Our Class

We've begun to use the Chromebooks. They're quite awesome. As advertised, really - the fast start-up gives our students as much work time as possible. Here's a really short explanation of what our classes are like:
We have a self-paced (kind of) Mastery Learning classroom. There are days when we all are doing the same lab or activity, which we've termed as "All-Aboard" days. We also have days in which students progress through activities at their own pace. As soon as a students has demonstrated "mastery" on a certain concept, he/she moves on to the next objective. Learning activities are grouped in organized packets that students work from. Direct instruction comes in the form of vodcasts that have been pre-casted. This frees us up to work with individual students and naturally-formed groups on a daily basis, and we are able to facilitate some of the learning that takes place. This year is the first that we've had students learning at different paces. There, of course, have been highs and lows along the way with this new (at least to us) style.