The Power of Three

Power of Three

Step 1:

Now that November approaches and it is time for progress reports to be finalized I have had enough time to be able to know my students enough to reflect on their pressing needs.

1. Science Collaboration – students need to take advantage of the time they have together. Having one or more lab partners is necessary to complete many of our experiments. Some groups of student can become engaged in conversation outside the realm of science discussions, this results in wasted time.

2. Recognizing the need for math extra help – There is a wide range of student understanding within my classroom. Some concepts come easy for students while some students struggle. Those that need reinforcement beyond our class time have 3 extra math help opportunities to attend my math help sessions. Some have not taken the initiative to come in for one on one help to practice their skills. I am hoping that all students feel welcome and encouraged to drop in when concept are difficult.

3. Encouraging perseverance among phys ed students who lack athletic confidence. Those students who have had limited access to sports equipment are often very tentative which makes skill development difficult.

Step 2:

These are the questions that I have asked particular students.

1. Who do you work best with. What lab partner do you think you would get the most work completed with?

2. Would you like to attend extra math help tomorrow morning or any morning?

3. What is your favourite sport? What sports would you like to improve? What games would you like to play in gym class.

Step 3:

the outcomes

1. Buy giving the chance to reflect on past lab partners and a choice to who they work best with I have found their reasoning mature and effective. The specific student who I questioned let me know that his partner was seldom on task and required constant redirection on his part to complete work. I moved him to a different partner and he appreciated it and his teamwork improved.
2. Some students simply require more one on one help in order to consolidate concepts. Asking students to come in regularly for early morning extra math help does make a difference but parent communication is essential for consistent weekly help. The student group that I targeted for extra help was attending extra math help inconsistently until I reached out to the parents. After parent contact attendance improved which helped the group consolidate their learning together.
3. Taking an extra moment to ask struggling phys. Ed. students what their favourite sport is seemed to get them to come out of there shells. I asked them for their favourite gym game and made sure to incorporate their game within a class or warm up. Making these students more comfortable in their class seems to increase participation.

The power of three process helped to better fulfill the needs of my students producing a better academic outcome while communicating with parents to ensure they are being help accountable for their learning.