Background

What I think is always an interesting question is when someone asks, “what did you learn in high school”? Most adults would probably answer that questions with a couple of obscure facts, maybe a cool project or teacher, a few tidbits about their social life in high school, and finally say that they are not really sure. If you figure we spend seven hours a day for one hundred eighty days each year for four years, that’s over 5000 hours we spend in high school. With that much time invested, why is it that we retain only an extremely small portion of the material that is shoveled into our heads day after day? I feel that the problem lies right in that statement. The information is pushed into student’s heads, and only expected to remain there till it can be regurgitated back out on a test. Once the test is completed there is no longer any need for the information so there is no reason to try and retain it and within a day or so the information is gone. This process is repeated day after day, week after week, quarter after quarter, until students are off to college or the workplace with just the few tidbits of information that didn’t leak out. I don’t think it is feasible to expect students to retain everything they are instructed, however students should be able to retain big ideas and concepts that are central to the variety of subjects they “study” throughout high school. Thinking back on my high school experience, it is identical to the one I described above. I always did very well, but I don’t think I learned much. I could complete the basic daily assignments with ease. I would study for tests the night before, if not the morning of the test, put the information down and forget about it as fast as I crammed it into my head. I loved it. I could do well with little work, and it didn’t matter to me if I retained anything or not. When it came time for a comprehensive final, I would do the same thing, cram the day or two before without any real learning or connections being made, and forget the majority of the information after it served its purpose. The few things I still remember are not from daily assignments or chapter tests, but from the projects and activities I completed. A great example I remember would be my bibliography card project and accompanying paper. It was so hard, I had to cite so many sources, do a lot of research, and write a paper with some very high standards. I did not do well on this project. I remember putting in so much work, and feeling so disappointed. But, after this project I COULD properly cite my sources, I COULD put together a proper essay, and I COULD research using multiple sources. I learned what was being instructed and it has stayed with me even still today. In college once again information was for the most part poured into my head with little outside effort from me with the exception of attending class and taking notes. As a sophomore I took Professor Kimberly Rivers’ Early Middle Ages course. While a large portion of the course was teacher dominated notes, once every week or two we would have a discussion day. During this day we could discuss what we talked about since the last discussion day, or one of the readings assigned for that day. Either way, the purpose of the day was to add some depth to our understanding, to ask questions to clarify topics, and most importantly to make connections between topics and information. Because you were required to participate, I dreaded these days. Even though you were not taking notes they seemed like so much more work. You had to pay attention the entire class and make meaningful contributions. The result was always when I left the discussion class, I had a much better understanding of the content. Most of the papers I wrote in that class dealt with the discussion day topics because they are the ones that stuck with me and I felt I knew the best. After this class, I would enroll in several more of Professor Rivers’ courses. While her courses contained a lot of traditional aspects as far as instruction and assessment are concerned, those occasional days of nontraditional instruction and assessment have left a longer lasting impact on me than almost all of the hundreds of other class periods I sat through in college. My first introduction to the idea of authentic assessment was during my Methods course once I entered the school of education at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. My professor, Dr. Steven Rose, spent a lot of time talking about the value of authentic assessment. He has us reading and discussing articles and books by Wiggins and Stiggins, who both happen to be major proponents of authentic assessment. At the time I did not really see the real value of these techniques, and more felt annoyed at having the ideas pushed on me. But the idea was planted on my head and would come to be very useful once I was actually in the work place. When I was hired in Muskego the last thing I was thinking about was creating authentic assessment that would challenge students on a variety of levels appeal to different learners. Instead, I was far more concerned, like all new teachers, with survival. As I became more comfortable with being in the classroom and my curriculum, I began to experiment more with different styles of assessment. I was looking for something that would make my class more interesting for my students, challenge them academically, all while making my instruction and grading better/easier. At the beginning of this, 09-10, school year I was taking on two new courses. One, Advanced Placement European History, I knew was going to take up a significant amount of time to prepare for. Also with AP Euro, because of the curriculum demands I knew I wouldn’t have too much freedom as far as instruction and assessment. The other course, Ancient Western Civilization, is a course that I personally created this year. With it being a new course and I having no previous material, knew it would also take a lot of preparation. With this course I wanted to experiment more with my instruction and assessment. I wanted to do this to hopefully make it more interesting for my students and help them learn/retain more information, but also I wanted to make it a little easier on me. I knew if I was able to have a lot of project based assessments would give me blocks of time, while the students were creating their assessments, to get other preparations for both AP and Ancient done. To answer my original question of, why did I select this topic, I think it really draws on many of my educational experiences. After realizing that what I remember and feel I learned throughout my education came from authentic style instruction and assessment. And, being in a situation where I am creating a whole new curriculum, it just made sense to me that I implement this in my classroom. I really want me class to be one that my students not only enjoy and think it really fun, but a class where they are really learning and retaining the material. Not every piece of information that I give them if worth remembering, I fully realize that. But it is my hope, and my feeling, that they will remember the key themes and ideas of my Ancient Western Civilization course. And because they are being able to express there knowledge in a variety of ways, I also really hope and feel that they will enjoy this course and learning the material.
 * Why did I take this topic?**