Rationale for Education 639 – Class Reviews

Education 639 was a very informative and practical course focused on communication.

The topic I chose for our mid-term assignment was the class reviews process. The point of the

assignment was to describe a school based procedure and my experience with it. I wanted to

include this particular artifact in my portfolio because I was proud of the job my school did

implementing this process and I enjoyed sharing it with my 639 class at the time.

The assignment included a paper and a presentation to the class. The portfolio artifact

includes the paper as well as the power point slide I spoke to during the presentation. I was

eager present on class reviews because I had recent practical experience with it and because the

experience was very positive. Furthermore, the process led to decisions that shaped our school

in significant ways. As it happened, my 639 class was made up of relatively new teachers, and

none of them had any experience with class reviews, so I felt some obligation to talk them up.

What really stands out for me about the class review process is how it differs from a regular

school based team meeting. As in school base team meetings, teachers are involved, as is the

school team, but instead of focusing on one particular student in a class, the teacher is asked to

think about her classroom as a whole. She is asked, first of all, to focus on the strengths of the

class. There is an opportunity to talk about needs later on, but the focus is on the needs of the

whole class instead of individual students who are struggling.

Our school came to this process after having Faye Brownlie present at a workshop on

inclusion to our school district. This process felt like a perfect vehicle to help teachers look at

their class as a distinct culture with the idea of thinking about procedures that helps the entire

class as opposed to just individuals. The process is considered universal design because
interventions should target the class as a whole, not just needy individuals in isolation. This

looked like inclusion in action.

In the class review process, teachers are asked a variety of open ended questions, as well

as presupposed questions that prompt a variety of responses, but also cue the teacher to an

attitude that is being encouraged. The focus is on strengths and the class review process

highlights this beautifully. The facilitator of the meeting challenges teachers to re-frame their

discussion from statements like “My class is so noisy” to reflections like, “My class really enjoys

discussions.” It is a mind shift that focuses on strengths, and the class review process by its

nature encourages this.

There is room to discuss individual students, but only within a tight parameter, such as

medical concerns, language concerns or other unspecified concerns. The idea is to glean an

understanding of the class as a whole and what the whole class needs in order to tap into their

strengths. I was excited to share my school’s experience with class reviews because it elicited a

lot of positive changes. After reflecting on the class review meetings, the school based team saw

some commonalities in classrooms across the school, such as difficulty with emotional

regulation and executive function needs. The process also revealed a cohort of students that was

generally, kind, willing to learn and expressive. When we met again with teachers to share our

reflections and discuss ways to address the issues we saw, our school decided to embrace

working toward becoming a compassionate school. Our principal contacted the Provincial

Outreach Program for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (POPFASD) for a Collaborative Action

Research Studies (CARS) grant in order to look into how we could address the overwhelming

need that we found in our school. This led to a collaboration with Linda O'Neil, PH. D from

UNBC. I believe that this artifact needs to be included in my portfolio because it shows a school
making changes based upon evidence generated through reflective discussions between

educators about dynamics within the classroom and school wide. It also provides a good example

of UDL in action. It was also nice to include an experience that I feel fortunate to be part of.