…Like September
If you selected a 9 for the most recent GAP panel, you believe that this paragraph describes you:
The strongest readers, thinkers, and communicators, these students also evince the best kind of collegiality, the most authentic curiosity, and the most mature amenability. They are exemplary autodidacts, utilizing inquiry-based tools and structures to improve purposefully in skills and knowledge. They demonstrate a precocious strength in metacognition and are consistently, insightfully reflective.
That’s impressive! More than 40 of you, from sophomores to seniors, have said that you were one of the strongest readers, thinkers, and communicators throughout the three-week period that ended on May 19. Another two dozen of you selected an 8, which means you are right there next to the 9s in terms of exceptional work:
These students are highly skilled communicators, critical thinkers, and close readers; they lack only the exceptional maturity and depth of students earning a 9. An 8 reflects a systemic investment in the course and a desire to do more than just what is required. These students are also collegial, curious, and amenable in ways that galvanize their peers and demonstrably improve the learning environment.
That’s also impressive! Because of your systemic investment, I’m here to ask you all to hold a conversation with me in the comment section of this post. This particular inquiry-based tool — direct access to the teacher, independent of class time, through Sisyphean High — has been underutilized all year. It’s one of the “inquiry-based tools and structures” referenced in the profile of a 9, though, and a chance for you to do “more than just what is required,” which is part of the profile of an 8.
The topic of our discussion is this post on in-class focus, feedback, and unlocking the course. As a self-described 8 or 9, you have no doubt read that post already, especially with a response deadline of tomorrow. Look at the notes you’ve already taken on that post, and consider the assignment in front of you. Speak specifically to your own experience unlocking that individualized curriculum. What does your classroom and course look like? How are you balancing the requirement that you “demonstrably improve the learning environment” with the constant metacognition and reflection necessary to individualize the work? What questions did that post raise for you, and what do you think it changes about the last few weeks of the year?
A Box of Positives
Understand that this is a genuine invitation to discussion. This post is now a forum for your insights and ideas, because any student whose body of work truly fits an 8 or a 9 has earned that level of respect. As your teacher, I benefit from hearing more about how you earned that 8 or 9. This is also an opportunity for me to share my observations directly with you in a way that can instruct others.
Of course, this post and assignment are also, without malice or irony, intended to burst down any inflated self-assessments. If you try to wade into this conversation without having done what it takes to earn an 8 or 9, it’ll be obvious to anyone who has done the work. Your actual GAP scores, based on the evidence you generated, will be posted very soon, with the final scores of the year coming in less than three weeks; it will be much better to realize any errors before then, and definitely before you begin animatedly discussing the “evidence” that makes you one of the strongest readers, thinkers, and writers in the building.
To put it more bluntly, there will be two types of students who misidentified their profiles as an 8 or a 9:
- The group that reads this post (and the previous one), recognizes the self-assessment error, and changes it. This group will move toward an 8 or 9 just by demonstrating amenability, self-awareness, and integrity.
- The group that doesn’t even read this post, because their sense of what an “8” or “9” entails is deeply flawed.
Group #2 isn’t likely to join us here, nor are they likely to have read the post on in-class focus and feedback. Those lapses are further evidence of a lower-tier profile. I mention them to you, the true 8s and 9s, because that is another possible focus for our discussion here. What do you do about peers who haven’t invested enough time or energy into the course to know that they aren’t really an 8 or a 9? What do you think the system should do? Do you experience fremdschämen when you see these other students? Is it closer to frustration?
Try to stay positive as you start the discussion, whether or not we delve into the Dunning-Kruger effect, the fragility of some egos, and the frustration of watching students “cheat” this system. Criticism can be constructive; cynicism almost never is. I invite you to start with the good stuff: how you’re individualizing your learning, how you’re creating meaning, how you’re growing as a thinker/reader/writer, and so on.
Keep your comments succinct, too. This isn’t an invitation to write essays on your experience; it’s a chance to move the best kind of discussion to a forum online. You’re here to learn from others, which takes active listening, whether we’re commenting or circled up in class.
Mr. Eure brings up a very valid point in this piece, in that the students who need the most help (i.e. students in the lower GAP scores) tend to ignore these pieces, shutting themselves off from the assistance they could use to become stronger students. I believe that us fourth-tier students need to be more prominent in our exemplary behaviors – as it goes now, we tend to act very similar to third and second-tier students during our day-to-day operations. We need to ramp up our assistance operations – I think a feasible method that could be implemented in our class is that the second and third-tier students digitally share their metacognitions and writings with the fourth-tier students, as the fourth-tier students offer feedback and suggestions to said writings. This would be a strong showcase of collegiality for the fourth-tier students and would serve as an experience that could hone and improve the writing, as well as the cognitive abilities, of the lower tier students. What does everyone else think?
How do you recommend engaging students? This has been a very difficult task and if anything…..Google+ doesn’t seem to have been effective…
I definitely agree with Matt here. I think those students who are actually in the lower tiers, and select high profiles at each trimester need a better example. I think that a big part of it is that they try to look at the 8s and 9s in the class, but a lot of what makes an 8 or 9 is something that they can’t really see just from watching us in class. When we are reflecting and writing metacognitions, they may not see that; they may just see us typing away on our chromebooks or writing in a notebook. I think that we need to somehow specify what we are working on at a given time. This may mean creating some sort of breakdown of the 36th chamber that we can post so that others can see what we are doing. It may seem a bit crude, but if we really do follow that schedule, they can refer to it in class and know what we are doing so that they can associate our expressions, our focus, etc with the task. Nearly every 8 and 9 should at some point be reflecting and I believe that this is the most important part of the 4th tier. Without the reflection all of the other characteristics of an 8 and 9 fall apart because you will never improve. If you just keep trying and trying without reflecting, you will just be beating a dead horse. Unfortunately this is how some people view 8s and 9s. They just think that if they do a whole bunch of work and produce essays and papers, they can be an 8 or a 9. Any thoughts on this?
I think that the schedule/breakdown of the 36th chamber is a possibility, but other possibilities could be us matching up with a lower tiered student and have them shadow us for a couple days. Any ideas?
I have read all the comments so far and I feel that we all have the same goal in mind which is that if someone needs help we would love to help them. But like the post “In Class focus and Feedback” addresses this class is truly what you make of it. I would be willing to help anyone who wants help but I feel that we can’t help anyone who doesn’t want this class to help them improve. This class allows all of us to make decisions that lead us down all different paths that lead to getting the work accomplished. In my honest opinion I don’t think a lot of people would want to shadow someone else. I think that a positive way to influence others is if they post a comment simply asking how to approach a task then maybe someone could meet and explain to them their own personal approach. But after describing your own personal approach it could be helpful to alter the approach to make it work for others.
I agree with Sam on the fact that we can’t help those who simply don’t want our help. We can only help those who want our help and want to reach the 4th tier. I think them posting a comment asking how to approach certain tasks is the best way, instead of them sharing their metacognitions with us, like Matt suggested. Metacognitions, to me at least, can sometimes be a bit personal and not everyone would want their metacognitions shared with others. Also, we can’t really tell people how to fix their metacognitions because everyone has different writing styles. The way I express my feelings and thoughts might be different from the way someone else does.
