Back to school night was the entertainment fare yester eve. Job one:
find a parking space. All the high school fields are used by little
and other leagues so in addition to the cars of two thousand parents,
there were also the cars of however many folk it took to populate the
fields and the cars of however many cheerleaders, flag chuckers and
band people...well, you take the point. I ended up parking in an
illegal spot that was not specifically signposted as such. A fine
ethical line that would worry a Roman.
Then it was on to ten minutes with each teacher with a six minute walk
between each classroom. This year's new school rule--there's a new and
very young headmaster-- is that those students who fail to get both
feet inside the classroom door when the ding dong goes off will suffer
immediate lunch detention. Yesterday they had a hundred and twenty
people in lunch detention. One of Emily's friends was caught last
week, trying to get from one class to another; she diverted to return a
library book and didn't quite make it through the doorway. If I were
in school I'd organize some kind of Gandhi-inspired push back, a mass
hallway sit-in or something.
What did I learn? Outcomes are now all. Literature it seems is full
of things which can be identified and put on a learning outcomes
continuum. I shall type this carefully to avoid introducing extra
errors. "During the students participation in this two year period of
study, they will demonstrate their growth in content expertise along a
progression of learning continuums for the Core Learning Outcomes of IB
Language A1. In adition, students will evaluate their progress on a
continuum of Core Behavioral Outcomes that seek to reflect a
correlation between student behaviors and learning. The Continuums
represent a progression from novice (1) to expert (6). It is expected
that each student will reach a proficient level on each of the
outcomes."
And what are these outcomes? I have trimmed some of them, but not
otherwise interfered with the text.
1) Literary Features. Students will demonstrate their knowledge of the
use of literary features that are used by authors as artistic devises
and used by readers as a means to analyze and evaluate
works...Progression will move from Novice to Expert.
2) Focus on the Means (How) Students will demonstrate their ability to
focus on the means that authors use to convey their ideas. Progression
will move from...
3) Detailed Understanding of the Text. Students will demonstrate their
ability to express a detail understanding of text throughout the
curriculum. Progression etc.
4) Analysis and Commentary. Through the application of the three
outcomes described above, the student will demonstrate their ability to
analyze, compare and evaluate various works of literature.
5) Appreciation of the Art of Literature.
Behavioral Outcomes
3) Timeliness The student will demonstrate an ability to manage time.
David Ritchie, Portland, Oregon
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