#WensinkWay

Thanks to Ben George for the following documents.

Explanation of the WensinkWay
WensinkWay handout


Thanks to Scott Bley for these documents.
Scott's intro to the fight song
Scott's fight song explanation


The above documents will become a large part of our culture.  Take the time to read them.  Post them if you would like.  In the near future, we will be getting you some items connected to the #WensinkWay that you can post in your room.

Personalizing Learning Through Student Feedback

Thanks to Dustin Ruffell for providing the article linked below.

No matter what framework you employ in your classroom, student feedback is really important.  This article details the use of feedback from the students to the teachers connected to correcting assignments or tests. 

Here is a part of the article:
"I took my time reading their test corrections. I really tried to understand why the students missed the problem and also what part of the problem they got right.

I found this scrutiny to be time well spent. It helped me see that a lot of students understood exponential functions but were having trouble solving equations! I probably wouldn’t have caught this if I hadn’t gone through their tests again."

Questions to consider:

1.  Have you ever gotten excited enough to put an exclamation point at the end of a sentence about reading test corrections? 

2.  The author notes that "he would not have caught this if I hadn't gone through their tests again."  Have you ever identified a misunderstood concept on an assessment after reviewing student scores?  How did you address it? 

3.  What a great question, check out the student responses!  What can we learn from this?

Personalized Learning- Student Voice

Student voice is a major part of personalizing learning for our students.  Many of you provide students with great feedback regarding products they create for you.  I try to provide you with feedback through the evaluation process.  Allowing students to provide us feedback through activities designed to give us information that will allow us to shape instruction or other processes we use to better serve our students.  Here is a survey students take to provide information to their teachers about their learning and progress

YouthTruth is a non-profit that collects information from young people across an array of topics.  Here is a page describing some wide-ranging findings with regard to preparedness after high school.  Check out the resources at the bottom of the linked page. 

Questions To Consider:

1.  How do you provide students feedback?  How do you allow students to give you feedback?

2.  Think about the questions that would really make you think about your practices in your classroom, what would you ask students for their thoughts on?

3.  What questions could you ask students to help you personalize their learning?

Sharing A Resource: Staying Connected To A Personal Interest

As I was working on some coursework this week, I was directed to the Thomas B. Fordham Institute's website.  If you are not familiar with the Fordham Institute, the institute is designed to promote educational quality to all students in America based on research and advocacy.  Often times, this group will get involved in politics and especially with school of choice in Ohio.  I don't advocate their website as a resource for political reasons. 

Their website is catered to the state in which the search was conducted.  Here is a link to a publication they produce that provides articles relating to soon to be enacted, soon to be voted on, or new education based legislation in Ohio.

Here are some policy briefs for legislation that is pertinent to Ohio.

Here is the starting page for the institute's site for Ohio.

This is a bit different from most of my blogs.  I found the site interesting and full of information.  I would encourage you to bookmark it and search it for updates as you hear about them.


Questions To Consider:

1.  What resources, like this, would be beneficial to you?  Have you found any new resources that pertain to your teaching area or interest lately?
2.  Have you sought out new resources lately?  Have you read a good book lately?
3.  Pick one item that you want to find a new resource that connects to it...find it...

Good Luck