I agree in that I don’t think the “shadowing” idea would be very effective for anyone. I don’t think it would do much besides boosting the egos of people who are “fourth tier,” “shadowing” inherently puts some people down and in this class especially I think it is important for all of us to see each other as equals. That being said I think there must be a way for all of us to have a meaningful experience in this class, I don’t necessarily think there is one way for this to happen. In order to fit into an 8 or 9, you have to be reflective and/or metacognitive (that is in the language of the profiles) but I also think that people fitting these profiles also want to be in the top tier. And we can’t make people want to fit the upper tier profiles if they don’t want to. But I think there definitely are people trying to improve, but I don’t think we have to “help” them, exactly (I think I’m stuck on the connotations of the word “help” here, sorry). I think making a conscious effort to be more collaborative in this class would be beneficial to us all and could possibly bring a lot of people up. Stressing collaboration would also force us all to slow down and be mindful of our work again, especially since we’re at a point in the year where we just want to be done. I think this would be a good first step for everyone, the exact shape it takes can change person to person, but I think it could be as little as using the big table in the classroom and doing Regents prep together, etc. or maybe utilizing the Google community again. I’m not really sure, just a thought!
I agree that shadowing could be seen as very demeaning. I really agree that we should start using Google community again. Google community allows us to freely share ideas and work to help motivate and inspire one another. Google community will allow the stronger readers, writers and thinkers to lead by example. Google community also gives the fourth tier students a place to implement authentic curiosity.
As said by many already, it is hard to help people who don’t want the help. But, this class is about those peers not giving up on one another and that is why this is important for us to reach out and do something. I agree that the shadowing can affect some people’s egos and not do its justice, but I did like the idea of working more on Google Community again. I think if we all use this to communicate ways to help the students try to get into the fourth tier, it’ll have a purpose, hopefully persuading people to work harder.
I definitely agree with what you are saying. I think that “shadowing” could have the opposite effect then what we want. It could potential make students feel worse and therefore could result in them not wanting to do the work and be involved in the class. It’s hard to help others because there are students who are just worried about theirs grades. We all are conscious of our grades, but I know that most of the students commenting here actually want to learn and grow as a student, not just get a good grade. You can’t force help on someone. As Tsubomi mentioned, collaboration is key here. Opening ourselves up to each other can maybe relieve some stress and not make us feel so trapped with our work (especially during this time). I think more discussions in class and bringing back Google Community would be very beneficial.
I agree with the above posts. There isn’t a way to help people who don’t want it. We don’t want to come off as degrading if we approach our peers. Some students just don’t want to do their work and others might have a hard time doing it, and we, as students who want to do more than what’s necessary, might have trouble deciphering the two. Though, I do feel as if we should all collaborate. Like Grace mentioned, opening up to each other is a great way to do so. Talking to new people and getting out of your comfort zone will help.
I completely agree with Tsubomi, the idea of “shadowing” simply puts people down and boosts the ego of students who are “fourth tier.” Perhaps even the language of these tiers is enough to establish some sort of heirarchy which is further discouraging to students who are struggling to find success in this class. I think maybe the use of tiers and numbers in this way establishes a ranking system which may be even more harmful than traditional grades which are isolated and individualized for everybody, so in those instances comparing yourself to your peers holds less relevance. In calling somebody a 9 student, they are defined by that number, while if we were to say that we earned a 9, the connotations change and it doesn’t imply that this number defines the person anymore. We may want to consider changing the way in which we talk about grades in this class to avoid labelling each other based on our grades, instead of using them as a tool to tell us where we are in our individual process. Also, I think it’s important to collaborate more and I like Tsubomi’s ideas of doing Regents prep together or returning to Google Community. I think this would be useful since it places us on equal ground, and collaborative Regents prep may be enough motivation for students who otherwise are lacking the motive to engage in the class.
Having a student who has earned a lower profile than one in the fourth tier “shadow” a student with a higher profile is degrading, and not how this class is designed. I completely agree with Tsubomi with the fact that unless students want to achieve on their own, they won’t. And we can’t force them. I think if we were to have a lower tier student “shadow” a higher tier student, both students would feel uncomfortable. It gives the lower tier student the feeling that they are not as smart or as capable as the other student. This shouldn’t be the case. Mr. Eure stresses that although this class is collaborative, a large part of it is entirely about self-awareness and discipline. You make your own choices in this classroom, and whether those are the right or wrong choices, that’s also up to you. As for the collaborative piece of this course, Google Communities was used regularly at the beginning of the year and was very beneficial to many students. I think, although this year is almost over, using it again would bring back the sense of unity to the classroom.
I think that a separation is formed between the fourth tier students and then the students who fall below that, I think the constant reference of us being fourth tier makes us sound exclusive which is not promoting anyone to step up and improve as a student. I think that the fourth tier GAP scores are presented as this ¨thing¨ that nobody can reach if they weren’t deserving of it in the first quarter of the school year. I think for many, that set the tone of where they should lie for the rest of the year. I think the system should be reworked to promote growth and eventually the deserving spot on the fourth tier level.
I agree with the post above. To have lower tier students shadow fourth tier students is degrading. You should not feel bad if you do not succeed in English. I agree with fourth tier being exclusive. When a lower tier students sees all these post about how amazing fourth tier students are they feel ashamed. There should not be post about how lazy, and how disgusting they are. We should be promoting them to work hard with encouraging words. Fourth tier shouldn’t be the only goal, yes it is a goal but shouldn’t be the only one. The goal of the course should be to grow as a student, learn and have fun. This course needs to be reworked for next year so everyone has a chance.
I agree with the peer editing and reviewing, but I don’t think having students in the second and third tiers share metacognitions will be as beneficial as it may seem. We all have different approaches when it comes to self reflecting (emphasis on the self). Metacognitions, at least for me, is very individualized and I have my own personal strengths and weaknesses in mind while writing them. I don’t know, I guess it depends on what you mean by “feedback and suggestions,” but I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way of writing metacognitions. What we may see as beneficial may do the opposite for others. We can share our methods to success, but it’s important to remember that everyone has a different approach when doing things.
I agree with what you are saying. I think that when students are helping and sharing their work with others, individuality of students can be lost. A student could share a piece of metacognition with someone who maybe isn’t being metacognitive or isn’t sure how to write their metacognition. The student lacking in the ability to write metacognition could then structure their metacognition the way the other student did because that’s what they saw. It might not be beneficial and it might not show who they are as a student/writer. I also agree with what you say about how you think that there isn’t a right or wrong way of writing metacognition. As long as you are deeply reflecting on your work and you are learning from being metacognitive, that’s all that should matter.
I definitely agree with you, I believe that we tend to act/behave like fourth tier students in this class, because the GAP score forces us to. In other classes, at least in my experience, I’ve seen how we may behave like we are in between second and third tier students because in other classes we only really have to fear the bad grade. Classes like history, or math, their only main purpose is that we know the material, not what we do with that material. This class was built differently. This class isn’t surrounded around grades, this class is about growing as a student. Although grades are important, especially because we are Juniors in a High School, eager to apply to colleges to finally get out of here. It’s important for people with lower GAP scores (or people who are faking their high GAP score), to remember the fundamentals of this class.
