Monday, September 15, 2014

Personalization at Farmington High School Part 4 - Flexible Learning Time



We are now entering our third week of classes and teachers will be posting their two week grade updates by 4:00 pm today.  We already have students who need some sort of additional academic support.  Some are missing work, some need to retest or take an assessment, and some just need more instructional time.  In secondary buildings the big question has always been "how do you provide additional support within a traditional bell schedule?"  In my mind the answer is you can't.  So going into this year we tweaked our schedule to created flexible learning times within the school day.  Time that students and staff can use to best support the individual student in their learning.  Students needing additional support can be assigned during this time (again, it is within the school day) while other students are free to use this time as they see fit (they are not required to be anywhere).  We used to have a period in the middle of our day that served the same purpose, but all students were required to attend.  It was difficult for the teacher to help the students who needed it and still supervise another 25+ students.  Here is a graphic of our schedule:


We are requiring students to attend the morning Academic Support the first threes weeks of our trimester.  This gives students a home base and gives them a single staff member who will be checking in with them on a weekly basis on the academic progress.  The PM Academic Support is flexible learning time for the first two weeks of the trimester.  Students can work during this time in the building, meet with teachers, or leave the building if they chose.  Beginning the third week we are assigning students to meet with individual teachers during this time (that starts today!!).  Students are notified by their AM Academic Support teacher, the classroom teacher requesting them, and their parents get a notification.  Failure to show up with be treated like an unexcused absence.

When we met with our students at the beginning of the year we used the acronym TEA to talk about our exceptions.  


T - Time
E - Effort
A - Academic Support

We, as a school, are responsible for the Time (providing students as much time as they need to learn) and Academic Support (reason behind the schedule tweak) and students are responsible for the Effort.

The more our students work, the more control they will have over their time and how they use it.  In my mind this quote from Doug Reeves sums it all up "Proficiency is Freedom."

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Personalization at Farmington High School Part 3 - Self-Paced






The flipped delivery model is a great way for teachers to look at using their time differently in the classroom.  Being able to support students when they need it most is one of the most important jobs of any teacher.  The idea of watching the direct instruction outside of class and using classroom time to meet with groups/individuals is a powerful one.  But the truth is that if the class continues at the same pace for all students, the daily video has very little meaning to most of the students watching it.  Some may beyond that topic and others may not be ready for it.  As our teachers reflected on our flipped delivery they kept asking the same questions:

  • Why do all students have to watch the same video on the same day?
  • Why do students have to watch the video at home?
  • Do students have to be in the classroom to learn?
  • Does direct instruction still have a place in the classroom?
These questions ultimately lead us to changing our thinking around time and learning.  The current model in schools is that time is the constant (teachers follow a prescribed pace for any given class) and learning is the variable (at any given time student may or may not have learned the given topic, regardless the class is moving on).  We decided to flip (pun intended) this thinking to learning should be the constant (don't move on until proficient) and time should be the variable (each student may need a different amount of time to reach proficiency).  

We now have self-paced classes in Intermediate Algebra, Chemistry, Earth Science, and US History.  Students are given a general course calendar to give them an idea of about where they should be, but ultimately students decide what they will do when.  Our classes start by giving student freedom, but we do become more directive in what they do when if they begin to fall farther behind.

The two questions we get the most are:  What happens if they don't finish before the end of the trimester and what happens if they finish early?  Well if a student does not finish then the teacher and the student make a plan to complete the missing learning targets.  This may include time before or after school or work during our 25 minute advisory period.  These students have not failed the class, they are just not done . . . yet.  Night school or summer school takes on a different look for these students - instead of retaking the entire class they finish the learning targets they need to complete.

What about the students who finish early?  Well, we talk to these students and see how they would like to use their time.  Maybe they do more math or science (depending on spark), maybe they spend the time preparing for another class, maybe they spend the time working on a different area of interest - whatever it is the student has voice in how they will use their time.

Teachers who have moved from flipped to self-paced have reported an increase in student engagement and persistence.  Students have choice in how they use their time and know that one way or another they will need to be proficient in all the learning targets to complete the class.  Homework is no more - it is just work that needs to be completed.  They can do their work early or late - it just needs to be completed!!  

