IFO Data Driven Decision Making

 13 November 2022

It has been difficult for me to directly observe data-driven decision making in my classroom. I don’t really see my mentor teacher doing much of any of it. I was able to do it myself during my own lesson that I presented. This was my second lesson and I decided to use the data from my previous assessment to inform my decision making in the second one. I had been asking students to be subjective about learning, rather than looking for the “correct” or objective answer. I then wanted them to justify why they came to the conclusion they did so that they might be able to demonstrate their learning. Many of the students did what I asked them to do, but a lot of them gave answers without giving a reason. I suppose I just wanted them to “show their work,” and that was kind of lost on them. So I did a little exercise/activity during my following lesson. I informed students about divergent vs. convergent thinking, and how I wanted them to think more divergently. To do this, I had them write down everything they could either do or make out of a simple metal spoon. 

The reason I wanted them to do this was because I, personally, consider literature to be an art, and works of art are often subjective. I wanted them to be less worried about finding the “correct” answer and more concerned with finding their answer, and then being able to justify why and make themselves appear more credible.