My Transformative Education Strategies for 2023-2024
Reimagined Schools is Back!
Welcome back to a new school year, filled with the promise of transformative education strategies! There’s something magical about the start of school, don’t you think?
It’s a time filled with promise, boundless energy, and the eager faces of our students. I’ll admit, I’m not frustrated, exhausted, or drowning in a sea of ungraded papers…yet. I’m fully aware those moments will come, but for now, I’m soaking in this moment of enthusiasm!
This summer, while spending cherished time with family and friends, I also managed to make great progress on my follow-up to “Going Gradeless.” Tentatively titled “The Learning Progression Model: Transformative Assessment in Action,” I’ve still got work to do, but I’m aiming to have it published by this time next year. I couldn’t be more thrilled about this endeavor! It’s a culmination of all the updates we’ve been discussing on the blog, coupled with some fresh ideas that have been brewing. Please send me your questions and I’ll try to make sure they get answered!
In this blog post, I’d like to give you a sneak peek into what I’ll be focusing on this year, including what I hope to be transformative education strategies.
Lessons Learned: A Recap
At the close of the previous school year, I shared a post called “Lessons My Students Taught Me,” in which I outlined five challenges I encountered:
- Achievement levels plateaued from February to April.
- A lack of student agency.
- Students arriving unprepared for class.
- Struggles with content mastery checkpoints, which focus on vocabulary.
- Inconsistent performance on the last unit test.
As of my last update in July, I had been mulling over potential solutions for these issues, pondering how to fine-tune my teaching approach.
Fostering Creativity
It’s become clear to me that if we want our students to become independent thinkers and advocates for themselves, they need to understand the relevance of their education. We must show them a path that resonates with their aspirations. Our current overly structured schooling, while producing polite students, often stifles creativity and independent thinking. I’ve dedicated my summer to researching and writing about this topic, and I’ll be rolling out a series of posts on creativity starting in October, all centered around transformative education strategies.
Adapting to Advanced Placement
This year, I’m excited to be teaching Advanced Placement Physics once more. While my Learning Progression Model (LPM) has been a success in other classes, AP Physics presents unique challenges. I’ll be sharing my insights and adjustments in an upcoming blog post, with regular updates throughout the year.
Domain-Relevant Knowledge
Students cannot apply information if they don’t know it. While LPM focuses on skills, content is absolutely essential. Foundationally, students must have fluency with Big Ideas, terminology and other domain-specific knowledge.
Last year, this proved to be a stumbling block for many students in both honors and regular Physics courses. To address this, I plan to reduce the number of formal lab reports and instead incorporate more vocabulary practice into class time. I believe that by teaching various strategies and metacognitive skills, I can help students conquer this challenge. I will be reflecting on our progress in this area.
Inspiring Future STEM Leaders
At the end of last year, I made a big (and positive) change to the learning progression for the Engineering Design Cycle. I described this in “Lessons My Students Taught Me,” if you’d like the details. From the beginning of the year, I will be able to help students through the process, and hopefully have them make better progress on that Learning Progression.
Did you know that “twenty-eight percent of young women report aspiring to a STEM career compared to 65% of young men?” (Source: Student Research Foundation). To promote STEM careers among young women, I’m making changes to our Engineering Design Cycle, a transformative education strategy. In order to encourage more young women to study science and engineering, research shows that females need to see how it helps improve the lives of others. In comparison to men, women tend to show greater interest in STEM professions that apply scientific innovations to offer societal solutions and make a difference in people’s lives (Diekman et al., 2017; Shealy et al. 2016; Silbey, 2016). By integrating social issues into our projects, such as shifting the focus from building a car to creating an “ambulance,” I would like to better illustrate the real-world impact of science and engineering. This is a small but significant step toward closing the gender gap in STEM fields.
Enhancing Student Agency
To boost both assignment completion and student agency, I’ve adopted a new platform called gotLearning. This online portfolio allows students to track their own growth over time, a valuable tool for fostering accountability and independence.
I think it will also help me to address the non-academic skills, such as coming prepared to class, actively engaging in all independent learning opportunities, and tracking progress. All of these (and more) support student success but should not be graded. I’ll delve deeper into this in a future post.
Rethinking Grade Reporting
While our mission has always been to go “gradeless,” I’m aware that introducing such a radical change all at once can be overwhelming for students and parents. Therefore, I’ve decided to transition gradually, posting progress reports at the end of each unit, as part of our transformative educational approach. This will help everyone acclimate to the Learning Progression Model, easing the transition.
A Summer of Learning
During the summer, I attended the REcharge Academy, a professional development program focused on offshore wind energy. It was a fantastic experience that I’m eager to incorporate into my curriculum. This opportunity wasn’t limited to physics teachers; it spanned various educational sectors, from curriculum development to guidance, both formal and informal education, from Kindergarten through college. I have a post nearly completed; it should be up in two weeks or so.
Join ReimaginedSchools This Year
As the school year unfolds, I plan to publish one blog post per week, or as close to it as possible. Topics will range from very specific to more general, from practical to theoretical.
I’d love it if you would join me on my journey! If you haven’t already, consider signing up for my newsletter to stay in the loop. I encourage you to engage in a dialogue with me by posting your comments and questions, whether by email or directly in the blog comments.
Thank you for being part of this exciting journey. Let’s make the 2023-2024 school year one filled with growth, innovation, and inspiration for our students!
References
Diekman, A. B., Steinberg, M., Brown, E. R., Belanger, A. L., & Clark, E. K. (2017). A goal congruity model of role entry, engagement, and exit: Understanding communal goal processes in STEM gender gaps. Personality and Social Psychological Review, 21(2), 142–175.
NSF INCLUDES. (2021). Evidence-based Strategies for Attracting and Retaining Girls and Women in STEM. Retrieved September 3, 2023, from https://ngcproject.org/resources/exemplary-practices-engaging-girls-stem.
Shealy, T., Valdes-Vasquez, R., Klotz, L., Potvin, G., Godwin, A., Cribbs, J., & Hazari, Z. (2016). Career outcome expectations related to sustainability among students intending to major in civil engineering. Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, 142(1), 1–9.
Silbey, S. S. (2016). Why do so many women who study engineering leave the field? Harvard Business Review.
