At my school failure is definitely NOT an option. We take multiple measures, to approach a situation where a child may not be showing progress, from as many angles as possible in order to ensure each child's success. We hold SST meetings, 504's, and IEPs in order to provide each child with the best accommodations possible. We work together with parents, as a team, and involve all stakeholders through the process so that everyone's voice is heard and to be as transparent as we can be. We seek to understand each child's individual situation and show empathy as we set them up for success. That's what our principal believes in and that's what our staff believes in.
The impact that this approach is having on our students is increasing their self-esteem, giving each student hope and enhancing their education, providing them with a happy and supportive learning environment in which they experience success and believe in themselves. Once they associate those feelings of happiness, achievement and success with school work, they look for more, increasing their chances of succeeding in life. Our approach is having a very positive impact on our students and their families.
Our school does not provide its students with conditions that make it too late to learn. We help our students reach competency by establishing clear academic, as well as behavioral school-wide, expectations and providing consistency with regard to these expectations across the grades. We guide our students to take control of, and self-monitor, their academic progress so that they feel they have a say in how much they advance weekly. Our students have enough confidence in themselves to be proactive and reach out to us and say, "I do not feel I put forth my best effort on this exam. Could I please have a week to study the material and take it again next week?" We welcome those requests and grant them the necessary time, using appropriate strategies to reteach the material and scaffold when necessary so that they are successful when they retake the exam. Although we have made it clear that it is never too late to learn at our campus, I know that many of us are inconsistent about it because sometimes we forget to offer them another chance at retaking a test, for example. For me, personally, it is still a work in progress. I allow them to take an exam again, but usually it is because THEY take the initiative to come up to ME and tell me that they do not like their grade on their test and if I could please give them another try. I LOVE it when they think like that because it shows me that they know the world is full of possibilities and all they have to do is ask and it is granted.
If I were the school leader, I would encourage my staff to help me create a "never too late to learn" learning environment by bringing more awareness to this philosophy. Many teachers on our campus are implementing this structure, but I am not sure that they are explicitly aware of the philosophy behind this pillar, or that we are even being consistent with our application of it. I believe that if everyone is conscious of their valuable efforts around this pillar, that "presumption of competence" (Kindle Loc 1573, Fisher et al) will increase even more and our students' desire to persevere will increase tremendously. I practice it in good faith, but most of the time it is only if I remember to do so or many times I am unaware that I am practicing it. I think it will be that much more effective if we put forth a conscious effort to take the type of action that leads to a "never too late to learn" environment.
To create "never too late to learn" structures that would motivate my peers to approach student's low scores in a more positive and proactive way, I could use an online interactive platform, such as Schoology. For example, every Wednesday we have our spelling tests. Those students who score low, will have the opportunity to retake their spelling test a week later in the classroom. However, instead of me taking instructional minutes away from the other students to accommodate this particular group, they will be able to access their spelling test through the Schoology platform at their convenience. If they finish early with a different assignment, they will have the option of logging in to one of the classroom computers and take the test on their own time. They will receive instant feedback and monitor their own learning. I can "share" my "Spelling Test Folder" with my grade level colleagues in order to encourage them to also provide their own students with that "never too late to learn" opportunity. Pretty soon we will start seeing enough success to have the confidence to share our approach with the rest of the staff so that other grade levels can also start applying the "never too late to learn" approach to their students! It will spread like wildfire in order to provide our students with more opportunities to learn and grow instead of limiting them to a certain time-frame. This plan is definitely in my sphere of influence.
Commit to 5 things you are willing to do this semester that will make your school increase learning opportunities:
1. Encourage staff to see mistakes as part of the learning process.
2. Encourage staff, students and parents to see assessments, tests, and other grading materials as tools that inform all stakeholders exactly as to where students currently stand academically in order to provide students with the necessary support and learning opportunities that will lead them to grade-level expectations.
3. Identify technology apps that our school has invested money into and determine for what type of support each of those apps works best. Share this list through a google-doc that all staff will have access to so that everyone can adjust and continue to add to as they see fit. It would include a description of what each app is and how we have used it in the past to support each academic area.
4. For tasks that usually prove to be challenging, provide students with check-off lists that will guide them along the way toward success.
