A Little Dab of This, a Little Dab of That, Do What Works for You.

The following blog was written by Mr. Cameron Frick, a Science Teacher at Carson High School.

Some teachers lecture for 15 minutes and then do projects, some lecture the entire class period with direct instruction and CFU their students, some do PBLs and some group projects.  What is the best way?  If the way you currently are teaching and getting great scores by all means keep doing it! If what we are doing is not working well…LETS MAKE A CHANGE!  I have tried all of the above listed on this journey of teaching at Carson High School.  I will share my story of teaching styles and how it has evolved and is continuing to evolve.

I am now in my fifth year of teaching at JCHS.  My first two years I was getting my feet wet trying just about anything and came to the conclusion two years ago I would lecture, have guided notes, and quiz weekly.  The scores were good but not great +1.5  and the students seemed bored with that style. I wanted to make it fun for the students so when the release of new technologies came out through iPads and MacBooks I decided to go the technology only route.  I quit cold turkey on the lecturing and had limited direct instruction.  Last year, my scores dropped tremendously in the negatives while doing only iBooks, limited direct instruction, and projects weekly.  I came to a crossroads when the teacher growth scores came out, what do I do?  What did I do wrong? Do I abandon the new technology and go back to the old ways of teaching or mesh the two methods together? 

I began to think of a quote that I heard in high school from Rick Roseman, “if you always do what you've always done, you're going to get what you've always gotten.”  I came to the conclusion that the technology was not the sole “problem," it was in fact that the students need direct instruction and technology at this level of adolescence (9th grade) cannot provide what a speaking adult teacher can give these students.  So far I am meshing the two methods together and am seeing better results.  So far in the past two units test scores for the class average are 15% higher than before! I believe a little bit of each will gain higher scores and keep the class fun at the same time.  I am still meshing the two together and hope for next semester to be even better.  I say all this, just because you've gotten “bad” scores doesn't mean you're a terrible teacher, for me it was a hey what can you do differently to do better? Can I use these scores to create a new style for me and at the same time make for higher student learning?  I chose to use it as a way to start something new with my classroom.  We will see this time next year if this new method is working and if not, go back to the drawing board. Always remember, if you always do what you've always done, you're going to get what you've always gotten. Embrace the daily grind and keep on trucking.

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