Closing in on the last week of class. Kind of stressed trying to keep up and balance everything with this class and at school but kind of anxious because I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Chapter 9 addressed Identifying Similarities and Differences. Having students use compare/contrast as a strategy has been proven to be one of the most effective teaching methods. According to Marzano, it is #1 on his list of High Yield Strategies. Research has shown a 45% gain when using similarities and differences which is considerably higher than Marzano`s other researched strategies. I was so impressed with this statistic that I have been thinking of ways to incorporate more of this into my lessons. I just recently restructured one of my assignments to include some comparison/contrast. HERE It was a research assignment where students analyzed electronic gadgets and by incorporating comparison/contrast it gets rid of the random nature of their research. It provides a better sense of purpose and the students are asked to think deeper because they must conclude which gadget is best. I already use Inspiration multiple times a year with various lessons like Character maps(5th), Rock Cycle(3rd), animal habitats(4th), animal classifications(4th), and digestive system(6th).
Chapter 10 covers Homework and Practice. The resonating idea here is practice, practice, practice. Practice really does make perfect. I found that out the hard way in college. I was always good in math and when I had Calculus in college it was no different. The difference, however, was that I thought if I could understand the lectures I`d be fine for the tests. I was wrong. I wasn`t prepared for all of the possible scenarios that could arise with such a complex subject as Calculus. Once I started doing the homework and practicing problem after problem the tests became much easier. One of the recommendations of the book is to "vary approaches to providing feedback". That is where I feel I really take advantage of technology. In addition to regular paper grading, students receive many electronic forms of communication and feedback. I have a classroom website where students can find my syllabus, assignment sheets (attachments), instructions, and comment boxes for students that email me notifications. I also have used an online service for submitting assignments ((eBackpack) where students can store and submit assignments to me and I can grade them and provide immediate comments and feedback to students within the system. With these things in place I feel that homework is more effective because the turn around time on feedback is so quick.
Chapter 11 went on to discuss Generating and Testing Hypotheses. Now, in my opinion, this strategy is the one that I think will promote the deepest thinking processes. Not only do you have to deeply analyze the information that you have but you have to do a lot of comparing and contrasting. THEN, you follow it up by making a prediction of what will happen based on your analysis and comparisons. Even if you stop the process right there and have students fully explain their hypothesis it can be a very fruitful experience. If you have time to test the hypothesis then you can have students form conclusions by doing even more comparing and analysis. I think the one drawback to this method is that it is very time-consuming which limits the frequency of classroom practice. Technology can play a large role in the strategy of generating and testing hypothesis. Things like spreadsheets, graphs, databases, electronic probes and other digital gadgets for data gathering, and comprehensive software for data analysis make generating and testing hypothesis easier, faster, and more powerful as a learning method.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
CEDO 525 - Enhancing Learning Materials - Week 4 Chapter 7,8 Responses
Chapter 7 covered Cooperative Learning. The book talked about things such as:
-Keep group sizes small
-Combine cooperative learning with other classroom structures
-Don't worry about grouping by skill levels
-Use different types of grouping (Formal, Informal, Base)
-Do not overuse
In our group work the week prior we talked about the above book recommendations and added that we felt roles needed to be defined and progress should be evaluated frequently. Group work is good preparation for life outside of school. It teaches many important life skills like communication, conflict resolution, organization, project management, meeting deadlines, exposure to other points of view and more.
One thing that I feel is really important is to make sure that the project you assign the group has a good variety of different types of activities. You want to make sure that everyone in the group has a chance to use a skill that they feel is a strength. If the project is an art project, for example, it may alienate the group members that are not strong in artistic disciplines. By providing a variety of facets to the group project it will allow each student a chance to shine.
