Written by Once upon a time, Cheryl Bissonette (RLC’s Assistant Head of School) had a vision for what she called an end-of-semester ‘personalized week.’ Her exact words may very well have been:
“What if we set up exam week so that students have a mix of required items, such as presentations and exams, and options such as a ‘charging station’ where they could grab a hot chocolate and do some colouring to destress and relax?”
Design thinking fans might reword this question as:
“How might we redesign exam week to provide students with greater autonomy over when and where they work?”
As a scientist I act on “what ifs” and so I was already thinking in my head about how we might accomplish such a feat. In January 2018, with only one week before we needed the schedule, it took a concerted effort by several to bring this idea to life.
I worked out the schedules for students and spaces while Jessica Sheppard (RLC’s Cocurriculars Lead) worked out a teacher schedule to ensure all spaces were supervised. As I drew the schedule (image, below) I worked out a painful shoulder cramp that I had been gingerly nursing for a month. It almost seemed as if schedule building was therapeutic!
We printed hard copies of the students’ personalized schedules and I remember not being done with the printing of Grade 12 schedules as @edaigle walked out the door go to meet with our Grade 12s.
Fast forward to Semester 1 of the current school year and the Google Form to ask teachers about their end-of-semester assessment needs went out on November 30. Their responses supported building the schedule’s framework of presentations, review sessions, Discovery Days conferencing, and exam time slots (image, left). This initial data supported my efforts in building a draft personalized schedule for each teacher via Google Documents.
Next came the checks and balances. I had to balance our Grade 9-12 end-of-semester assessment plans against regularly scheduled programming for our Foundation Years students because of the implications for any crossover teachers and rooms that are used by all grade levels. I had to take into consideration a Wednesday of absences as the junior and senior boys’ basketball, girls’ volleyball, and snowboarding teams will be in action. I had to ensure that year-long Grade 9 and 10 English, ESL, and Math had regularly scheduled class time built in to the schedule. Eventually I had to be reminded that Math 10 had split into two groups with two teachers and I had to do some quick thinking to figure out what to do about a scheduling conflict this new information produced. A little substitute coverage and it all worked out.
Once I knew where every student and teacher needed to be, and more importantly, the student numbers associated with these patterns, I could plan for workspaces within which students could scan in via QR codes. During a period when ten or fewer students are free to decide on their workspace there are understandably fewer workspace options than if over 30 students are in a position to make this decision. This information allowed me to backfill each teacher’s schedule with workspace supervision assignments. I then shared a finalized personal schedule with each teacher via a Google Document.
After deciding upon the types and quantities of QR scannable spaces within which students could choose to work I began the ultimate task of working through each student’s personalized schedule. This was when I started to notice little errors associated with crossover students, for example, students who are primarily in Grade 11, but have reached ahead for that one Grade 12 course. It was also at this time that I noticed I had double-booked @gvogt in English 12 conferencing and productivity space supervision. One day my favourite physics teacher, Monica Rand, asked me if her Functions and Applications 11 exam was in the Dining Hall or her own classroom, as indicated on her schedule. Oops. Another fix to make.
Yesterday the task was complete (40 days later, for those who are counting). Each student from Grades 9 through 12 had their own personalized schedule, complete with requirements and options, shared with them via a Google Document.
What I have learned from scheduling RLC’s personalized exam week three semesters in a row is that the little glitches always happen, but the earlier you start, the better you will handle them with grace and sanity! Thanks for reading.
Wow ! – @lfarooq that is one ambitious project. I remember @edaigle telling me about the concept last year but to learn about how you pulled it off is another thing all together. I will be so interested to hear from the students if they could “feel” the support in their personalized schedule. Did it help them prepare and execute? That will go a long way in knowing if all the effort was worth it. Truly impressive. An entire action plan in itself.
J
I gathered student feedback from last year’s Semester 2 personalized weeks (there were two) and it was largely positive, with the quiet indoor space as one of the most popular options. The student feedback from last June definitely supported our continued development and use of this end of semester system. This reinforces for me the idea that the effort was worth it!
I am so bloody proud of what you have done here Leslie! Discovery Days would not have been successful without you. As I told @gvogt when we did our informal transfer of Academic Director responsibilities, Leslie will be your Queen on the chessboard known as RLC. I’m not sure I said that exactly, but I love how you took objectiveness to the next level with your “her exact words may very well have been,”… Your hard work is inspiring and will no doubt plant seeds of innovation.
@lfarooq this is beyond impressive! What an amazing mind you have for innovation and organizational planning! This post seriously blew me away and I can only imagine the time, problem-solving, patience and skill that it must have taken to pull this off! I love the idea of using QR codes to make selections and can see so many possibilities for this type of personalized scheduling. Your students must have felt empowered by having choice and freedom to weigh in on their week. Amazing!
Great work Leslie – thanks for articulating your process and thinking. As schools look to transform themselves into a more “future-ready” and “future-friendly” institutions it will take the sweat equity you’ve outlined here to get there! Well done!
@lfarooq – this is so freaking cool! I feel like I say that on every one of your posts but this one in particular resonated with me as a Google geek who loves to find techie ways of managing stuff like this. Great work!