McDonald’s Teaching Philosophy How McDonald rolls

You need to: Get the accompanying handout. Get a pen/pencil. Get ready to participate.

Find a partner Once you have a partner…stand up to show me that you are ready.

Questions? Write down 2 questions (about English class) that you would like answered by the end of this slideshow. The questions can be about class content (what will we study), my teaching style, school policies…whatever. 1. create your questions 2. share your questions with your partner 3. one of you will report out

FYI- Our Class website! flexenglish10.weebly.com

What will we do? English 10 Composition 10 is “designed to support students in their development of written communication through a critical process of questioning, exploring, and sampling a taste of a variety of aspects of both writing and literature.” This semester we will explore: narrative, expository, descriptive, persuasive, and opinion pieces planning, drafting, and editing processes writing for specific audiences and specific disciplines how to cite sources, consider the credibility of evidence, and evaluate the quality and reliability of the source

A class environment needs to be supportive in order for growth to occur. If we expect anyone to speak up, or get outside their comfort zone in other ways, we need to be supportive. With your partner, come up with several ways in which YOU could show support for others in class. Write down your top 2 answers on your handout.

If you do not learn in class, what is the point? You need to put in your BEST effort possible on each task. I will put in my BEST effort to help each individual learn in a way that works for them.

There are NO ZEROS in my class! (Just heros!)

NO If I assign something, that means I value it enough to MAKE SURE that you do it! Option 1= You do it. Option 2= McDonald nags at you until you get it done. Let’s be clear from the start…you need to do ALL the assignments in order to get credit for this course.

Get used to “Descriptors” instead of numbers. Research has shown that students who get numbers (scores) as feedback improve at a rate of about… 20% Students who get descriptors (what you did well, what to improve on) and numbers as feedback improve at a rate of about…

Students who only get descriptors as feedback improve at a rate of about… 80% In other words, descriptors are useless if you still attach numbers to them! According to a study by Schinske and Tanner Teaching More by Grading Less (or Differently)- “students receiving descriptive feedback (but not grades) on an initial assignment performed significantly better on follow-up quantitative tasks and problem-solving tasks than did students receiving grades or students receiving no feedback. Grading does not appear to provide effective feedback that constructively informs students’ future efforts. This is particularly true for tasks involving problem solving or creativity.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4041495/

Some terms to get familiar with: Not meeting expectations The task is not done, you didn’t understand the task to be done, or you totally didn’t put in an effort. Minimally Meeting Expectations You went through the motions. Meeting Expectations You did enough to show the learning outcomes for the task. Exceeding Expectations You went above and beyond the criteria set. This is top drawer stuff! Take it home and frame it! Your mom will want a copy to show her grandchildren!

Resubmitting work: In this class you are able to re-submit work in order to refine your skills. In order to receive an increased grade on your re-submitted work, you must do the following: 1. hand in the edited piece and include a copy of the original 2. clearly indicate the changes/improvements that you have made (For example, added information may be in a different colour or font so that it is very easy to see the changes made.) We will do an activity to model what this looks like.

Expectations: Together, we are going to come up with some expectations for our class. What is a Reynolds student expected to act/be like? Individual answers Partner share (share all answers, and write down your top 2) Group share (put ideas on the board) Highlight the 3 that you feel are most important/relevant to you.

Wishes Write down 2 things that you wish to see/experience/do during this course. Examples: I hope that Mr. McDonald lets me sit where I want in class I wish we would do a “Slam” poetry unit. I want to have access to handouts on the website. I wish for fieldtrips!

Questions? If your questions that you had at the beginning were not answered, then now is your chance to ask them.