The Chapter 8 topic was Reinforcing Effort. The book talked about the importance of having students believe that effort can make a difference. It also recommended having students keep track of their effort and achievement and effort. I think keeping track of those two things is where technology can really help the students and teachers. The hard part will be defining effort and getting the students to see what true effort looks like. In order to help the students see what "effort" looks like they suggest using a rubric that maps out behaviors that are indicative of someone giving effort and having different levels for each behavior displayed on the rubric. I think this can be an effective model. I have used rubrics like this before but never for something that is hard to see, like effort. Once students see what behaviors they need to exhibit it becomes a matter of proving to students that putting the effort forth makes a difference. This can be more challenging than you think, especially for students who can cruise through and get good grades without putting forth a lot of effort. In order to convince those types of students I found it best to give them "post-assessments" a few weeks later to see how much they've retained. In most cases they will not retain as much as the students that put forth high levels of effort because they most likely crammed right before the test, scored well, and then didn't retain the info. With good study habits, note taking, and homework completion (all categories of effort) they will see that they can retain more info. Spreadsheets are probably the best way to analyze data so that you can show progress, compare and contrast data, and show relationships between effort and results. Spreadsheets can get kind of boring (not to me!!), though, so using something like Google forms or Survey Monkey might be a good way to more actively engage the students while still providing data to play with.
-Keep group sizes small
-Combine cooperative learning with other classroom structures
-Don't worry about grouping by skill levels
-Use different types of grouping (Formal, Informal, Base)
-Do not overuse
In our group work the week prior we talked about the above book recommendations and added that we felt roles needed to be defined and progress should be evaluated frequently. Group work is good preparation for life outside of school. It teaches many important life skills like communication, conflict resolution, organization, project management, meeting deadlines, exposure to other points of view and more.
One thing that I feel is really important is to make sure that the project you assign the group has a good variety of different types of activities. You want to make sure that everyone in the group has a chance to use a skill that they feel is a strength. If the project is an art project, for example, it may alienate the group members that are not strong in artistic disciplines. By providing a variety of facets to the group project it will allow each student a chance to shine.
The Chapter 8 topic was Reinforcing Effort. The book talked about the importance of having students believe that effort can make a difference. It also recommended having students keep track of their effort and achievement and effort. I think keeping track of those two things is where technology can really help the students and teachers. The hard part will be defining effort and getting the students to see what true effort looks like. In order to help the students see what "effort" looks like they suggest using a rubric that maps out behaviors that are indicative of someone giving effort and having different levels for each behavior displayed on the rubric. I think this can be an effective model. I have used rubrics like this before but never for something that is hard to see, like effort. Once students see what behaviors they need to exhibit it becomes a matter of proving to students that putting the effort forth makes a difference. This can be more challenging than you think, especially for students who can cruise through and get good grades without putting forth a lot of effort. In order to convince those types of students I found it best to give them "post-assessments" a few weeks later to see how much they've retained. In most cases they will not retain as much as the students that put forth high levels of effort because they most likely crammed right before the test, scored well, and then didn't retain the info. With good study habits, note taking, and homework completion (all categories of effort) they will see that they can retain more info. Spreadsheets are probably the best way to analyze data so that you can show progress, compare and contrast data, and show relationships between effort and results. Spreadsheets can get kind of boring (not to me!!), though, so using something like Google forms or Survey Monkey might be a good way to more actively engage the students while still providing data to play with.
