Week 8

Week 8

This is the last PIDP course that I have to complete before doing the Capstone project. There has been a lot  that I have learned throughout the program. I learned how to use media more effectively, learned how to do journals, create better testing material, and also met a lot of interesting people. I started the program a few years back and in hindsight it would been easier to do one module after another. I completed a couple of the PIDP courses in the classroom and also completed some online. The online experience was new to me and I quite enjoyed it. The online program works well when you are too busy to attend classes. It gives the learner a lot of flexibility. The PIDP program gives you the tools to better prepare for the class. Stephan Brookfield’s book on teaching was a good instructional manual.

Week 7

Week 7 Blog

Brookfield discusses “exercising teacher power responsibly” in chapter 18. I have had teachers that were on a power trip. They would abuse the power they had over their class. I also have had colleagues that relish the power they have over students. The power that we assume as instructors has to be used with care. As instructors we have to exercise that power only when it is necessary. A student should not feel threatened in the classroom. The learner should feel open to ask questions without fear. Here is an article on teacher power abuse:

http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-48-fall-2014/abuse-of-power

Week 6

Brookfield chapter 6 deals with lecturing in a classroom. When I deal with a certain subject I will explain areas we are going to cover, what the outcomes will be and then begin the lecture. In the trades program it is quite common to lecture on various subjects. During the lecture I use examples to simplify the subject. I also use visual aid to further explain concepts that are hard to understand. The lecture has to be interesting or the learner may be bored and inattentive. The lecture must be focused and not dealing with different unrelated things.

https://teachingcommons.stanford.edu/resources/teaching-resources/teaching-strategies/checklist-effective-lecturing

Week 5

Chapter 16 and 17 in Brookfield’s book was understanding and dealing with students’ resistance to learning. I agree with Stephen Brookfield that resistance to learning is based on the fear of change. We are happy with the way we do certain things and do not want to learn new ways of doing these things. When we are learning something new we are changing the way we have always done it. We are not the same person as we were when we learn something new. I find adult students in college who are paying for the program they have enrolled in are keen to learn new skills, as their careers may depend on these new skills. This may not be true in the high schools, where you have to be there and the students have a lower maturity level. If our survival depends on it, we are happy to learn something new. See link below:

http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/resistan.htm

Chapter 9

After reading chapter 9 on racism by Brookfield, I don’t think it is an issue of race as much as it is an issue of class. If you are a member of the upper class you would not experience racism as often as students attending public schools in a lower class neighbourhood. Racism exist is schools in the lower class neighbourhoods because these schools are predominately attended by less wealthier families. This is more of an issue in the United States. Most of the prisons in the U.S. are occupied by the poor. In Canada the families that can afford to send their children to private schools, where the class size is much smaller and more attention is paid to individual students, do not have issues with racism. The public schools are turning into daycare centers as opposed to learning centers due to lack of funding by successive governments in B.C. The instructor spent more time babysitting than teaching due to the large class sizes. Here is an interesting article on classism: http://www.classism.org/about-class/what-is-classism/

Brookfield's Core Assumptions

I agree with most of what Brookfield says in chapter two. The first thing I like to do when starting a new class is to introduce myself and have the class introduce themselves to me and their peers. The introduction process allows me to explain my background in the field I am teaching and what is expected from the class. The introduction allow me to gauge prior learning the learner may have and their background in the field. As an instructor I have to keep up to date because the products used in the field are latest technology.

I don't agree with walking out of the classroom.I find most student want to be in the classroom because they have paid for their course and expect to gain knowledge and experience. A few of the students who are there because of some government funding program do not apply themselves as much because they are not as serious. I have taught electrical programs to high school students and find you have to establish authority with the younger adults early in the process or the class can be hijacked by a few students who don't want to be there.

Here are some links to some of my peers blogs.

https://achangingmind.wordpress.com/
https://pidpwill.wordpress.com/
https://robinm79.wordpress.com/ .
 http://anukumarme.tumblr.com/

Here is a link to an article about informal assessments techniques.

http://www.teachingcollegeenglish.com/2008/10/08/informal-assessments-and-how-i-use-them-in-my-classroom/

Informal Assessments, and how I use them in my classroom

by Dr Davis on October 8, 2008

For the class I am taking, I had to bring in an example of informal assessments. There was no discussion of this in the reading or on the boards, so I was not sure what the facilitator was actually looking for. I went online, surfing for possible explanations and found a great introduction to informal assessments, both structured and unstructured. (Note: While I have not been able to find the original for a while, I did find it. Directions for how to find it are at the end of the post.)

