What's an Assessment?

In my opinion, one of the biggest challenges teachers face is how to assess students. Most teachers use an assessment to end a unit and to give the students a grade. But how does that help our students? An assessment should be a tool we use to determine if students are learning. And, if they aren't learning, we can decide what to do about it.

After reading Chapter 10: Assessment in the Partnering Pedagogy from Marc Prensky's Teaching Digital Natives, I started to re-think the assessment tactics I use in my classroom. Sure, I give my students many opportunities to show me what they know through homework, quizzes, exit cards, and tests, but what about the student who is not motivated by these evaluations? What about the students who aren't good at taking exams, but who ARE learning? I have a feeling these students have a lot more to show me than I give them credit for.

After my last unit on Geometry, I decided to experiment. Instead of giving the students a unit test, I gave them a project to complete over the weekend. I called it their "Culminating Unit Project" and I explained that this was their opportunity to display their knowledge of Geometry without actually having to take a test. Some students were excited. They said things like, "I can FINALLY get a good grade" and "This is going to be fun!" Other students, however, the students that have no problem doing well on unit tests complained. "Can't you just give the kids that want to take the test a test?" I refused. I explained that I wanted them to use their creativity and that being able to memorize formulas and plug in numbers just wasn't enough - they needed to THINK.

I gave the students tons of FREEDOM. I was nervous, but willing to take the risk. Here is the document I gave the students: Culminating Unit Project. I wanted to give the students a list of suggestions because we've never done anything like this before. I didn't want anyone to make excuses that they "couldn't think of anything to do." 

I was very happy with the results. I did get good products and bad products, but when I give tests I would expect the same. It was well worth the smiles on the students' faces that ENJOYED doing this project and APPRECIATED the opportunity to display their knowledge in a different way. I think the fact that this was the first time I've done something like this also had an affect on the products I received. I won't give up! I plan on trying this again!

Dan Meyer on Math Teaching

1)  Lack of initiative

2)  Lack of perseverance

3)  Lack of retention

4)  Aversion to word problems

5)  Eagerness for a formula

How do we fix this problem? Are math teachers preparing students to pass the test or are they preparing them for the real world? Students require good problem solving skills. Below is a 4th grade math assessment question. It seems we're moving in a new direction. We need to teach students differently. 

Exciting Tildee Update

As I'm sure many of you know, it's that time of year again....state assessment time. Review for the state assessment is dreadful. While I want to practice types of past state assessment questions with my students (yawn), the kids (and the teacher) are bored by drill and kill questions. I think it's important that students are comfortable with the type of wording the state uses and the structure of the exam, but review is sometimes unbearable.

To switch it up, I tried having the students make videos of themselves explaining state assessment questions. This was definitely fun for them, but the WiFi at our school is not so great now, so some students had trouble taking the videos and sending the videos to my email. It also got loud in the classroom and some groups were feeling frustrated while trying to tape. It probably wasn't the best environment to try to create a video to teach someone how to solve a math problem. I liked doing it (and so did the kids!), so I'm not going to give up on the idea. I'll have to come up with some adjustments.

After the videos didn't work out so well, I wanted to try Tildee to enhance my review. The first time I tried it with my morning class, it didn't work out so well. I gave each group a state assessment question, told them to log onto the website, take a picture of the question and write out the steps. I explained what a tutorial was and that people all over the world could learn from their step-by-step explanation. They were definitely excited about it, but we ran into some trouble. Again, the students were having trouble because of the school's WiFi. Some students were also having trouble "typing out" the math work and preferred to write it by hand and take pictures. Once they tried to upload multiple pictures, their phones were slowing down and their batteries were dying. For my afternoon class, I decided to take the pictures myself and set their tutorial up for them. I don't think I need to do this every time I want them to use the website, but since it was their first time using Tildee, it was helpful. I also had the groups use my computer and interactive white board to make their tutorials. This enabled them to write on the board and upload their work directly onto the website. Here's what they came up with:

Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5 Part 1 and Part 2
Group 6 

I'm really proud of the work they did. While they didn't get to complete 100 math problems during the period, they worked on all of these questions individually and then checked their work with the tutorials. For each group to explain their question as well as they did on Tildee, I know they learned it well.

I will definitely be using it again. You should try it!  

Shout out to WS for sharing the site :)
 

Web 2.0 Resources

Wiggio
Wiggio is a free online toolkit that makes it easy to work in groups. You can do some really great interactive things on this site that will make your class more dynamic and exciting. The site allows mass polling (with real-time results), Keeping a shared calendar - great for class projects, and even hosting a chat room.

I think this site really makes group work easy for teachers to manage! Check out their website and watch the video below to learn more!

Web 2.0 Resources

Mentor Mob

Mentor Mob allows educators and students to create, share, or browse through learning playlists that are comprised of articles, links, and other media that a user can go through in steps. The goal of the site is to create a powerful free learning environment that is similar to Wikipedia in the collaborative way in which users can engage with the content. This is a powerful new tool that has lots of promise for and in the classroom. 

This is a really interesting way for students to conduct research and display their findings. Check out their website and watch the video below!

 

Web 2.0 Resources

Slidestory
Slidestory is a very easy to use web tool that allows teachers and students to create simple picture podcasts by uploading images and recorded soundtracks. It is simple to use and can be a great new take on the traditional slideshow presentation.

Check out the website to watch a podcast! There are slidestories on many, many different topics. There are even videos in other languages.

Web 2.0 Resources

Another great resource!

 

Tildee

Tildee is a free web tool to help users create and share instantly and easily tutorials on any subject. This is a very simple to use, yet excellent tool for teachers to use to help students understand steps or specific instructions for doing things in the classroom. This could also be useful to students with disabilities that need a simplified structure or visual explanation of a task. The site has a great interface to go along with a great concept. 

Check out their website to learn more!