When walking the halls of HMS, there is learning taking place everywhere.  As I approached the HMS ByDesign 8 classrooms, I could see Mrs. Fulk visiting with a small group of students.  It didn't take long to understand the purpose of this small group.  

Each student had their pathway tracker and through dicussions and evidence, students marked where they were at in the learning.  Mrs. Fulk was able to gather so much information what the students knew about the content.  The small group environment provided a safe place for students to share what they knew and what information they still did not understand. Everything was backed up with evidence over the past couple weeks.

Mrs. Fulk and the students found great value in this time and the impact this will have in upcoming weeks.

Kelly Dale took on the task of creating an environment where students would break down their learning and track their progress throughout the year.  At the very beginning of the year, Kelly had students using notebooks to record their notes and other writing examples. It seemed like a perfect fit for the tracking sheets to be included within their notebooks.  Version 1 of the tracking sheets included a target and the necessary skills for each success criteria. The highlighted skills would be an indication of what learning would be taking place at that time of year. 

Kelly first started with modeling how the students would score. She had a number of examples to help the class calibrate what each ring of the target represented. In my observations, the time she spent getting students to understand what each level meant (requiring evidence), set this process up for success. Students were able to identify the various success criteria, within their own writing. This evidence would be shown to Kelly during her one-on-one conferencing.

Like many things, challenges starting show themselves as the students began to use the documents to the fullest. First, the management of all the papers and having students glue them into their notebook. Second, the students wanted a way to link their electronic documents as evidence. With this feedback, the electronic version was created.  Students have already found this version a little easier to navigate and with the use of Google Classroom, Kelly can peek in on student progress. Listening in on the conferencing, students are proud to show their evidence, know the skill being highlighted, and are accurate in indicating their level of proficiency. 

Teacher Reflection:

When I asked Scott to help me create something for Visible Learning, I didn’t expect we would get this far but I’m so happy with the results. The most challenging part was breaking down every single skill from the Missouri Learning Standards and putting them into “I can” statements. 

I started this with the Advanced ELA 7 students and they have been great at giving feedback and it has been a crucial part of how this tracking sheet came to be. At the start of the year I felt so far behind because we were spending weeks working on giving feedback, conferencing, and embedding the learning habits into class. All of that front work has impacted the way classes have operated for the better. Students conference with one another and give feedback without me prompting. When I grade, students pull up their own tracking sheet and we talk through their learning and the process together. They have ownership of their learning and the expectations are clear.  

Student Reflection/ Comments:

“I do like the system a lot because it keeps me organized and is easy to understand when you know how it works. I like having the Success Criteria because it explains what the overall goal is.” Bryson C. 

“I like it. It helps me stay organized better. I like the online better than the notebooks because it’s easy to put in the information. The “I can statements” help because I see where I’m at and if I’m Mastery or Nearing Mastery. I like the Mastery wall because I can see examples and what I need to include in mind.” Alyssa N.