Writing samples – When students write anything on specific topics, their products can be scored by using one of the techniques described in Table 3. Other creative writing samples that can be used to assess student progress include newspapers, newsletters, collages, graffiti walls, scripts for a play, and language experience stories.
Homework – Any written work students do alone, either in class or in the home, can be gathered and used to assess student progress. With teacher guidance, students can participate in diagnosing and remediating their own errors. In addition, students’ interests, abilities, and efforts can be monitored across time.
Logs or journals - An individual method of writing. Teachers can review on a daily, weekly, or quarterly basis to determine how students are perceiving their learning processes as well as shaping their ideas and strengths for more formal writing which occurs in other activities.

These are, I think, the most commonly used in English classes.
I have multiple papers, homework, and journal assignments. Most of the homework is graded from a “did all,” “did most,” “did some,” “did none” point of view. But the journal assignments range from very particular grading of grammar and content and following directions to a general “turned in” 100.
These are not, according to the class leader, informal assessments because they are graded. So I am not sure what that means for me or for my class.
The only writing samples I don’t grade in some form or fashion are for one freshman writing course at SLAC. There the first class period is a writing topic so that you can ascertain whether the student should be in that course or needs to move into remedial English.
Other than those, I grade everything because I liked having grades when I was in college.

Games - Games can provide students with a challenging method for increasing their skills in various areas such as math, spelling, naming categories of objects/people, and so on.
Debates - Students’ oral work can be evaluated informally in debates by assessing their oral presentation skills in terms of their ability to understand concepts and present them to others in an orderly fashion.
Brainstorming – This technique can be used successfully with all ages of children to determine what may already be known about a particular topic. Students often feel free to participate because there is no criticism or judgment.

These are things I use less often in class, but I don’t grade them or they are only a participation grade.
I am working on a Jeopardy game for grammar. Someone else has one and I want to work on it.
One of my sets of classes is going to have a debate over a controversial issue as part of the preparation for their writing. The good thing about that is that they will hear other people’s points of view. The bad point of that is all the writing will be on the same topic.
Brainstorming is something I use to get my students started thinking. Yesterday, for example, we spent most of the class time doing prewriting. I asked a question “list things you know about” and then I put my own on the board (to give them suggestions) while they wrote their own down. These included TV shows I watch, movies I love, books I read, and music I listen to. Then I said, “list friends, family, restaurants, meals, dates.” I was trying to get them to think of a lot of different ways to think of things which they could use for a compare/contrast paper. We spent the whole class period writing and they came up with two pages of ideas.

Story retelling - This technique can be used in either oral or written formats. It provides information on a wide range of language-based abilities. Recall is part of retelling, but teachers can use it to determine whether children understood the point of the story and what problems children have in organizing the elements of the story into a coherent whole. This also can be used to share cultural heritage when children are asked to retell a story in class that is part of their family heritage.
Anecdotal- This method can be used by teachers to record behaviors and students’ progress. These comments can include behavioral, emotional, and academic information. For instance, “Jaime sat for five minutes before beginning his assignment.” These should be written carefully, avoiding judgmental words.
Naturalistic – Related to anecdotal records, this type of observation may take the form of notes written at the end of the day by a teacher. They may record what occurred on the playground, in the classroom, among students, or may just reflect the general classroom atmosphere.

Story retelling in my classroom is the narrative paper. We do some verbal discussions, too, to get ready for the writing. (The students get in triads and tell short versions of the story they are going to write.)
The other two assessments are only used when there is a problem in the classroom or with a student.

Checklists – Checklists specify student behaviors or products expected during progression through the curriculum. The items on the checklist may be content area objectives. A checklist is considered to be a type of observational technique. Because observers check only the presence or absence of the behavior or product, checklists generally are reliable and relatively easy to use. Used over time, checklists can document students’ rate and degree of accomplishment within the curriculum.
Cloze tests - Cloze tests are composed of text from which words have been deleted randomly. Students fill in the blanks based on their comprehension of the context of the passage. The procedure is intended to provide a measure of reading comprehension.
Criterion-referenced tests - Criterion-referenced tests are sometimes included as a type of informal assessment. This type of test is tied directly to instructional objectives, measures progress through the curriculum and can be used for specific instructional planning. In order for the test to reflect a particular curriculum, criterion-referenced tests often are developed locally by teachers or a school district. Student performance is evaluated relative to mastery of the objectives, with a minimum performance level being used to define mastery.

I use checklists with my students for peer review projects.
I have used cloze tests in my high school biology classroom, but have not used it in my English classroom. However, I am considering re-writing an exam for my Brit Lit I course and this is a possibility for that.
I don’t do the criterion tests. My assignments match the criteria and so I don’t feel the need for that.

