Choose your modality

I was listening to this freakonomics show and found the concept to resonate with a lot of other reform ideas being tossed about recently.

http://www.freakonomics.com/2010/05/12/freakonomics-radio-how-is-a-bad-radio-station-like-the-public-school-system/

This one makes a lot of sense to me so I'm trying it out with my music theory class this semester. The structure of my class will work as follows.

First 10 minutes - Introduce a unit, short cycle assessment on that unit, supplementary rhythm or aural training exercise.

Rest of the time - Students can attend 4 different stations.
1. Small group instruction led by me on the current unit
2. Self guided instruction on www.musictheory.net, can work in small groups
3. Collaborative instruction with the textbook where students discuss and work through the concept.
4. Enrichment activity.

Students will be given a deadline to take the assessment for the current unit, between a week and two weeks. Students who finish early may select a enrichment activity. Examples of activities will be given but the student makes a proposal that I approve. It could be learning new chords on a guitar, playing a song, listening to a song in a foreign language, guessing at it's meaning then finding the translation, writing a parody, making a "twitter mix" (a mix tape of 5 or more songs with descriptions of each song in less than 120 characters), or any equivalent activity. I've set up stations with instruments around the room with headphones so advanced students remain occupied while I continue with small group instruction.

I like the idea of self adopted modalities which, I think, will mirror tiered learning groups but without the baggage. Easier to say, I learn better when someone talks me through it, rather than, I learn slow...

Shawn is coming into observe this experiment this Thursday. I'll post my progress if anyone finds it interesting

Anyone tried this already and want to impart some wisdom?

Mike:
Can you post an informal self- assessment on how this went? I am paricularly interested to know how many students chose each option. Also did the students that finished actually carry through with the enrichment assignment? I have done similiar learning center type activities, but I'm usually a little dictatorial on which they have to do... the "old school" side of me!

This sounds awesome and like something I could work to do better in my classroom. I often feel like I struggle getting enough differentiation, and this could really help. I'd love to hear how things went, as well as for some of the feedback Becky requested.

We are now 4 units/assessments into the curriculum and I've been really pleased with the results. My grades are higher than usual but in a sample size as small as a 16 person class there is a high degree of chance involved in that. Here are some thoughts in no particular order.

1. Students under this model can take the unit assessment whenever they feel ready. There is a deadline for completion of the test (usually about a week) and if they finish early they can spend their time doing a supplemental music activity.

2. The supplemental activities are chosen by the kids. As of now the process is really open and though not efficient. I need to do a better job of presenting a list of suggestions since many kids aren't used to that level of self direction in class. Also I think I need to have kids put together a plan for completing the project with a definitive presentation at the end. I'm thinking about putting together a proposal form for them to complete that allows them to put together a plan, set a deadline, and log their progress to help keep them on track and help me to motivate them to reach their goal.

3. In previous classes I found myself picking a middle pace, having my advanced kids be a little bored and a small portion falling behind. I would have to take lunch and planning time to meet with these students to catch them back up. With a self paced model and modalities that don't involve my direct intervention I am able to do the small group work and individual remediation with in class time and before the deadline for assessments come up. This way even my least experienced kids aren't falling behind in class.

4. Tiffany Buckley had a great suggestion. I noticed that kids were largely picking typical teacher lead instruction for the first few units. Tiffany pointed out that they are unfamiliar with the other modes offered and that I should take them through each of the modalities in the first few units. I took the entire class to the computer lab the next day and had them all use the computer based mode to expose them to what it is like. This was a great insight and I will definitely start the class this way next time.

That's all for now. I'm really excited by this new approach and I hope to continue to tweak the method. Thanks for your interest.