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  • Common Exam and end of year thoughts

    Posted by Matt Cramer at 5/18/2013 11:00:00 AM
    Hello parents and students. Thought I'd send off one last blog before the end of the school year. This next week we have our common exams where you'll be answering 25-27 multiple choice questions along with 3 open-ended questions that are much more conceptual than content specific. We have been teaching the whole course conceptually this year so while I don't think it will be that difficult there are definitely times where having so many options to choose from seems overwhelming. It's like walking into the cereal aisle at a grocery store and there are 300 options haha. Other than that we have been going through some NYS Regent's Exam questions designated for 9-10th graders and working with multiple choice. I loathe multiple choice but I figured if we need to prep we would at least do it at a high level. So far results have been good. Mrs. Gillis also prepared a lot of vocabulary examples for what to see on the test and they are getting familiar again with some older terms that haven't been used much since the beginning of the school year. Bottom line these students are smart, they have learned from each other along with myself and they are ready for any test that can be thrown at them. I feel a little like a proud coach reviewing and they knock things out of the park where I thought they might have trouble. Been a really great year and great group of students. They had a tough task of replacing the 8th grade class that I taught for two years straight and did a great job. Each class was unique from one another and posed different personalities, challenges, smiles, frustrations but most importantly a willing to walk into class with an open mind ready to learn something new. Thank you 7th graders good luck on your exam and good luck next year!
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  • Spring break on the way some random thoughts

    Posted by Matt Cramer at 3/20/2013 2:00:00 PM
    Hello parents and students coming to you live from the early release day for history teachers at West Iredell Middle School. Mrs. Gillis and myself are looking at some new units and using the flipped classroom. We find that a lot of things we have already been doing for a while so that's always a positive.
     
     Was impressed with quite a few exams I received on the Age of Empires. It was a good change of pace to see some students who sometimes aren't the most assertive in class be able to shine in a different light. This class a lot of times can feel uncomfortable to your type-A personality students who expect to study one thing and are used to it automatically equate to a good score. This class being very conceptual in nature and looking at the macro of all topics can be a difficult one to master. Many times we are looking for them to transfer knowledge and critically think on the real world connection which by no means is an easy task (nor should it be it's complex).
     
    As things are progressing into the last quarter my goal for each and every student is to hit at least a 5 everyone of the criterion. They may have hit it the first semester or might hit it during the second half of the year. Some students may not hit a 5 at all but hopefully we will at least improve their approach to learning (ATL) skills. My belief is that if they can hit a 6 the first time on a criterion it shows what they are capable of. They don't necessarily have to reach a 7 or 8 the second time to show they have grown. Sometimes they just need the right opportunity, topic or assignment to reach that level and it may be the first semester not the second. My goal is to provide them the opportunity to reach that goal at some point in the year not just during the second semester. Looking forward to rest of the year. We are looking at inventions now and how they need to be innovative to hopefully change the world one day. Excited to keep working with your students we are getting close to the end sigh :-( Safe travels over Spring break and enjoy the weather! 
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  • Quick note on 2nd quarter grades

    Posted by Matt Cramer at 1/21/2013
    Hello parents and students. Just wanted to mention that the second quarter grades are based solely on the religion unit and research paper they wrote. The unit we are currently working on is a long one and overlapped into the third quarter which are the debates they are participating in the next class. Also note that the research papers are very difficult and it was their first time through the process so I wouldn't be surprised if their second quarter grade was lower than their first. The second half of the year we will see which criterion they are really growing in. If they have an INC in their grade it is because they have not handed in their paper or I could not open it and need a hard copy. As soon as I receive and score it I will change their score and it will be present on their next report card. No worries. Read some great papers over the weekend overall nice work!
     
    Mr. Cramer 
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  • First quarter and first paper thoughts...

    Posted by Matt Cramer at 11/15/2012
    First off before I get started I would just like to wish the family of Mr. Frank Booth's my sympathy and prayers. He was a very nice and kind man from all of my interactions. He always had a smile on his face and kept our students at Mount Mourne safe. Frank will always be a part of the Mount Mourne family.
     