So how do we help people with the low GAP scores? Well, us with a high GAP score need to take what we do within the walls of 210, and apply what we do outside of class. Instead of just trying to know the material taught to us, we need to be leaders and help bring the fundamentals of this class and put it in our other aspects of not only school life, but our social lives. We need to lead by example, and once we have done that, we will hopefully inspire some of the people in the lower profiles to want to be grow and become apart of the fourth GAP tier.
Although I do agree with your overall point and I believe that we would all benefit from a process of this kind, I feel like these efforts are somewhat futile unless you “force” lower-tiered students to do so. Several times throughout the course of the year, many of us have tried to reach out to our peers and counterparts in the other periods and even in our own class period. I know that I’ve shared my metacognitions through Google Plus several times and I never really got a response from my peers, except from my peers that frequently use Google Plus (like you and Arianna). I know that, for example, Arianna used the Google Community as a way to share her metacognitions and galvanized our counterparts to do the same. However, she never really got much feedback from that. I feel like many of us fourth-tiered Students have tried to communicate and spread ideas with our peers that might be struggling with the substructure and nature of the course. It’s somewhat discouraging ecause many of us have put forth the effort to try and promote the spread of ideas through the interstitial platform, but it seems like it’s futile to do so. I know that working with other peers beyond our social bubble is somewhat intimidating, so I would think that the interstitial platforms would be more helpful in allowing us to collaborate. However, I feel like not many people utilize the interstitial outlet unless it’s assigned. Don’t get me wrong, I know that everyone has a busy schedule and we all have different lives outside of school. Nonetheless, even taking some time in class to try and collaborate with each other as a way to spread ideas is something crucial for succeeding in a course of this nature. In fact, this was something that Arianna and I were discussing in class. I think that we should try and utilize collegiality and collaboration among ourselves (the fourth-tiered students) in order to implement a stratagem that will allow us to help those that might be struggling, but we need to do so in a way that is galvanizing and not critical. I think that this is a crucial thing to keep in mind because they might feel even more intimidated if a fourth-tiered student goes up them, almost as an authority figure, and condemn them. I think that this would be the most daunting part of the task mentioned beforehand because you would have to find a way to help others without being pretentious or coming off as rude. Thanks for the feedback!
This comment is a response to Matt Amodeo’s post above!
I like the idea of having the lower tier students collaborate more often with the higher tier students, but I feel as if this would of taken place already if those lower tier students really wanted to make a change. I personally believe a great place for a lower tier student to start is by creating an every day metacognition/reflection folder on google drive. I think if a student consistently forces himself to reflect on what they did everyday in class, they will find that they are doing more work than they were originally doing. An everyday reflection doesn’t necessarily have to be long, it could be a single paragraph as long as it’s effective. As Mr. Eure mentioned in one of the latest posts, “In-Class Focus and Feedback”, If you fake it, at least you’re doing some good. Just by thinking about the process and reflecting upon what you did, I think students will find that they are capable of getting the higher tier profiles. Even if they reflect only a little, the hope is that every day they will expand and expand their work into the work of a student that is a true 8 and 9 profile.
I agree with Mike. We could try to help them, but they are the ones that have to put the effort into making progress. They should hold a little journal or notebook that they can write in every class period, and they can write in it whenever they want. Making baby steps is important and it develops skills that we can carry on.
I agree with Matt as well. If those students are picking higher tiers and actually deserve lower tiers they should see an example of what ever tier they picked. I feel like those students who do that get off topic when they´re on the computer they may work better on paper. I feel like it would be a good idea to show them and help them to become a better student. I also read Christopher´s post and thought about what he said about showing the lower tiers this. I feel like that would just hurt their feelings and make them feel bad, you have the right idea but a different method would be better.
When re-reading the “In-Class Focus and Feedback” post again, my mind went in a couple different directions: 1. My own personal feelings about my success (that I’m usually blind to what effort I actually put forth. 2. Stressing understanding of in-class focus and feedback has always been an important, and will never cease to be. In my last Pareto Project metacognition, I wrote about my struggle with self-motivation, specifically about writing more. In this case, organization is a paramount skill. We cannot argue for the 4th tier with a mediocre understanding of what effort we have put forth. If you’re like me, you do the work, you just have a hard time keeping track of it.
Well I think the biggest point and question that was raised for me was what do other people actually consider beneficial. I’m not so sure if the things I’ve posted in the past have even been helpful, and I don’t want to be spamming Google+ or annoying my peers by trying to “help them”. I think I would like to use this forum or google+ to answer questions from the rest of my peers, on what topic I’m not sure yet. I’ll be checking in on the post for any other comments….it’s just difficult to get interactions from the rest of my peers and I’d like to get the opportunity to work with people who might need help or different perspectives.
I definitely agree with your points here – even if we offer assistance to others, how do we know our help wasn’t all for naught? I guess the solution to that question is to just keep providing help and suggestions – if we cease to provide help, we’re hurting ourselves as well as ignoring others, and there are definitely instances where (for example) I’ve benefited from another student’s suggestion without explicitly replying to said student/making it noticeably known that the student’s suggestion helped me. If students find assistance “annoying”…well, the saying goes that no opinions are wrong – yet, if a student is explicitly resisting help and improvements, they are really only hurting themselves.
That’s true…it’s also worrying however that the people who need help might not even be seeing it. I don’t know about you, but I feel like the physical classroom is often overlooked as an opportunity for helping each other out. There’s even the the opportunity to just sit down with a couple peers in the library and just TALK and get each other’s insight….
It is kind of difficult to help people sometimes. You can’t just wait for lower tier students to come to you asking for help, but constantly going up to people asking if you can help them can make them feel as if you find them inferior to you, which will make them less likely to let you help them. I try to take advantage of the opportunity to help someone whenever they ask me “What are we supposed to be doing?” Instead of giving a quick, one sentence explanation – I just take the time to sit next to them and explain everything very clearly. The better you explain things the more likely they’ll be to listen to you and even come to you for help again when they zone out and get lost.
And you’re right, everyone finds different things helpful. What could help everyone else learn what the best method is would be if a Google Form was posted, asking people what they’d like to improve, and what kind of help would be beneficial to them
I like the idea of the Google Forms thing, I’m just worried about how many people are going to look at it. I might use that idea and create a google forms or something to gather insight of where people want help, but along with that I think talking face to face with people or even having a discussion of what people want to receive more help on in this class would be more helpful. It won’t be something people not might see because we’ll be interacting with them face to face.
When I read the ¨In-class Focus and Feedback¨ post, I took it as a time to reflect on how I have grown throughout the year and how I really began to advocate for myself. I have moved around the classroom quite a bit in hopes of finding a group that will benefit me the most, in addition to being comfortable and able to share my work to gain new perspectives. Recently I have noticed that I have resorted to sitting by myself. I´m aware that this could hurt my feedback loop a little bit, but I have found that it has actually improved my in-class focus and progress tremendously. I think that this post has allowed me to reflect to improve on new ways to be good at both of those things simultaneously.