Rating scales – This is an assessment technique often associated with observation of student work or behaviors. Rather than recording the “presence” or “absence” of a behavior or skill, the observer subjectively rates each item according to some dimension of interest. For example, students might be rated on how proficient they are on different elements of an oral presentation to the class. Each element may be rated on a 1 to 5 scale, with 5 representing the highest level of proficiency.
Questionnaires – A questionnaire is a self-report assessment device on which students can provide information about areas of interest to the teacher…. For a questionnaire to provide accurate information, students must be able to read the items, have the information to respond to the items, and have the writing skills to respond.

I have occasionally used rating scales to identify potential problem areas. It’s more like a list of things they need to be doing in the class (attendance, prompt arrival, on-time homework, etc) and a rating scale there.
I don’t know that I have ever used questionnaires before, but I may do so this semester to elicit a kind of pretest body of information.
The original article, Informal Assessment in Educational Evaluation (written by Cecilia Navarete, Judith Wilde, Chris Nelson, Robert Martinez, and Gary Hargett) has a lot more information including:
Scoring Assessments for Unstructured Activities
Combining Assessments for Evaluation (with a very detailed discussion of portfolios)
and others… The article focuses on bilingual education, but it made a lot of sense to me for English education in general.

- See more at: http://www.teachingcollegeenglish.com/2008/10/08/informal-assessments-and-how-i-use-them-in-my-classroom/#sthash.5NmKMT0z.dpuf

Informal Assessments, and how I use them in my classroom

by Dr Davis on October 8, 2008

For the class I am taking, I had to bring in an example of informal assessments. There was no discussion of this in the reading or on the boards, so I was not sure what the facilitator was actually looking for. I went online, surfing for possible explanations and found a great introduction to informal assessments, both structured and unstructured. (Note: While I have not been able to find the original for a while, I did find it. Directions for how to find it are at the end of the post.)

Writing samples – When students write anything on specific topics, their products can be scored by using one of the techniques described in Table 3. Other creative writing samples that can be used to assess student progress include newspapers, newsletters, collages, graffiti walls, scripts for a play, and language experience stories.
Homework – Any written work students do alone, either in class or in the home, can be gathered and used to assess student progress. With teacher guidance, students can participate in diagnosing and remediating their own errors. In addition, students’ interests, abilities, and efforts can be monitored across time.
Logs or journals - An individual method of writing. Teachers can review on a daily, weekly, or quarterly basis to determine how students are perceiving their learning processes as well as shaping their ideas and strengths for more formal writing which occurs in other activities.

These are, I think, the most commonly used in English classes.
I have multiple papers, homework, and journal assignments. Most of the homework is graded from a “did all,” “did most,” “did some,” “did none” point of view. But the journal assignments range from very particular grading of grammar and content and following directions to a general “turned in” 100.
These are not, according to the class leader, informal assessments because they are graded. So I am not sure what that means for me or for my class.
The only writing samples I don’t grade in some form or fashion are for one freshman writing course at SLAC. There the first class period is a writing topic so that you can ascertain whether the student should be in that course or needs to move into remedial English.
Other than those, I grade everything because I liked having grades when I was in college.

Games - Games can provide students with a challenging method for increasing their skills in various areas such as math, spelling, naming categories of objects/people, and so on.
Debates - Students’ oral work can be evaluated informally in debates by assessing their oral presentation skills in terms of their ability to understand concepts and present them to others in an orderly fashion.
Brainstorming – This technique can be used successfully with all ages of children to determine what may already be known about a particular topic. Students often feel free to participate because there is no criticism or judgment.

These are things I use less often in class, but I don’t grade them or they are only a participation grade.
I am working on a Jeopardy game for grammar. Someone else has one and I want to work on it.
One of my sets of classes is going to have a debate over a controversial issue as part of the preparation for their writing. The good thing about that is that they will hear other people’s points of view. The bad point of that is all the writing will be on the same topic.
Brainstorming is something I use to get my students started thinking. Yesterday, for example, we spent most of the class time doing prewriting. I asked a question “list things you know about” and then I put my own on the board (to give them suggestions) while they wrote their own down. These included TV shows I watch, movies I love, books I read, and music I listen to. Then I said, “list friends, family, restaurants, meals, dates.” I was trying to get them to think of a lot of different ways to think of things which they could use for a compare/contrast paper. We spent the whole class period writing and they came up with two pages of ideas.

