Gilbert Middle school is moving into its second year of full implementation of AIW. In an effort to support teachers' collaboration, prinicpal Chris Billings publishes teacher's weekly answers to the prompt:
What aspects of AIW (authentic intellectual work) will be incorporated this week?
Here is the response of an 8th grade Science teacher
We have typed up a conversation rubric for the students and a similar rubric for the teacher
for monitoring substantive conversations in lab groups. The students and teacher(s)
practiced having substantive conversations on topic with sharing of ideas. Many of the
students found that the conversations were difficult to start. We believe this is because
the students are used to giving surface answers with as little as thinking as possible. The
teachers are excited about seeing improved lab discussions and analysis answers. The
rubrics make the conversation expectations clear and help them focus on digging deeper into
their understanding of the topic.
For more information on what Gilbert Middle school is doing please contact:
Chris Billings
Middle School Principal
Gilbert Community School
515-232-0540