Check for Understanding with These Formative Assessment Tools

I came across another great article in my Twitter feed the other day that describes “Four Powerful Assessment Tools in the Chromebook Classroom” and it’s definitely worth reading. Despite the title’s reference to Chromebooks, these digital tools can be just as effective in a BYOD classroom when a Chromebook cart is not available. They are all great tools that can certainly benefit all teachers, but especially those who, for this year’s evaluation, chose element 3.4 in the MPS Professional Growth Profile: Using Assessment and Providing Feedback. This is the one I chose for mine, so I would love to help you design assessments this year, with or without the products mentioned here.

I got to see how effective digital assessment tools can be in John Harris’s US Civics class just this morning. John was using a tool I highly recommend (though not mentioned in the article above) called Poll Everywhere to poll his students on their personal positions regarding our natural rights as citizens. The engagement factor was off the charts…in fact, one student who returned from a bathroom break during the poll, was visibly upset that he had missed part of the activity, and quickly asked if it was too late to join. All he had to do was bust out his smartphone and he was in.

I’ve blogged about formative assessment tools like Socrative and Poll Everywhere previously in this space, but I wanted to share the article at the top of this post since it focuses on a relatively new tool that is gaining in popularity called Kahoot.  This tool is unique in that it emphasizes game-like competition and goes out of its way to draw students’ attention away from their devices by putting essential content on the overhead display at the front of the room. It’s got three modes: Quiz, Survey, or Discussion. Discussion mode is cool in that it allows you to present students with options to generate whole class discussions like agree or disagree, and you can even embed a YouTube video to prompt thinking while they’re deciding. It might look something like this…

Screen Shot 2015-09-24 at 6.57.42 PM

 

…and students, who get to make up nicknames for themselves, see something like this on their devices…

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So again, the minimal content on the device really draws attention to the overhead display, making for a more fun, communal experience.

But the digital assessment tool that really has me intrigued is one that Mike Ginsburg, our new ITS at Brown and the elementary schools, turned me on to. It’s called Formative and can be found at goformative.com. Its got some pretty big innovations: it allows students to draw their answers on a computer with a mouse or with their fingers on a tablet; it allows teachers to upload Word docs or PDFs and make them interactive quizzes; and it allows teachers to give live, real-time feedback on each quiz question. And like all of the tools mentioned in this post, with Formative, collecting quantitative data is a breeze. Just watch the video below.

Let me know if you’d like to explore the possibilities of any of the tools mentioned above…I’d be psyched to develop some ideas for your classroom with you.

New Look Coming to Infinite Campus

Since Infinite Campus will no longer be supporting the Grade book and Instruction modules we currently use, this summer we will be pushing out updates that include a new grade book which will be part of the new Instruction module.  The new grade book will indeed be an improvement as it no longer relies on Java updates. To preview the new grade book and Instruction module, watch the video below. A comprehensive collection of instructional tutorials will be available to you when you return in the fall.

Please stop doing this…

Now that just about everyone has a video camera with them all the time in the form of a cell phone, there’s a new scourge plaguing us all and it has nothing to do with privacy…it’s called VVS, short for Vertical Video Syndrome. This entertaining PSA about VVS explains why it’s a problem and one of my personal pet peeves…

But listen, I’m no purist. I totally understand why VVS occurs in certain instances. When you need to quickly capture a moment that may be gone forever, one requiring eye-witness proof perhaps, it’s natural to quickly grab your phone, get to the camera app as quickly as possible, and just start filming. And the most natural way to do this is to simply hold the phone the way you do for just about everything–vertically. Or maybe you intend for the video to be seen only on another smartphone, and the image actually calls for portrait mode (like a headshot). In these instances, VVS is fine acceptable. But when you’re filming students, a school function, or a model lesson and there is no urgency, please keep this in mind, whether you’re using a phone or an iPad…

VVS

Brain Research Makes the Case for Inquiry-based Learning

Photo by mnwatts

Photo by mnwatts

We all know that activating our students’ curiosity makes learning more enjoyable, but this article from Edutopia does a good job explaining the brain science behind why curiosity actually enhances our ability to learn. As this brief excerpt explains,

“The researchers found that, once the subjects’ curiosity had been piqued by the right question, they were better at learning and remembering completely unrelated information. One of the study’s co-authors, Dr. Matthias Gruber, explains that this is because curiosity puts the brain in a state that allows it to learn and retain any kind of information, like a vortex that sucks in what you are motivated to learn, and also everything around it.”