I think that the biggest question that this post has raised for me is, how students in the 4th tier actually keep track of their work in addition to balancing it with life outside of the classroom and other classes? I think it is interesting to see how others approach it, that way we gain new perspectives and learn from one another.
I think it’s awesome that you made the decision to move around the room in order to use your time more effectively!!
I know that everyone has a different schemata for approaching this course, but I try to take advantage of the chamber of time that we’re proffered in class to work on crucial tasks. Essentially, I try to organize my week for the class based on what I want to accomplish. For instance, I know that for the last month prior to the AP, most of my attention was shifted towards preparing myself as much as possible for the AP. Therefore, I centered my weeks around that and collaborated with my peers to try prepare for the exam together. I kept separate folders with my AP Test Prep materials and would dedicate my study hall to study for the exam. In regards to the class itself, I try to keep track of all the work by writing metacognitions on what my priorities are for the week and addressing how I would use my time effectively to fulfill those tasks. However, in regards to juggling the course work with my three APs, honors classes, and after school activities, I would say that organization was a crucial element for what I managed to accomplish this year. I sought to improve myself as a student and hone the critical aspects needed for a well-rounded student, which is something that I always do every year. I think that what makes a student effective is utilizing anticipation as the fuel for preparation and efficiency. It’s imperative to take into account what your schedule consists of and how you can work around that schedule in order to balance all elements of your life. By organizing yourself and striving to utilize your time effectively, it’ll be much easier to manage your school life and your social life. This was something that my peers and I discussed several times throughout the year. Therefore, I would recommend to converse with other peers and try to shape the way that you want to embrace your time based on the ideas you obtain and based on what you think would be effective for you. These skills were some things that I honed this year and I will continue to hone in the years to come because they are very imperative. Nonetheless, I think that improving your focus and taking advantage of the time that you have in class is a crucial first step and it’s great that you’re advocating more for yourself! I know that advocating for myself and what I wanted to do to grow as a learner was something that I had a lot of flexibility in doing this year. I feel that it was a helpful element that allowed me to grow in several aspects in regards to my learning.Thanks for the feedback!
I agree with a lot of your points here, but I think that we really have to look at this from a relative angle as the post on In Class Focus and Feedback suggests. Like you said you dedicated your class time and study hall to the AP, which is very important to effectively use the time, but not everyone can dedicate that much time. Everyone should have been using the 36th chamber to study for the AP Lang exam, but for their study halls and free periods, they may have needed to study for other APs, or to work on projects. For example, I took 5 AP classes this year and took 6 APs in the beginning of May, so I had to budget my time and prioritize which APs to study for during my free periods, as well as working on any logistics for Model UN, being an officer.
Regardless, everyone should have been using their class time in the 36th chamber to study for the AP, and now the Regents, but still go off on tangents and watch TV during the period. We cannot force them to focus, that is a decision they have to make as long as they can face the consequences. What I find disappointing is that when Mr. Eure does post the grades, several students who sit around and watch TV or Youtube during the period get mad that they deserved better grades. GAP is a lot about evidence; with so many people in the class at once, Mr. Eure can’t keep tabs on all of us, so we need to prove to him that we are the kind of student we say we are. This is through the visible improvements that he can see in our work ethic, metacognition, etc, through how we utilize our resources and maintain communication with him and our peers. We can’t force anything upon them, but we also can’t induce a feeling that we are superior to them if we try to help them. They don’t want to be treated like little kids where they get very simple, step by step instructions, but if they are to get something out of the course, there has to be some incentive for them to invest in the course. I found that simply the live lessons and skills that we get out of the course to be enough to invest in it, but not everyone shares this thought and still haven’t committed themselves to the course.
I agree with you, Chris, it seems like a no win scenario. If we do try and help our fellow students get better, they might resent us and refuse to change due to seeing our efforts as sanctimonious. If we don’t, nothing really changes. It can be argued that if we don’t focus so much on helping our classmates, they learn to fend for themselves and they learn how to argue for better grades, but that type of thinking only helps if our classmates show initiative, which would resolve the problem that we’re discussing in the first place. If we got out of our shells a bit, and interacted more with students who struggle with the course, any advice we give them would then seem less sanctimonious, and more like a friend helping another friend out. Getting to know people takes time and effort, and it doesn’t guarantee results, though, so many of us don’t generally choose that path. I’ve worked on being better about this myself, and so far, I’ve been pleased with the results. The key is to not make it awkward. Don’t interact with someone just to help them out; present yourself as a person to them, interact with them outside of just helping with assignments. Doing this would also be a much stronger argument in favor of our expression of collegiality on our GAP reports. What say you?
A lot of the perceptions you all have strike me as very trickle-down-economics-esque. In the same way that supporters of that theory believe that if we cut taxes/ increase funding for big businesses, the market will boom! Jobs will open up! Poor people will see what they’re missing and get off their lazy butts and start working harder and the economy will be fixed forever! Except thats not how anything works. Like at all. Like, ever. And comparable to that- this isn’t so much an issue of how we need to be better, bright, shining, examples of well roundedness, and share our metacognition so that those lower tiers see what they should be doing and how reflective and invested we are- since they clearly aren’t doing the spectacular job us GAP 8s and 9s are doing! (I mean no disrespect towards Matt’s idea, which I actually think is good in theory- it just happened to be the example I chose). And as a sidetone before diving in I HIGHLY recommend this book if you still think well-roundedness matters https://www.amazon.com/Excellent-Sheep-Miseducation-American-Meaningful/dp/1476702721).