    Thinking of the first report card there are a lot of things that go into giving a unit score and also a report card score. I did not just take their two unit scores they completed this quarter and average them. I looked at scored throughout both units and put more emphasis on final/summative assessments that encompasses all the skills they worked on throughout the unit. I also look for trends, similarities and growth throughout a unit. There is no exact science to the score they receive but it not very subjective either. I put a lot of thought into each final unit score and report card score before they are submitted. From all of my experience and trainings with criterion-based grading the last two years I want you to know that it the end of the road that is most important and seeing growth from the first experience with a criterion to the next. Also from making this change last year piloting criterion-based grading for Mount Mourne I will tell you it is not easy. So while you may see some differences between certain classes in how they grade they are learning the process just like the students. I am very confident that all the teachers will also grow and adapt very well to this system as the year goes on so have some patience :-)
     
    Also we are getting into our journey of this years first paper. It is on religion and proving if they have changed or not over time. They are going to do research, evaluation on their sources, citing, and working on proving a thesis. I tell them to put on their lawyer hats and power suits because its time to prove their case to me! I'm excited to see what they come up with over the next few weeks. Have a great Thanksgiving break and safe travels wherever it takes you!
     
    Mr. Cramer 
     
     
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  • Live from IB Academy in Detroit

    Posted by Matt Cramer at 10/13/2012
    Hello parents and students. I am knee deep in IB curriculum and trying to become a more global aware teacher. After this weekend I will be able to help the IBEN on site visits to other candidate IB schools, evaluations for current IB schools, and help new schools try to become IB through the candicacy. Our own IB coordinator Mrs. Farmer has already been doing this along with Mr. Thier whom went through training with me! Very excited stuff for sure :-)
     
    What I have seen is that there are so many different IB schools and situations around the globe. We have people here from all of the Americas. We really took a look at what schools need to have in order to become IB and I forgot 4 years when we started exactly how rigorous it was. Let me be the first to say after having many discussions with so many different heads of schools, coordinators, teachers, and trainers that Mount Mourne is really doing a lot of things IB is set out for us to do. It also has shown me places we need to grow along with how the push for criterion-based grading is moving forward. Our grading alignment is moving right along with how new requirements for the 9th and 10th grade years at South Iredell will be. And we are way ahead of the game. While this was a huge task for our school to take I do believe it was the correct choice. People here were in awe that we rolled this out full scale and asked many questions. And just like I tell the students, this is a process and we won't get it right all correct right away. There is still so much to learn and I know we will be striving forward to make Mount Mourne students the most prepared as they can be. Stick with it cool things are coming...
     
    Mr. Cramer 
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  • Content vesus Concepts/Skills

    Posted by Matt Cramer at 9/19/2012
    This is my second year doing standards-based grading. I was able to pilot the program last year with much success from my students. They really took control of their learning, understood why they received a certain grade, and knew what was expected of them the next time to improve. It was really about them growing as the year went and realizing that they are as responsible for their outcomes as I am.
     
    There are always growing pains in the beginning of this process and students may get frustrated. Parents may also get frustrated that their child knows more about why their grades are the way they are then they do. It's all a process and things take time to sink in fully. Trust me that the other teachers your child has this year who are doing this for the first time as learning from this experience just as you are. Being in my second year, I have a lot of confidence in this form of grading and honestly believe to the bottom of my soul that it is better for your child than traditional grading.
     
    One of the main reasons I really believe in standards-based grading is the focus on conceptual learning and promoting skills. With heavy focus and emphasis on concepts (in my class this would be major systems like economics, gov't, religion, environment, geography) and our ATL skills (organizational skills and attitudes towards work, collaborative skills, communication, information literacy, reflection, problem-solving and thinking skills). So in my class I'm much more concerned that they know the in's and out's of how different economies run than looking at the history of a single countries economic policy. The first can be applied to any part of history over the entire world where the latter cannot.
    It is the idea that concepts are much more valuable than content. Do you need content to learn history? Of course! But it is not what drives this class. I need to see that your child can summarize and evaluate much more than know what year Pizarro conquered the Incans. And with the advent of new technology is much different than when you or I attended schools. Why would we spend class time going over rudimentary facts that they can look up on a smart phone or computer in 30 seconds. There are better things to be doing with our time. I am seeing some good things so far this year and am excited for this new crop of students we have. I am excited to see your grow through this process in level 2 and be a better student than when they came through this door!
     
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  • New year new faces

    Posted by Matt Cramer at 8/27/2012 8:00:00 AM
    After two years I have a new batch of eager students. Looking forward to a new year and trying some new things. As of right now this class will be going pass/fail. I would be going strictly off I.B. grades, criterion, and assessments. I piloted this last year and we did some awesome things so I will try to continue the process. Not 100% sure how this will look in NCWise but I have an idea. Worst case scenario I send home score updates with your child. We will be discovering the modern world this year starting with exploration and contact with North America. But before that we are going to cover systems (geography, environment, economics, government, religion) to give them an understanding of how things can work so they can determine why things happen. Looking forward to a rad year. E-mail is the best way to reach me I can get back on that 24/7.
    expectations  
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