The full article discusses other ways curiosity rewards and primes our brains for learning, but leaves us with this question: So how do we get our students to ask the right kind of questions? I turn to The Right Question Institute for that answer.

Addendum: Besides The Right Question Institute, another great resource for sparking curiosity and teaching students how to ask great, or in his words, “more beautiful” questions, is Warren Berger. Many of us were fortunate enough to attend his thought-provoking, engaging professional development workshop today at DHHS. If you weren’t able to attend, his book is definitely worth checking out.

A Colleague’s Brilliant Idea to Get Students Accustomed to the Flipped Classroom

Since we began talking about the flipped classroom model a couple of years ago, teachers who have experimented with video viewings for homework have expressed the same frustration: Not everyone watched the video, or if they did, they didn’t seem to retain enough information, so the teacher ended up re-teaching the lesson the next day. Holding students accountable for completing an assignment that requires technology has never been easy. Students are sometimes quick to blame family members for monopolizing their computers, but we’ve managed to make sure that word processed documents get turned in on time for the most part, so the same should hold true for video assignments. I already posted some tips on how to increase the likelihood that students will watch assigned videos in my last post, so for rest of this one I’d like to focus on how teachers can ensure not only that students watch the videos, but that they actually learn and retain important information from them as well.

The title of this post refers to a simple but brilliant idea Heather DeLaurentis (8th grade science, Polson) ran by me after reading my previous post. Instead of sending students home with the expectation that they simply watch a video she posted to her web page from YouTube, she decided that the first time they complete a video assignment, she would not completely flip her class. Instead, they would do it together in class while completing a worksheet that required them to process some of the key points of the video. It’s such a simple and obvious thing to do that I never even considered–modeling and gradual release. Genius. In addition to instilling confidence for future independent work, modeling and practicing it in class will also make video-watching homework assignments seem less optional to students moving forward as it will eventually become, if not the norm, a normal thing to do. Moreover, having them process the information by actively doing something with it makes retention a lot more likely.

Check out the embedded link above to see an example of what you might have students do while they watch an assigned video. It doesn’t have to be a worksheet like Heather’s, but it should be something that discourages distraction and passivity. You could have students respond to a question or two about the video content on a Finalsite discussion board, or better yet, you could have students post a problem or two for a classmate complete after viewing a video on, say, a new math concept. The main point here is that, if you’re going to try flipping your class, follow Heather’s lead and give them something to do that encourages active listening and learning, and the first time you have them complete a video assignment, don’t go for the full flip…have them first do it in class with your guidance.

Update, 10/30/13: Heather recently conducted her first lesson after her first “real” flipped class where the students viewed video at home, on their own, and completed some written work. Here’s what she shared with me regarding student participation…

  • She had several kids out due to sickness, and this assignment made it very easy to get kids caught up.
  • Some watched during study hall, and some are watching tonight.
  • One para said they had the kids pre-watch the lesson rather than for homework, and they were much more comfortable in class participating.
  • 7.5% did not complete the accompanying written homework assignment (from my experience, this is on par with any assignment…about 7 kids on a team of 85 or so).
  • Only 1 student said they could not get the video to load on their computer.
  • The others explained they left the written work at home, but will be sure to turn it in.

I’d call this a success, for sure.

Update, 12/17/13: Just came across this great article from eSchool News about how to make the flipped learning model work and some mistake to avoid. It validates Heather’s approach described above, and as I’ve always suspected, it all comes back to inquiry-based learning.