Story retelling - This technique can be used in either oral or written formats. It provides information on a wide range of language-based abilities. Recall is part of retelling, but teachers can use it to determine whether children understood the point of the story and what problems children have in organizing the elements of the story into a coherent whole. This also can be used to share cultural heritage when children are asked to retell a story in class that is part of their family heritage.
Anecdotal- This method can be used by teachers to record behaviors and students’ progress. These comments can include behavioral, emotional, and academic information. For instance, “Jaime sat for five minutes before beginning his assignment.” These should be written carefully, avoiding judgmental words.
Naturalistic – Related to anecdotal records, this type of observation may take the form of notes written at the end of the day by a teacher. They may record what occurred on the playground, in the classroom, among students, or may just reflect the general classroom atmosphere.

Story retelling in my classroom is the narrative paper. We do some verbal discussions, too, to get ready for the writing. (The students get in triads and tell short versions of the story they are going to write.)
The other two assessments are only used when there is a problem in the classroom or with a student.

Checklists – Checklists specify student behaviors or products expected during progression through the curriculum. The items on the checklist may be content area objectives. A checklist is considered to be a type of observational technique. Because observers check only the presence or absence of the behavior or product, checklists generally are reliable and relatively easy to use. Used over time, checklists can document students’ rate and degree of accomplishment within the curriculum.
Cloze tests - Cloze tests are composed of text from which words have been deleted randomly. Students fill in the blanks based on their comprehension of the context of the passage. The procedure is intended to provide a measure of reading comprehension.
Criterion-referenced tests - Criterion-referenced tests are sometimes included as a type of informal assessment. This type of test is tied directly to instructional objectives, measures progress through the curriculum and can be used for specific instructional planning. In order for the test to reflect a particular curriculum, criterion-referenced tests often are developed locally by teachers or a school district. Student performance is evaluated relative to mastery of the objectives, with a minimum performance level being used to define mastery.

I use checklists with my students for peer review projects.
I have used cloze tests in my high school biology classroom, but have not used it in my English classroom. However, I am considering re-writing an exam for my Brit Lit I course and this is a possibility for that.
I don’t do the criterion tests. My assignments match the criteria and so I don’t feel the need for that.

Rating scales – This is an assessment technique often associated with observation of student work or behaviors. Rather than recording the “presence” or “absence” of a behavior or skill, the observer subjectively rates each item according to some dimension of interest. For example, students might be rated on how proficient they are on different elements of an oral presentation to the class. Each element may be rated on a 1 to 5 scale, with 5 representing the highest level of proficiency.
Questionnaires – A questionnaire is a self-report assessment device on which students can provide information about areas of interest to the teacher…. For a questionnaire to provide accurate information, students must be able to read the items, have the information to respond to the items, and have the writing skills to respond.

I have occasionally used rating scales to identify potential problem areas. It’s more like a list of things they need to be doing in the class (attendance, prompt arrival, on-time homework, etc) and a rating scale there.
I don’t know that I have ever used questionnaires before, but I may do so this semester to elicit a kind of pretest body of information.
The original article, Informal Assessment in Educational Evaluation (written by Cecilia Navarete, Judith Wilde, Chris Nelson, Robert Martinez, and Gary Hargett) has a lot more information including:
Scoring Assessments for Unstructured Activities
Combining Assessments for Evaluation (with a very detailed discussion of portfolios)
and others… The article focuses on bilingual education, but it made a lot of sense to me for English education in general.

- See more at: http://www.teachingcollegeenglish.com/2008/10/08/informal-assessments-and-how-i-use-them-in-my-classroom/#sthash.5NmKMT0z.dpuf

Informal Assessments, and how I use them in my classroom

by Dr Davis on October 8, 2008

For the class I am taking, I had to bring in an example of informal assessments. There was no discussion of this in the reading or on the boards, so I was not sure what the facilitator was actually looking for. I went online, surfing for possible explanations and found a great introduction to informal assessments, both structured and unstructured. (Note: While I have not been able to find the original for a while, I did find it. Directions for how to find it are at the end of the post.)

Writing samples – When students write anything on specific topics, their products can be scored by using one of the techniques described in Table 3. Other creative writing samples that can be used to assess student progress include newspapers, newsletters, collages, graffiti walls, scripts for a play, and language experience stories.
Homework – Any written work students do alone, either in class or in the home, can be gathered and used to assess student progress. With teacher guidance, students can participate in diagnosing and remediating their own errors. In addition, students’ interests, abilities, and efforts can be monitored across time.
Logs or journals - An individual method of writing. Teachers can review on a daily, weekly, or quarterly basis to determine how students are perceiving their learning processes as well as shaping their ideas and strengths for more formal writing which occurs in other activities.