CEDO 525 - Enhanced Learning - Week 4 Response to TED talk
The video that I chose to respond to was the one addressing "Cognitive Surplus" by Clay Shirky. The main idea that was trying to be conveyed was that people are finding more constructive ways to use their free time than in the past. Shirky maintains that people have been enormously consumptive (consume or take-in things vs giving output) but feels like that trend is changing with the advent of online tools, especially ones that allow for collaboration. Shirky thinks these online tools are helping transform people into "creators" rather than "consumers". Instead of watching hours and hours of television Shirky says that people are creating things, going online, and sharing them. He notes that even though some people might be creating silly, meaningless things (he uses LOLCats as an example) that it is still creating and that eventually good things will come of it. I tend to agree with Shirky on several of his main points. Shirky states that when the printing press was developed "it took 150 years to graduate from erotic novels to Scientific journals" and I think that is a really good example. An example that I thought of is YouTube. YouTube started out with goofy videos of people doing ridiculous things, sports highlights, Vlogs, etc. and slowly started being used for more productive things like "How-To videos". Now there are so many educational uses for it (Khan Academy) that it has spun off into several other "Tubes" like Teacher Tube for example. I'm not sure how many people are making the shift from consumer to creator but let's hope that Mr. Shirky is right about people making better use of their free time because it could produce some amazing results as these online and digital tools are discovered and used for bigger and better things than LOLCats.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
CEDO 525 - Enhanced Learning - Comparing Online Mind Mapping Tools
I compared 3 of the online tools from week 3. Here is the entire list of choices so I can come back and look at this later:
1. Bubbl.us (http://bubble.us)
2. Webspiration (http://www.mywebspiration.com)
3. MindMeister (http://www.mindmeister.com)
4. exploratree (http://www.exploratree.org.uk)
5. http://www.educationoasis.com/curriculum/graphic_organizers.htm
6. CMAP (http://cmap.ihmc.us/conceptmap.html)
I had heard about MindMeister a few times during classes in this grad program so I was eager to check that one out first. The first thing I needed to do was sign up for a free account, which required you to activate it through an email. Having email addresses for students is a problem for us right now but it is something that I am working on. The free account allows you to have a max of 3 mind maps at a time, which I thought was adequate. I liked the familiar interface and I thought it was very simple and easy to create idea bubbles and modify their contents. It was easy to insert pictures by using mindmeister's library, through a search(which tied into Google images) or by pasting the URL of a picture. I didn't get to try any collaboration but that would be a powerful feature if it worked well. I had a little trouble creating idea bubbles off of existing branches (child bubbles), however, so that was a little turn off. Maybe I was doing something wrong but if I, the technology teacher, was having trouble that's not a good sign.
The next one I tried was Bubbl.us. This one is really simple, even concerning the effort to get started. You actually could start using their mind mapper without creating any kind of login. The drawback there is that you can only print, not save your mind map. Even so, you can create a quick login by simply providing a username and password. No real name and no email addresses are necessary. The features of Bubbl.us are scaled back in comparison to MindMeister (no picture insert, less formatting options) but I thought the interface was a lot easier to use. You can print and you can save into their online folders. It looked like you could have up to 3 mind maps just like MindMeister. I didn't see a collaboration feature so that would be a minor drawback. Overall a nice, simple little Web 2.0 tool with less hoops to jump through in order to use it.
Webspiration is the last one I evaluated. I have used the regular software package for Inspiration for over 10 years now and I think it is excellent. I had already tried Webspiration last year when it was in it's beta phase and it was working nicely but I ran into 2 problems: 1) It required email addresses for accounts and 2) It was going to be expensive once the 30 day trial had expired. Looking at their website, it looks like they eliminated the need for students to have email accounts with their School Subscription structure in which they designate a Webspiration Classroom administrator who sets up and manages faculty and student accounts. The problem that still exists is the cost...$9 per account. That could really add up if you used it for a lot of students. Webspiration itself is an excellent mind mapper. It is easy to use while manipulating your various idea bubbles, inserting pictures (either from gallery, from file, or online), and it has an amazing amount of formatting options which help make your mind map look great. It even has it's popular Outline view which creates an outline behind the scenes as you form your mind map. The collaboration capability worked really well but you had to make sure that you limited the amount of users who were actually trying to add things to the mind map because sometimes it froze and other times it was chaotic trying to figure out what was being added to the mind map. All that said, I know we wouldn't use it because of the cost (and we already have the offline version of Inspiration).
1. Bubbl.us (http://bubble.us)
2. Webspiration (http://www.mywebspiration.com)
3. MindMeister (http://www.mindmeister.com)
4. exploratree (http://www.exploratree.org.uk)
5. http://www.educationoasis.com/curriculum/graphic_organizers.htm
6. CMAP (http://cmap.ihmc.us/conceptmap.html)
I had heard about MindMeister a few times during classes in this grad program so I was eager to check that one out first. The first thing I needed to do was sign up for a free account, which required you to activate it through an email. Having email addresses for students is a problem for us right now but it is something that I am working on. The free account allows you to have a max of 3 mind maps at a time, which I thought was adequate. I liked the familiar interface and I thought it was very simple and easy to create idea bubbles and modify their contents. It was easy to insert pictures by using mindmeister's library, through a search(which tied into Google images) or by pasting the URL of a picture. I didn't get to try any collaboration but that would be a powerful feature if it worked well. I had a little trouble creating idea bubbles off of existing branches (child bubbles), however, so that was a little turn off. Maybe I was doing something wrong but if I, the technology teacher, was having trouble that's not a good sign.