Revisiting the Flipped Classroom…Again

I think this marks the third time I’ve posted about the Flipped Classroom model of delivering instruction. I posted about it and engaged in some good discussions with my readers here and here. So why am I compelled to bring it up again? Well, partly because the concept isn’t going away, like so many education fads, which tells me it works. In fact, a growing number of practitioners seem to be increasing its popularity. We also have a great new feature in our Finalsite web pages that makes posting YouTube videos to our web pages, and thus, flipping our classes, easier than ever. To see how, click here if you teach grades 5-12, and here if you teach younger students.

Moreover, the other (and best) reason I’m bringing it up again is that, as an instructional strategy, it’s right in line with our district’s efforts to engage students in units of study that are designed with UbD principles and feature formative and summative assessments that are more “performance-based”–that involve more doing and inquiry.  Not that it works with every lesson, but if we design our units of study carefully, we can pick and choose where/when flipping our classrooms makes the most sense.

Rather than reiterate what I’ve already written about the topic, I’ll leave you with this article on the flipped classroom that was published just over a week ago in The NY Times, and some recommendations about what to do when students don’t watch the videos you’ve posted or make excuses. The Times article offers some good tips for how to make this strategy work, and the following tips were posted in a forum on the Flipped Learning Network website, which I recommend joining for anyone who’s interested in learning more about flipping his/her classroom.

Advice from one educator about dealing with student excuses for not watching instructional videos…

“1. Point them to the school library. There should be computers there which they can use to do their assignment before it’s due.

2. Post your videos well in advance, and give them a week’s notice about due dates. Even if their computer constantly gets virii (which is unlikely), they will have adequate time to adjust.

3. Produce your videos in MP4 format. These files are playable on most every smartphone and tablet device.

4. If they are still unable to watch videos (or unwilling), offer to let them watch on your classroom computer before/after school.

At the beginning of the year, I tell my students that, barring a town-wide power outage, they are responsible for making sure the videos are watched on time… no excuses.”

So what about your experiences? Do you have a success story? Some do’s and don’t’s you’ve learned from and can share with the rest of us? Please leave a comment below.

Is Technology Making Us Smarter or Dumber?

In some recent posts on his excellent digital learning blog, Learning with ‘E’s, Steve Wheeler explores this question. Start here, then read this follow-up post. Both posts raise some vital questions that, as educators, we should all consider as we strive to use technology to enhance student learning and our own professional growth.

Speaking of technology making us smarter, there’s a growing market for web-based computer ‘brain games’ designed to improve cognitive abilities, including executive functions. Though studies are inconclusive on whether these games actually work compared to activities like conversing with friends while playing cards, sites like Lumosity sure are fun.

Excellent Teacher Resource on the Web

I recently got at tip from DHHS’s Mike Docker on great teacher resource that he found on the Web. It’s a site called TeachingChannel, and it is chock full of videos designed to inspire teachers to try new instructional strategies that work. Here’s a brief one that covers a classroom management strategy geared at teachers of grades K-2. Check out the site and let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.

Free Clip-art and Other Royalty-free Goodies

At the beginning of a new school year, a lot of teachers like to spruce up their web pages and classroom handouts with new graphics and designs, so I thought I’d turn you on to some royalty-free sites that allow you to do so without having to worry about copyright infringement.

11949838181623765893mouse_the_structorr_.svg.medThese sites are great for clip-art:

http://www.clker.com (This one’s a favorite of our webmaster extraordinaire, Rita, and it’s where I found that mouse to the right.)
Free clip art by Phillip Martin (Also awesome)
http://www.1clipart.com
http://classroomclipart.com

Everystockphoto and Pics4Learning are great places to get royalty-free photos, and Pixlr is a pretty amazing online photo editing tool that doesn’t require a username or password. Oh, and don’t forget that CreativeCommons.org is a great search engine for finding copyright-friendly photos (I’ve plugged this one before.)

And if it’s audio files that you’re after, try these:

Archive.org’s Community Audio Collection
Piano Music
Acoustic Guitar Music

Got any other sites you use for royalty-free content? I’m sure there are plenty of other I haven’t discovered yet. Please leave a comment below if you have any tips.

http://www.pppst.com/clipart.html