After my last post, I started thinking about professional development and targeting my mis-steps with some professional development. I started by looking at what was being offered by the State Department of Education this summer in Moodle. After logging in, I looked through the courses I've taken in the past (including those I didn't finish because of lack of time) and was reminded about a series of free courses offered by Intel called "Teach Elements." These are free and very well designed. If you take them seriously and really fill out the action plan as you move through the modules, you can design the changes you want to implement. There was one on "blended learning" and so I started working through it. It is helping me focus on what "blended learning" really is, and includes more ideas on flipping the classroom, designing projects that move students toward more collaboration, and it includes lots of ideas about apps, websites and programs that help you do just that. I'm now in Module 4 of 5, and I'm gathering lots of information that I will then sift through as I plan this summer.
The other step I've taken in this direction involves talking a little more with students. I can't ever seem to get them to fill out a survey on Survey Monkey or on paper, but today I had the opportunity to talk with some students. Seniors were essentially finished yesterday and very few are here today - if they were able to exempt their exams, they are finished until graduation. I asked for some informal feedback this morning from the students who were present. There is lots of irony in this scenario, mind you. The ones who were present are those who have to take my exam, mostly from failure to complete assignments. That is probably exactly the right demographic to ask about assignments and their effectiveness, right? They would be the ones to tell me why they didn't do any work and/or which assignments were most difficult, etc. That is not the feedback I got. Essentially, I got the feedback that much of what I'm doing is precisely what I should be doing to move them toward independence, collaboration and critical thinking - however, they just didn't want to do it. On the one hand, that is encouraging - and I really don't think they were saying it because they thought I wanted to hear something like that - but on the other, it strikes exactly where I'm most vulnerable again. If I'm designing things that are meant to engage and encourage buy-in, why aren't they buying in? I really struggle with the idea that they are just too lazy and/or too disengaged in general to make the buy-in.
My exam isn't until Friday and I'm considering coming up with a written survey between now and Friday (basically tomorrow) and sliding it into the folders for them to fill out after they finish their exams. It would be anonymous and could be turned in to me in a box separate from their exam. I think that might be a good plan - need to get on writing it.
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