The next one I tried was Bubbl.us. This one is really simple, even concerning the effort to get started. You actually could start using their mind mapper without creating any kind of login. The drawback there is that you can only print, not save your mind map. Even so, you can create a quick login by simply providing a username and password. No real name and no email addresses are necessary. The features of Bubbl.us are scaled back in comparison to MindMeister (no picture insert, less formatting options) but I thought the interface was a lot easier to use. You can print and you can save into their online folders. It looked like you could have up to 3 mind maps just like MindMeister. I didn't see a collaboration feature so that would be a minor drawback. Overall a nice, simple little Web 2.0 tool with less hoops to jump through in order to use it.
Webspiration is the last one I evaluated. I have used the regular software package for Inspiration for over 10 years now and I think it is excellent. I had already tried Webspiration last year when it was in it's beta phase and it was working nicely but I ran into 2 problems: 1) It required email addresses for accounts and 2) It was going to be expensive once the 30 day trial had expired. Looking at their website, it looks like they eliminated the need for students to have email accounts with their School Subscription structure in which they designate a Webspiration Classroom administrator who sets up and manages faculty and student accounts. The problem that still exists is the cost...$9 per account. That could really add up if you used it for a lot of students. Webspiration itself is an excellent mind mapper. It is easy to use while manipulating your various idea bubbles, inserting pictures (either from gallery, from file, or online), and it has an amazing amount of formatting options which help make your mind map look great. It even has it's popular Outline view which creates an outline behind the scenes as you form your mind map. The collaboration capability worked really well but you had to make sure that you limited the amount of users who were actually trying to add things to the mind map because sometimes it froze and other times it was chaotic trying to figure out what was being added to the mind map. All that said, I know we wouldn't use it because of the cost (and we already have the offline version of Inspiration).
CEDO 525 - Enhanced Learning - Responses to Chapters 4-6
Chapter 4 covered Cues, Questions, and Advanced Organizers. I think being good at providing cues and probing questions is the foundation that all good teachers have. It is central to any good teacher's repertoire and is underrated in most circles. Any random individual could probably present the material to students at most levels but the cues and questioning that a teacher employs distinguishes them from a good teacher and a mediocre teacher. If a teacher can neutrally facilitate a discussion in such a way that students come to their own conclusions and form their own base knowledge then the teacher is truly performing their role masterfully. I thought the book brought up a very effective strategy when it mentioned simply waiting briefly before accepting an answer. This can cause students to internalize their answer and allow other students to analyze it as well. I'd like to add that I've had success when not indicating whether I agree or disagree with answers and avoiding giving students indicators as to whether I think an answer is right or wrong. By collecting answers and then posing questions about those answers back to the class I have found that the students really become involved in higher level reasoning while achieving answers by self-discovery more often than not.
The Chapter 5 topic is Non-linguistic Representation. Using Kinesthetic activities or physical models are extremely effective from my experiences. I think we don't see as much of these types of lessons as we should. They tend to take a a higher level of organization and planning than your conventional "read from the book or follow along" lessons. Lessons using kinesthetic activities or physical models also tend to take longer. I think sometimes that teachers are under a time crunch and elect to go the "quick" route to fit all of the content in and sometimes I feel that teachers choose the "easy" route because they are plain lazy. Regardless, it is a shame that we don't see more lessons that make use of non-linguistic representation because it has been proven that it reinforces conventional methods and it is able to reach those students who are visual or hands-on learners.
