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Showing posts from May, 2014

#hackyrclass2 - SOLO in action

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This week saw my Level 1 students put their SOLO work in to action.  I started off by giving them a SOLO grid of learning activities that match the SOLO learning outcomes.  My hope is that they will start to find and share learning activities themselves when they become more familiar with the taxonomy. We talked about using the unit plan to decide where they were in their learning, what the did and didn't understand.  They then self-selected activities to consolidate their understanding, and then challenge themselves to a higher level. Building DNA with lollies proved to be a popular activity choice (go figure!).  How they shared their justification of lolly choice and manipulation was up to them.  One group chose a static image: Another group use iLapse on an iPad to film the building and then replication of DNA When I asked this group to justify their process and link it to the actual biology process, so working in the extended abstract, this is what they

First #hackyrclass for Term 2

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My first class hack for this project is using SOLO taxonomy to co-construct a genetics unit with my Level 1 Biology class.  We began by identifying what we know, what we want to know, and what we need to know. I then introduced SOLO to the class as a framework for differentiated and personalised learning.  We have used this framework to structure and articulate differentiated learning outcomes.   A question I get asked often as a teacher, is one that I find very challenging to answer - "What do I need to do to get Excellence"  The anti-establishment part of me rebels at the question - why should the grade matter?  Love the learning and learn it well!  Bless most of my students though, when they ask this question, it's not just because they are only interested in results, they do love their learning, but in the end, they have goals for tertiary study and the competitive courses and universities want strong academic records.  The SOLO taxonomy for geneti