One of the practicum’s observational prompts in the past few weeks was watching for the ‘aliveness’ of school spaces and how students are learning through assessment. During these past two weeks, I have had the opportunity to be in both a 6/7 and 4/5/6 split classes. In both of these classrooms, the teachers had various approaches to assessment and classroom management that got these older students to ‘buy in’ to their learning and get excited about their education.
In the 6/7 class, Mrs. M was very good at creating a projects-based approach which got the students excited and interested in their learning. Mrs. M explained to me that what she does is create a few projects a school year which build on the skills they have been learning in the various subjects to date. For example, on the day I had the privilege to observe in her classroom, the students were presenting a mapping project that they had been working up to since early in the school year.
The final project was a poster which consisted of a map of their own unique island, a legend of symbols for the contents of the island, a rain graph documenting the precipitation and climate, as well as the islands currency and flag. On the back of the poster, the students also had a writing portion which described the rise and the fall of the empire inhabiting their island. Mrs. M explained that the students had just learned about the Roman and Mayan civilizations in social studies, so writing about their own was a way for the students to connect themselves to the course content.
I really enjoyed the opportunity to observe the student’s excitement about their cross curricular activity. This mapping poster combined almost every subject and connected their learning in one project. For example, art was evident in the student’s creativity and imagination involved in creating the currency, map and island flag. The rain graph combined both science and math. Additionally, the writing descriptions with the rise and fall of their civilizations combines many different aspects of language arts. For a poster project, this form of assessment demonstrated many different aspects of the student’s learning. This is the kind of summative assessment that I prefer over tests or exams. I was also impressed by how excited and invested the students were when they got to express their learning in this personal way.
In his class, Mr. P handled classroom assessment and management very differently but seemed to be just as successful at getting the students attention. Mr. P had implemented what he referred to as a classroom economy. This teacher had created his own class currency and provided jobs every day for his students so they could make money to pay for their desk rent every month. For fun, these students could spend money buying Mr. P’s office chair for the day, paying for an iPad for free time play and even save up for a pizza party. To make money on their own, two girls in the class drew pictures and sold them to other classmates. These students could also save up and buy their desk, so they no longer had to pay rent.
Mr. P explained that some years, the students are not interested in the economy system and that this particular year, the students were very invested. The student’s enthusiasm meant that Mr. P did not have to really enforce classroom management because the possibility of losing money to bad behaviour was enough to encourage their cooperation. Also, when the students are working intently, Mr. P will sometimes go and drop some money on their desk; therefore, both acknowledging their hard work and providing a positive example for other classmates. Due to the student’s excitement in their classroom economy, Mr. P also did not have to argue or fight with the students over classroom lessons, worksheets or homework. These students were also doing math in their everyday activities when buying, selling and paying rent. It was a good way to promote these foundational skills.
Although these two systems implemented by Mrs. M and Mr. P were different, they were both very successful at getting their students excited about their learning. Both approaches allowed the students choices and opportunities to engage in their education in meaningful ways. Mrs. M got her students to pay attention and participation by creating projects that were creative and individualized. Mr. P didn’t have to force students to listen and do their work because they were emersed in their classroom economy. Both of these teachers were able to make learning fun for the students while also providing opportunities for deeper learning. I believe that there was a real ‘aliveness’ in the student learning in these classes. I am really grateful for the chance to observe in these two classrooms, as it was an enriching experience for me.
Note: Interested in my practicum experiences? Find these posts under the practicum section in the menu. Thanks for reading!
