October 23, 2019

Welcome back to the High School Corner!

October marks a busy time for all of us, as fall is beginning and school is ramping up. It is also the time during which the High Schoolers reflect on and assess their work up to this point in the school year. 

At the halfway point of each semester, students use a rubric to evaluate their work in each class they are taking. This rubric evaluates our knowledge and skills, engagement in class discussions and group projects, quality of work, and level of preparation and timeliness. After students have used the rubric to assess themselves in each class, our guides will evaluate our work using the same rubric. Then, in a private meeting, the guides present their assessments to us and explain the reasoning behind them. During these meetings, students discuss the grades they have given themselves, the grades the guides have given them, and, finally, strategies to improve their performance over the remainder of the semester.

This process is a great way to get an idea of how we’re doing and help us see which areas of our work require improvement before we receive our final grades at the end of the semester. Having an open dialogue with our guides about our work is extremely helpful and allows us to truly take ownership of our education. In December, guides and students will once again separately calculate grades for each class and then come together to discuss. The process is also repeated in March and May. 

Feel free to click this link to view the rubric we use to guide our assessments. 

Please feel free to contact the High School guides with further questions. Thank you for reading this edition of the High School Corner! 

Jacob and Sophia