…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.