Focus group on help students achievement

Apparent conflict in the first meeting I sat in: Who to focus on and how to categorize them? How
Socio-economic status versus Recent Immigrants/ ELL Learners
-How far should they be categorized as a group versus seen as an individual
-More holistic knowledge about the students situation
If we accept the premise that learning skills and work habits are highly correlated with
good marks then we should be able to infer some information about the challenges facing the
different groups of students
-Based on further analysis we could further refine the proposed strategies from last
session to engage the students
Teachers expectation: in order to increase quantitative student achievement, we can
look at the data comparison between applied and academic learning skills, we can see if the
effort is hampered undeveloped learning skills and work habits.
Main point I am trying to make: Instead of a series of monolithic approach, we can use some of
the principles in the Growing Success document to sub-categorize the students in order to
better refine the scaffolding techniques and to make a more nuanced approach
Possible categories
1. Hardworking but underachieving: Based on the premise, if the students learning skills
and work habits are excellent (across most of the subjects) but the marks do not reflect that, it
might be the issue of academic content of the course: Then traditional and more content-based
scaffolding might be required as suggested by last meeting,
2. Disengaged students: If the students learning skills are lacking in all courses and marks
are down then different forms of scaffolding might be needed to concentrating on fostering
greater learning skills, with emphasis on certain category (possibly initiative and Independent
work)
- we could also focus on developing skills purely dedicated in cultivating learning skills
and creating good work habits. IE responsibility, maybe delegate some non academic
responsibility regarding the logistics of the classroom, Framing is important in how we delegate,
-Last weeks suggestions could warrant a deeper/critical look to see how some of their
strategies might also have implications on learning skills and work habits, Suggestion: make the
connections more explicit in how it addressed different styles of learning and the work
habits/learning skills, ie: further deconstruction of the scaffolding strategies
-Might be more individualized approach than other categories

Suggested table for Holistic view of scaffolding strategy:

Academic Context

Learning Styles
(DIfferentiation)

How it address
Learning skills

(Scaffolding
strategies)
3. Selectively Disengaged Students (probably hardest to detect): If the students learning
skills/marks are decent in all the other classes but one or two courses are lacking in certain
categories, it might mean that the students find it hard to connect to the content. Cultivate
initiative as well as one or two other learning skills/work habits would be a good first step
Example: Open ended questions could be further refined in so far that the question
should ground itself in the students experience or at least how the concepts are used in things
around them
-Cross department communication on strategies that might have worked on the student,
however it might not always translate across different subjects due to difference in pedagogies
and subject limitations
For categories 2 and 3, maybe co-create projects or at least success criterias with the
students. By allowing greater student voice and contribution in how the class is run, it might be
easier to encourage certain learning skills. Present the project in a way that tells if the students
that if they fail a project, they are failing their own conceived idea of success and not just the
school's expectations of them. Try to minimize the external expectation and pressure.
4. Students looking for the easy route: Great marks in the open courses overall, but
problematic learning skills and work habits. Wants to coast, maybe bring in the long term factors
to be considered and show a demo on what they learn in academic classes and how the
information connects to the outside world. IE see the knowledge as a stepping stone for other
things
-Must acknowledge not all students are going to value academia insofar as the path to
university might be blocked by different circumstances

My two main objectives:

-Reframe and create a more nuanced approach in how we see the underachieving students
-Thorough deconstruction of the scaffolding techniques/ make it easier to focus on creating
different strategies.