September 25, 2020—In the third video of the Shaker Rising Video Project, Shaker Heights High School Math Teacher Jayce Bailey answers the question, "How will course consolidation affect instruction?"
You can watch the video here and on the District's YouTube channel. A transcript appears below.
The Shaker Rising Video Project features District administrators, teachers and community members—all of whom will answer questions related to detracking at Shaker Heights Schools. Shaker Rising videos will be released in the coming weeks every Tuesday and Friday by email, in the District newsletter and on social media.
We hope these videos help our school community better understand why detracking is important, how it will be implemented at our schools and how it will positively impact our students’ success.
Thank you for your continued support of our schools and our students in this year of Shaker Rising.
Transcript:
Hi, I'm Jayce Bailey. And I was asked: how will course consolidation affect instruction?
There have been negative and positive thoughts about what was happening in core versus honors classes. I've heard it all since I came to the District six years ago. And if you ask three different people today, you'll probably get three different answers.
What the course consolidation does is it tears down the wall between the two groups. Now, both groups will have access to the best components that exist in core and the best components that exist in honors.
So you're asking me, how does this affect instruction? It forces us as teachers to approach teaching with a growth mindset. That is, students will enter with various ability levels, but through our teaching, by the end of the year, they will all have positive growth.
So minds will be stretched to the max and show some great growth in their ability to solve certain kinds of problems, where in the past they were weak. Because some minds may be stretched or nourished or changed where they can now see strategies and problem-solving from multiple perspectives, where before they may only have had one.
I know one thing: the rigor will be there for the students and we have to find a way to differentiate so that the concept is accessible to every mind in that class. Students are the future. They will adapt. We will adapt. We will all learn from each other, so that at the close of this year, we will have all grown. Thank you guys for listening.