Self-Paced Classroom-Year #2 - Danielle's Class

Well I am 2 and half months into year 2 for my self-paced classroom and some things have improved, some things I am questioning, and some things definitely need to change. 

I was super excited going into this school year with my self-paced structure and interested to see how the pieces I was adding would work. Overall I am pleased with how things are going, but I have definitely found more things that I need to work on. 

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What I added This year

1. Self-Regulated Work Tracker & Grade. The first big addition I made this year was the self-regulated work weekly tracker and grade. I created a weekly tracker where students would rate themselves daily on how well they worked based on our self-regulation skills rubric. At the end of class students have me review their rankings and I make an adjustment if I disagree with what they did and I sign my initials to confirm that I reviewed it. Then on Friday's the students review their week and write a reflection on their goals and how they worked. Then they turn it in and I review it and give them a grade based on the tracker. I decided to give them a grade for this because last year there was a lot of confusion about grades and progress. Students were always wondering why they didn't have any grades and because my grades were weighted towards assessments, it could be a while before students really had a grade, but they were always working. I could understand their frustration and confusion. I wanted them to see some assessment but I was not going to start grading practice and learning activities, so I came up with the concept of self-regulated rubric. Giving students a participation or work ethic grade is not new, but I wanted it to be based around skills that are relevant to their lives as people not just students. 
2. Learning Tracking Sheets. I also created a learning tracking sheet where students would evaluate their knowledge of the standards before they would complete an assessment and then after the assessment would go back and evaluate what happened. My plan was to do this as a way to track how well students are mastering standards and track students that needed to re-assess. 
3. Intentional Seating. This year I have been really moving the students around based on their behavior and their progress on material. I numbered each of my desks and have basically reviewed my tracking sheets every morning and assign students to number range that changes based on the needs of the class. 

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What I am struggling With

1. Grading. Now that I basically have grades to enter weekly because of the weekly tracker, it is something that can be a struggle to keep up with. I think it is good for the students to see their work skills progress, but always having to keep track of it is difficult and it is a lot of paper to manage. I also keep it and file it in a folder for each student. I do this in case I need to meet with administration or parents and have their trackers as evidence of their work ethic in class. Paperwork has always been a weakness of mine so for me to add this much paperwork to my class has been a challenge for me. 
2. Learning Tracking Sheets. The tracking sheets really don't seem to be working like I wanted them to. The students don't really seem to be getting the point of the tracking sheet and it feels like more paperwork that students really aren't using. I still like the concept of having the students track their mastery of the standards, but I need to find a more meaningful way to do that. 
3. Having students understand setting goals and reflecting on those goals. On their weekly trackers, students are supposed to set a goal for each week, plan out how they will do it, and then reflect on it at the end of the week. This is something that they really are not using to its fullest potential. I think this could be really powerful, but most students are barely thinking or reflecting on their goals and weekly progress. I think that I need to spend more time at the beginning teaching the students how to do this, but my other question with this is whether or not that this piece of the tracker should be included in the grading portion of the weekly tracker. 
4. Students moving really slowly. My biggest struggle this semester has been student moving way more slowly than I thought they would. Most students are 2 weeks or more behind where I thought they would be. This to be honest is blowing my mind and I am really wondering what is causing this. I think part of it is behavior. Students are new to high school and still trying to act like it is middle school and they don't take this seriously. Another thing could be that they are not understanding their progress and everything that has to be done by the end of the semester. I am also really considering the fact that I need to re-evaluate my curriculum and what I need to cover. 
5. Student Interaction/Monotony. I wonder if I am really differentiating enough and creating activities that allow students to connect to the contact. I sometimes look at my activities and feel like students are doing the same things over and over again and do not interact with each other enough. I am looking for more ways to increase student choice in activities and ways for students to work together. Along with this, I am still questioning whether I am working with students enough. Some of my classes are very needy and I am working with student all of class and some classes really just seem to want me to leave them alone and let them work. It is difficult to find a balance. 

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Overall, I am still happy with the student-directed structure of my class and really not sure I could go back to the more traditional setting. I do know that I still want improve and that are things that I can improve on. I am going to keep working and looking for inspiration and people to collaborate with. If any of you have some ideas or suggestions, I would love to hear them!