Retaught

I was really impressed with my students this week. The vast majority of them saw their individual data and then worked hard to master the objectives they had struggled with. I had several students who had mastered the objectives act as teachers or coaches to guide students through practice questions. By Friday, students were able to answer practice questions correctly and explain their answers in a logical way. I also realized the potential for using kids as teachers to develop confidence, leadership skills and investment--but also the coaching that they will need to do so effectively. I saw students getting frustrated when other students weren't listening to them or get overly bossy...I know they will be able to do it, especially because they like the role of teacher so much, but they will need some guidance.

We will see how well this really worked when they retake on Monday...

Reteach?

I am spending the evening with excel...entering assessment data. It is clear that objectives will need to be retaught. Luckily, I have planned each of these POs to be taught at least 2 times during the year...but this data is not pretty. Where I was hoping for us to push the few percentages over the 80% goal, we dropped considerably. It makes sense...expository text is often more difficult for students. However, I am disappointed in myself and my ability to invest my students in working hard to really grasp the material. I am proud that I am assessing and tracking and that I have data to KNOW where I have gone wrong so that I can go back and figure it out. I WILL figure it out. These kids WILL master these objectives...

I think we can, I think we can....

Today I am assessing expository texts. It is a beast of an assessment--I am assessing 5 performance objectives. I believe that my students are more invested in actually working hard on this assessment, and they know what that means. We have drilled and drilled reading carefully and completely. I am hopeful that they will improve their class averages from the last assessment. From how they have done on daily work, I believe they understand these concepts....think happy thoughts....

Oh, and I bought SMARTIES candy for each of them to remind them how smart they are. Hopefully they will be smart enough to realize that if they throw any candy or wrappers that they won't ever get candy again....


I'll update soon!