These are, I think, the most commonly used in English classes.
I have multiple papers, homework, and journal assignments. Most of the homework is graded from a “did all,” “did most,” “did some,” “did none” point of view. But the journal assignments range from very particular grading of grammar and content and following directions to a general “turned in” 100.
These are not, according to the class leader, informal assessments because they are graded. So I am not sure what that means for me or for my class.
The only writing samples I don’t grade in some form or fashion are for one freshman writing course at SLAC. There the first class period is a writing topic so that you can ascertain whether the student should be in that course or needs to move into remedial English.
Other than those, I grade everything because I liked having grades when I was in college.

Games - Games can provide students with a challenging method for increasing their skills in various areas such as math, spelling, naming categories of objects/people, and so on.
Debates - Students’ oral work can be evaluated informally in debates by assessing their oral presentation skills in terms of their ability to understand concepts and present them to others in an orderly fashion.
Brainstorming – This technique can be used successfully with all ages of children to determine what may already be known about a particular topic. Students often feel free to participate because there is no criticism or judgment.

These are things I use less often in class, but I don’t grade them or they are only a participation grade.
I am working on a Jeopardy game for grammar. Someone else has one and I want to work on it.
One of my sets of classes is going to have a debate over a controversial issue as part of the preparation for their writing. The good thing about that is that they will hear other people’s points of view. The bad point of that is all the writing will be on the same topic.
Brainstorming is something I use to get my students started thinking. Yesterday, for example, we spent most of the class time doing prewriting. I asked a question “list things you know about” and then I put my own on the board (to give them suggestions) while they wrote their own down. These included TV shows I watch, movies I love, books I read, and music I listen to. Then I said, “list friends, family, restaurants, meals, dates.” I was trying to get them to think of a lot of different ways to think of things which they could use for a compare/contrast paper. We spent the whole class period writing and they came up with two pages of ideas.

Story retelling - This technique can be used in either oral or written formats. It provides information on a wide range of language-based abilities. Recall is part of retelling, but teachers can use it to determine whether children understood the point of the story and what problems children have in organizing the elements of the story into a coherent whole. This also can be used to share cultural heritage when children are asked to retell a story in class that is part of their family heritage.
Anecdotal- This method can be used by teachers to record behaviors and students’ progress. These comments can include behavioral, emotional, and academic information. For instance, “Jaime sat for five minutes before beginning his assignment.” These should be written carefully, avoiding judgmental words.
Naturalistic – Related to anecdotal records, this type of observation may take the form of notes written at the end of the day by a teacher. They may record what occurred on the playground, in the classroom, among students, or may just reflect the general classroom atmosphere.

Story retelling in my classroom is the narrative paper. We do some verbal discussions, too, to get ready for the writing. (The students get in triads and tell short versions of the story they are going to write.)
The other two assessments are only used when there is a problem in the classroom or with a student.

Checklists – Checklists specify student behaviors or products expected during progression through the curriculum. The items on the checklist may be content area objectives. A checklist is considered to be a type of observational technique. Because observers check only the presence or absence of the behavior or product, checklists generally are reliable and relatively easy to use. Used over time, checklists can document students’ rate and degree of accomplishment within the curriculum.
Cloze tests - Cloze tests are composed of text from which words have been deleted randomly. Students fill in the blanks based on their comprehension of the context of the passage. The procedure is intended to provide a measure of reading comprehension.
Criterion-referenced tests - Criterion-referenced tests are sometimes included as a type of informal assessment. This type of test is tied directly to instructional objectives, measures progress through the curriculum and can be used for specific instructional planning. In order for the test to reflect a particular curriculum, criterion-referenced tests often are developed locally by teachers or a school district. Student performance is evaluated relative to mastery of the objectives, with a minimum performance level being used to define mastery.

I use checklists with my students for peer review projects.
I have used cloze tests in my high school biology classroom, but have not used it in my English classroom. However, I am considering re-writing an exam for my Brit Lit I course and this is a possibility for that.
I don’t do the criterion tests. My assignments match the criteria and so I don’t feel the need for that.

Rating scales – This is an assessment technique often associated with observation of student work or behaviors. Rather than recording the “presence” or “absence” of a behavior or skill, the observer subjectively rates each item according to some dimension of interest. For example, students might be rated on how proficient they are on different elements of an oral presentation to the class. Each element may be rated on a 1 to 5 scale, with 5 representing the highest level of proficiency.
Questionnaires – A questionnaire is a self-report assessment device on which students can provide information about areas of interest to the teacher…. For a questionnaire to provide accurate information, students must be able to read the items, have the information to respond to the items, and have the writing skills to respond.

