Nic Mason's Solo Reflection

Truthfully, SOLO has been pretty hard and all-encompassing. But I guess that is the way all new things work until you get the hang of it. And true, it wasn’t until the end when the penny dropped for myself and the kids.

Another difficulty I found when taking on SOLO this term was that the 'Planning', 'Gathering' and 'Sorting' aspects of the rubric were hard to follow because we were trying a task-based inquiry; a bit separate from our traditional inquiry model. However, the end ‘Understanding and Evaluating’ parts still applied.

As a side project, I used the SOLO language and rubric to create a success rubric for writing. As a result, I am really pleased with how my writing program has turned out this term! The kids achieved fantastic results. My writing wall worked tumeke with examples of different SOLO parts E.g. This is what a multi-structural introduction looks like, etc. The SOLO success criteria was powerful when they self-assessed their work. They were truthful and hit the nail on the head. Very cool.

This will set my students up for the traditional inquiry approach next term. In conclusion, SOLO a GO-GO! It is choice.