Taking risks and allowing the unexpected.

Earlier I mentioned how Tricia and I are simply "better together".  One way that is true comes through when trying something new and taking a risk.  This school year will be all about risk taking for us as educators, because we are changing a lot of what we experienced and what we were taught about school.  Tricia called me last week to say, "I took a risk...I was nervous...but I am SO happy about how things turned out."  Her "risk" was stepping away from a teacher directed lesson and instead setting objectives learners could work toward with more voice and choice.  This last unit we encouraged learners to choose a path that is best for them as they began to work toward the standard.  Daily, learners could choose to participate in collaborative groups, teacher seminars or work independently.  Again, in our work Rickabaugh's words, "Allow learners to be active participants, as opposed to active recipients," inspired us to step out of what felt comfortable and into what felt better...better for our learners. 

Observing how learners participate has been fascinating.  Some students would work independently one day and join a teacher seminar the next.  Others worked independently the entire time returning back to the large group with a look of satisfaction.  Several learners chose to collaborate with others and produced solid work.  With that came a group of learners who realized one choice was less successful and productive learning time was lost.  The benefit, those individuals made more effective choices the next class period.  What felt intimidating to both Tricia and me was spreading kids out to various learning spaces.  We weren't used to loosening the reigns and allowing kids to learn without us being able to observe their work "just in case".  Just in case they "wasted their time", had a question, had to get a drink, or perish the thought, GOT OFF TOPIC FOR A SECOND."  Guess what?  We all survived.  And guess what, we all learned from the experience. 



Our learners recently took a unit summative (a "final" assessment) in order for learners to "show what they know" (term coined by one of our learners because of the connotation behind the word "test").  Tricia and I had in mind to have learners reflect using a "Personal Learning Profile" (as designed by Bray and McClaskey).  This means students think about how they Access, Engage, and Express information.  In order to help students get there we had them complete an end of unit reflection.  As learners began building background knowledge for the upcoming unit, we sat down one on one and talked with each individual about his or her learning process thus far.  Tricia is using hard copies for all reflection unless a learner asks for electronic.  I am asking students to track growth in a chart that I adopted from educators at Pioneer Ridge in Chaska, MN.  Tricia and I are excited to share results comparing hard copies vs. electronics. 

One on one learner reflection, goal setting "meeting".

Throughout this process we have now realized that the "Access, Engage and Express" language isn't working for our learners or frankly for either of us.  (Here is a student example) Now we are simply going to have students reflect continuously on how their learning is going.  We took the feedback our learners offered about what they found helpful in reflecting about their learning and chose to continue with reflection just not using the format/language Bray and McClaskey presented. 

Elvis Presley was quoted saying, "When things go wrong, don't go with them."  We hope this blog serves as an effective format where we candidly share our successes and our failures, missteps, flops if one will.  We didn't like how one part of  the learner reflections were going so we are leaving it behind and moving on.  As we continue our work we have a goal to be effective communicators.  One way to help bridge understanding of the work we are doing with learners between home and school is through the use of unit letters.  At the conclusion of one unit and the beginning of a new unit we send a letter home to help parents/learners to help offer some more specific insight into the work we are doing in class.  By communicating in this manner, we have found that individuals are more supportive of the work we are doing in class and are less critical and more open-minded of "something new".