I have occasionally used rating scales to identify potential problem areas. It’s more like a list of things they need to be doing in the class (attendance, prompt arrival, on-time homework, etc) and a rating scale there.
I don’t know that I have ever used questionnaires before, but I may do so this semester to elicit a kind of pretest body of information.
The original article, Informal Assessment in Educational Evaluation (written by Cecilia Navarete, Judith Wilde, Chris Nelson, Robert Martinez, and Gary Hargett) has a lot more information including:
Scoring Assessments for Unstructured Activities
Combining Assessments for Evaluation (with a very detailed discussion of portfolios)
and others… The article focuses on bilingual education, but it made a lot of sense to me for English education in general.

- See more at: http://www.teachingcollegeenglish.com/2008/10/08/informal-assessments-and-how-i-use-them-in-my-classroom/#sthash.5NmKMT0z.dpuf

Informal Assessments, and how I use them in my classroom

by Dr Davis on October 8, 2008

For the class I am taking, I had to bring in an example of informal assessments. There was no discussion of this in the reading or on the boards, so I was not sure what the facilitator was actually looking for. I went online, surfing for possible explanations and found a great introduction to informal assessments, both structured and unstructured. (Note: While I have not been able to find the original for a while, I did find it. Directions for how to find it are at the end of the post.)

Writing samples – When students write anything on specific topics, their products can be scored by using one of the techniques described in Table 3. Other creative writing samples that can be used to assess student progress include newspapers, newsletters, collages, graffiti walls, scripts for a play, and language experience stories.
Homework – Any written work students do alone, either in class or in the home, can be gathered and used to assess student progress. With teacher guidance, students can participate in diagnosing and remediating their own errors. In addition, students’ interests, abilities, and efforts can be monitored across time.
Logs or journals - An individual method of writing. Teachers can review on a daily, weekly, or quarterly basis to determine how students are perceiving their learning processes as well as shaping their ideas and strengths for more formal writing which occurs in other activities.

These are, I think, the most commonly used in English classes.
I have multiple papers, homework, and journal assignments. Most of the homework is graded from a “did all,” “did most,” “did some,” “did none” point of view. But the journal assignments range from very particular grading of grammar and content and following directions to a general “turned in” 100.
These are not, according to the class leader, informal assessments because they are graded. So I am not sure what that means for me or for my class.
The only writing samples I don’t grade in some form or fashion are for one freshman writing course at SLAC. There the first class period is a writing topic so that you can ascertain whether the student should be in that course or needs to move into remedial English.
Other than those, I grade everything because I liked having grades when I was in college.

Games - Games can provide students with a challenging method for increasing their skills in various areas such as math, spelling, naming categories of objects/people, and so on.
Debates - Students’ oral work can be evaluated informally in debates by assessing their oral presentation skills in terms of their ability to understand concepts and present them to others in an orderly fashion.
Brainstorming – This technique can be used successfully with all ages of children to determine what may already be known about a particular topic. Students often feel free to participate because there is no criticism or judgment.

These are things I use less often in class, but I don’t grade them or they are only a participation grade.
I am working on a Jeopardy game for grammar. Someone else has one and I want to work on it.
One of my sets of classes is going to have a debate over a controversial issue as part of the preparation for their writing. The good thing about that is that they will hear other people’s points of view. The bad point of that is all the writing will be on the same topic.
Brainstorming is something I use to get my students started thinking. Yesterday, for example, we spent most of the class time doing prewriting. I asked a question “list things you know about” and then I put my own on the board (to give them suggestions) while they wrote their own down. These included TV shows I watch, movies I love, books I read, and music I listen to. Then I said, “list friends, family, restaurants, meals, dates.” I was trying to get them to think of a lot of different ways to think of things which they could use for a compare/contrast paper. We spent the whole class period writing and they came up with two pages of ideas.

Story retelling - This technique can be used in either oral or written formats. It provides information on a wide range of language-based abilities. Recall is part of retelling, but teachers can use it to determine whether children understood the point of the story and what problems children have in organizing the elements of the story into a coherent whole. This also can be used to share cultural heritage when children are asked to retell a story in class that is part of their family heritage.
Anecdotal- This method can be used by teachers to record behaviors and students’ progress. These comments can include behavioral, emotional, and academic information. For instance, “Jaime sat for five minutes before beginning his assignment.” These should be written carefully, avoiding judgmental words.
Naturalistic – Related to anecdotal records, this type of observation may take the form of notes written at the end of the day by a teacher. They may record what occurred on the playground, in the classroom, among students, or may just reflect the general classroom atmosphere.

Story retelling in my classroom is the narrative paper. We do some verbal discussions, too, to get ready for the writing. (The students get in triads and tell short versions of the story they are going to write.)
The other two assessments are only used when there is a problem in the classroom or with a student.

