Idea for a Final Make

Equity in my mind is driven by shared purpose.  When I started pondering questions I might want to address in my final creation I kept returning to the ideas of engagement and how to convince learners to help each other.  Here is my attempt at crafting a solution.

I have not started teaching yet, but my plan is to create an online questionnaire that students would be asked to fill out in my future classes at the beginning of the school year.  The questions would ask students to provide their feelings regarding working with others.  Each prompt would have 5 possible answers: strongly disagree, disagree, neither agree nor disagree , agree, strongly agree.  Each answer a student clicks would be assigned a number, with strongly disagree being “1” and strongly agree being “5”.  At the end of the survey, the numbers would be added together for a final score (kind of like the self-surveys seen in magazines).  I would divide the scores into 3 ranges: low scores would be “independent”, middle scores would be “balanced”, and high scores would be “communal”.  When a student completes the survey he or she will be shown his or her score and then the average score of his or her class.  If time permits I might then allow them to see how their class compares to other classes who have taken the survey.

Wording of the questions here will require the most focus.  Here are some rough ideas.  I can start with simple prompts like “I enjoy working on my own.” and “I enjoy working in groups.”, then delve a bit deeper by  trying “I can understand a topic more by explaining it to someone else.”, “I am often the first person to volunteer when asked.”, “I am happy when the teacher discusses a question I raise with the class.”, or “I like to present my answers for all to see”.  I’m thinking maybe 20 questions would be enough where it provided some data but didn’t extend past the attention span of the survey takers.

What is my goal?  I think the goal here is twofold: first to get students thinking about equity issues and then to possibly use survey answers to differentiate instruction.  Maybe some students who are only concerned with getting the best grades might stop to consider how it feels to be someone who struggles.  I think everyone who has ever felt like they’ve hit an impasse has appreciated advice and/or help.  I want to instill in my learners a feeling of both shared struggle and shared support.  The second goal occurred to me because I believe it can provide choice for students concerning the structure of their education.  If most learners prefer working in groups then I can create more opportunities for team exercises during class. If some students don’t like to provide answers to the class then I might consider calling on them less frequently but checking in individually more often.  Can offering choices like this increase engagement?

This is my general idea.  I am unable to attend either of the class meetings this week, so if you have read this please leave comments or suggestions that I might use to focus my make.  If you prefer not to respond in public please e-mail those comments or suggestions to me @ eloyack@arcadia.edu

Thanks for reading,

Eric L

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