Not everything about the ticket system we use at school is entirely self-explanatory. Here’s a short guide for the perplexed parent.
EFD has used so-called “tickets” since 2012. But it became seriously implemented during the first corona lockdown. to track what the students do, and for the kids to monitor themselves and make sense of where they are. (See further down for a more in-depth explanation of the ticket system.)
There are different flavors to the tickets.
- “Plan du travail tickets” that lay out a plan for how much the child intends to work in the coming week in each of his or her workbook. E.g: “Uge 16 KonteXt 1b s.25 – 27” These tickets are posted on Fridays at conseil. The students are very good at fulfilling their self-assigned quotas. This said, few set themselves unreasonable goals.
- “Capsule tickets”, that track subject-specific topics. Some are undertaken every time a student comes to the end of a workbook. A student will e.g. post three separate tickets called “The organs”, “The senses” and “The cells”, after finishing a science workbook. These projects need to be completed in order to advance to the next book
- “Project tickets” about a particular, voluntarily chosen topic. These are the most demanding, as the student him- or herself needs to define a lot of parameters; a schedule, what resources they might need etc. I have become sensitive to how often these projects demand intense parental contributions in order to succeed. All of a sudden and quite unbidden the parents end up having to become robot engineers or confectioners. Sometimes this is really nice, but not always. Keep us posted on how this works for your family. See our ticket guidelines, published here. Not every initiated project of this kind is destined to be completed. Sometimes, you just have to admit you overreached. This is also a part of the learning process. But obviously, the kids will be encouraged to stick to what they’ve promised.
Below is a list other advantages of the ticket system. So far, most of us have only explored some of them. Cooperating and commenting on each other’s projects, e.g., is something we could do much more.
- The kids learn to consider, and express, what they want. This is an exceedingly important skill, also for adults.
- The Ticket system ensures all subjects are adequately covered by the student.
- It ensures the kids stay on track in each subject.
- The students learn issue tracking, a cornerstone in modern project management.
- Just formulating a heading and typing it down gives the youngest ones significant writing experience.
- Parents can keep up to date with what the kids are doing.
- Tickets don’t disappear (as opposed to plan de travail on paper).
And then there are further benefits of issue tracking as such:
- Others can see and contribute, promoting cooperation.
- Descriptions of projects can serve as an inspiration for others, or even be the basis of other tickets.
- No ambiguity about when a project is finished (“The definition of Done”.)
Feel free to get in touch if there’s anything specific you want to know.