Checklists – Checklists specify student behaviors or products expected during progression through the curriculum. The items on the checklist may be content area objectives. A checklist is considered to be a type of observational technique. Because observers check only the presence or absence of the behavior or product, checklists generally are reliable and relatively easy to use. Used over time, checklists can document students’ rate and degree of accomplishment within the curriculum.
Cloze tests - Cloze tests are composed of text from which words have been deleted randomly. Students fill in the blanks based on their comprehension of the context of the passage. The procedure is intended to provide a measure of reading comprehension.
Criterion-referenced tests - Criterion-referenced tests are sometimes included as a type of informal assessment. This type of test is tied directly to instructional objectives, measures progress through the curriculum and can be used for specific instructional planning. In order for the test to reflect a particular curriculum, criterion-referenced tests often are developed locally by teachers or a school district. Student performance is evaluated relative to mastery of the objectives, with a minimum performance level being used to define mastery.

I use checklists with my students for peer review projects.
I have used cloze tests in my high school biology classroom, but have not used it in my English classroom. However, I am considering re-writing an exam for my Brit Lit I course and this is a possibility for that.
I don’t do the criterion tests. My assignments match the criteria and so I don’t feel the need for that.

Rating scales – This is an assessment technique often associated with observation of student work or behaviors. Rather than recording the “presence” or “absence” of a behavior or skill, the observer subjectively rates each item according to some dimension of interest. For example, students might be rated on how proficient they are on different elements of an oral presentation to the class. Each element may be rated on a 1 to 5 scale, with 5 representing the highest level of proficiency.
Questionnaires – A questionnaire is a self-report assessment device on which students can provide information about areas of interest to the teacher…. For a questionnaire to provide accurate information, students must be able to read the items, have the information to respond to the items, and have the writing skills to respond.

I have occasionally used rating scales to identify potential problem areas. It’s more like a list of things they need to be doing in the class (attendance, prompt arrival, on-time homework, etc) and a rating scale there.
I don’t know that I have ever used questionnaires before, but I may do so this semester to elicit a kind of pretest body of information.
The original article, Informal Assessment in Educational Evaluation (written by Cecilia Navarete, Judith Wilde, Chris Nelson, Robert Martinez, and Gary Hargett) has a lot more information including:
Scoring Assessments for Unstructured Activities
Combining Assessments for Evaluation (with a very detailed discussion of portfolios)
and others… The article focuses on bilingual education, but it made a lot of sense to me for English education in general.

- See more at: http://www.teachingcollegeenglish.com/2008/10/08/informal-assessments-and-how-i-use-them-in-my-classroom/#sthash.5NmKMT0z.dpuf

Informal Assessments, and how I use them in my classroom

by Dr Davis on October 8, 2008

For the class I am taking, I had to bring in an example of informal assessments. There was no discussion of this in the reading or on the boards, so I was not sure what the facilitator was actually looking for. I went online, surfing for possible explanations and found a great introduction to informal assessments, both structured and unstructured. (Note: While I have not been able to find the original for a while, I did find it. Directions for how to find it are at the end of the post.)

Writing samples – When students write anything on specific topics, their products can be scored by using one of the techniques described in Table 3. Other creative writing samples that can be used to assess student progress include newspapers, newsletters, collages, graffiti walls, scripts for a play, and language experience stories.
Homework – Any written work students do alone, either in class or in the home, can be gathered and used to assess student progress. With teacher guidance, students can participate in diagnosing and remediating their own errors. In addition, students’ interests, abilities, and efforts can be monitored across time.
Logs or journals - An individual method of writing. Teachers can review on a daily, weekly, or quarterly basis to determine how students are perceiving their learning processes as well as shaping their ideas and strengths for more formal writing which occurs in other activities.

These are, I think, the most commonly used in English classes.
I have multiple papers, homework, and journal assignments. Most of the homework is graded from a “did all,” “did most,” “did some,” “did none” point of view. But the journal assignments range from very particular grading of grammar and content and following directions to a general “turned in” 100.
These are not, according to the class leader, informal assessments because they are graded. So I am not sure what that means for me or for my class.
The only writing samples I don’t grade in some form or fashion are for one freshman writing course at SLAC. There the first class period is a writing topic so that you can ascertain whether the student should be in that course or needs to move into remedial English.
Other than those, I grade everything because I liked having grades when I was in college.

Games - Games can provide students with a challenging method for increasing their skills in various areas such as math, spelling, naming categories of objects/people, and so on.
Debates - Students’ oral work can be evaluated informally in debates by assessing their oral presentation skills in terms of their ability to understand concepts and present them to others in an orderly fashion.
Brainstorming – This technique can be used successfully with all ages of children to determine what may already be known about a particular topic. Students often feel free to participate because there is no criticism or judgment.

