Teaching and Assessing Writing
One of the things that I've been excited to work on in the last couple of years has been teaching students the art of writing, and building a method of assessing that writing that moves away from a traditional grading standard. Instead of having a universal rubric against which all papers are graded, and allowing each paper to stand independently from the rest, I've moved to a system that has more in common with martial arts training. Each student is assigned a "belt level" based on their current writing skills, and each belt has a set of challenges that it poses for growth and improvement. With each new essay, students seek to meet those challenges and achieve mastery over those skills. Once they have done so, they graduate to the next belt level and are presented with a new rubric that sets new goals and standards. As students progress through these levels, they are seeking to work step by step towards writing that is truly adult-quality, professional, and publishable -- going far beyond the standards necessary for the minimal, simplistic writing one is likely to encounter in a 5-paragraph essay or an Advanced Placement exam paper. Students are graded on their improvement over time, no matter where they begin, and are thus prompted to learn and growth with each new writing assignment.
Theory of Knowledge
One of the courses that I found it truly inspiring to teach early on in my career was the International Baccalaureate course "Theory of Knowledge." I am excited to have the opportunity to teach this again in the fall of 2012! The goal of the course is to encourage deep and meaningful thinking about the ways in which we seek to know about the world, and the similarities and differences between how each discipline goes about building knowledge and claiming to know.
Travel Programs and Service
At the Pacific Ridge School, I have had the wonderful opportunity to get involved with our global travel programs! During the last two weeks of each school year, our students leave their books behind to travel the world. Our 8th graders, for example, take a trip to Washington, D.C. to learn about our nation's capital, and our 9th graders take a trip to China. For the last two years I have gone on the trip to China, and have been responsible for the planning and preparation necessary to make this incredible experience possible. This year, I have stayed behind to see that the at-home portion of the trip has gone well, and I will travel with the 8th graders to Washington, D.C. My favorite thing about all of these programs is their commitment to building student leadership. Beyond simply a tourist trip to "see the sights," these trips put students in charge whenever possible, and incorporate hands-on experience and service to the communities they visit. As such, they are incredible growth experiences for our students: both transformative and memorable in every way.
Global Journal Project
The Global Journal Project was started at Pacific Ridge by my friend and colleague Steve Le, and I have been lucky to be a part of working on it this year! The magazine is an incredible student-led project in which students from three different schools (two in the United States and one in Kenya) collaborate to find stories from kids and adults in their communities and publish them in a beautiful, high-quality print and online magazine. Putting the students in the role of publisher has turned out to be amazingly empowering, as they have become key "story hubs" for their communities and learned the skills of writing, editing, marketing, and community action. Look out for issue 4 which should come out soon! Please click below to visit our website -- you'll be impressed and moved by the incredible stories our students and communities have shared!