I have got to start doing more than one pos a year. the last post I made was towards the end of summer school last years. Well summer school just ended for me this year. It has been a very strange year for all of us. the district I work for offered free online summer school this year. We used the online software package that had been adapted from our Credit Recovery program to fill the last grading period when all the schools closed for Covid-19. Ideally a student would simply work their way through the first half of the online curriculum in the three weeks of summer school and the score would reflect their mastery of first semester skills. I held two Zoom meetings a day to supplement instruction and offer specific tutoring.
This was not exactly how it worked out. Makeup Credit English for freshmen is an interesting and challenging experience face to face. These are not the students who are self driven learners. They are all coming to your class having met a major defeat in their life. Most all of them play it off like it is no big deal, but it is. Many have faced failure in other classes as well, not only this year but previous years in junior high, and maybe even in elementary school. If these students have experienced success in school it has been on very rare occasions and usually in elective courses like art, theater, PE.
Placing students who have this self view that has accumulated over years ad place them in a situation where they have to be self motivated and driven or they will fail the temptation to quit is strong and at times over powering.
I am so grateful that my district strongly emphasizes two philosophies. The first was given to us on the the first day our new superintendent took office. In his address to all of the district employees he made and impassioned speech about how in this district if things become difficult we simply "Find a way." We find a way to make things work. We find a way to steer our students to success. We find away. For the last nine years this has been at the heart of everything I do. Any obstacle or challenge I face I will find a way to succeed
With the onset of Covid-19 and the closing of the schools a new mantra surfaced. It was said as often as "Find a way." It was also hard for many teachers to get behind and utilize at first the phrase was "Fluid and flexible". We were told that in all we do during these un precedented times we must remain "fluid and flexible." Plans were changing almost on a daily basis.it took two weeks to establish any routine at all. I had a hard time sliding into the "fluid and flexible" mindset. Eventually I did and was able to produce some of my most effective and creative lessons all year. I ended up using my school Google account to set up a YouTube channel whereI could keep kids informed and taught. It worked beautifully.
This summer I had 23 students. It was one of the most stressful things I have ever done. The students had a semester's worth of work preloaded in the online software. My job was to get them to complete enough to evaluate the skills that were being tested in the first semester module.It was one of the most stressful things I have ever done.It came down to evaluating multiple skills from selected assignments while encouraging students to keep pressing forward.
I think their level of focus and engagement was from the lack of educational contact and extreme adjustments they had to endure during the last official grading period when we were all on lockdown. On some level they needed interaction with new information.
This was not exactly how it worked out. Makeup Credit English for freshmen is an interesting and challenging experience face to face. These are not the students who are self driven learners. They are all coming to your class having met a major defeat in their life. Most all of them play it off like it is no big deal, but it is. Many have faced failure in other classes as well, not only this year but previous years in junior high, and maybe even in elementary school. If these students have experienced success in school it has been on very rare occasions and usually in elective courses like art, theater, PE.
Placing students who have this self view that has accumulated over years ad place them in a situation where they have to be self motivated and driven or they will fail the temptation to quit is strong and at times over powering.
I am so grateful that my district strongly emphasizes two philosophies. The first was given to us on the the first day our new superintendent took office. In his address to all of the district employees he made and impassioned speech about how in this district if things become difficult we simply "Find a way." We find a way to make things work. We find a way to steer our students to success. We find away. For the last nine years this has been at the heart of everything I do. Any obstacle or challenge I face I will find a way to succeed
With the onset of Covid-19 and the closing of the schools a new mantra surfaced. It was said as often as "Find a way." It was also hard for many teachers to get behind and utilize at first the phrase was "Fluid and flexible". We were told that in all we do during these un precedented times we must remain "fluid and flexible." Plans were changing almost on a daily basis.it took two weeks to establish any routine at all. I had a hard time sliding into the "fluid and flexible" mindset. Eventually I did and was able to produce some of my most effective and creative lessons all year. I ended up using my school Google account to set up a YouTube channel whereI could keep kids informed and taught. It worked beautifully.
This summer I had 23 students. It was one of the most stressful things I have ever done. The students had a semester's worth of work preloaded in the online software. My job was to get them to complete enough to evaluate the skills that were being tested in the first semester module.It was one of the most stressful things I have ever done.It came down to evaluating multiple skills from selected assignments while encouraging students to keep pressing forward.
I also used Google classroom and its connection with common lit to assign paired texts with questions and open ended responses that would demonstrate those skills being tested. Then there were the two Zoom meetings a day where I presented things like thesis development, abstract:concrete concepts, grammar and sentence structure. I also facilitated literary discussions about the common lit assignments. We were not able to use our regular online grade book, so it was all done be juggling multiple Excel files and tools.
I had many one on one Zoom meetings that were simply encouragement and reteaching what they had been exposed to in the online program. In the end I failed to motivate seven of the students to complete enough of the course to evaluate their skill mastery. Sixteen students passed the course. I am proud of them. one thing I did notice about the sixteen who finished, they were more motivated and engaged from the beginning than I have ever seen summer school students. Usually my students are fully engaged by the halfway point. This year there was a focus like I have never seen from day one.
I think their level of focus and engagement was from the lack of educational contact and extreme adjustments they had to endure during the last official grading period when we were all on lockdown. On some level they needed interaction with new information.
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