Kids Do Well if they Can Please click link to viewKids Do Well if they Can! WE can do well too!
I would like you to view this video. It will only take about 4 minutes. It is powerful professional development and the foundation of our work. If we are to guide our students on a path of maturity and productivity we have to be the change we want to see in them.
Kids do well if they can is a difficult concept to operationalize.
What challenges to you face to bring this concept into your paradigm? Why is understanding the rationale critical when working with our students?
I have used student summaries and reflections as a method of formative assessment in my classroom. This is the clearest way for me to see what a student truly knows about the content we are studying. Even though a student will get a 10/10 on the multiple choice part of a test, I can see on the short answer summary whether or not the student thinks that weathering and erosion is about how rocks and soil get broken down or whether he thinks that we have learned about thunderstorms. By seeing this, I can quickly pick out the students that I need to conference and work more closely with.
ReplyDeleteI use a lot of visual representations to assist in vocabulary acquisition in Spanish, in order for students to begin associating the Spanish words for everyday items that they 'see'. I also use a form of questioning called TPRS (Total Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling) that engages the students entirely in Spanish to check for understanding throughout the unit. Students answer most of the questions as yes or no, based on their comprehension of the language, and the final step is their ability to tell the story or concept back to me in the target language. Both forms of formative assessment help me decide where to go next...are we ready to move on, or does this vocabulary concept need more work?
ReplyDeleteI have been using several graphic organizers within the Realistic Fiction genre. Students have been organizing how the author is making the reading seem real. These organizers have helped me to see which students are able to find this information, and which need more support. It has also helped me see who is able to carry the lesson over into their independent reading. I have been much more aware of student progress during each stage of the block.
ReplyDeleteMy classes have had varied successes with a number of formative assessments. Graphic organizers have worked well along with a question construction idea that has been used to bridge the gap on books with no reading counts quiz. High expectations and continuous progress monitoring are very helpful with struggling and reluctant readers.
ReplyDeleteI have been using SloPro on my iPad as a quick formative assessment on skill for student work. Students are recorded doing a skill and it plays back in slow motion. As they watch themselves they can see more clearly how they can change something and find more success. It also is great to show students who may not be as successful to see someone who is being successful but at a slower pace. As the recording is played back students explain exactly what is going on step by step and then they can mimic their findings.
ReplyDeleteMy kids are coming towards the end of a very long research unit. They are starting to now pull all of their ideas together that they have been working on throughout the unit to work on a cumulative research project. Throughout the unit, I have done a variety of formative assessments to monitor their learnings. It has been really exciting to see and hear them reference back to those assessments and connect all of those ideas into a final product. Having students understand the purpose of the formative assessments and to apply them in new ways makes it less about the testing and more about the learning.
ReplyDeleteWhen the students are learning the basics of Autodesk Inventor in Design and Modeling I walk around the classroom and look at the screens to see if the students are accurately completing their initial drawings. I can use the browser and the dimension tool in Inventor to assess the constraints of the drawings.
ReplyDeleteI often have students collaborate within my room. This could be after a reading, data collection within a lab, or after observing a demonstration. It allows for the students to pool and compare their results and data, or demonstrate knowledge to their peers if they comprehend a concept. I feel that it is closing the gap between the two; however, it is sometimes difficult to tell with each activity.
ReplyDeleteWorking to question students on an individual basis is something that I am going to strive to do more of. It can be difficult at times to do with various science activities, but it will be one of the fastest ways to find out if they are on track or if there is a gap that needs to be closed.