Chapter 6 dealt with Summarizing and Note-taking. I think the generalization that the book made pretty much sums it up: "To effectively summarize, students must be able to delete information, substitute information, and keep information." When that is taking place it means that the students are giving the content a deep analysis and that they have a firm grasp on the subject matter. The book also mentions that verbatim note taking is the worst method. That is something I intend to pass on to the staff at my school. When I read about the Cornell note taking method a week or two ago I brought it to the attention of our resource teacher and also provided our middle school teachers with some samples and showed them how effective it could be. The Cornell method is in the process of being assimilated into the middle school classes and after teachers become more comfortable the idea is to introduce it at the 4th and 5th grade levels as well. It'll be another tool to help students organize their learning and foster a higher level of comprehension.
The Chapter 5 topic is Non-linguistic Representation. Using Kinesthetic activities or physical models are extremely effective from my experiences. I think we don't see as much of these types of lessons as we should. They tend to take a a higher level of organization and planning than your conventional "read from the book or follow along" lessons. Lessons using kinesthetic activities or physical models also tend to take longer. I think sometimes that teachers are under a time crunch and elect to go the "quick" route to fit all of the content in and sometimes I feel that teachers choose the "easy" route because they are plain lazy. Regardless, it is a shame that we don't see more lessons that make use of non-linguistic representation because it has been proven that it reinforces conventional methods and it is able to reach those students who are visual or hands-on learners.
Chapter 6 dealt with Summarizing and Note-taking. I think the generalization that the book made pretty much sums it up: "To effectively summarize, students must be able to delete information, substitute information, and keep information." When that is taking place it means that the students are giving the content a deep analysis and that they have a firm grasp on the subject matter. The book also mentions that verbatim note taking is the worst method. That is something I intend to pass on to the staff at my school. When I read about the Cornell note taking method a week or two ago I brought it to the attention of our resource teacher and also provided our middle school teachers with some samples and showed them how effective it could be. The Cornell method is in the process of being assimilated into the middle school classes and after teachers become more comfortable the idea is to introduce it at the 4th and 5th grade levels as well. It'll be another tool to help students organize their learning and foster a higher level of comprehension.
Monday, September 12, 2011
CEDO 525 - Enhanced Learning - Quick responses to Chapters 1-3
Chapter 1 talked about Setting Objectives. I thought it was valuable when they talked about standards-based objectives and how rubrics can help achieve a structure for rating and assessing progress towards goals. There has been a lot more emphasis on standards-based curriculums and lesson design so it is logical that objectives should stem from the standards as well.
I agree that we should allow students flexibility to personalize their goals and I like the idea of having individual contracts with students. I think it is unrealistic to be expected to keep track of these individualized contracts, however. Especially when you factor in student modifications, which I also think is a great idea. There needs to be some way of reviewing these contracts where the students are held accountable on their own terms so that the teacher isn't trying to go micro-manage in a situation where it is impossible to keep up with.
I was kind of left confused and in a daze when trying to internalize where the book says "settings goals narrows the student focus" and then they say "but don't make goals too specific" and finally they go on to say "make goals specific but flexible". I think I understand what they were trying to say, like to make it situational, but it sure was contradictory.
Chapter 2 talked about Providing Feedback. Three things stood outt in the chapter. The timeliness of the feedback was very important. If feedback isn't provided quickly enough thhan it not as effective because the student can't make adjustments accordingly. Another important emphasis is to make the feedback specific. I mentioned this after reading the Feedback article, but if you just give canned comments like "good job" or "needs improvement" then you are not helping the student get better. I also liked the idea of peer feedback. When students are giving feedback to peers and expecting some in return they tend to be very helpful. A lot of times peer feedback can give students additional insight into their work because it is coming fromm a different perpective.
Chapter 3 covered Providing Recognition. The one thing that stood out to me with this chapter was where they said "symbolic recognition is more effective than tangible rewards". I have always agreed with that logic but now that I have 3 kids ages 2, 4, and 6 I think that tangible rewards definitely have a place. There are times when I mention a simple tangible reward like "a cookie at Pick N Save". I don't think there is any harm in working things like that into the regular routine, especially when it is so effective. I know and agree that symbolic recognition is more valuable in the long run but it takes more time and considerably more work to set up. Sometimes we just don't have the energy to structure everything that way and if it helps keep our sanity then I have no problem handing out a sucker or two from time to time.
