I quickly noticed that this group of students did not come equipped with the skills sixth grade students traditionally have. I approached my instructional coach with my concerns. After analyzing the data, we realized that a large majority of our sixth grade student population were two grade levels or more below grade level. We had students ranging from 1st grade ability to 10 grade ability. I knew traditional instruction would not work for many students.
I proposed to my instructional coach a wild idea: a classroom that ran on progressive stations. My idea was that students would start with a personalized station and essentially build their way up to more challenging skills and tasks. I wasn’t sure how I would accomplish this or what it would need to look like but I knew I wanted to try. That’s when I learned about a new model of teaching called Modern Classroom. After taking the free training and determining it was something I believed in, I quickly got to work implementing small parts of Modern Classroom teaching.
The idea behind Modern Classroom is that students work through self-paced content modules. The videos are self-created. I record mine on Screencastify. I upload my videos to Edpuzzle and embed questions that help students monitor their thinking. Once students are finished viewing the content video, they work on practice problems independently or with a partner. Next, students confer with me for feedback on their strengths and areas for growth. Students then complete a lesson check on their own as a formative assessment and confer with me again. If students have mastered the concept the move onto the next lesson. If students have not mastered the concept, I pull them in for a one-on-one reteach. Then, they complete a new set of problems to demonstrate mastery. Students work at different paces so naturally I have students who take more time and students who move more quickly.
