A win

Last week, when we got back from Christmas vacation, I did a debriefing activity with my students(Day 39 blog).  They had taken their Ch5 test right before vacation and sadly I had about 7 Ds & Fs total in each class.  I made up a Learning Well poster(Day 37 blog) and taught it to my class and put it up in the front.  Later in the week, I made up a Learning from mistakes poster(Day 41 blog) and taught it again to my classes and put it up on the wall in the front of my class.

On Day 39 blog I talked about a student that was frustrated with her performance on the Ch 5 test.  She wrote me in her debrief that she felt like she was out of options.  She wasn't learning well enough and it was really impacting her.  I read those debriefs Monday night and have used them to help me individualize my strategies but to also collectively make improvements.

I'll call her Jane.  I talked to Jane one on one before and after class several times this week trying to encourage, motivate and challenge her to improve in her Heart and Head issues(see Posters) and in her learning(posters I made up and taught blogs 37 and 41).  Friday I gave a quiz in my Lab classes and Jane got a perfect score!!  While I was grading it I noticed that there were eraser marks on her last question.  Jane had double checked it and found that she had the wrong answer.  Then Jane had gone back over her work and found her mistake.  Then Jane had fixed her mistake and redone the problem and then double checked it again to make sure she was right.

After I finished looking at her quiz, I called her up to my desk to tell her the score she got.  She was very happy.  To see the look on her face, especially compared to the words of hopelessness she had written earlier that week, it was priceless.  Then I asked her about the last question and why there were eraser marks... I wanted to let her tell me what she had done.  I already knew... I just wanted to give her the chance to talk to me about how she behaved while taking the quiz.  This had been one of my focus points for the week,"I am right and I know I am right."  Jane proudly explained that when she double checked her last answer she realized it was wrong.  She told me how she then went back and looked over her work and found her mistake and redid the problem and then double checked it again and knew she was right.

She was so proud of herself and I was so happy for her.  IT WAS SO COOL!!

The bell rang and she and the others walked out of my room and I sat there, at my desk, with such a feeling of excitement, thankfulness and hope.  I want to keep looking for ways to help all of my students collectively and also individually.  This feels like a brand new idea to me.  In the past I have focused on doing one or the other.  On Friday, I realized that I can do both on the same day.  WOW!

Day 42