Summer...that magical time where I look forward to reading1, thinking, and relaxing...but in actuality it usually gets eaten up quickly by either Master's projects (last summer) or landscaping projects (this summer). Obviously my posting to this site has been drastically reduced the last couple months. There a few things floating around my head that I'll probably post on later this summer, but for now, here's a quick run down of what's going on:
Project Climate
I really don't fell that I've yet done the project justice in this space- either in explaining what it is or reflecting on how it all went the first time around. The more I think about it the more impressed I am with my students and how well it went down. There are lots of glaring issues to be fixed with the project- but despite all of those I'm extremely happy with the level of thinking, collaborating, and learning the students exhibited throughout the project. The trick this summer will be to figure out exactly how to tighten it up as well as implement it in three classes simultaneously (instead of just implementing it in one class this past spring). If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out the project overview, student blogs, and past posts on the project.
Master's Project
With the conclusion of the inaugural Project Climate I've also reached the end of my Master's program. I was able to write up some reflection and analysis of how Project Climate went (a topic of future posts) and officially submit my project and apply for graduation. My adviser has encouraged me to publish the project- if you know of any journals that would be a good fit for Project Climate please drop that knowledge in the comments.
I've really been inactive with Twitter this summer. With school over and my focus switched to projects around the home I just haven't felt like I've been in the edu-flow much lately. While I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing (it's good to occasionally take some time away from various aspects of our lives), I really do miss the camaraderie and knowledge sharing that goes on via Twitter. I have no thoughts of quitting Twitter for those of you who were worried (or hopeful) about that2. P.S. I'm @WillyB, if you're not following me and you'd like to. No pressure.
Standards Based Grading
My big education-related project for this summer is to take a good look at Standards Based Grading and try to figure out a way to use it in my classes. Since simply dropping the use of grades altogether isn't something that would be looked upon kindly, SBG seems to be a great way of really getting at what grades are supposed to measure: student learning. I've been saving up Shawn Cornally's SBG posts over at Think Thank Thunk as well as a few other resources for just this occasion. I'm always open for SBG-related resources and implementation ideas- If you've got 'em, dropping them in the comments would be greatly appreciated.
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It's not science-specific journal, but you may want to look at Alec Couros's in education journal for the tech/blogging/social media aspect of the project.
Damian´s last blog post ..The Ick Factor- Part II
Welcome to the SBG Borg. On twitter I know @fnoschese, @chrisludwig, @21stcenturychem are all science teachers working on SBG. Frank and I have been doing it now for a little bit so if you need anything let us know. I'm @jybuell and you've got my email from the comment if you need something less restricting than twitter.
@Damian: That journal did cross my mind & I am a fan of its openness & enjoy Alec Couros' work. I'll have to look into the feasibility of publishing there.
@Jason: Thanks for the list of SBG peeps. I planned on finding teachers interested or already implementing SBG when I got started on my classes, but it appears you've done some of the leg work for me already. I appreciate the support & will probably need it. I have a few things that I think I'll need help with- a major one will be how Project Climate fits in with SBG.
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