The Course Organizer (CO) was implemented in courses this year over two blocks. Due to the timing of the year the first half was constructed as a review for the midterm exam, the second half of the CO was used to introduce the 2nd semester material. During the first phase of implementation, as a class we discussed what the course was about and students filled in their CO with the is about provided by the teacher. This helped the students to summarize the course with great purpose, the teacher was interested to hear their thoughts on what it was about, being they were about halfway through it. During that phase the class also looked at the first six course questions, as they were filled in on the CO the class identified the key information they have learned and discussed the answers to them. In the 2nd phase of implementation, the class looked towards the future and how the course will finish out for the year. The remaining course questions were completed. It was identified during this part the spacing issues that may arise with the course questions part of the CO. In the future it may be a good idea to include lines or potentially have some questions pre- written (giving the student an indicator of the size handwriting they will need to use). A discussion occurred as to how the graph could be used by students (and teachers) to identify areas of weakness for the student when preparing for the SOL in June. Students also helped to generate the units on the back of the CO and some were even able to identify units they knew we would be studying for the remainder of the course. Students struggled with helping to identify key concepts. There needed to be more guided questioning to get the ideas of density and convection current. This is helpful at the middle of the course because it identifies that as an area that needs to be reviewed a few more times before the end of the course. Overall students seemed to understand the set up of the UO. It will be useful to set the stage for the course in the following school year. In thinking ahead to a start of year implementation it would be useful to allow students an opportunity to set the community principles and identify learning rituals they enjoy as a student.
Note on course structure: The majority of students in the courses the CO was introduced to are 9th graders. The classes range in size from 22 to 24 students. The courses are inclusion with students with disabilities. The ECD percentage of the school is 38%.
Note on course structure: The majority of students in the courses the CO was introduced to are 9th graders. The classes range in size from 22 to 24 students. The courses are inclusion with students with disabilities. The ECD percentage of the school is 38%.