Visible Learning

This week our district twitter chat topic is "Visible Learning". This has a special significance to me because that is what attracted me to educational technology in the first place. I wanted to be able to porvide my students with the options and resources to create something that was more closely reflective of their current state of mastery. As teachers, giving our student voice, choice, and resources to demonstrate their learning free from the restrictions of paper and pencil, true/false, multiple choice assessments that should have smaller and smaller relevance in today's classrooms. I am proud that Hays CISD is making great strides towards making learning visible.

A perfect example of this philosophy in action is my friend Mrs. Teresa Aziz. In her class, students are currently learning about the American Colonization period in Social Studies. Mrs. Aziz wanted to allow students to design a colonial structure. I suggested Tinkercad, and after about 15 minutes of introduction, the students I was working with were already well on their way to the perimeter walls and roof of a structure. I was impressed to say the least, and excited that these students had the chance to design something they learned about with the specs and characteristics that they researched. Not only that, they were collaborating and problem solving together. I watched in awe, and stepped back to allow them complete creative autonomy. Thank you Mrs. Aziz for making learning visible!