Happy Anniversary!!

So.  Once again it is time to drag myself out of the abyss of non-blogging.  It's been about a year without a post.  Let's get to it!


Quick Back-to-School Thoughts

After a few weeks off, it usually takes a bit longer than I would like to get back into things.  However, this year felt... different.  I suppose that in a way, I felt a lot less in control than I would have preferred to be.  And I don't mean that as a complaint, but it definitely had an impact on my mindset as I started to put plans together for the upcoming year.

Among the many changes taking place at our school and within our district is a huge re-evaluation of our assessment practices.  There are and have been a great many educators the world over who have been looking at how we grade our students and that discussion has been going on in a big way right here.

'Oh Arrested Development'...

It's difficult to really sum up some of my feelings because I think I'm still processing a lot of stuff.  It's a combination of wanting to retain things that have worked for me as a student and a teacher, a genuine desire to make needed adjustments and changes, and skepticism at some of the things I'm seeing.  And it sometimes feels very personal because it cuts to the core of how I teach and how I operate in my classroom.  It's... very complicated and that feeling grows when you realize that so many within education are going through the same process of trying to figure it out.

Here's a couple points of what I know about what will be happening this year, no doubt grossly over-simplified:

• we will be emphasizing clearly worded outcomes from the provincial curriculum
• we will be shifting towards using a 4-point scale to evaluate performance based on said outcomes
• we will be moving away from practices that don't address actual achievement (i.e. participation, no late marks, etc) 
• we will continue to look for ways to provide community-based support to students through CRM and greater teacher collaboration

There are a host of other changes that will be a part of this whole process.  I expect there will be some bumps along the way but I am always humbled and encouraged to work with the teachers that I do who share many of the same questions but also the same passion for teaching.

More to come...


I Tried Something New!

The first couple of days of can sometimes be a bit of a slog.  For a decade, I began my classes in the same way I imagine most teachers did: we went through the course outline.  However, I really wanted to be able to go over the same material and classroom setup in a more engaging way.  But what could I come up with on my own?

Enter Twitter.

I think I was perusing my feed late one evening when I came across a post from John Meehan (@MeehanEDU) that really piqued my interest.  In essence, he turned his course outline and syllabus into a welcome back game.  He took a lot of the clerical elements that would have been normally addressed and divided them up into separate stations where kids would assemble the supplies that they would need to begin their journey... things like getting signed up on Remind, Google Classroom, and completing introduction surveys.  It was awesome!!

It didn't take too much effort to adapt his great work to what I needed.  When the first day came, I was able to spend WAAAYYY less time going over the important but sometimes boring details and get to some actual fun.

Students busy completing their character sheets.

Some students worked on their own and others formed into groups based on the activity.

I was grateful to be able to bring in some more gamification into my instruction at such a crucial time: that first impression can really set the tone for what the year will be.  Thank you, John Meehan.


My New Ear-Worm

I went with my family to Edmonton over the Labour Day weekend and got to spend some time with one of my best friends who also works in education.  While there, I was introduced to a channel on YouTube that has become quite popular in our home since returning.

Pomplamoose Music.

This one has been one of our favourites.

~Mr.T

P.S.  Obviously, I'm going to try to do a better job posting regularly.  I'm going to try twice a week and see how things go.

P.P.S.  Hi, Mom...  =)

Outcomes Based Assessment, Culture Buzz, and School Craziness

It probably feels like this more than it should...

I take no small amount of pride in belonging to a profession that is continually evolving and changing so that it can become even better.  If teachers are going to instill the value of lifelong learning then we had better darn well be willing to walk the walk ourselves.  Two things that have been occupying a growing amount of PD time have to do with Curriculum Redesign and Outcomes Based Assessment.  In other words, we're changing up pretty much every single course offered in this province AND we are looking at ways to adapt how we measure and report on student performance.

Some quick thoughts on curriculum redesign: I'm generally for it.  Teaching social studies means that I am often talking about a world that is always in flux.  I can't, for example, easily teach a course on Globalization if I'm relying too heavily on a textbook that was first published 10 years ago.  In that time we've seen some pretty crazy stuff happen: the UK voted to leave the EU, the very map of the planet has changed, and I won't even get started with everything happening in the States.  If Alberta Education wants to streamline the number of content-based outcomes that I have to get through in a limited period of time, they're certainly welcome to do so.

For those feeling determined enough, they can look here for more information.

As for Outcomes Based Assessment... well, if I'm being honest I'm probably still a little on the fence with this one.

First, some key thoughts from me:

1. Teachers NEED to understand the courses that they teach.  Period.  It can't just be about 'teaching to the test' or emphasizing rote memorization.
2. Students SHOULD be aware of what is expected of them.  They should have a general understanding of what their teacher is grading them on.
3. Students and Parents deserve accessible and accurate information that reflects genuine progress and growth.

My concern with OBA (yep... I'm being lazy...) isn't that we are considering moving past letter grades and percentages.  I am still waiting, though, for a clear sense of what this is going to look like for students, parents, and teachers.

I think that there are some great questions asked on this page from the Calgary Board of Education, along with some examples of what the so-called report card just might look like.  What I find interesting, though, is the decision (at least then) to maintain more traditional assessments for students in Grades 10 to 12.

I'm not sure what this journey will look like over the next couple of years but I am eager to see what my part in that will be.

Movies

I managed to take advantage of some down time and see a couple of films over the weekend: one with some good friends and another with my family.

With Ghost in the Shell, I went in with no background knowledge whatsoever.  I hadn't read the graphic novel or any other of the films previously done so I was pretty clueless.  In fact, I'm probably still a little clueless about many aspects of the story.

I try to avoid reading reviews before seeing films so that I can form my own opinion but I knew that this one wasn't scoring too well.  However, I left feeling mainly satisfied by an interesting story coupled with some pretty impressive cinematography.  It also raises some interesting questions about the nature of humanity as science fiction often does.

I'll give this 3 out of 5 because I can.

I also got to check out Power Rangers with my wife and our four boys.  Now for some quick context... I think I was in Grade 5 when this show first started airing in Canada on YTV.  I'm not sure why, but I seemed to recall that it wasn't really cool to admit that you watched the show.  Although, I have a feeling that there were a lot of public critics who maintained a pretty steady viewership away from prying eyes.

I quite enjoyed most of the film, especially the focus on the characters and how they ultimately come together as a team.  There was quite a bit of humour and I often realized that I was smiling and laughing while watching.  

Power Rangers gets a solid 4 out of 5.

As an added bonus, I got to see the trailer for Edgar Wright's newest film out this summer called Baby Driver.  I've been a big fan of Wright's work with Hot Fuzz ranking as one of my all-time favourite movies.  This looks to be fun.

 Shenanigans

I'm always grateful when the winter comes to an end and we can get outside a bit more.  Sometimes things get a little crazy... in a good way.  =)

Enjoy what remains of the weekend!