After recently relocating to Melbourne with the family following a wonderful 4-year experience in the Northern Territory I have been horrified by the traffic in Melbourne and how poorly Google Maps directs me to my destination. An hour or so on the roads at the wrong time is enough to crush your spirit and ruin a perfectly good day. Where are you going with this analogy I hear you say?
Well, let’s get back to the GPS and its foibles. The GPS tells me to go one way and most of the time I choose another path with some level of support from its guidance. My wife would contend that I operate the same way not listening to everything she tells me to do. Interestingly, the schools that I work with who are making staggering progress operate in a similar fashion taking their time before instructional decisions. Great for schools not for my wife. They collect powerful student evidence that includes diagnostic, formative and summative data but in order to understand the whole student story and not head in the wrong direction, they invest time getting to know each student. Meeting parents, knowing what the child’s pastimes are, how they learn, what gets them excited and what challenges they are just some of the information they collect to better understand what the evidence is really telling them.
The powerful piece of this work is how the student/teacher relationship is strengthened. The great teachers know their students and use this to leverage great learning.
As you begin to plan and set targets for 2018 maybe it’s time to consider how you can illuminate the real student learning map through the use of powerful evidence, expert teachers and collaborative protocols.
All this poses the question of whether your student learning GPS needs some remapping?
Warm regards,
Free WEBINAR – Real Evidence – The Bridge from Data Collections to Improved Instruction
Register here for this “don’t miss and completely FREE” opportunity on Thursday 19th October at 3.30pm AEDT
There is a solution to this. Schools need to be smarter about what data they capture and then use it strategically to illuminate the real student story. This no doubt involves, some testing but just as importantly, investing time collecting other vital student evidence such as who they are, how they learn and what they are passionate about. When teachers work together armed with this evidence to discuss their students, problem solving as they plan and then adjusting this planning as their kid’s progress they have incredible impact.
This is not ‘rocket science’ by any stretch of the imagination but a clear ‘work smarter, not harder’ approach to education and is about evidence informing teaching.
This webinar is about by having a more evidence informed approach whereby allowing schools to build the bridge between student evidence and improved instruction. Via real examples coupled with some tricks and strategies that you can adopt the next day in your school/classroom, your school can’t miss this one.