Even if educators conclude a new classroom policy is yielding improved results, a student might experience it differently. It says something about the School at Marygrove that one student felt he could stage a protest of in-class deadlines. That prompted an authentic conversation, which in turn prompted a realization for Ravi.
As I have progressed through the school year using my new system of parent communication and student in class deadlines, I have received a mix of positive and negative feedback that created an opportunity to revise and optimize my new system. Many of the reactions I have received have been intuitive if not predictable. But I was a bit caught off guard by the single student sit-in (literally sitting on the floor of my classroom) protesting my use of in-class deadlines. Especially when I allow as much time as needed to develop mastery outside of class time, including lunch time tutoring sessions with an Engineering professor that co-teaches my Mechatronics class. Given no other teachers in the building are willing to extend time to allow for student mastery to the same degree as I do, it was counterintuitive to get protested for having deadlines for in class work to say the least. Bear in mind that in-class deadlines do not impact my assessment of mastery. I still will assess and reassess mastery after the deadline. I just won’t allow more time in class for a given assignment that has passed the deadline.
The protest led to a half hour long conversation with the student, where he called me out for apparently reneging on my commitment to grading on student mastery when I moved to in-class deadlines from a learning objective that students have yet to master. While I do believe that allowing for additional time to develop mastery outside of class is a reasonable solution to his complaint, the conversation did cause me to rethink whether or not I am doing everything I can to move students forward in their mastery development before moving on. He suggested that I am too passive in checking to see if students need assistance when trying to assemble a circuit or write code for their microcontroller. He also suggested that if I expressed more concern for their learning, he might be more willing to come by at lunch to get help in areas where he might be struggling. This struck a chord with me, because I do care deeply and thought that was abundantly clear. But had I not been explicit enough with communicating that care?
Towards the end of our conversation, we came to an agreement on his expressed concerns. He was at my next lunch tutoring session seeking help. From this encounter, I was reminded that a system like this cannot be effective without accounting for buy in. Even if the system is reasonable by all accounts, it will not be successful if students, staff, or parents aren’t sold. A wise administrator once indicted me for not selling what I am trying to do. He told me that everything I was trying to do was brilliant, but what good is marching down the hall saying brilliant things if no one is following you.