Good morning,
Thank you for taking the time to connect with me. As a staff, we had a lengthy
conversation yesterday (Tuesday) after school about Friday scheduling. Here are some
of the pieces:
DISCUSSION ITEMS:
Friday Scheduling A few givens/observations to acknowledge at the beginning of the discussion:
1. It is a new concept to parents and students given all their years of
'traditional schooling'. New means change and change needs time and commitment.
2. We do not know what next year's timetable/structures will look like. More from the
district to be expected soon.
3. There are pro's and con's to any method of helping students learn. This is no
different. Because it is a change, it will have support and it will have opposition. This is
particularly true in such a dramatic change to the learning environment. The change is
abundantly supported by research and practice across the globe…but it is new and it a
change. We need to honour all perspectives.
4. For classes like shops, fine arts, maths, and other unique offerings, classes are full
and constant all day long. For others, there are lower numbers because students believe
they are done. This is the crux of the Friday scheduling – Nobody is ever done learning.
The mark should not be the final piece but rather the indicator of what needs to be
improved. The learning that occurs after the assessment is invaluable and students need
to learn how to learn rather than just move on. They receive a mark and that is good
enough. Educationally wrong. One of our jobs is to show them that regardless of their
score/percentage/letter grade, the learning is not over on any subject. They need to
take ownership of getting deeper into the learning instead of being told what to do.
5. The majority of senior students (grades 10-12) are supporters of this for any of the
number of reasons that have been previously cited (time to complete work, support
when I need it, spend time working on what they want to work on, opportunities to try
something new or that they have not fit into their schedule i.e. fitness, art, collaboration
time, etc).
6. The majority of the concern of Fridays comes from our junior students and
their parents. Their reasons are simple. By and large, they get their work "done" albeit
to completion rather than necessarily understanding. One item that is becoming clearer
is that we need to do a better job and highlighting the benefit of extending their learning
beyond the mark. Our juniors may be too young to self-select at this point and that is a
point to consider. Another point to note is that many of the offerings are more seniorbased i.e. shop classes where a safety component is involved. What can we offer in
these areas to juniors?
What I have been pondering during semester one is how to do this day better? How do
we keep the flexibility, the passion-based selections, the unique offerings, AND create
learning opportunities for more?
I took the opportunity to look over one of your grandchildren presently enrolled at GPV,
and interestingly enough, she is one of the student types we are hoping to make
learning a different and better opportunity. She is strong academically. She has been
taught to give back the information to the teacher but not necessarily how to use the
information. One of the key theories behind life-long learning is that students need to
learn, how to use what they learn, and to learn instead of just repeating back
information for assessment. There is insurmountable evidence that shows that student
learning stops when a mark is given. That is way many schools and districts are actually
removing marks and letter grades altogether and instead are supply anecdotal
informative reports.
When I look at the report card, I noticed a comment that said, "...has even more to
give." This is exactly what we are hoping to accomplish with our Friday scheduling. We
are just at the infancy of some greater opportunities for students now in in their
futures. It is a change in practice and thinking for everyone but we believe it is worth
pursuing. I acknowledge that it is not perfect...yet. Also believe that as we learn more
about what works and what is needed, students coming out of GPV will be better
prepared for their futures.
Again, thank you for taking the time to connect with me.