Within Reason
The scoring panel for the first part of Q2 ends tomorrow, December 1. You’ve been given specific criteria for a GAP score of 7 or higher, which we’ll review in a moment. Start with the profiles in full:
Click to embiggen.
The fourth tier is all about feedback, which you know is one of the two most important elements of success. This time, you were instructed to have evidence of your interstitial work, specifically in two categories:
- Notes on instructional posts
- Evidence of online contributions
These requirements are clarified below.
① Notes on instructional posts
The first instructional post for this scoring panel is “The Age of the Essay,” which was published on November 5. The most recent is “Well, Why Read?” which was published on November 29. Those posts, plus the many given in between, are responsive and multifaceted learning opportunities. You should have taken notes on them as you would on any academic reading assignment.
You had a checkpoint assignment on Google Classroom on November 27 that asked you to submit copies of these notes. Three more posts were created for you after that:
Within reason, you should have notes on these, too. The key phrase there, though? Within reason. You do not need hours of notes on every instructional post. The most recent ones make this explicit. You need to engage with each post, learn what you can from it, and determine how it helps you meet your learning goals.
There are dozens of possible approaches to this. What matters is that you have a habit of mind — that you are aware of every post, that you read every post, that you learn from every post. And that you ask questions.
② Evidence of online contributions
I won’t recap the many posts explaining why you should practice online discussion. It’s a requirement. You have to try it, much like you’d have to try to talk in an in-class discussion, if that was required.
In this course, the easiest way to ask questions and seek feedback, from me and from your peers, is to leave comments online:
This practices your communication and writing skills, your collegiality and amenability, your organization, and much more. It makes you think in writing, and it freezes your discussion for later reference. Within reason, you should have at least one contribution to these posts.
Again, the key phrase: within reason. You absolutely should invest in this site, because it’s the surest way to get feedback from peers and me in the context of instruction, but there are other ways to contribute interstitially. Here are a few:
- Collaborating and leaving comments on peer work in Google Docs
- Holding discussions through Google Communities
- Having focused group chats (e.g., through text messages) about course work
If you continue your collaborative learning in a writing-driven way outside of our 40+ minutes together, that’s interstitial learning.
Note: I think it’s fair to have a discussion about whether or not taking notes on those instructional posts counts as interstitial evidence. It probably does. That teaching is designed, like this post that you’re reading now, to be consumed interstitially; notes on this kind of teaching are, therefore, interstitial. The issue is the lack of audience and potential collaboration. But any student reading this, now, who has chosen to work individually and interstitially probably has enough evidence there to elide the discussion/collaboration requirement.
On RE/AP Differences
One more thing: This is cross-posted to both junior courses, Regents and AP, in order to illustrate the universality of what we do. I also want to describe, in this public place, one of the key differences between a college-level course and a non-college-level course.
The language of the profiles for grade abatement is the same, and the basic course of study for a junior is the same (e.g., you all take the same Regents Exam in June). But the expectations differ. There are measurable increases in reading and writing assignments for AP students (plus the Lovecraftian AP exam in May), but the real difference is what’s expected.
The superlative language of a GAP 9, for instance, indicates different expectations. What qualifies as “strongest” or “best” in each course is different. Even a word like “precocious” takes on special meaning: In a college-level curriculum, the definition’s indication of “early development” operates in a different context.
How does this play out in GAP scoring? Within reason, a student in AP, in addition to completing the more numerous formal assignments, would take more notes on more instructional posts. She would contribute more often, and in more ways, to online discussions. You are still looking at a key phrase, though: within reason. Do not put crushing pressure on yourself in an AP class, and do not believe you can’t do more than what’s required in a Regents class.
GAP Scoring: Q2A
Find the GAP assignment on Google Classroom. Attach copies of any evidence that is required to justify your assumed profile. Include copies of evidence you’ve already submitted. Add links to shared folders as a comment there, on Google Classroom, if necessary. Then complete the Google Form included with the assignment.
When you complete the GAP report, which is in the usual format, be honest about your success over the last 3-4 weeks. Remember that growth requires honesty, and that each panel resets your evidence. From December 4 to December 22, you build another profile. You have another shot at the best kind of learning and the highest kind of reward.