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Personalization at Farmington High School Part 2 - Using Our Time Differently

Screen Shot 2014-08-07 at 2.55.12 PM.png
Over the past 18 months we have learned that if we are truly going to personalize for each student we needed to look at how we use our time differently.  High schools are very rigid places.  They run on a bell schedule and there is very little deviation from the daily schedule.  Students move throughout the day based on the clock.  It makes no difference how much time they actually needed to learn.  I was at a conference where another administrator actually boasted at how efficient high schools are at moving students around.  It struck me as an odd statement - if we know each learner is different, how can we meet those individual needs if we base our schedule on efficiency??  The answer is we can't.

In the spring of 2013, we made the decision to allow teachers to release students from their who met proficiency criteria to work independently - that is right, they could leave the room and work where ever they wanted in the building.  This freed up 15-20 minutes for teachers to work with individuals or small groups of students who needed support when they needed the support the most.  We continued to to tweak this "self-directed learning time" during the 2013-14 school year and were very happy with the results.  We found time to support students when they were learning and also allowed students to gain some control over how they used their time to support their own learning.

Moving into the 2014-15 school year we had to adjust our advisory period to implement Ramp Up to Readiness.  Through this process we again looked at how we could better use our time to support students in their learning and allow students to have of say in how they use their time during the school day.  We created seven different Academic Support times throughout the week.  There are four slots in the morning (before 1st hour) and three slots in the afternoon (after 5th hour).  Every student has been assigned to an Academic Support class.  Students will report to the morning Academic Support for the first three weeks of each trimester.  After the first three weeks, students will report each Monday.  During this time students in need of additional support with be assigned to their content classroom teacher for the remainder of that week.  The student and the teacher will come up with a plan of how to best support the student using the Academic Support times.  Students not in need of additional support will be able to use the Academic Support time to best support their own learning.  Students will be able to work independently, collaborate with other students, and meet with teachers.

We are excited about this schedule tweak.  We feel we will better be able to support students when they need it and students will be able to practice time management skills and truly begin to take some ownership for their learning.  Neither of these should happen for the first time when a student steps onto a postsecondary school - which is exactly what happens for most high school students.

Monday, September 1, 2014

Personalization at Farmington High School Part 1 - What does personalization look like?





Farmington High School's strategic plan is focused on "creating customized/personalized, nurturing learning environments through the purposeful integration of leading-edge technology and educational practices." Over the last 18 months the staff at FHS has worked hard to integrate elements of personalization into every class and "school" does look different than it did when we began this journey in December of 2012.

To help clarify what personalization may look like in classrooms at FHS, we have identified some indicators of personalization (using the work of Jim Rickabaugh).  We need to remember personalization is more than an instructional strategy - it is a whole different way of thinking.  Personalization is about engaging the learner differently.  It is moving from a culture of compliance to a culture of independence.  Teaching is no longer what we do to students, but the focus is on learning with the students.  Personalization not only gives the students the academic knowledge they need to be successful after high school, but they also practice the skills of being an independent learner - someone who can problem solve and advocate for themselves.  The traditional high school model did not allow students to practice these skills.  In our conversations with postsecondary institutions and business leaders we are finding that these skills are just as important as the academic knowledge to the success of a student once they leave FHS.  We want students to have the opportunity to practice these skills of independence before they graduate - the first time they are asked to be independent learners should not be the first day they are on a postsecondary campus or on the job site.

Indicators of personalization:

  • Purposeful Learning
    • Learning relates to students goals and not classroom compliance
  • Learner Efficacy
      • Students equate effort with quality
      • Growth mindset in students
      • Students persist when faced with challenges
  • Student Ownership of Learning
    • Learning is driven by purpose
    • Student pride in work
  • Flexible Pace
    • Students progress by showing proficiency
  • Learner Voice Infused
    • Student perspective is considered when designing lessons and activities
  • Learner Choice Presented
    • Students have choice in what they learn and how they will show their learning
  • Space for Learning Flexibility
    • Learning space versus teaching space
  • Commitment Focus vs. Compliance Focus
    • Students committed to achieving their goals
    • Learning is important work and worth doing well
  • Collaboration
    • Students working and supporting each other
    • Learning is not about competition
  • Technology Supported
    • Purposeful use of technology
    • Technology allows for better use of student and teacher time
    • Learning can take place anywhere, anytime
  • Growing Learning Independence
    • Fostering less dependence on the teacher
    • Teachers becomes more of a guide as student take ownership for their own learning
    • Students have more strategies for solving problems than just asking the teacher