Goal #1 -- Learn more about how to integrate student response systems into instruction and guided practice
This week I have been processing what style of student response systems would seem to fit with the instruction of mathematics. It does not seem that a True/False style would allow students to use problem solving and critical thinking skills when answering a math question. ‘Clickers’ that allow multiple choice responses will provide the students with more opportunities to think critically but seem to limit the questions I could pose to my students. After reflecting, it seems that I would find ‘clickers’ that allow students to answer multiple formats of questions including numerical and short answer responses. Now that I have decided on the style of ‘clickers’, I need to begin researching the different brands and costs. I had hoped to observe a colleague use their iRespond clickers this week. However, my colleague was not using them during my prep period. I hope to observe the clickers in use in the next week or so.
Goal # 2 -- To design and develop an authentic assessment for my Algebra course that provides students multiple options to use technology to demonstrate learning.
Tomorrow during my all day department meeting, we plan to discuss creating and implementing authentic assessments. I would like to implement at least one authentic assessment third quarter and one fourth quarter. My hope is that tomorrow I will be able to spend some time researching possible questions with my teaching partner.
Goal # 3 -- To provide a tool to support my colleagues and me in teaching our students about digital citizenship and responsibility.
This is a long-term goal for me. I continue to see the necessity for both teachers and students to spend some time discussing the important issues of digital citizenship and responsibility. For example, a student this week became very upset when it seemed that Wikipedia so not accessible at school. This student claimed the Wikipedia was a valid source for information to complete projects. As the school tech lead, I had to explain to this student that Wikipedia is in fact not blocked and that it was not a 100% reliable source. I explained to the student that anybody can make changes, additions, and omissions to the information contained in Wikipedia. This discussion with the student reminded me how valuable this goal is for our students, my colleagues, my school and me.
Anna,
ReplyDeleteBeing a math teacher also I am drawn to your ideas and goals. I have been using the "clickers" myself for reviewing for tests and evaluating student understanding. I have found, like you, math needs to be multiple questions and not just true and false to truly evaluate what students are learning.
I think you make some great points about teaching students dual citizenship. Often time's students think just because something is on the internet as a resource it is true, when in fact the internet can be very limited to true facts (it seems as though anything can be posted with wiki's, blogs, and other lines of communication).
Megan
Anna,
ReplyDeleteA colleague recently showed me Qwizdom. It is a clicker system that has mulitple types of questions available. You can set questions up to be muliple choice, multiple response, sequence, true/false, yes/no, numeric, and some allow for text input. It also includes a writing tablet. The other thing I liked about it is that you can take attendance using it and you have the ability to use it for tests and during lessons. During lessons you can allow the students to see the correct answer after they give their answer. You can also limit time allowed for responses.
Qwizdom is being ordered for me and as far as cost goes, although I do not know how much it is, I know that the company has a deal going right now where if you order one, you get the second half off.
As far as wikipedia goes, there was an interview not too long ago with the founder. The person conducting the interview typed in her own name and said that though some of it was correct, there was some wrong information. The founder admitted that although they do their best to stay on top of things, there is some misinformation on wikipedia. You might be able to get a copy of that to include in a presentation for students.
Kari
Anna,
ReplyDeleteThe "clickers" that we have in my department are called iclickers. It sounds like they may be similar to the ones that your colleague uses. For me, they have worked wonderfully, and I suggest checking them out when you do your research. I'm not sure how they compare on price, but they seem to be a bit more advanced than other clickers that I have seen used.
Also, I like how you have the goal of continually teaching digital citizenship. I think that many times teachers expect students to already know how to use computers and resources appropriately, when that is not always the case. It is important to continually teach students on this issue because it is something that they will be dealing with their whole lives.
Josh
Megan,
ReplyDeleteWhat brand of 'clickers' do you use? I really like the idea of using them for reviews. The other day I did a small group review competition. The groups were required to write their work and responses on a form to turn in. the students seemed engaged. Since, I needed to grade each groups form, they had to wait till the next day to find out the winner. The 'clickers' would allow for instant standings.
Anna
Kari,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the lead on Qwizdom. I have found and bookmarked their web page. I am excited to share this information with my department and administrators.
Anna
If you'll remember back to one of our previous classes we had the text Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful Web Tools for the classrooms. In that book Will Richardson compared Wikipedia to the Oxford dictionary in the fact that anyone could submit information to be included in the publication. Richardson addresses the concern of false statements on wikipedia and gives the example of an experiment done by A University of Buffalo professior Alex Halavais in where he created 13 errors on different pages and then waited to see how long it took for the errors to be fixed. It was said that all the errors were fixed within hours. (pg. 56) I have consequently allowed my students to try the same experiment with the same results (things as simple as a period missing were caught and fixed quickly). I do teach my students to take everything they read for face value, check the resources and if there are no resources than do not trust the source. They are also taught to look at who the author is and determine if it makes sense that that person would know what they are talking about. They know that if they are reading about brain surgery it should probably be a brain surgeon who wrote the article and not some guy who flips hamburgers at McDonald's.
ReplyDelete