In addition to the GAP report, you are strongly encouraged to complete a self-assessment spider graph, basing your plotted points on your work in each skill and trait over the last 3-4 weeks. You’ll need these handouts, in this order:
- Grade Abatement Skills & Traits
- Scoring Guidelines (Self-Assessment)
- Spider Graph: GAP Skills & Traits
You’ve seen most of them before, but not in this order or with this particular formatting and purpose. Look over the skills and traits, as always, to remind yourself what they entail; look over the quick scoring guidelines for a 0-9 self-assessment; and then fill in a hard copy of that spider graph with what you think your wheel of evidence looks like.
In case the Google Drawing of the spider graph doesn’t work, here’s a JPG version that you can print. You’ll have photocopies of all this on Friday, December 1.
Ask questions below.
This was extremely helpful to read before turning in my GAP evidence! It helped remind me what traits I should be showing for my profile and gave me some ideas on what to reflect on.
This post was one of the most helpful posts, giving super specific directions on what you need to be a tier four student. Not only did it tell you what you need to do, but also what character traits you should be showing and developing. The character traits are the more important part of this, as once you gain them you will usually continue to show them for the majority of your life.
I see what you’re saying about the usefulness of Mr. Eure’s clarifications in this post. For me, the biggest benefit of reading this was the post’s ability to remind me not to drive myself crazy over every single assignment and to focus instead on my development of the skills and traits by which our successes are truly measured. I think the bottom line is that even when we get overwhelmed by directions or other minutiae, we need to return to the skills that are our foundation and our North Star: they form the basis of everything we do, and chances are if you’re doing something to improve those skills, you’re doing something worthwhile.
I agree that this was incredibly helpful. Having a list of all of the assignments that we should have makes organization a lot easier. I think a lot of people have trouble remembering what they did over the 3-4 weeks of each grading period. So this post is greatly appreciated.
I agree that this post was very helpful. It helped me with ideas to show evidence of my work, and it clarified a lot about being in the top tier. Also, by saying that each panel resets your evidence, it made me feel at ease because each time a new GAP scoring period begins, I have a clean slate and a new start to show my evidence.
I agree that the chance to start over every triptych works wonders on our mentalities. I’ve found that it prevents me from making excuses about what happened last time. It also forces me to put more effort in and not use any past successes as justification for not doing my work well this scoring period.
I also agree that this post was helpful. It cleared up any confusion I had and gave me a few ideas as of how to frame my work and evidence
The given post was helpful to know what evidence I have to show to support the tier that I am giving myself
This post was very helpful as well as gives a good general idea on how to organize our GAP.
I too felt that this post was extremely helpful for organizing our GAP reports. It was extremely helpful in that it illustrated what Mr. Eure had expected from us – at minimum – this GAP session. Of course, we are expected to to be able to work without posts such as these, but this post still was nice to have. I don’t expect these in the future, but now I have the ability to look back at this post and this GAP session for reference in future GAP reports.
I agree, this post was helpful in many ways. It cleared up some confusion, and I feel better prepared for future GAP reports. I also agree that it was super helpful to have a list of recent assignments as a little reminder as to what we have been working on these last few weeks.
This post, to me, seems a bit different from how things are usually done here. I have found that in AP Lang, we are expected to know what’s expected of us. This post, evidently, cleared a lot of confusion up, and it will help some kids who are struggling across the bridge from the traditional english class to Mr. Eures english class. I hate to be the downer, and I will admit that it was helpful, but I don’t think we should rely on posts like these in the future to walk us through each triptych.
I hope what I am saying makes sense… sometimes it is hard to express controversial thoughts in writing without sounding condescending or impolite.
“I hope what I’m saying makes sense… sometimes it is hard to express controversial thoughts in writing without sounding condescending or impolite.”
Maybe that’s why we have to work so hard at improving our communication through writing. The fact is that we aren’t always going to be communicating face-to-face and there are a lot of real life situations in which you would face negative repercussions if you offended someone online unintentionally.
Before submitting my GAP report for this period, I came back to this post and reread it, and it helped me a lot to make sure that I can achieve the highest profile I’m capable of. It cleared up confusion about what work to put in specific places, and how to keep GAP reports organized and efficient.
this taught me to keep my GAP reports orginzed to get the highest profile.