Over the holiday break my family and I were reflecting about how much our schedules and how we do things have changed over the last year. We played a game called I used to . . . . Now I . . . . . For example, 8 year old daughter Ruby said
I used to: Play legos with Kiley (our neighbor) in my room.
Now I: Play nerf guns outside with Kiley
My son Ty said
I used to: Wrestle with my friends on the trampoline
Now I: take turns and show off my sweet dunks on the trampoline
I was reflecting about this on the way into work the other morning about how teaching and learning has changed over the last 20 years. I will use my experience but please use your experience as well. If you were not teaching at the time then think about teaching and learning has changed for you.
Let's get in the Delorean and go back in time to 2006. A mere 15 years ago. I was starting my 5th year as a Special Education teacher. For the first 5 years I taught mostly self contained students in middle school but this was the year when I began teaching inclusion and my students and I spent much of the day in the regular education class. It was different for all of us but a great difference. My biggest goal for myself and my students was to scaffold and make sure that we all could be successful in the regular education class. I knew a big part of that was providing authentic feedback to my students. So with that setup let's play. . .
I used to grade paper rubrics or write notes on my student work that they handed in and gave it back to them. Many of my students struggled with organization and would lose my amazing, thought provoking feedback (I can still see their eyes roll)
Now I: still do many of those but I have the ability to leave comments in Google Docs and have my students respond AND reflect on both my comments and they can also leave feedback for me. The feedback is two way and, as an added bonus, Their work won't be crumbled up and smell like hot Cheetos!
I used to: meet with my students individually and go over their writing assignment, math work, or project. It was fantastic to meet with them individually and provide feedback but the time usually was very short.
Now I - still try to meet individually with students but I have the ability to leave voice feedback on their typed work. It may be a struggle at first but by doing this I can still provide authentic feedback and can create longer time to meet with students who still need some more individualized time to talk about their writing.
What really stuck out to me as I was reflecting on this was the idea that I still put alot of value on the "I Used too" . . I still do many of those. Though I don't have a classroom with 13 year olds every day It's part of my core to meet with students and stick to the practices that I know are effective for kids. Providing feedback whether written or digital is such an important piece of teaching and learning. Now I have the tools to do it even better.
Some of my favorite feedback tools
Thanks for playing
If you have questions about any of these please let me know
