Student-Centered Learning

Here are seven students and their journey through their recent challenges to their now success!

Student #1 - Soon after I tweeted the results from our #WHSPrecal Summative Assessment, this student asked me through @Voxer which student number he was in the list so he could identify his proficiency level. Through @Voxer, we discussed the misunderstanding he documented on his assessment. We worked through several iterations until he had his "aha" moment. He practiced several questions on his own. The next day he came to our classroom and asked for an opportunity to prove his heightened understanding. I suggested he create a question with some guidelines that I offered. He did. He completed it correctly. I asked him to defend his solution. He explained it thoroughly and earned back all the points that were originally deducted. One of his comments had been, "I really want to prove to you that I have an 'A' worth of understanding in our class. It's that important to me." He did. He expressed that he was thankful that he has missed this question since it provided him the opportunity to consult with me on some new strategies for checking his work!

Student #2 - As the student who has demonstrated the highest level of understanding in our #WHSAlgebra2 course, she requested some enrichment opportunities that would really challenge her thinking. I was thrilled for her request, though I was a bit disappointed that I had yet to challenge her adequately. I had been differentiating her practice, though now know she needs even more of a challenge. I will be providing her with more challenging learning opportunities going forward!

Student #3 - We recently has a Complex Numbers Summative Assessment in our #WHSAlgebra2 course. One young man missed solving one Quadratic Formula question with complex roots. He had a slight error at the start of his process that resulted in an incorrect solution. He knew something was incorrect, but was unable to find it during the day of our in-class assessment. When he received his assessment back with feedback, he brought it to me and began to explain what his error had been and asked for some Extra Practice to prove his understanding so he'd be eligible for a reassessment. He proved his understanding on the Extra Practice and, therefore, was given the opportunity to redo his Quadratic Formula questions with complex roots. He answered all of them correctly and was ecstatic to earn a perfect score on his assessment! He could not have been more proud of himself. He was almost glowing!

Student #4 - One of our seniors in #WHSTrig was distraught to receive a Not Yet Proficient (NYP) comment on his recent Proficiency Ticket. He has failed to make some important connections that caused him to miss almost all of the questions. He was stunned as he thought he really understood the process. He began to explain his thinking and how he arrived at each of his solutions. We had a great meeting of the minds as we discussed what he understood and the one piece he was missing. I shared with him that I wanted him to find the missing piece himself. He began to work through each of the questions when he stumbled over exactly the piece he had been missing. He couldn't thank me enough for encouraging him to find it himself. He did enough Extra Practice to be eligible for a reassessment on our Proficiency Ticket. He assured me he'd be able to demonstrate top proficiency on the eight questions. He made himself proud by solving each correctly and made me proud by asking to explain to me how he arrived at his thought process. His results were flawless!

Student #6 - One young man in our #WHSAlgebra2 course brought me his graded Summative Assessment on Complex Numbers. He explain where he his thinking had gone astray and asked for Extra Practice to prove that he really did understand this topic completely. He correctly worked through all of his practice questions. I offered him several different versions of our assessment for him to select one for his re-assessment. He asked if he could complete two different assessments to prove that he really had thorough understanding. I indicated that one was adequate. He insisted that I offer him the toughest two versions as he was thankful for the opportunity to prove his proficiency and earn back his 'A'. He did just that!

Student #7 - One of our #WHSPrecal students had failed to complete his recent assessment since he got hung up on one particular question and lost a great deal of time. He brought that question to me and explained what he had done and where his misunderstanding had been. He was pretty tough on himself when it came to the only question he had missed. He showed me the Extra Practice he had completed and asked me to confirm that his thinking was now correct. I agreed. He agreed to practice a few more and send me his results through an email or a tweet. He then wants the opportunity to demonstrate his proficiency on this last question. He was so thankful for the opportunity to discuss his misunderstanding and where his correct thinking had brought him. I'm awaiting his tweet and know he'll soon be reassessing on that final situation!