This year I am teaching an Activity Class every day for 45 minutes to 6-8 grade students. It is the equivalent of an elective class in other schools. I struggled in the fall with ideas to engage the students in something education and fun. They would just prefer to play games on their phones, because they're teenagers and that's what they like to do. I finally decided to create a Maker Space/Genius Hour hybrid where I provide a whole bunch of ideas and they can pick one of mine or propose one of their own.
As part of this process, the students have to write a SMART Goal. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely. It was, and still is, a learning curve for the students to really understand what that means. Some students just cannot be specific enough or they struggle to write a measurable outcome. How will I know when it's done? How many will you make? I need a quantifiable number or a target for completion. Other students struggle with figuring out something that's attainable. They have ideas- but they are too big or grandiose for the time we have. Reining in ideas that are too grand is hard. Kids are disappointed. Relevant is hard for some students, too. I want their projects to be relevant to them, but I also want them to CREATE something. Learning by creating is so powerful. I know they can learn a lot by playing Monopoly, but it isn't really the purpose of our class. Finally, timely can be an issue. A project finished in one day is not a good choice, and a project that would take longer than 4 weeks is not a good choice, either. We have 4 weeks together, with 45-minute classes. I ask them to come up with at least one project idea, but no more than three. Each one must have an approved SMART Goal before the student can begin.
Reflection a big part of our class well. Each day the students should reflect on what they accomplished that day. The reflections range in quality from very thoughtful and insightful thinking to one, incomplete, poorly spelled, no punctuation or capitalization afterthought. I wish I could help them see how much reflection will make a difference in their learning. It gives them a moment to think about problems, solutions, progress and great learning.
I have personally been reflecting with the other activity teachers in casual conversations and purposeful meetings. We see the struggle kids have with their reflections, but we feel it is important enough to continue to include it every day. The reflections also provide a way to assess participation in class. We didn't want to assess a final product, but we need a class grade. Engagement and reflection have become our product for assessment.
How do we manage the SMART Goals and Reflections? We use Google Classroom and a Google Slideshow. Each student has a slideshow with a slide for each day of the activity class. Each day they complete the slide with a photo or screenshot (if possible) and a reflection of the day. I can access all of the slideshows through the Google Classroom portal. I leave comments and the students score themselves each week, and I score right alongside.
I am thinking that in my next round of activity class students can earn 2 points each day, one for on task engagement and one for their reflection. I will have a Google Form link they will fill out each day as part of their reflection where they self-assess. The totals will give them a percent of their final grade.
Activity class has definitely been a growing process for me. I want it to be purposeful and meaningful to the students. I want them fully engaged and excited about their learning. I want them to create goals and work toward them. I want them to have a choice in what they learn. Most of all, I want them to learn.
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