Sept 12, 2011 Focus Days

Focus Days

Yesterday and today were my first attempts at focus days.  Focus days have many names from many important educational researches but in short, they are an opportunity for each student to practice specifically on his or her weakest point.  With the 5-4-3-2-1 grading system, the specific sub-standards and student folders, it was quite plain to students where their weak points lie.  They could look at the scores recorded in their folders and see the pattern, whether increasing or steady, of their understanding of a concept.  I had several students who were quite concerned because they wanted to achieve a higher score on their test than they were seeing in their folder.  I had a variety of worksheets ready for the concepts present in this standard and students worked on their own on whichever sheet met their needs.  It worked beautifully.  It was like something out of a research book.  Students who had mastered a particular sub section were helping students who were struggling.  Students who were struggling used the data in their folders to focus their time wisely and seek help from classmates who had mastered the material.  Students who had mastered the topic could even take it one step further and work a problem set by me to make extra sure they had nailed that particular subsection.  I truly see the students getting excited about improvements.  I see strong students helping struggling students.  I see struggling students feeling empowered that it’s alright for them to try and try again.  It’s exhilarating.