My Dilemma

Well, grades came out, and as arbitrary as they are, they were not good .  I had one on one discussions with all of my students and 90% of them felt that their grade was accurate based on their efforts and the amount of work that they completed.  This leads me to my dilemma.

In my school, the biggest obstacle that we are up against is truancy.  If I had to guess, about half of the students have a P.O. (parole officer) and are being monitored by the court system.  Another good portion of students attend, but are unmotivated, and a small percentage needed a different environment to thrive.  With that said, we went through the quarter, where I put together great lessons that incorporated multiple disciplines and sometimes, multiple topics within the subject of Algebra.  The students were 100% engaged.  Learning through collaboration and creativity.  The thing is, these lessons were great!!...............for the few that showed up regularly.  It was the majority of students who would be absent for 2 or 3 days in a row or absent 1 day here the next ( and then trying to figure out what the hell was going on), and gone the next day.  The thought provoking lessons that were put together, a lot of the time, were a bust because the students would not show some or all of the time allotted.  Before they knew it, we were on to the next topic in class, and my part time students were barely getting off their feet on the previous topics.

This causes me to really doubt the approach of project based learning for my type of student.  I've always wanted to do it and finally, this year, I did.  Now, I'm highly disappointed with the results.  Some students have argued that they are not used to learning this way and they are too conditioned to learn a new way.  Is that true?  Should I not try to give them a glimpse of the future?  I can definitely say that I am one of few in our school that approaches learning through authentic problems.  Unfortunately, swimming against the current is exhausting in such a tough subject.  It's not that the support is not at the school, it just wears you down having to explain to the students, all of the time, why they need these skills when there is next to none preaching these same principles with me.  Again, not because they don't agree, but only because this is not how they practice their subject, so most of this is foreign to the kids.

So, where am I now?  I have gone back into my shell and am using technology to simply redistribute information through technology rather than use it to educate students on how to seek their own knowledge.  They are having more success because all of the lessons are in individual sections (because it's math) and the students can easily see what topic they have missed when they don't come to school, but it's simply not realistic to how they will work outside of school.

NOOOOWWWWW back to the drawing board.  They are learning on a self paced program which I am able to get around the room and individually help them.  They are collaborating on an ongoing notes document in Google Docs for those that miss class.  They are learning through games.  They are getting practice from these things and worksheets, but nothing authentic.  They have the means to communicate with the class or myself if they are out.  They can always see what assignments they have turned in and not turned in and retrieve any documents they may need.  So maybe, I will only have the authenticity be thrown in on a formal assessment.  It may be too demanding for this population to be able to handle projects that take 4 or 5 days to complete?????  I truly believe that the authentic approach is the way to go.  I haven't been asked once this year, "when are we ever going to use this"?  Something must be going right in that sense.  Now it is just time to find a balance.

Suggestions appreciated. :0)