5. Provide students with reference tools and resources they can use as training wheels until no longer necessary. For example, when learning how to compare fractions with different denominators, students who do not have their multiplication facts memorized, should be allowed to use a multiplication table as a reference while they work through the steps necessary to compare fractions because at that point we are not assessing whether they know how to multiply, but rather if they know how to compare fractions.
The impact that this approach is having on our students is increasing their self-esteem, giving each student hope and enhancing their education, providing them with a happy and supportive learning environment in which they experience success and believe in themselves. Once they associate those feelings of happiness, achievement and success with school work, they look for more, increasing their chances of succeeding in life. Our approach is having a very positive impact on our students and their families.
Our school does not provide its students with conditions that make it too late to learn. We help our students reach competency by establishing clear academic, as well as behavioral school-wide, expectations and providing consistency with regard to these expectations across the grades. We guide our students to take control of, and self-monitor, their academic progress so that they feel they have a say in how much they advance weekly. Our students have enough confidence in themselves to be proactive and reach out to us and say, "I do not feel I put forth my best effort on this exam. Could I please have a week to study the material and take it again next week?" We welcome those requests and grant them the necessary time, using appropriate strategies to reteach the material and scaffold when necessary so that they are successful when they retake the exam. Although we have made it clear that it is never too late to learn at our campus, I know that many of us are inconsistent about it because sometimes we forget to offer them another chance at retaking a test, for example. For me, personally, it is still a work in progress. I allow them to take an exam again, but usually it is because THEY take the initiative to come up to ME and tell me that they do not like their grade on their test and if I could please give them another try. I LOVE it when they think like that because it shows me that they know the world is full of possibilities and all they have to do is ask and it is granted.
If I were the school leader, I would encourage my staff to help me create a "never too late to learn" learning environment by bringing more awareness to this philosophy. Many teachers on our campus are implementing this structure, but I am not sure that they are explicitly aware of the philosophy behind this pillar, or that we are even being consistent with our application of it. I believe that if everyone is conscious of their valuable efforts around this pillar, that "presumption of competence" (Kindle Loc 1573, Fisher et al) will increase even more and our students' desire to persevere will increase tremendously. I practice it in good faith, but most of the time it is only if I remember to do so or many times I am unaware that I am practicing it. I think it will be that much more effective if we put forth a conscious effort to take the type of action that leads to a "never too late to learn" environment.
To create "never too late to learn" structures that would motivate my peers to approach student's low scores in a more positive and proactive way, I could use an online interactive platform, such as Schoology. For example, every Wednesday we have our spelling tests. Those students who score low, will have the opportunity to retake their spelling test a week later in the classroom. However, instead of me taking instructional minutes away from the other students to accommodate this particular group, they will be able to access their spelling test through the Schoology platform at their convenience. If they finish early with a different assignment, they will have the option of logging in to one of the classroom computers and take the test on their own time. They will receive instant feedback and monitor their own learning. I can "share" my "Spelling Test Folder" with my grade level colleagues in order to encourage them to also provide their own students with that "never too late to learn" opportunity. Pretty soon we will start seeing enough success to have the confidence to share our approach with the rest of the staff so that other grade levels can also start applying the "never too late to learn" approach to their students! It will spread like wildfire in order to provide our students with more opportunities to learn and grow instead of limiting them to a certain time-frame. This plan is definitely in my sphere of influence.
Commit to 5 things you are willing to do this semester that will make your school increase learning opportunities:
1. Encourage staff to see mistakes as part of the learning process.
2. Encourage staff, students and parents to see assessments, tests, and other grading materials as tools that inform all stakeholders exactly as to where students currently stand academically in order to provide students with the necessary support and learning opportunities that will lead them to grade-level expectations.
3. Identify technology apps that our school has invested money into and determine for what type of support each of those apps works best. Share this list through a google-doc that all staff will have access to so that everyone can adjust and continue to add to as they see fit. It would include a description of what each app is and how we have used it in the past to support each academic area.
4. For tasks that usually prove to be challenging, provide students with check-off lists that will guide them along the way toward success.
5. Provide students with reference tools and resources they can use as training wheels until no longer necessary. For example, when learning how to compare fractions with different denominators, students who do not have their multiplication facts memorized, should be allowed to use a multiplication table as a reference while they work through the steps necessary to compare fractions because at that point we are not assessing whether they know how to multiply, but rather if they know how to compare fractions.