I agree that we should allow students flexibility to personalize their goals and I like the idea of having individual contracts with students. I think it is unrealistic to be expected to keep track of these individualized contracts, however. Especially when you factor in student modifications, which I also think is a great idea. There needs to be some way of reviewing these contracts where the students are held accountable on their own terms so that the teacher isn't trying to go micro-manage in a situation where it is impossible to keep up with.
I was kind of left confused and in a daze when trying to internalize where the book says "settings goals narrows the student focus" and then they say "but don't make goals too specific" and finally they go on to say "make goals specific but flexible". I think I understand what they were trying to say, like to make it situational, but it sure was contradictory.
Chapter 2 talked about Providing Feedback. Three things stood outt in the chapter. The timeliness of the feedback was very important. If feedback isn't provided quickly enough thhan it not as effective because the student can't make adjustments accordingly. Another important emphasis is to make the feedback specific. I mentioned this after reading the Feedback article, but if you just give canned comments like "good job" or "needs improvement" then you are not helping the student get better. I also liked the idea of peer feedback. When students are giving feedback to peers and expecting some in return they tend to be very helpful. A lot of times peer feedback can give students additional insight into their work because it is coming fromm a different perpective.
Chapter 3 covered Providing Recognition. The one thing that stood out to me with this chapter was where they said "symbolic recognition is more effective than tangible rewards". I have always agreed with that logic but now that I have 3 kids ages 2, 4, and 6 I think that tangible rewards definitely have a place. There are times when I mention a simple tangible reward like "a cookie at Pick N Save". I don't think there is any harm in working things like that into the regular routine, especially when it is so effective. I know and agree that symbolic recognition is more valuable in the long run but it takes more time and considerably more work to set up. Sometimes we just don't have the energy to structure everything that way and if it helps keep our sanity then I have no problem handing out a sucker or two from time to time.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
CEDO 525 - Enhanced Learning - Week 2 Electronic Response Tools
Ok, so here we're supposed to compare and contrast electronic response tools. We all know about Google Forms and yes it's pretty slick. Lots of options, some nice designs to choose from, and output into Google spreadsheets all the whilst being FREE. The only problem with tools like Google forms is that it requires a bit of training and the setup of Google accounts and it's infrastructure. Sooooo...I'm going to go in a different direction with my comparison/contrast. I'll take a quick look at response tools that provide immediate feedback within the walls of the classroom.
I'll start with one called iClicker. These are simply little remotes with a few impressive capabilities. The teacher has a more advanced unit that can set up true/false, multiple choice, and yes/no questions on the fly. The students then have receivers that they enter their responses with. It's a great way to get quick assessments of the classroom's level of understanding. The teacher clicker then displays the results on a little LCD screen so the teacher can adjust their focus or reteach certain concepts. The teacher clicker can also remotely control slideshows or other simple presentations. The knock on something like this might be the need to buy lots of these little clickers, which might get costly.
Some other examples, which are very similar to iClicker, are the handheld response systems from SMART Technologies. SMART has a lot more to choose from and seem to have some software options which provide a nice structure for later analysis. These gadgets can also be tied into the SMART whiteboards, which have become prevalent in schools as of late. There is even an option for students using mobile devices.
The next one is called QuestionPress. This one is a strictly web-based audience and classroom response/assessment tool. That means that it is essentially available on any Internet connected device. I'm going to use a quote from the creator because it sums it up beautifully: "QuestionPress is one of the few response web sites that allows you to offer a fully live session where you can control which questions are asked, when they are asked, in what order they are asked, and when and how results are sent to the responders’ screens. Questions can also be served at the responder’s pace with options that allow for the scores and correct answers being displayed upon completion."
The last one is actually an app for the iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. It's called eClicker Host. The nice thing here is that you only have to buy the Host app ($9.99) and anyone else can install the free eClicker iOS app. Obviously the "catch" here is that your school would have to have iPads or a similar device in order to make use of it.
