Rubrics Progress & More Planning

Below is a link to the rough draft rubrics. Feel free to type into your assigned rubric (you can use the "Visual Communication" one as a template). If you would rather, you can send the information you want included/evaluated to Nathan and he will try to format it for you.

Rough Draft Rubrics 

This Friday's meeting will involve:

1) Janna shares her story!
2) A brief overview of where we go from here (rubrics & otherwise)
3) Curriculum Design for next year (**Student-centered, “What, So What and Now What?” and “Biblical Thinking”)
4) Collaborate to build/revise curriculum
5) Share earliest ideas for group feedback
6) Pray/Sing

**Student-Centered learning/teaching as described in the Tech Integration Guide:
 

1.   Student Learning: Students should be learning how to learn and should have a progressively self-driven and self directed learning process. Progress happens when students develop skills (biblical thinking, problem solving, creating, collaborating, speaking, etc.), make genuine choices (e.g. choosing the process or topic of exploration), present to authentic audiences, and engage in real-world learning experiences/application.

2.   Teacher Practice: To dovetail with the move toward student-centered learning, the teacher’s role should be transitioning from Gatekeeper of Knowledge to Coach, from Sage on the Stage to Guide on the Side. Progress in this idea will show less centralized learning.

Important end-of-the-year dates:
Tuesday, May 27 - finish all grading (on your own)
May 28-29 - full work days together
Friday, May 30 - though not contractually bound, I will request a small stipend for us to continue working together (if our team agrees).

 
 

We decided on the Learning Skills today!

* biblical thinking (CMR & CFR)
* critical thinking (reason & research)
* communication (written, spoken & visual)
* collaboration

We did not include effort/participation as a skill. We also found that technology itself was not so much a skill as the means to practice the skills. 

Additionally, we further defined what "culture creation" might mean: a freshmen orientation that will include both ethos building (relationship/environment/expectations/student voices) as well as skill building (introductions to the 4 skills above). The culture creation will be part of our 1-2 week transition program that will set the stage for learning together all year long.

Our team members also chose the learning skills for which they will develop rubrics.

* biblical thinking (Jeremy & the other new Bible teacher)
* critical thinking (Christine & Nathan)
* communication
  verbal (Vito & Matt)
  visual (Nathan)
  writing (Janna & Josh) 
* collaboration (Grant & Edgar)

As we get ready to build our own rubrics, it might be a helpful starting point to see how another school uses them. Most of the rubric examples (at the link below) are from New Tech High - the "effort" rubric is from Hans' school (the gentleman who ran the in-service today).

LINK TO RUBRICS FOLDER

LINK TO RUBRICS RESOURCE

our google doc
our shared folder

1. Boil Down the Boiled Down List:

(this represents people’s top 4-7, removing duplicates, and combining ideas)

students should be able to:

* collaborate productively in co-operative learning groups.

* understand and apply Scripture (around core biblical truths).

* reason (inductive & deductive), problem solve, and support/prove ideas.

* research, analyze, and cite source materials properly.

* present and communicate (verbally, visually, and in writing).

* evaluate their own work and their peers’, editing and revising for improvement.

* set goals, act responsibility, self-advocate and manage time.

* take notes and develop organization/study skills.

* use technology well (academically and ethically).

* live by ethical code in community (marked by respect, help, care, honesty, self-control, etc.)

YOUR GOAL: Choose the Wisdom Skills for next year by:

- grouping them whenever appropriate.

- identifying ones that are measurable.

- getting rid of ones that don’t seem to fit - or would be more fitting for culture creation.

- adding a new skill if we have a gap.

NOTE: It may be helpful to consider if any of the above skills are more closely related to culture creation (freshmen student orientation) - not necessarily for rubric creation.




 2. Buy them Back!
(everything good belongs to God)

As we think biblically about these skills, questions to consider:

a. Where/how do we see these skills in Scripture (either in the narrative, law, poetry, etc.)?
b. How do we see God demonstrate and/or give these skills to people for learning?
c. How/why should we “buy back” these skills and give Him the credit for them?




3. Evaluating Rubrics

We have shared the links to the rubrics that New Tech High uses for their "Learning Outcomes/Skills." Take some time to look at theirs and think about how our rubrics might look different - or the same. Let's figure out what we like and what we do not about their approach/rubrics.




