Greetings, Cohort 12!
I've done the reading and watched the videos, but I have to admit I'm stumped in formulating a driving question. Partly, I feel challenged by my teaching context. Let me give you some background and perhaps someone has a suggestion. I teach at Independent Studies, which is a non-traditional setting. As the name implies, students predominantly do their studies at home. I teach in the K-8 setting. Conceivably, I could have students in any or all of these grades. Enrollment is voluntary; students are not here due to suspension/expulsion. Typically our enrollment is light in the lower grades and increases in middle school. For example, I have no K, 1 or 4th grade students. I have one 2nd grade student, two 3rd grade students, 1 fifth grade student, four 6th grade students, seven 7th grade students, and seventeen 8th grade students. The elementary students come to our classroom 3 times a week for an hour each session. The middle school students come twice a week: once for their core period (2 or 3 hours) and once for a math lab (1 hour). Other than that, they work at home. There is very little instruction time. During their core session, they basically get 1/2 hour to 45 minutes per subject. In that time we have to go over the work they've done the previous week and frontload the next week's work. I's a blur of time! Basically, as far as academics are concerned, we're akin to curriculum mappers or homeschool proctors. Much of the importance of what we do is in the social and emotional realm. We provide a very safe environment with a small student-teacher ratio. We typically see our students in groups of 4 to 6 students at time. Many of our students come to us after having faced difficult or even traumatic situations in their lives or at their previous schools. A few have been in and out of the hospital, many have anxiety/depression, some have been victims of bullying, several are on the spectrum, and about 40% of my students have IEPs or 504s. Some of the problems I see or ponderings I have, put in the form of a question, might be...
3 Comments
2/2/2017 07:01:56 pm
I would say feedback is key to opening your students eyes to their learning. Sharing a personal thought about what helped you with becoming stronger or more interested in the subject they are learning. Not feeling alone with this learning walk makes us enjoy it more.
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Dan Parker
2/9/2017 10:38:24 am
Wow, You are in such an amazing and unique position. Reading your blog about the driving question almost gave me anxiety. There are so many different hats that you need to wear daily, you should be proud of what you are doing, and thank you for doing it.
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I previously taught at an alternative school, too. I enjoyed turning from helping a 3rd grader learn to multiply, to help a 12th grader with a complex essay. It is not small thing, and quite an adventure. I agree that the problem of buy-in is multiplied when students are isolated from you as they work. This was also my biggest challenge. It is no small thing to inspire curiousity and excitement about learning with limited time and connection.
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December 2017
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