I had my Presentation of Learning today (POL). It was great. The goal of this POL was to reflect on my learning for the year and to look at my action research proposal. I had a lot to reflect on. I used the classes that we participated in and the projects we completed as a lens through which to look at my learning. A quick summary:
Class: Learning Research and Practice
During this class we wrote something called a setting document which eventually becomes a piece of our action research proposal. The document describes the context of your teaching: demographically, geographically, and philosophically. We had the option to produce something other than a document so I thought I would try a movie. I did not succeed and in the process of failing had to confront many of the demons of academic life that have haunted me in the past. That is a subject for a longer post. But, I went back to the document approach, got it done and moved on. Not always pretty but done, with honesty and at times integrity.
Moving forward, I want to remember this opportunity to fail and the successes and strength that I would not have found without it. Questions I will keep in mind: Where am I taking opportunities that are not guaranteed to succeed but are still worth doing? Is fear of failure getting in the way of my curiosity and desire to try new things?
Class: Leadership for School Change
In this class I had the opportunity to look at what it means to be a leader. To find opportunities for change within my organization and take first steps towards making them. I choose to look at POLS. The process of looking at POL's and what it means to be a leader yielded a lot of 'aha' moments.
I want to lead when I am driven by my convictions and vision. I don't feel the desire to lead for its own sake but I do believe that my voice can be powerful when it speaks for my heart and mind. Additionally, I've learned that my vision can and should change and that it is important to seek the counsel of others. My own vision for POLS evolved for the better when it was anchored in the feedback I solicited from the those around me.
My feelings about Presentations evolved is several ways. Originally I saw the POL as a place for assessment of content. Or at least a partially. I walked away from the process with a sense that the POL was not that all. It was perhaps a place for self assessment, but this is, I believe, too difficult - and perhaps unfair of us to ask - if other assessments have not yet been made. In short the outcome of the POL should not be used to assess, by others, the work that lead up to it The POL is a time for reflection, it is a celebration of and a reflection learning experiences and a time to look at what lesson have been learned that will help us in the future. All past experiences, have the potential to influence our future decisions and the goal of the POL should be to do that - to use past experiences to influence the future.
My goal of for next year is to be a part of conversations about where we are going with POL's in our own school. I would also like to adapt the writing I did on POL's so that it might be published. Questions i would like to keep in mind: What is the goal of a POL - whose goal is it? What role can I play in developing beautiful POL's in my organization? How can I help develop POL's that students are excited to present and panels are excited to hear?
Class: Equity, Diversity and Design Principles
In this class we looked at issues of equity and then looked at ways to create a more equitable classroom. I decided to look at the access that parents have to information about their children's performance in my classroom. We have a number of online resources for parents to get information about students' academic and emotional well being, but I wondered how many of our parents actually accessed those resources and what the hurdles were to accessing them. During our Student Lead Conferences I had all parents take a survey about how often and how use the resources that we had available to them were. I then had students run a workshop for their parents where they showed them how to sign up for automatic grade reports and updates from our class website. I also got a sense of what type of language barriers my students' parents were having in accessing this information.
This was useful, but the process yielded a more interesting understanding. Even though, barriers to information about performance exist. The biggest obstacle to meaningful interactions between parents and students related to academics was not access to the information but the the knowledge and skills to talk about that information.
How do you talk to your kids about school in a useful way? A question with many answers, I'm sure. That is the question I walked away with and that I want to address moving forward next year. I am also excited about looking at how this question dovetails with my question about POLS.
There is more: how did I get through it in ten minutes. But I am running out of time to share. Maybe soon.
Class: Learning Research and Practice
During this class we wrote something called a setting document which eventually becomes a piece of our action research proposal. The document describes the context of your teaching: demographically, geographically, and philosophically. We had the option to produce something other than a document so I thought I would try a movie. I did not succeed and in the process of failing had to confront many of the demons of academic life that have haunted me in the past. That is a subject for a longer post. But, I went back to the document approach, got it done and moved on. Not always pretty but done, with honesty and at times integrity.
Moving forward, I want to remember this opportunity to fail and the successes and strength that I would not have found without it. Questions I will keep in mind: Where am I taking opportunities that are not guaranteed to succeed but are still worth doing? Is fear of failure getting in the way of my curiosity and desire to try new things?
Class: Leadership for School Change
In this class I had the opportunity to look at what it means to be a leader. To find opportunities for change within my organization and take first steps towards making them. I choose to look at POLS. The process of looking at POL's and what it means to be a leader yielded a lot of 'aha' moments.
I want to lead when I am driven by my convictions and vision. I don't feel the desire to lead for its own sake but I do believe that my voice can be powerful when it speaks for my heart and mind. Additionally, I've learned that my vision can and should change and that it is important to seek the counsel of others. My own vision for POLS evolved for the better when it was anchored in the feedback I solicited from the those around me.
My feelings about Presentations evolved is several ways. Originally I saw the POL as a place for assessment of content. Or at least a partially. I walked away from the process with a sense that the POL was not that all. It was perhaps a place for self assessment, but this is, I believe, too difficult - and perhaps unfair of us to ask - if other assessments have not yet been made. In short the outcome of the POL should not be used to assess, by others, the work that lead up to it The POL is a time for reflection, it is a celebration of and a reflection learning experiences and a time to look at what lesson have been learned that will help us in the future. All past experiences, have the potential to influence our future decisions and the goal of the POL should be to do that - to use past experiences to influence the future.
My goal of for next year is to be a part of conversations about where we are going with POL's in our own school. I would also like to adapt the writing I did on POL's so that it might be published. Questions i would like to keep in mind: What is the goal of a POL - whose goal is it? What role can I play in developing beautiful POL's in my organization? How can I help develop POL's that students are excited to present and panels are excited to hear?
Class: Equity, Diversity and Design Principles
In this class we looked at issues of equity and then looked at ways to create a more equitable classroom. I decided to look at the access that parents have to information about their children's performance in my classroom. We have a number of online resources for parents to get information about students' academic and emotional well being, but I wondered how many of our parents actually accessed those resources and what the hurdles were to accessing them. During our Student Lead Conferences I had all parents take a survey about how often and how use the resources that we had available to them were. I then had students run a workshop for their parents where they showed them how to sign up for automatic grade reports and updates from our class website. I also got a sense of what type of language barriers my students' parents were having in accessing this information.
This was useful, but the process yielded a more interesting understanding. Even though, barriers to information about performance exist. The biggest obstacle to meaningful interactions between parents and students related to academics was not access to the information but the the knowledge and skills to talk about that information.
How do you talk to your kids about school in a useful way? A question with many answers, I'm sure. That is the question I walked away with and that I want to address moving forward next year. I am also excited about looking at how this question dovetails with my question about POLS.
There is more: how did I get through it in ten minutes. But I am running out of time to share. Maybe soon.