Hello! I chose to centre my PIP around the quarter system. I have created this website to summarize some of the findings that came out of academic research, personal experience, student surveys and interviews with fellow teaching staff that have used the quarter model prior to covid. Some of this research could also be used in school systems that do not follow a quartered model.
How can student engagement and success be improved in a quartered model?
Ongoing- adding information to a Google site
October 30- Pip proposal submitted
Throughout October and November- Academic research and contacting people
End of October- Quarter 1 survey data collected for both school and class
November 13- Quarter 2 initial school and class data
End of November- Quarter 2 survey data collected for both school and class
November 20-25- Finalize Google Site
December 4- PIP presentations
The school that I am doing my final practicum at decided to switch to a quartered model. This school was already considering providing quartered classes as an option for students, but decided to fully switch all classes over to a quartered delivery in order to allow for better cohorting during the covid-19 pandemic. This means that instead of having four courses that run over the course of a semester, students have two courses that run for around two months instead (a quarter). This in turn has doubled the length of each class.
Since this is the first time that our school has ever had a quarter system, it has been quite the learning experience for both the students and the teachers. Therefore, I decided to focus my research on looking into a quartered model. It will include a bit of background on the quartered model and look at some of the advantages and disadvantages. However, the key part will be some of the short term and long term ideas that could be implemented to help ensure that students are more engaged and successful in these longer, faster paced classes.
The goal will be to develop a website summarizing my findings so that both myself and other teachers at my school can consider some strategies that may help students learn better in a new, quartered model. These strategies are not fully trialled options, and they may not work for every teacher or for every class. They aim to provide ideas that could be considered and tried, as well as to encourage different ways of thinking about teaching in a quartered model.