There is, by the profile definition, apathy and disengagement in the lower tiers. The lowers tiers, barring the ACUTE presence of the Dunning-Kruger effect (the bubble of which, would have been burst in the first GAP conference of quarter one in the case of someone putting in the work of lower tier who vehemently believes they deserve a GAP 8 or 9) know what they are and are not doing. If you all want to “help” our peers in lower tiers, the discussion should be about the industrial complex that demoralizes students to the point of such profound disengagement. The American Education system of arbitrary numbers like GPAs and entering college debt before you’re even in college (or perhaps I’m just bitter after spending 600$ on standardized tests last month, I digress). And the conversation should be with them, not about them. We’re all under every similar pressure, we just handle it differently. The exact same system that may drive you into academic workaholism, perfectionism and burnout- drives them to apathy and ennui. I know that the immediate inclination of a “high-achieving” student is to distance ourselves from the “average” students or ”underachieving” ones (the connotations of all of these phrases are as loaded as they are subjective, which warrants a discussion in and of itself), but this is something we need to be cognizant of and avoid. We are a community that is, yes, stratified- but still a community. We aren’t superior for being in the fourth tier and it isn’t some exclusive club. There is no more room for distancing, we need to fill that space with empathy. A conversation of the system we’re all in and how it effects us is far more meaningful than saying “look how well we’re doing, here’s what you all should be doing”, they already know what they should be doing, or could easily access very explicit instructions for what they should be doing. I think that if a lower tier student is being systematically disengaged from the course- (i.e watching youtube or Netflix during class to use Chris’s example) then that is dealt with through the course through the profile they earn based on the work they’ve done (or not done). It’s similar to the Baker pain scale example given a couple of Sisyphean High essays back about how a 10 for you may only be a 4 or a 6 for someone else. Maybe you have the availability and ability to put hours into the course, but not everyone does. Some people work after school or have responsibilities many of us are fortunate enough to not have to worry about. Maybe you’re a high achieving student and so you feel that getting a GAP 6 is some sort of insult or joke, but maybe to another student that’s them putting forth their best effort given extenuating circumstances. And even in both of those examples, a student’s lack of time and/or extenuating circumstances would be folded effortlessly into the course itself. The issue at hand is very different. To add to what Chris had touched on, what I’m referring to is the amount of disengagement, apathy, and enmity towards grade abatement among the higher tiers. People who are genuinely surprised when they put little effort into the course, are disrespectful toward their peers and the course itself, and then receive a lower GAP score than they feel the deserve. Then naturally blame the course. I don’t mention the disrespect because I think it’s new or because it personally offends me, but because we can follow it logically. If you proliferate the sentiment that you “hate grade-abatement” or think it’s “stupid” or “unfair” or any of the myriad other comments I have heard in person but will not write here due to their being very specific and therefore capable of being traced to the source (this isn’t an attempt to chastise anyone), then you are not evincing apt communication, nor maturity. And definitely not investment. You cannot be invested in, let alone systemically invested in a course you’re verbally bashing. Which isn’t to say that if you feel there is something to improve upon you shouldn’t share that, it would be extremely collegial to converse with peers about it (in a mature and respectful manner) or to talk to Mr. Eure about it then share that proxy-feedback with your peers. But allowing yourself to undergo blatant cognitive plasmolysis and pull away from the foundational edges of this course is not the solution to whatever problem you perceive. We’ve all been socialized to be performative in most aspects of life, especially within a school building, but being performative here isn’t helpful. We’ve had many discussions about process versus product, and GAP scores are the product of processes. The process is what matters, to game the system in room 210 is to receive a product in the absence of genuine and consistent meaningful processes. The whole “if you cheat you’re only cheating yourself” line is cliche so i’ll spare you, but it does ring true. What do you gain by gaming this class? If you game a different course, one in an orthodox classroom setting, you get the grade you want without doing the work expected of you. That makes sense in terms of getting more output for your input. But if being able to avoid empathy, collegiality, communication, or the edification and transformative opportunities at your disposal in this course somehow strikes you as you having gotten over, you’re very wrong. Less input in room 210 (less communication, less empathy, more cynicism and apathy) will give you less output (being a better human in the ways that actually matter).
I’d like to continue this conversation with anyone interested, and I welcome any comments or opinions.
I agree with you in that we are a community and I don’t think that distancing ourselves (8s and 9s) will do anyone any good. I said in my previous comment that I think the only effective “solution” (I don’t like that word because I don’t think it’s quite the right word to use) here is to continue acting like a community. I think in general we’ve haven’t been as collaborative in this class and that’s something we should all work on. I guess the question I have for you after reading your post is what are specific things we should work on as individuals and then as a unit that you believe will help us all in the end? (I stated before that “shadowing” probably wouldn’t work as that seems like an ego boost to some and demeaning to others. My suggestion was more collaboration in general and that that could mean different things for different people). And maybe this is a question that we can all discuss: this post and all our comments even suggest that it’s possible for everyone to be a 9. This, in theory, rings true but in practice does it hold up? Beyond the classroom, in the “real world,” could we all be “fourth tier?” (I guess part of this is also questioning how we apply the language of the profiles to bigger things and also examining how objective we can be about ourselves and others outside this class).
As individuals, I think that cynicism and apathy can come naturally as any emotions do (especially at the end of a grueling school year) however doing nothing to counter those emotions (like verbalizing and cognitively metabolizing those feelings through discussion with peers) allows them to grow stagnant and intensify and even metastasize to others until we’re all standing in a echo-chamber of disrespect and misdirected cynicism. As a unit, there are so many underutilized resources in the room, we literally have at least 3 moveable whiteboards, a plethora of those hand smaller dry-erase boards, and furniture that is designed to move yet we all stay in the same places and sit with the same people everyday (I’m just as guilty of this as anyone else). A conscious, collective effort to utilize the space around us to think aloud and brainstorm would not only be an important step in a general sense, but would also serve as a great opportunity to discuss this more in depth.
I agree with both Jamie and Tsubomi. The level of what tier your in is the foundation of judgments and separation. As fourth tier students we seek help from those like us, we sit with those like us, and we become friends with those like us. Collaboration between other tiers soon becomes unnecessary because without a common goal there is no need to work together. But what if there were no tiers? As fourth tier students we find ourselves after the first semester, focused on maintaining this high standard that we become lost in the purpose for it all. Like social classes, GAP tiers divide us and distract us from the common goal. You start to feel as if you can’t work with people below or even above ypur tier and you become a member of your own class. Yes comfortable, but very questionable, fourth tier students become judgmental as to why lower tier students can’t strive to be half of what they are, while lower tier students wonder why fourth tier students care so much. I guess the question is how far would you go to be in the top of the social pyramid (fourth tier)? Will you abandon your responsibilities as a peer and student of being proactive and pick up those who need a lift or will you continue to recognize that a tier does not define who you are in this class it defines what you do. We are no better than anyone so there is no reason we can not help those who want to succeed. As for those who don’t want to excel, it is barely our fault. We have opened the gates for everyone to see the correct way. However, what I’m trying to say is that it is not about fixing others it s about fixing ourselves. It was our responsibility to start collaborative work and be the teachers and leaders. Coming together now to as a group to suddenly say that lower tier students have a problem should not be the case. If we weren’t so independent and so to ourselves as a tier an group this would have never occurred. The more we hold our knowledge in the less we improve.
I definitely agree with everyone here so far, especially with the fact that people can’t be forced to learn or do work that they don’t want to do and we can’t force them to accept our “teachings.” One idea I had was a class/group document of metacognitions where we could share our thinkings on a document that everyone has editing access to and be able to respond and teach each other more effectively. This could even be a formal post or assignment on classroom. I brought this up in the start of the year for the peers that I typically work with and we had an online metacognition journal that we posted some work onto and replied to each other but it didn’t continue for long. We all had our individual metacognitions so trying to force it onto one document was a little difficult. I agree with Tsubomi that we need to treat each other as equals and maybe this collaborative metacognition would help enforce this fact. This online comment forum is effective at helping us GAP 8’s and 9’s collaborate and treat each other as equals whilst teaching and sharing new ideas, so having the metacognition journal could help everyone feel like that. Organization, like Noelle said, is key to being successful and discussing that in a metacognition may be helpful. Even though it’s the end of the year and every single person is probably having some problems staying motivated, I still think that it’s important to get the most out of the class if we can and galvanizing our peers is part of that.
Thank you to everyone who left a comment here. I did try to take time to read all of them and internalize them to the best of my ability, but many of us said similar things. I hope we can use what’s left of our motivation to really help every person in AP Lang improve.
