Whiteboarding

Whiteboarding

White Boards provide an opportunity for students to engage in collaborative learning, clear communication and to reinforce their learning by teaching each other.  

The white boards are large enough for two students to work simultaneously on a problem.  

Teachers can easily view the work and use the process as formative assessment. 

Students can share their work in small groups or display to the entire class. 

A Fluorescent Engagement in Learning

I believe as long as there have been desktops there has been a constant battle to keep students from writing on the desk. 

But, what if there were a way to allow students to write on the desk in order to engage them in the learning process.

That is where fluorescent markers and black lab tables have found a happy marriage in my classroom.

Using the Expo Fluorescent markers students can write on their desktops to their hearts content, as long as they are working on chemistry. 

Ideas For the Classroom 

• Pre-written PODs as students come into the classroom.
• Homework review.  Students share specific problems from their homework. 
• Students teach each other. To both assist others and to reinforce their own learning. 
• Students work through problem solving before transferring work into their notes.
• Brainstorming.
• Writing out lab procedures. 
• Recording data, before transferring it to their lab notebook. 
• Flow charts for work. 
• Recording discussion notes for sharing with class. 
• Museum walks of completed work. 
• Thought questions or quotes to prompt discussion.
• Whatever your mind can imagine.    

Project Based Learning - Left Brain Teacher and Right Brain Student

Too often we as educators design assignments that meet our confort levels.  We schedule due dates and create format details that meet "our" needs for "our" curriculum.  But, do we look at the students needs? 

Defining Success

John Wooden defines success in the following way, "Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you are capable."

In the most perfect situation for education this would also be the model for assessment of student success.
Students and teachers would measure learning based upon each student's growth from a baseline and monitor that growth throughout the year as the student meets individual benchmarks toward an goal agreed upon by both the student and the teacher.

Students may be poorly prepared for a variety of reasons, including transferring from a different school, inconsistent teachers, poor classroom environment, family situation, or learning differences.  These students start behind and are constantly measured against the standards of excellence as determined by the students at the top of the class.  These struggling students may spend an entire year working as diligently as possible, completing as many assignments as possible and actually learning measurably more content than other students in the class, and yet they may only achieve score of 75% and earn a C grade.

Would we ever start a 100 m race and one runner begin 20 meters behind the other runners?  Even though the runner who starts 20 m behind may run 100 m in less time than the other runners he would still be behind the other racers at the finish line.  Does this mean the runner does not deserve to be measured by the effort exerted and time accomplished?  If his time in 100 m is comprable or better than the winner of the race, should'nt  he be rewarded for that or still be penalized for starting 20 meters behind?  

Should the student who begins with a B+ average and maintains the B+ average be assessed in the same way that a D student who improves to a C+?  If both students are doing the same work, assignments, quizzes and tests, the D student who demonstrated a greater improvement has probably done more actual learning. Should'nt that be rewarded?

In order for assessment to be authentic for the student, it must be a measure of learning rather than a measure of completion of work. The dilemma remains how to create authentic assessment that is about learning and not grades.    

Homework: Graded or Ungraded

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”

-Benjamin Franklin-

How many runs would home runs would Hank Aaron have been credited with had we kept statistics during every batting practice?  How many perfect practice routines did Nadia Comăneci complete without a judges score?  How many times did Rudolf Nureyev dance Swan Lake without the applause of an audience? Yet the grandeur of their accomplishments and their fame was made possible through the understanding that practice is what allowed them to reach the pinnacle of their performance.

Homework is a natural component of the learning process, just as practice is a natural component of mastering any activity. Whether it is learning a dance, mastering a musical piece or preparing for an athletic event, success is directly related to the effort put in during practice. And yet, no dancer, no musician and no athlete gains credit for their practice except through their actual performance in the event. We do not applaud the dancer or musician during practice. We do not add statistics from practice to the athlete’s record.

The role of homework should be as a "formative" type of assessment. Formative assessments are instructional devices to reinforce the material being learned. Such learning activities should not be part of the student’s grade, because they are essentially viewed as practice. The assessment should actually be of the effectiveness of the teacher’s instruction and in what areas the teacher should continue to provide instruction to assist student mastery.