I'll start with one called iClicker. These are simply little remotes with a few impressive capabilities. The teacher has a more advanced unit that can set up true/false, multiple choice, and yes/no questions on the fly. The students then have receivers that they enter their responses with. It's a great way to get quick assessments of the classroom's level of understanding. The teacher clicker then displays the results on a little LCD screen so the teacher can adjust their focus or reteach certain concepts. The teacher clicker can also remotely control slideshows or other simple presentations. The knock on something like this might be the need to buy lots of these little clickers, which might get costly.
Some other examples, which are very similar to iClicker, are the handheld response systems from SMART Technologies. SMART has a lot more to choose from and seem to have some software options which provide a nice structure for later analysis. These gadgets can also be tied into the SMART whiteboards, which have become prevalent in schools as of late. There is even an option for students using mobile devices.
The next one is called QuestionPress. This one is a strictly web-based audience and classroom response/assessment tool. That means that it is essentially available on any Internet connected device. I'm going to use a quote from the creator because it sums it up beautifully: "QuestionPress is one of the few response web sites that allows you to offer a fully live session where you can control which questions are asked, when they are asked, in what order they are asked, and when and how results are sent to the responders’ screens. Questions can also be served at the responder’s pace with options that allow for the scores and correct answers being displayed upon completion."
The last one is actually an app for the iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. It's called eClicker Host. The nice thing here is that you only have to buy the Host app ($9.99) and anyone else can install the free eClicker iOS app. Obviously the "catch" here is that your school would have to have iPads or a similar device in order to make use of it.
CEDO 525 - Enhanced Learning Materials - Week 2 Feedback
This week we read the article Feedback That Fits and were asked to provide a brief response. In the past few years I have been bombarded with in-services on certain hot topics. Bullying and Differentiated instruction are the top two but Assessment practices and strategies easily comes in third. I think what made this article more interesting than the in-services and training I've had is that I was trying to figure out where technology fits into the equation. While reading the article I jotted down a few things that I could take away from the article.
Students deciphering feedback and possibly reading the feedback in an unintended way was one thing that I thought was interesting. I think that writing comments on a writing or research project can be very useful but there is still room for error. Teachers have to be very careful about what they write, just as with emails. If it is not face to face communication where a student can hear voice inflection, facial expressions or body language then there is room for false interpretation.
Finding something positive, no matter how small, for struggling students was another thing to note. This is certainly not a new concept to me, but it is still an important one to remember. It is especially important to set the tone with something positive when interacting with a struggling student because they probably haven't had too many compliments. Starting with a positive can possibly open up a line of communication that wouldn't normally have been there if the conversation started with a criticism or advice for improvement. Parent teacher conferences are another place that I like to set the tone with a positive for the same reasons.
Being specific about positive feedback is the last nugget that I will take away from this article. I will admit that sometimes I get a little lazy with my positive feedback. It is so much easier to walk around and say the same three phrases (good job, nice work, looks good) while looking over students' shoulders. The article pointed out that while it might make a student feel good for a brief moment, the student doesn't benefit from the comment in the long run. Being specific will help students identify exactly what they are doing well (their strengths) and perhaps improve my retention of what the students are proficient in.
Students deciphering feedback and possibly reading the feedback in an unintended way was one thing that I thought was interesting. I think that writing comments on a writing or research project can be very useful but there is still room for error. Teachers have to be very careful about what they write, just as with emails. If it is not face to face communication where a student can hear voice inflection, facial expressions or body language then there is room for false interpretation.
Finding something positive, no matter how small, for struggling students was another thing to note. This is certainly not a new concept to me, but it is still an important one to remember. It is especially important to set the tone with something positive when interacting with a struggling student because they probably haven't had too many compliments. Starting with a positive can possibly open up a line of communication that wouldn't normally have been there if the conversation started with a criticism or advice for improvement. Parent teacher conferences are another place that I like to set the tone with a positive for the same reasons.
Being specific about positive feedback is the last nugget that I will take away from this article. I will admit that sometimes I get a little lazy with my positive feedback. It is so much easier to walk around and say the same three phrases (good job, nice work, looks good) while looking over students' shoulders. The article pointed out that while it might make a student feel good for a brief moment, the student doesn't benefit from the comment in the long run. Being specific will help students identify exactly what they are doing well (their strengths) and perhaps improve my retention of what the students are proficient in.
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