4. Making Our Own

Well. Which rubric(s) do you want to help to shape? And what other teachers do you think we should ask to help us? Game on. Let's go play.

Thinking Biblically? Hmmmm..

OUR GOOGLE DOC

* Josh shared a testimony of how God (re)captured his heart. He also shared the joyful news that Kristen is pregnant as well as the difficulties of last year that make this announcement so sweet! Remember to pray for Josh, Kristen, Espen, and the new baby God is forming.

* CFR (Creation, Fall Redemption) gives us and our students a platform to process any idea, thing, event, etc. as connected with the Scripture story. God created everything, and it's all good. But in the Fall, everything is messed up, broken, and frustrated (not as it should be). Therefore, everything and everyone stands in need of redemption - Christ is the Redeemer, and He invites us to participate in redemption. We will explore at a later time how you can integrate this thinking/language into your curriculum - and how this can translate into "Now What" opportunities.

* CMR (Context, Meaning, Response) gives us and our students a basic framework to think about and apply the Bible more clearly. Students (and adults) regularly take/use verses out of context. But when considering any verse, looking at surrounding verses, the entire chapter, the whole book, and even the whole of Scripture can help shed light on what the verse means. Context also includes historical context. Context helps us understand the meaning of a verse or passage. In exploring meaning, we must be concerned with what God himself means, not with "what this means to me" or "what I want the text to mean." We may also not know what certain words mean, and when this is the case, we may sometimes need look up specific language. Scripture invites response and application - God calls people to be doers of the word and not just hearers. For any given passage, we discover truths through which the Holy Spirit calls us to action (worship of God for who we see him to be) through obedience, loving others, thanksgiving, requests, confession, repentance, etc.) 

* We used CMR in small groups, processing some Scriptures related to gaining/learning wisdom and knowledge. We discovered that there might not be easy answers - my group of 4 got to a question that didn't have an easy answer. It was a verse originally written to slaves, so to what degree can we just take that principle and apply it to our own lives? Great question! And hopefully, one of the things that will happen as we (and students) use CMR is that there will be great questions! Some won't have great answers, and that is okay! We want them thinking deeply in all areas, including the Bible, and sometimes being in a place of unresolved tension will bring about the desire to learn more. Asking great questions is part of learning how to learn. 

* Before we identify wisdom skills (one of which is surely handling His Word of Truth well), we want a solid foundation from which we think and build. Christ himself is this chief cornerstone - our foundation - the Truth. We want to honor Him and keep Him central in all our planning. "...in all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight?" 

Hmmm...is that Bible quote in context?

Next meeting preview: 
Redeeming 21st Century Learning Skills

As we pursue community,

“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;” James 1:19

”You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Mark 12:31

WE WILL:

* start/end on time and with prayer (honoring the LORD and one another).

* PLAN (Participate fully, Listen, Ask questions, Not monopolize).

* share, consider, and critique ideas with our team (being hard on ideas and soft on people).

* talk positively about all team members at all times and speak the truth in love.
* pursue reconciliation and forgiveness (living at peace with everyone).

Team Agenda, February 18th

Intro: the good work ahead.

google doc

Topic #1 - Our Team (small group problem solving)

• Face it, great communication is hard. We all have baggage and clumsiness in our ways of relating. What obstacles have you seen/experienced that get in the way of personal and professional communication; and what does God (in His Word) have to say about this?
• Many teaching teams establish protocols and principles for ways they will relate/communicate. How should Scripture (the law, the narrative, and/or the triune nature of God) shape and inform our vision for right relationship/collaboration together?
• While we do not need to complete our "ways of relating” protocols today, as you hear people share ideas, what can we all agree is essential to our group’s joy and thriving? Can we start drafting a written vision for our team?

Topic #2 – Biblical Integration (brief time of sharing)

• One of the skills we will pursue this year is “Biblical Thinking.” By God’s grace and across all disciplines, we will get better at thinking/acting consistent with a biblical worldview and teaching our students to do the same. The problem? This is hard to figure out and may be unfamiliar territory.  Frankly, some of us may never have really tried to integrate faith/Scripture/the gospel/worship/biblical thinking into our classrooms. With this in mind, describe your own comfort vs. discomfort level (and/or experience vs. inexperience) with biblical integration? 

Topic #3 – Learning Skills (we will likely not get to this topic this time)

* As we look to Scripture and consider what people need to think/live wisely, what Learning Skills should we help our students develop?