New teaching strategies to engage all learners

TOWER- Teaching philosophies may come and go, but the days of a teacher standing in front of a room and lecturing while students listen and take notes is one that is rapidly moving out of favor.
Vermilion Country School, in Tower, has implemented the Modern Classrooms Project, or MCP, this year, a teaching system that allows teachers to reach students in multiple ways, while measuring mastery of material in concrete, discrete, and often daily chunks. It allows students to work at their own pace, receive extra in-person help as needed, and the opportunity to rewatch daily lessons if they fail to meet a lesson’s mastery check, and then retest to show they have mastered a specific lesson.
Teachers create a video of each day’s lesson. Students, who all have a school-issued laptop, watch the video, then have the opportunity to ask questions and get help, if needed, to understand the core concepts being taught. It also frees up classroom time for hands-on learning, projects, and experiments.
At the end of each class, students take a quick mastery check, and if needed, will be prompted to review the lesson again, either independently or with help from a teacher or support staff, and then retest to get credit for that lesson.
On Monday, Kendal Giacomini, from the MCP, was working in-person with the teaching staff, observing teachers, reviewing teaching plans, and helping teachers access support from others in the MCP program. An experienced math teacher, she used MCP in her own classrooms, and now works full-time as a mentor for teachers around the country who are using the method in their classroom.
“This is a very different school environment,” Giacomini said, noting that the mission of VCS aligns very well with the goals of Modern Classrooms.
“This is a new model of teaching and a new model of learning,” she said. “It does take time to implement.”
The Modern Classrooms Project is a teacher-built, research-backed model that responds to every student’s need. Teachers and support staff at VCS completed online training in the method over the summer, and they have now implemented it in their classrooms.
Math teacher Amy Hendrickson, who has 30-years of experience in the classroom, said she likes learning new things, but more importantly, her students like it. The method allows her to spend more time helping students. The school’s schedule was organized to make sure the teachers have adequate prep time to prepare their video lessons each week.
Giacomini, who observed Hendrickson’s classroom, said she had good base implementation of the program, and now was working on building on that base. One of Giacomini’s goals with the site visit was to connect teachers to mentors teaching similar classes.
“The goal is to connect teachers with resources and mentors, so they don’t need to build every lesson from scratch,” Giacomini said.
School director Sam O’Brien said students might not know their teachers are using the Modern Classroom method, but they are finding it easier to complete their lessons at their own pace, and get help as needed.
“Students have told me it is very helpful to be able to go back and watch a lesson again,” O’Brien said. “And we have support staff in place to help a student, to watch the lesson with them, and review the material with them.”
O’Brien said at first some teachers were a little apprehensive about recording their lessons, but soon they saw how useful it was.
“It is more work up front,” O’Brien said, “but then it has gotten easier as they go on and get more experienced.”
Science teacher Sam Magnuson said the videos are a small, but important, part of his teaching, since they free up time for hands-on activities and other work in the classroom.
The bonus is that the lessons recorded this year can be used again the next year when the same class is taught, with the option to add more details and information to that class’s curriculum. And once this framework is in place, students would also have the ability to work ahead, completing classwork and freeing up time for individual projects and more advanced learning.
O’Brien said it can seem isolating for a teacher to be doing something so different, but teachers will be networking with other MCP teachers around the country, through online forums.
“It’s a sustained movement,” he said. “There is a lot of research on this method.”
The Modern Classroom Project receives funding from the Bush Foundation to help train teachers in the method. Teachers also have the option of becoming a certified MCP teacher, which will give them the opportunity to mentor other teachers in the techniques.
O’Brien said he sees students gaining confidence in their learning. It also helps, he said, that this method is now being used in all their academic classes.
“Students still like to know what is expected every day,” O’Brien said. “Students are getting more confidence, and they are learning how to meet their goals.”
The mastery tests let teachers know where each student is at and gives them a chance to set up small group settings to review concepts if needed, and then gives them the opportunity to retest to show they have mastered that day’s concept.
The daily mastery checks also give them the practice needed to succeed on end of term testing.
Ninth-grader Remy McDonough said he likes being able to go back and rewatch a lesson video and take more notes. He also said it leaves more time for hands-on learning than last year. Remy is taking Geometry and Trigonometry this year, and said he has more one-on-one time with his teacher, and there are other support staff available to help with his questions.
The video lessons are also a great tool for students who have missed some days of school, since they can access the exact same lessons they would have gotten if they were in the building, and frees up time for the teacher who doesn’t need to reteach the lesson.
Blended learning
The method is also a crucial piece of the school’s new blended learning program. Students in this program work independently at home, and meet in-person with a teacher, either at the school or in a public place nearby their home, each week. The blended learning program, aimed at older high school students, allows students to hold part-time jobs, or do part-time PSEO along with their high school classes.
“Students are accessing the same lessons as in-school students each week,” said O’Brien. “When they meet in person with their teacher, the time is more efficient.” The teacher reviews the mastery checks in person and sees what material the student did not understand, and then is ready to review those lessons if needed.
Blended learning students also participate in school field trips, along with special activities planned just for blended learners each week.