Now That’s What I Call Achievement!
In a recent post, I wrote about Jacob Fialkoff singing the national anthem, unrehearsed and before a large audience, as an example of an achievement that made Jacob aware of both his capabilities and possibilities. I then recommended that we replace standardized tests with that kind of opportunity for all students and, by doing so, redefine student achievement.
In this post, I want to do more than suggest; I want to offer a blueprint for redefining student achievement. The blueprint is a set of criteria to assess high school students at the conclusion of a course. It begins with setting goals for the development of the students as learners and thinkers and then giving them the strategies for developing in the ways we determined are best for them and then, at the end of the course, seeing if they can pull it all together and create something new with both those strategies we have taught them and the content we have explored. A surefire result of what the students produce is that they amaze us, just as Jacob amazed his audience.
An excellent veteran teacher ran into my office after administering his first exams with that set of criteria and exuberantly proclaimed, “I can’t believe CONTINUE READING: Now That’s What I Call Achievement! | Real Learning CT