I definitely like your idea of switching around the room with new people. I believe that different environments and people can change your in class focus. There’s no specific way to keep track of all the work you do. Personally, I prefer to organize my work in different folders such as AP prep, GAP work, metacognitions, pareto project, etc. It helps me collect my work in an organized manner. Now at days, it’s so hard to keep up with your school work and social life. Balancing those two takes time and effort to accomplish. During class time and study halls, I use my time wisely by working efficiently throughout the whole period. I must admit that sometimes I take a break to relax, but 99% of the time, I try to stay focused. This allows me to have more time on the weekends and after school to make time for friends or family. Procrastination has always been an issue for me, but I have been working on it a lot this year.
It seems like a lot of the perceptions you all have are very-trickle-down-economics-esque. In the same way that supporters of that theory believe that if we cut taxes/ increase funding for big businesses, the market will boom! Jobs will open up! Poor people will see what they’re missing and get off their lazy butts and start working harder and the economy will be fixed forever! Except thats not how anything works. Like at all. Like, ever. And comparable to that- this isn’t so much an issue of how we need to be better, bright, shining, examples of well roundedness, and share our metacognition so that those lower tiers see what they should be doing and how reflective and invested we are- since they clearly aren’t doing the spectacular job us GAP 8s and 9s are doing! (I mean no disrespect towards Matt’s idea, which I actually think is good in theory- it just happened to be the example I chose). And as a sidetone before diving in I HIGHLY recommend this book if you still think well-roundedness matters https://www.amazon.com/Excellent-Sheep-Miseducation-American-Meaningful/dp/1476702721).
There is, by the profile definition, apathy and disengagement in the lower tiers. The lowers tiers, barring the presence of the ACUTE presence of the Dunning-Kruger effect (the bubble of which, would have been burst in the first GAP conference of quarter one in the case of someone putting in the work of lower tier who vehemently believes they deserve a GAP 8 or 9) know what they are and are not doing. If you all want to “help” our peers in lower tiers, the discussion should be about the industrial complex that demoralizes students to the point of acute disengagement. The American Education system of arbitrary numbers like GPAs and entering college debt before you’re even in college (or perhaps I’m just bitter after spending 600$ on standardized tests last month, I digress). And the conversation should be with them, not about them. We’re all under every similar pressure, we just handle it differently. The exact same system that may drive you into academic workaholism, perfectionism and burnout- drives them to apathy and ennui. I know that the immediate inclination of a “high-achieving” student is to distance ourselves from the “average” students or ”underachieving” ones (the connotations of all of these phrases are as loaded as they are subjective, which warrants a discussion in and of itself), but this is something we need to be cognizant of and avoid. We are a community that is, yes, stratified- but still a community. We aren’t superior for being in the fourth tier and it isn’t some exclusive club. There is no more room for distancing, we need to fill that space with empathy. A conversation of the system we’re all in and how it effects us is far more meaningful than saying “look how well we’re doing, here’s what you all should be doing”, they already know what they should be doing, or could easily access very explicit instructions for what they should be doing. I think that if a lower tier student is being systematically disengaged from the course- (i.e watching youtube or Netflix during class to use Chris’s example) then that is dealt with through the course through the profile they earn based on the work they’ve done (or not done). It’s similar to the Baker pain scale example given a couple of Sisyphean High essays back about how a 10 for you may only be a 4 or a 6 for someone else. Maybe you have the availability and ability to put hours into the course, but not everyone does. Some people work after school or have responsibilities many of us are fortunate enough to not have to worry about. Maybe you’re a high achieving student and so you feel that getting a GAP 6 is some sort of insult or joke, but maybe to another student that’s them putting forth their best effort given extenuating circumstances. And even in both of those examples, a student’s lack of time and/or extenuating circumstances would be folded effortlessly into the course itself. The issue at hand is very different. To add to what Chris had touched on, what I’m referring to is the amount of disengagement, apathy, and enmity towards grade abatement among the higher tiers. People who are genuinely surprised when they put little effort into the course, are disrespectful toward their peers and the course itself, and then receive a lower GAP score than they feel the deserve. Then naturally blame the course. I don’t mention the disrespect because I think it’s new or because it personally offends me, but because we can follow it logically. If you proliferate the sentiment that you “hate grade-abatement” or think it’s “stupid” or “unfair” or any of the myriad other comments I have heard in person but will not write here due to their being very specific and therefore capable of being traced to the source (this isn’t an attempt to chastise anyone), then you are not evincing apt communication, nor maturity. And definitely not investment. You cannot be invested in, let alone systemically invested in a course you’re verbally bashing. Which isn’t to say that if you feel there is something to improve upon you shouldn’t share that, it would be extremely collegial to converse with peers about it (in a mature and respectful manner) or to talk to Mr. Eure about it then share that proxy-feedback with your peers. But allowing yourself to undergo blatant cognitive plasmolysis and pull away from the foundational edges of this course is not the solution to whatever problem you perceive. We’ve all been socialized to be performative in most aspects of life, especially within a school building, but being performative here isn’t helpful. We’ve had many discussions about process versus product, and GAP scores are the product of processes. The process is what matters, to game the system in room 210 is to receive a product in the absence of genuine and consistent meaningful processes. The whole “if you cheat you’re only cheating yourself” line is cliche so i’ll spare you, but it does ring true. What do you gain by gaming this class? If you game a different course, one in an orthodox classroom setting, you get the grade you want without doing the work expected of you. That makes sense in terms of getting more output for your input. But if being able to avoid empathy, collegiality, communication, or the edification and transformative opportunities at your disposal in this course somehow strikes you as you having gotten over, you’re very wrong. Less input in 210 (less communication, less empathy, more cynicism and apathy) will give you less output (being a better human in the ways that actually matter).
I’d like to continue this conversation with anyone interested, and I welcome any comments or opinions.
One thing I have noticed about a lot of these comments is that they are focusing on the “lower tier” students. However the problem with that is that there are roughly 64 students that figured themelves a 4th tier students and that isn’t even counting the people that considered themselves a 7 (also 4th tier). I’m not positive about the numbers but given there are about 24 students in my class at this exact moment it might be more than half. So the problem becomes do all of those students, all of us, deserve to be 4th tier. Maybe we do, it is possible that all of us have gone above and beyond. However I feel that all of us must reevaluate whether we actually deserve the grade we gave ourselves. Instead of projecting our issues on the rest of the class we must realize that we are the class (or at least a possible majority of it) and that most of us agree that we are forth tier. I personally believe this is something each person should work out from themselves not have forced on them in the 9 days we have remaining. I know very few people will see this as I don’t think people will come back to this comment section but I do feel self reflection is more important.
