizer, in fact, implored us to never disrupt this processing.

This becomes a particular problem when teachers are evaluated upon the engagement of their students. In my case, a percentage is reported via subjective scanning of the room.

Is it easier, fairer and more respectful of the complex varied endeavor of the students and the teacher to look for blatant disengagement?

Putting on makeup
Conversing off topic for more than a minute
General chaos
Defiance/refusal to work

When such clear behavior is observed then we might focus on how the teacher responds. Does she attempt to correct for it and if her interventions are unsuccessful how does she deal with it?

Teachers can't and should not force students. They can invite, provide opportunity and discipline. But, ultimately, it is the student's choice to be engaged (however that looks for them at the moment) or not. The question is-- is the teacher doing a reasonable job of offering engaging lessons and shepherding the students if necessary?




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