Homework should be designed to reinforce the concepts discussed during class.  Homework provides an opportunity for the student to practice using the ideas that were presented and discussed during class time and to demonstrate that they are able to apply these ideas to situations not expressly discussed during class time.  Homework allows both the student and teacher to determine if there is understanding of the subject and/or where problems might be found.

Teachers must remember that homework is usually a flawed instructional tool. Grading everything that students do is unnecessary, and grading homework is simply not a best practice. Remind students that they are studying when they do homework and that they will benefit from it by getting better grades on their assessments. Use summative assessments for evaluation.
Things to keep in mind about homework:

1. Students do not have equal resources for completing homework. (computer or internet, time, study space, privacy etc…)
2. Homework that is busy work is often copied just for completion.
3. If homework is summative then it must be graded. Often homework is merely checked off.
4. Student homework assignments are the most likely to receive zeroes which can negatively skew the total grade that may be indicated by summative assessments.
5. Homework should never be assigned over holidays thereby interfering with family plans. Kids do need a break.
6. Many students have nights with hours of homework. Could students more out of 15 or 20 minutes of well planned practice rather than an hour of busy work?
7. If homework is based on course standards then not doing the homework should naturally affect their grades on summative assessments. For this reason no separate grade should be necessary.
8. Zeroes in homework followed by zeroes on summative assessments is punishing the student twice for that content.
9. Failure to complete homework is a responsibility issue, and, as such, should be treated just as inattentiveness, not bringing materials, disruptiveness and similar issues.
10. Many home help sites have blossomed in the past decade, casting doubt on how much work the student is actually completing.

Homework is a responsibility issue.  Teachers should focus on meaningful practice that assists in student mastery.  Students should create disciplined work habits that enhance their opportunities to maximize their potential.  Homework should be the win-win situation that provides optimum success in the learning environment for both the student and the teacher.

Assessment - Practical Exams

The first practical exam I ever experienced was in a college anatomy course, and I failed miserably.  I did not know how to prepare, nor did I know what to expect as far as the type of information I would be required to be responsible for in the exam.  I made the mistake of thinking that every skull, femur and foot looked exactly the same.  I did not understand the importance of repetition nor did I understand that the images in the books were not exactly like the bones we were studying.

Like hitting a curve ball in baseball, you can't learn to hit one by reading a book or watching someone else do it.  You have to experience it, see the release, read the spin and swing the bat.

It is our job as educators to provide students with as many of the possible types of assessment as we can within our classrooms.  Preparing for and taking a practical exam is a very different experience from a standard pen and paper exam. 

Every semester my anatomy students take two skeletal practical exams.  The first exam   focuses on the bones of the axial skeleton and the second includes the bones of the appendicular skeleton.  Students are responsible to learn the bone names, anatomical structures and whether the bone is a left or right. There is no word bank provided and spelling counts.

Our school runs a 95 minute block schedule.  In my anatomy class students spend the first 20 to 30 minutes each day involved in bone study.  We are very fortunate to have two and a half real human skeletons and a plastic model.  Students work in partners and small groups to study the bones, their anatomy and structures.  I stress  the importance of repetition.  The value in working together and teaching each other.  (Phillips: We remember 92% of what we teach each other.)

I point out how each skeleton is unique and therefore the bones may differ and that students need to study each bone because they do not know which set of bones will show up on the day of the exams.

On the day of the exam students rotate through a series of twenty stations answering two or three questions at each station, naming bones, the structures, whether the bones are left or right and the classification of bones.

I have also included practical exams based upon dissection labs and microscope labs in both anatomy and biology.  Students need to learn the importance of viewing more than one slide or  their own dissected frog.  They learn to appreciate the uniqueness of each organism through their observations over time. These exams help students to focus on details and gain a better understanding of the application of the knowledge gained.

Most often, my former students point to their experience in taking and preparing for practical exams as one of their most valuable learning experiences for success in college.