SCP Testimonials 4/5
On Perseverance and Self-Efficacy, Adaptability and Self-Awareness, and College and Career Readiness
On Perseverance and Self-Efficacy | Students reflect on the extent to which this course invites them to take risks, overcome obstacles, and forge connections between hard work and success.
On Adaptability and Self-Awareness | Students reflect on the extent to which they are given clear goals and actionable feedback that help them adapt to academic and social/emotional challenges.
On College and Career Readiness | Students reflect on how this course instills in them the skills, traits, and attributes they know they will need for college and a 21st-century career.
More on Perseverance and Self-Efficacy
One bit of misinformation around this makerspace is the conflation of flexibility with a lack of structure. There are deadlines, and all of them are linked to traditional work — writing, reading, annotating, etc. — but the assessment and instructional systems allow for student choice. Here is a student on this:
[This course] challenges me because I am a procrastinator and unless forced by strict deadlines I won't do something but with the GAP scores I have come to realize that I have been changing my habits ever so slightly and that hopefully I will have been able to become very self efficient and responsible for my work.
These responses touch again and again on the idea of “working at [a student’s] own pace,” which is the only logical result of a skill-based, growth-oriented approach.
More on Adaptability and Self-Awareness
Another bit of misinformation concerns feedback, which works differently — but just as effectively — as it would in a non-makerspace classroom. Here is one student putting it succinctly:
If you want direct feedback, you have to ask for it. Sure, you can receive feedback in the form of your quarter grade and for some that may be enough, but it isn’t for me. So I ask for feedback. And when I ask for direct feedback, I get it. It’s that easy, and that simple.
You’ll see students talking about the levels of the course — what is described in this post as essentially two different courses — and the responsiveness of the instructional and feedback elements. It’s a different sort of accountability. Here are telling quotations:
"In this class, we are given super clear goals. Do as much as you want, as long as you are okay with the grade that follows."
"It challenges me, without feeling like 'busy work' or pointless assignments. Everything that we are given is clear, if you take the time to care and divulge into the material."
"The GAP scores in and of themselves are extremely clear goals. There are set parameters for each tier and score, with the guidelines and necessary achievements clearly laid out for us."
More on College and Career Readiness
The point of all these systems, and the point of the makerspace itself, is to prepare students for their futures. As one of these responses puts it:
The first and overarching goal that the course has for us is college readiness. Our lives will not consist of facts being poured out for us in order to be memorized. We will need to adapt, solve problems and learn from our mistakes. The grade abatement in the class allows us to reflect on what we have learned and improve. The collaborative environment allows students to put their minds together as one in order to achieve a common goal. There is no other class that has been more dedicated to preparing us for college and our life ahead.
It is easy to look at the unconventional aspects of this course and wonder if it works, but as another student here suggests, these approaches should be the conventional. Once we look into what colleges and careers truly value, the only logical shift is toward new forms of instruction, assessment, and feedback.