I have been reading the comments over the course of the weekend and I have observed the same. Most all of us are intelligent enough to have a basic grasp of the concept that this course redefines the nature of grades themselves, however I feel there is still a majority who don’t fully understand fully, and with this being a fundamental principle of the course, is necessary for a mince student. This stems from the fact that if one feels they put in a good weeks work, they’ll assign themselves a nine, but not take the time to breakdown the language and components the truly create a nine. A nine student is not a “good student”, it is an explicit set of characteristics that highlight he desired traits and efforts made by a successful student in this particular class. A student can be the top of our class and be a six, or have a low GPA and be a nine. The two may correlate, but there is no causation there. Being “good” in other classes does not mean you will be in this one, because it is a completely separate entity. Many of us claim to know this, but I speculate that it’s not the truth. I don’t believe this is a product of ignorance or laziness, but instead of the simple fact that the way this class is “scored” is so drastically different than what we’ve become accustomed to, that breaking from that system is not only uncomfortable, but extremely confusing. It was highlighted to us as incoming students, but I feel the concept was glossed over by many of us because it appears simple, but really dives into the deep fundamentals of our education, and can’t be cracked and accepted by reading it once and saying okay. Due to this, the rest of the year was built on a mixture or traditional and abatement style grading in our minds, but only abatement in real life, which makes it near impossible to assess how well you fit a profile, and not assess how well of a job you feel you’ve done. Again, the two correlate but are not the same. Assessing feedback, focus, collegiality, awareness, needs to be looked at specifically, and with honesty. But it’s tough, and requires that type of awareness to recognize if you yourself have misdefined what it means to receive a “good score” in this course. I think that all of us need to take a long look in the mirror of evidence and profiles, and some may not be too happy to what they do finally see.
I agree, no one should get to “comfortable” in their tier. Being in the 4th tier includes constant reflection and trying to be a better student everyday.
I don’t have a specific person to reply to, but I wanted to ask a couple questions and provide my insight. There are a couple people outside of school older than I that I know personally, who face the same struggle that many 8 & 9 GAP score students face. How do you motivate and teach someone without offending them? My step mother and father work in the horse industry. My step mom is a trainer. And my father is a horseshoer. My step mom has taught clients aging from five years old to well into retirement. Both my father and step mom must play multiple roles, from a horse health advocate, to a teacher, friend, and parent. They must walk the fine line between educating and offending a client. They are almost always coming up with new ways to tell a someone ‘you aren’t doing this right’. Especially when it comes to horses, there are trends and methods that are like fashion, they sometimes aren’t practical for a rider or a horse. Clients often latch onto these trends, so, my father and step mom have to work around them. I also mentioned earlier that there is a fine line between educating and offending someone. Most of us would like to believe we know it all, and can handle about any situation better than anyone else. However, this often isn’t the case. And even if the client is less educated about an issue, they won’t be open to trying new ideas if they feel they are being made an idiot. A key component that cannot be forgotten is that we are peers, even if part of us are teachers, we are friends first. Talking to both of my parents, you must wonder the same things they do. Why is this problem here? What can we do to fix it? Include opinions even when you oppose them, the more open minded you are, it can give someone else the ability to do the same thing. Lecturing injures egos (Ironically this may be what I’m doing now). It seems that the trend is to do as little work as possible in order to get through the end of the year. How do we work around that? You can’t force a person to learn, so even the scenario of pretending to interact with lower GAP score peers can be applied because we still end up doing something. It helps you both. We also can incorporate the goal of doing the bare minimum. Provide suggestions for what you think is the bare minimum or add just one thing to someone else’s idea of this. Because saying ‘you shouldn’t do that’ or saying that ‘I don’t do that’ won’t get anyone anywhere. Not all of us in this classroom are perfectionists, and not everyone looks up to higher scoring GAP students as role models. Even if this concept is self destructive, one of the components to teaching is knowing when to stop. Not only this, but we aren’t teachers, we are peers. Find flaws in grade abatement just like others to, and encourage them to express it in a constructive way, methods can always be improved. And this allows us all to be perfectionists in some way. If part of an assignment is not helpful, encourage someone to tailor the teaching process so it is helpful to them, this course is all about individualization. Talking to someone as an equal makes empathy more easily used, and is often more helpful and compelling.
First I have to say that I think it is way too late in the year to be having this conversation. We have nine days of school left and we have one grade left, most people are in whatever tier they are and there is not much they can do to change that. That said, I also don’t believe that we can make someone accept help if they don’t want it. A good number of the lower tier students are there because they don’t really care about the class, not because they don’t understand it or need extra help. So if we wanted to do something to help the others that would have been great but I think we’re out of time.
Agreed completely. Additionally this is the first time all year we’ve had a discussion this large (possibly another but nothing comes to mind). I know for a fact this is something many of us wanted but one never took off. This comment section appears to be more useful than any of us thought and should be pushed on the incoming students next year if they look for a place to discuss. It feels really late to be addressing much of this but I don’t believe it’s a waste of time if we can take what we discover and move the knowledge forward for others.
I agree with Will Ford`s post. I think that if we had this conversation after the second quarter, then maybe all of the students would try and improve on the last two quarters. However, I don`t think it`s fair to say that kids in the lower tier don`t care about the class. Maybe it is true for some students but not all. For some students, english may be their worst subject. I don`t think that the students in the lower tier should shadows the students in the higher tiers. It is not fair because majority of the post is about how great the kids are who are in the higher tiers.
I think so too Will, although our conversations may help build the future year’s course to be more efficient.
Having a student who has earned a lower profile than one in the fourth tier “shadow” a student with a higher profile is degrading, and not how this class is designed. I completely agree with Tsubomi with the fact that unless students want to achieve on their own, they won’t. And we can’t force them. I think if we were to have a lower tier student “shadow” a higher tier student, both students would feel uncomfortable. It gives the lower tier student the feeling that they are not as smart or as capable as the other student. This shouldn’t be the case. Mr. Eure stresses that although this class is collaborative, a large part of it is entirely about self-awareness and discipline. You make your own choices in this classroom, and whether those are the right or wrong choices, that’s also up to you. As for the collaborative piece of this course, Google Communities was used regularly at the beginning of the year and was very beneficial to many students. I think, although this year is almost over, using it again would bring back the sense of unity to the classroom.
Overall, I agree with most of the things the people previous to me have stated. “Shadowing” would in my opinion be a very ineffective method to help the students in the lower tiers because as stated before, it would make both students uncomfortable. The student with a lower grade would feel degraded and the student with the higher grade may in general just not want to have someone watch over them working. In my opinion, those in the fourth tier are there because they demonstrated that they have all of the qualities needed for that tier. As long as a student is productive in class by working on the assignments at hand, completing those assignments on time with signs of effort put into them and works well with their peers they will be in that fourth tier. Then to reach the next highest grade the student must simply put in a bit more effort into the class by writing metacognitions and having active discussions either with Mr. Eure or with their peers. Those not making it into the fourth tier aren’t there because they simply didn’t demonstrate all the necessary qualities and they will only make it into the fourth tier unless they themselves are motivated enough to do so and therefore no amount of “help” will make the students that aren’t self-motivated enough get to that fourth tier.
I believe a person’s determination to become a fourth tier student, is the dedication as to how a person improves themselves to become a better writer. The effort in which a person takes to better themselves might be enough evidence for them to believe they earn a higher grade. Though a disportionate number of people will be imposter and select a grade they don’t deserve. It’s important to recognize that just because someone has a lower grade doesn’t mean they don’t have the same determination as the ones in the fourth tier. Why would this post only exclusively be given out to those who who’ve gotten a score of an 8 and 9? When talking to some people I’ve noticed that they don’t have the same assignment to join in on the conversation to share their own ideas on how to improve themselves. Giving the lower tier the option to join in on the conversation will be a test to see whether that student is taking the class seriously. I’m not saying that all students who ask for a tier four grade should get it, but they should be given chance to to prove themselves. Though this is just an idea to just to see if any agree with me or not. If anyone feels the same please feel free to respond.
