In walking around classrooms on Friday, I saw a simple assignment that immediately drew my attention. After drawing the world on one side of a paper, Mr. Burton's World Geography students answered the following four questions:
- One a scale of 1-4, how representative do you think your drawing of the world is?
- Why was this a tough exercise? Why is your map not as representative as you might have thought?
- Where did you start your drawing? Why did you begin there?
- What does this tell you about perspective?
John Hattie (2009) used the term visible learners or those who "exhibit the self-regulatory attributes that seem most desirable for learners (self-monitoring, self-evaluation, self-assessment, self-teaching). Mr. Burton's simple assignment focuses on student learning by making creating opportunities for students to become visible learners by:
- All students should understand their current status or level of understanding.
- Assessments in advance of instruction can activate background knowledge and help students understand what they don't know and need to learn.
- The ability for students to recognize what they know and don't know builds metacognitive awareness.
- Relevancy can be built by enabling students to see themselves as learners.
- Students are learning the value of assessing their own learning and are not reliant on the teacher.
- The feedback the students provide to themselves is specific and actionable, meaning the students know where they have to improve.
- The students' struggles are productive and enable students to monitor their own progress.
- Students were encouraged to be reflective and self-questioning. For example, compare how different the student learning experience would have been if Mr. Inman asked, "If I were to have you draw a map of the world, where would you start?" After the student(s) answer, in a more teacher-centered classroom, Mr. Burton would have then explained perspective.
An Idea for Friday Lessons or Mustang Mornings:
As much as possible practice should be self-directed. To create opportunities for such practice, allow students to review the week's work and allow students to choose an assignment that they would like to improve on or redo. This could be a homework assignment, a quiz, an interactive notebook, a lab report, etc. You may want to post the learning objectives for the week to help guide students.
If you feel more structure is needed, you could start with a formative assessment/quiz (need not be entered into the gradebook) that takes 15 minutes and allow students to spend the next 15 minutes improving their learning in weak areas. This would also work well with a flipped and/or blended learning environment.
For students who may not need this time, they could work on an enrichment activity enabling them to dive deeper.
What are some other Friday or Mustang Morning activities that you would like to share?
Need to Knows
Mr. Atkins' Field Trip and Crisis Management Presentation and a presentation made to new teachers about TPA has been added to the Monticello Team Drive in Google.
Mustang Morning and Clubs
With only a couple of classes still to be added, our Mustang Morning and Clubs schedule is almost finished for the first week. Tomorrow, I will be working with these teachers to complete the process. Students will get a chance to sign-up for clubs and Mustang Mornings on Wednesday. Honestly, I'm not sure how it works from the students' perspective and how far out they can assign themselves. Please be sure to double-check your Mustang Mornings and Groups. You can change your rooms and the capacities. Again, this is an evolving process that we will tweak and improve throughout the course of the year.
Other notes:
PLC Goals for the week:
Mr. Atkins' Field Trip and Crisis Management Presentation and a presentation made to new teachers about TPA has been added to the Monticello Team Drive in Google.
Mustang Morning and Clubs
With only a couple of classes still to be added, our Mustang Morning and Clubs schedule is almost finished for the first week. Tomorrow, I will be working with these teachers to complete the process. Students will get a chance to sign-up for clubs and Mustang Mornings on Wednesday. Honestly, I'm not sure how it works from the students' perspective and how far out they can assign themselves. Please be sure to double-check your Mustang Mornings and Groups. You can change your rooms and the capacities. Again, this is an evolving process that we will tweak and improve throughout the course of the year.
Other notes:
- Next Friday's Mustang Morning is the "Monday" schedule--moved because of Labor Day
- Students will also use this to sign-up for the Pep Rally. Instead of having a massive sign-out, our plan is to offer students two options. Option 1: Go to Pep Rally; Option 2: Go to a "study hall". If you are not into the pep rally, let us know and we'll assign you to another location.
PLC Goals for the week:
- Begin analyzing common pre-assessments through a data protocol and drafting of SMART goals
- Schedule meetings with John Mitchem, LTI
- Ensure you're on the same page in regards to Mustang Morning
First 2 Weeks Schedule
Extended 1st Block
August 22, 23, 27, 28, 29, 30
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7:40-8:40
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Zero Period
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8:55-11:05
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1st Period
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11:10-1:00
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2nd Period
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1:05-2:25
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3rd Period
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2:30-3:50
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4th Period
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AM CATEC Students: Depart from Monticello High School at 9am and return from CATEC and
return to Monticello High School at 11:55am
return to Monticello High School at 11:55am
PM CATEC Students: Leave class at 12:50pm for 12:55pm bus departure
Wednesday, August 22
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Computer Distribution
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Thursday, August 23
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Freshman, Sophomores, Juniors: Naviance Goal Setting Lesson
Freshman: Class Meeting
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Friday, August 24
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8 Period Day
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Monday, August 27
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Senior: Class Meeting
Freshman: Naviance Goal Setting Lesson
Sophomores/Juniors: Club Slide Presentation
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Tuesday, August 28
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Junior: Class Meeting
Freshman/Seniors: Club Slides
Sophomores: Naviance Strengths
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Wednesday, August 29
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All: Club Sign-up and Mustang Morning
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Thursday, August 30
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Sophomore: Class Meeting
Freshman, Junior, Senior: Naviance Strengths
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Club Day with No Lunch
August 31
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0 Period: 7:40-8:40
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1A: 8:55-9:35
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CLUB: 9:40-10:03
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1B: 10:08-10:46
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2A: 10:51-12:16
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2B: 12:21-12:59
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3A: 1:04-1:42
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3B: 1:47-2:25
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4A: 2:30-3:08
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4B: 3:13-3:50
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AM CATEC Students: Depart from Monticello High School at 9am and return from CATEC
and return to Monticello High School at 11:55am.
and return to Monticello High School at 11:55am.
PM CATEC Students: Leave class at 12:50pm for 12:55pm bus departure.
Fire Drill: Wednesday during 3A
September 5: College Planning Night
September 6: Monticello Lead Teacher Meeting
September 7: Long Lunch A-Day (because of no school on Monday) with Mustang Morning.
Students/Teachers will follow Monday Mustang Morning Assignments (we'll have to see how that works in system)
Fire Drill: Wednesday during 3A
September 5: College Planning Night
September 6: Monticello Lead Teacher Meeting
September 7: Long Lunch A-Day (because of no school on Monday) with Mustang Morning.
Students/Teachers will follow Monday Mustang Morning Assignments (we'll have to see how that works in system)
Stats of the Week
Birthdays
Adam Conner: August 29
Susie Neuhauser: August 30
Shannon Cruthirds: September 2
Shamika Terrell: September 3
Sorry if I'm missing anyone new.
Shout Outs
To our school counselors for doing a great job of getting our students fully scheduled for this year. It's not an easy task and there are probably still some changes to come, but they've maintained a student-centered focus!
Useful Information
The presentations and resources from the first couple of days have been added to the Monticello Team Drive on Google.
Don't forget to use the Shared Monticello Calendar.
Bell Schedules : http://bit.ly/MOHSbells
Morning Announcement Stream: http://streaming.k12albemarle.org/ACPS/links.htm
Announcement Request: http://tinyurl.com/requestannouncement
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