Better Than I Thought...Not!

We just ended our second marking period, Midyear Exams and I had the opportunity to reflect on the progress we were making toward becoming proficient on our Standards or Learning Outcomes. I'm dismayed to realize that we're not doing as well in two of our classes as I had hoped. Our second marking period was focused on five Standards. I consider Proficient to be 3.0 or better. The following table represents the percentage of our students that demonstrated proficiency on each of our Standards during the second marking period.

Description	CCSS	B4	W2
Complex Number Operations	N.CN.2	30%	25%
Polynomial Operations	A.APR.1	55%	45%
Factoring / Roots	A.APR.3	40%	50%
Remainder Theorem and Syn. Division	A.APR.2	55%	40%
Solving Radical and Rational Equations	A.REI.2	50%	30%

I can now see that Operations on Complex Numbers presented a challenge to both classes as those percentages are the lowest. Therefore, I'm planning to incorporate more Operations on Complex Numbers in the spiral review portion of our daily learning. In addition, the Blue 4 (B4) class needs Extra Practice on Factoring and Roots, where our White 2 (W2) class needs Extra Practice on Solving Radical and Rational Equations.

After reflecting on this analysis, I am more aware that I need to work more effectively with our students to raise their Proficiency Levels for all our Standards. I'm planning to offer more differentiation during our class time to provide the opportunity to work with our students. During this time, students will have the opportunity to ask questions and complete Extra Practice on the skills on which they have not yet demonstrated Proficiency. They will also have the opportunity to work through Extra Practice (HW) outside of our class time.

In addition to the above analysis, I'm examining how each student's Proficiency Levels during the second marking period compares to what they demonstrated on our Midyear Exam.

I certainly welcome any comments or feedback that might improve my effectiveness, deepen our understanding and increase our Proficiency Levels. 

"First Class" Learning After Vacation

As students and teachers head back to the classroom after having been on vacation, I'm mindful as to how we might smoothly transition back to a more empowered learning experience for all.

Jeff Zoul (@Jeff_Zoul) recently shared a tweet entitled "11 Habits of Effective Teachers". I found the post by Carrie Lam (@Cs_Teaching_C) to be encouraging and inspirational.

After reading "Universal Design for Learning:Theory and Practice" by Meyer, Rose and Gordon and starting to read "Disrupting Class" by Christensen, Horn and Johnson, I became more aware of the need for a student-centered learning environment with variability built in to accommodate all learners. With this in mind, I'm considering starting our "first class" back in each of our courses in the following way.

We'll start our 84-minute class with a Proficiency Ticket, Formative Assessment (FA) to guide instruction and learning. Once each student completes our 2-4 question Proficiency Ticket, they will individually compare they work to mine. I'll have mine copied and available by the windows.

• Mastery (4.0) - If they demonstrated Mastery, they'll move on to our newest topic with minimal guidance. 

• Proficienct (3.0) - If they demonstrated Proficiency, but missed some details or minor processing, they'll have access to some Extra Practice for just that concept. That Extra Practice can proabably be worked on independently, though they could ask myself or any other learner in the room to offer some assistance. When they complete their Extra Practice, they'll also be able to check their work and receive feedback to guide their learning and encouragement to prompt them to reach even greater heights. 

• Approaching (2.0) - If their understanding indicates that they're Approaching Proficiency, they will also have access to Extra Practice after they've had the opportunity to have a brief conference with me about where their processing or thinking might have gone astray. After we've had the opportunity to guide their thinking, I'm suggesting they work through some similar questions to those initially missed. Again, solutions will be available to them so they can check their refreshed thinking and learning. 

• Beginning (1.0.) - If the vacation potentailly caused some memory lapse or they're just in need of a refresher, students will have the opportunity to get some additional guidance from me or one of their peers to help align their thinking. They too will have the opportunity to work through some Extra Practice. In this case, I'd be available to work through the first couple of new Extra Practice questions with them to hopefully shed some new light on their thinking. As mentioned above, they will then have the opportunity to check their thinnking with mine already made available. 

Once students have had the opportunity to self-assess and get any needed guidance, we'll assemble to transition to our next, but related concept. We have only 3-4 classes left before our Midyear Exams start. 

I'd welcome your thoughts as we venture back together to our learning environments!