Summaries
Where Are We Headed? (3/17/23)
After reconnecting with "the why"of proficiency-based learning (slides 3-10) and the conceptual framework we're using to make adjustments to our approach to proficiency-based learning (slides 11-13), we revisited the three essential questions framing our learning with Bill for the remainder of this year and through next year (slide 15):
How has TUS approached proficiency-based teaching, learning, and reporting in the past…and why?
Where are we now & where do we want to be re: proficiency-based teaching, learning, and reporting?
How might I/we apply this year’s learning to enhance learning now and next school year?
We learned about a template the high school and middle school used to use to write curriculum in the past (PKL: Performance, KUD, Learning Progressions), and Bill introduced a PKL 2.0 Template, which TUS middle & high will use and adapt/refine throughout this work.
To illustrate the PKL 2.0 doc in action, Bill drafted and shared his thinking about the plan for the rest of this and next year in the PKL 2.0 template: How Great Can Learning Get? Designing & Describing Optimal Learning Conditions.
We then engaged with our Drafting Our Areas of Focus document, using this document as a helpful reference. This included choosing one of four books to receive and read this summer in prep for next year.
We also checked out the TUS Proficiency Learning Systems website, and forecasted that one of our tasks is to revise this site throughout next year to make sure it's an accurate reflection of our reality and aspirations.
Before wrapping up, everyone linked their own Tracking & Thinking about My/Our Learning into the Drafting Our Areas of Focus document.
The Archeological Dig & Our Why (11/11/22)
Mark began by welcoming Bill and forecasting his work with us this and next year.
Bill began by orchestrating an "archeological dig", asking us to "excavate" from our minds any recollections from our previous learning/experiences with him. Here are our teams' collective recollections. Bill then shared some slides that connected with a few of the key ideas and images that we had generated. The faculty nominated Joanna, Mary, and Tracey to join him in locating important and potentially helpful "artifacts" from the past that might help us put some pieces together as we move forward.
We learned about a Tappers & Listeners experiment & the expert blindspot--the strong tendency of experts to overestimate the quality and impact of their communication with novices (Heath brothers).
We compared this rubric & learning scale, considering with partners which tool would be more helpful to learners and why.
Bill had us each open, copy, share with him & get familiar with this Tracking & Thinking My/Our Learning document. (If this got lost in the shuffle, no problem; just open it now and follow the directions at the top of the document). Here are a few resources embedded within that document:
We ended with the Final Word, standing and circling up next to the stage. Bill invited us to share with the group--in just a sentence or two--one final & concise thought...about anything each of us had the notion to say.