This semester, I have started serving something new in AP
Statistics: the Weekly Menu. (Click here to see the Weekly Menu for this week.)
After each class meeting, the Chefs du Jour are expected to
add one note taken from class. That note can be anything the student thinks is
useful or important to remember. Other students in the class can see the notes
posted by their classmates and add to them or even edit them. The Topics du Jour and the SMART Board notes for the day are also posted.
One goal of the Weekly Menu is to get students more invested
and active in their learning. I am currently reading Jo Boaler’s book, Mathematical Mindsets, and it inspired
me to be more intentional in trying to develop student self-awareness and responsibility.
Dr. Boaler outlines Assessment for Learning (page 149 of this book) which “teaches
students responsibility for their own learning.” I hope that by assigning some
responsibility to students to fill in the document, they will take greater
ownership of the course. There is also a level of peer accountability since all
students will see what the Chefs have or have not added to the document.
Another goal of the Weekly Menu is to provide students the
opportunity to reflect more often on what has been covered in class and what
they should be learning.
Additionally, I am hopeful the Weekly Menu will serve as a
good review tool. They can use it to review for tests and even for the final
exam and AP exam. We will also use it to review what we did the previous day
and use it to transition to the next topic.
Students can also use the Weekly Menu as another way to see what
is coming up that week. And, if they miss class, the Weekly Menu can get an
idea of what happened in class that day.
So far, the feedback I have gotten from students has been
somewhat positive. We are only on the second week, so it is still in its
infancy. Colleagues of mine like the idea, but ultimately it is meant to be a
tool to help students, so it is their opinion that I will value most.
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