I am going to have to agree with Will Ford on this. It’s pretty late in the game to be going over trying to help people become something that they do not (in their best effort) try to be. We can’t simply say “i’m helping you and you should accept my help” just because we think it could paint ourselves in a better light. Those who are not in the fourth tier are not their for one of two reasons. They either don’t have the drive or they don’t have the skills. Now that being said, skills can in fact be developed over time, but we only have so little time left. Besides that, those who have been slacking off this year have already left such an impression that it would be extremely difficult to raise their scores at this point. It does not take much to put a little effort in when effort is due. The fact that many have made the choice to disregard those posts is just that, a choice. If those who do not want t put in the ffort make that choice for themselves, then who are we to mess with that?
I agree with Will and David. While we should be open to helping those who want help, and even try to seek out those who aren’t saying it, I think we should limit ourselves to that. Some people don’t prioritize this class and its message, and I don’t think we can judge that. If someone isn’t doing “well” in this class because they don’t care, I really don’t think there’s a lot we can do. In that case, a facilitated approach wouldn’t work. That being said, I think expanding on casual collaboration (like in class conversations) could benefit everybody, regardless of tier or level of ambition.
I really don’t see any reason to have less successful student “shadow” fourth tier student, it seems like it would be incredibly demeaning and not really helpful. If you want the less successful students to get more from this class they need to do it on their own, you can’t really force people to invest themselves in something if they aren’t interested. By having these conversations among ourselves we are making fourth tier even more separate from the rest of the class. When other students see this sort of conversation it isolates us in a way that is only beneficial for us. If we want the entire class to be seen as equals these conversations should be had in a way that forces the involvement of everyone. If they were had as an actual discussion in class people would me more inclined to participate.
I would like to respond to all of the recent replies. Mr.Eure does bring up many valid points on how many piers are marking themselves as the highest possible grade, or even close to it, without thinking they need to elaborate on it. This is where many of my classmates mess up. There is no easy way out, nor is there a way to cheat the system. Your assignments are read over by Mr.Eure and constantly monitored for effective use of class time. However, where everyone on this page is going wrong, is their use of persuasion. Mr. Eure wants us to prove why we deserve our grade, and defend it with all we have, clearly identifying evidence, and complete use of our class period everyday.
All of you aren’t proving anything. Everyone here is agreeing with what the teacher depicted in the post and simply stating “I agree with this person because…..” and just elaborating on how they agree. That is just taking someone else’s work and further strengthening the first person to make a comment here. What Mr.Eure is looking for a true explanation why we deserve a grade, how we prove it , what we are doing to further strengthen their argument. He has gotten tired of listening to “I agree” after the first person who cited the previous person. That isn’t what he is looking for, and clearly proves how he is going to separate the true ” tier 4, scoring 9″, from the tier 3. You won’t get a grade from avoiding the question, or going off about a topic that has nothing to do with this post.
I strongly believe I am a 95 student through how I separate myself from the herd. I have significantly improved my reading and writing skills. I find myself lost in my writing 9th period, only to be taken back when the bell rings, whereas in 10th grade, I was counting the minutes that went by. I successfully changed my learning style from the old paper assignments, to all online chromebook assignments. It doesn’t seem like much of a transition, but it is very hard to adapt too. I started out missing assignments and forgetting to finish work, but now find myself checking classroom every period for any new assignments, and due dates, to make sure I have everything in. I went from a student that writes bare minimum, to consuming my whole screen with words. This is what separates me from the students that just mark the highest score they can possibly get and use other peoples work for leverage. This is what separates me from the ones that sit in class not doing work, not participating, and not focusing.
I agree that it is fairly late in the year- but isn’t there a sort of power in that? Can’t that be weaponized? By having discussions and making changes in the very few days we have left in school, we can set up a system that will help the coming students who will be in this course next year avoid making the same mistakes we did. Or at the very least help provide them with the tools to become aware of their mistakes as/after they are made and work toward ameliorating them and toward self improvement- with more time to do so than with 9 or so days left of classes. I don’t support the idea of having lower tiers shadow the higher ones- and that idea, again, ignores the point. The problem is not the individuals earning lower tiers not doing their work, that is already addressed through the course itself. The problem is individuals that expect to be given higher tiers in the absence of the demonstration of consistent processes that would earn a higher tier, and in the presence of profound disrespect and cynicism. TL;DR I don’t think this post was a call for missionary work to save the lower tiers from themselves via shadowing or sharing metacognition journals, but rather a call for us to exercise self awareness and change our own behavior.
I agree that somehow this post turned into something that I don’t think it was written to be. The post encouraged discussion in general, but I think we should redirect the conversation to an equally pressing matter: we (people who gave ourselves 8s and 9s) need to make sure we’re continuing to be self-aware and instead of looking down at people of other profiles (which isn’t fair or right, really) we should spend time discussing and looking at ourselves.
I agree with all of the students who believe that as 8 or 9 students, we should help and guide others through this course to not only benefit them, but as well as ourselves. Although, there is only so much that we can do. Some of the lower tier students might be willing to accept help and become a fourth tier student, in which case we should all be willing to help them and let them be our “shadow.” But there are some students who just aren’t invested in this course enough to the point where they would even want to shadow a fourth tier student. If they aren’t invested, we, as fourth tier students, can not force them to become invested in the course. On the other hand though, if they are willing to accept help and are somewhat invested in the course, I believe that it would be beneficial to help them by sharing metacognitions and what not.
I agree with this post of in-class focus, feedback, and unlocking the course. In class feedback is very important especially for the students with GAP score of 8 or 9. These students have to make examples for other students and help the students when they are confused on directions or on what to do. This will not only make a student better, but it can make a whole class better with it’s GAP score. Feedback is also important for these students. With the GAP score of 8 or 9 we as students need to start having more metacognition based on our work and how we do it. Metacognition or feedback gives us a way to evaluate our work and make it better. As of unlocking the course we have to understand the GAP score tiers and what each one stands for. For GAP scores of 8 or 9 feedback, metacognition, in class focus, and understanding the course are important. Also being a strong reader, thinker, and communicator. In my opinion anyone can get a GAP score of 8 or 9 as long as they work hard, turn in their work, and get help if they don’t understand the directions.
I agree with majority of people in this forum. I only took this long to respond due to personal issues that Mr.Eure let me take time to write about. Feedback is one of the most important parts of this chain in my opinion. The feedback will circle all the way down, and will provide the lower gap scores with information that will help them achieve their goals. I feel as if the higher Gap scores definitely, at the end of the quarter should write a reflection piece about how the last quarter has affect their academic lives. After every quarter I have learned something new and I am able to grow as a student. I always write about that, and I would always be willing to let someone see my mistakes or see how I have improved.