One big issue that I assume most teachers have is to make sure every student is staying on track with their own learning process. Particularly in those schools where differentiation can't be done so well – because of the number of students in one classroom or any other factors that make it hard to have different activities for different students.
So a really good idea that I've seen being done at Chickering was the “Catch up” time. At the end of the day, before leaving school, students and teacher would have a moment to catch up on what they had been doing that day. That meant that students that had delayed work or that had had difficulty in a specific task could now go over it again, with or without the teacher's help depending on how they were organized that day.
While some students caught up on their delayed work, others were sitting with the teacher and revising a specific topic and others could even be reading, writing or doing whatever they thought was something they needed to work on. This could be done individually, together with the teacher or with a friend/classmate.
And I think this is such a good idea in so many levels! First, you get to go over topics where you, as a student, are struggling a little bit more. You are also given the responsibility of looking at all the work you've done and evaluate whether you need to work harder on something or not. With this responsibility comes also the autonomy that you are given and that you need in order to assess your own difficulties and strengths. And last but not least it gives the teacher an opportunity to see each student's progress, each student's struggles and each student's successes.
In the end you get a community (teacher and students) who are much more aware of their teaching and learning process, which can only lead to changes for the better and in consequence increasing progress!
So a really good idea that I've seen being done at Chickering was the “Catch up” time. At the end of the day, before leaving school, students and teacher would have a moment to catch up on what they had been doing that day. That meant that students that had delayed work or that had had difficulty in a specific task could now go over it again, with or without the teacher's help depending on how they were organized that day.
While some students caught up on their delayed work, others were sitting with the teacher and revising a specific topic and others could even be reading, writing or doing whatever they thought was something they needed to work on. This could be done individually, together with the teacher or with a friend/classmate.
And I think this is such a good idea in so many levels! First, you get to go over topics where you, as a student, are struggling a little bit more. You are also given the responsibility of looking at all the work you've done and evaluate whether you need to work harder on something or not. With this responsibility comes also the autonomy that you are given and that you need in order to assess your own difficulties and strengths. And last but not least it gives the teacher an opportunity to see each student's progress, each student's struggles and each student's successes.
In the end you get a community (teacher and students) who are much more aware of their teaching and learning process, which can only lead to changes for the better and in consequence increasing progress!