These are things I use less often in class, but I don’t grade them or they are only a participation grade.
I am working on a Jeopardy game for grammar. Someone else has one and I want to work on it.
One of my sets of classes is going to have a debate over a controversial issue as part of the preparation for their writing. The good thing about that is that they will hear other people’s points of view. The bad point of that is all the writing will be on the same topic.
Brainstorming is something I use to get my students started thinking. Yesterday, for example, we spent most of the class time doing prewriting. I asked a question “list things you know about” and then I put my own on the board (to give them suggestions) while they wrote their own down. These included TV shows I watch, movies I love, books I read, and music I listen to. Then I said, “list friends, family, restaurants, meals, dates.” I was trying to get them to think of a lot of different ways to think of things which they could use for a compare/contrast paper. We spent the whole class period writing and they came up with two pages of ideas.

Story retelling - This technique can be used in either oral or written formats. It provides information on a wide range of language-based abilities. Recall is part of retelling, but teachers can use it to determine whether children understood the point of the story and what problems children have in organizing the elements of the story into a coherent whole. This also can be used to share cultural heritage when children are asked to retell a story in class that is part of their family heritage.
Anecdotal- This method can be used by teachers to record behaviors and students’ progress. These comments can include behavioral, emotional, and academic information. For instance, “Jaime sat for five minutes before beginning his assignment.” These should be written carefully, avoiding judgmental words.
Naturalistic – Related to anecdotal records, this type of observation may take the form of notes written at the end of the day by a teacher. They may record what occurred on the playground, in the classroom, among students, or may just reflect the general classroom atmosphere.

Story retelling in my classroom is the narrative paper. We do some verbal discussions, too, to get ready for the writing. (The students get in triads and tell short versions of the story they are going to write.)
The other two assessments are only used when there is a problem in the classroom or with a student.

Checklists – Checklists specify student behaviors or products expected during progression through the curriculum. The items on the checklist may be content area objectives. A checklist is considered to be a type of observational technique. Because observers check only the presence or absence of the behavior or product, checklists generally are reliable and relatively easy to use. Used over time, checklists can document students’ rate and degree of accomplishment within the curriculum.
Cloze tests - Cloze tests are composed of text from which words have been deleted randomly. Students fill in the blanks based on their comprehension of the context of the passage. The procedure is intended to provide a measure of reading comprehension.
Criterion-referenced tests - Criterion-referenced tests are sometimes included as a type of informal assessment. This type of test is tied directly to instructional objectives, measures progress through the curriculum and can be used for specific instructional planning. In order for the test to reflect a particular curriculum, criterion-referenced tests often are developed locally by teachers or a school district. Student performance is evaluated relative to mastery of the objectives, with a minimum performance level being used to define mastery.

I use checklists with my students for peer review projects.
I have used cloze tests in my high school biology classroom, but have not used it in my English classroom. However, I am considering re-writing an exam for my Brit Lit I course and this is a possibility for that.
I don’t do the criterion tests. My assignments match the criteria and so I don’t feel the need for that.

Rating scales – This is an assessment technique often associated with observation of student work or behaviors. Rather than recording the “presence” or “absence” of a behavior or skill, the observer subjectively rates each item according to some dimension of interest. For example, students might be rated on how proficient they are on different elements of an oral presentation to the class. Each element may be rated on a 1 to 5 scale, with 5 representing the highest level of proficiency.
Questionnaires – A questionnaire is a self-report assessment device on which students can provide information about areas of interest to the teacher…. For a questionnaire to provide accurate information, students must be able to read the items, have the information to respond to the items, and have the writing skills to respond.

I have occasionally used rating scales to identify potential problem areas. It’s more like a list of things they need to be doing in the class (attendance, prompt arrival, on-time homework, etc) and a rating scale there.
I don’t know that I have ever used questionnaires before, but I may do so this semester to elicit a kind of pretest body of information.
The original article, Informal Assessment in Educational Evaluation (written by Cecilia Navarete, Judith Wilde, Chris Nelson, Robert Martinez, and Gary Hargett) has a lot more information including:
Scoring Assessments for Unstructured Activities
Combining Assessments for Evaluation (with a very detailed discussion of portfolios)
and others… The article focuses on bilingual education, but it made a lot of sense to me for English education in general.

- See more at: http://www.teachingcollegeenglish.com/2008/10/08/informal-assessments-and-how-i-use-them-in-my-classroom/#sthash.5NmKMT0z.dpuf

Here is a great article for getting feedback from students to improve course content.

During the summer, you'll want to improve your teaching and lessons, but how do you decide where to start? Your students! I use these three ways to get feedback from my students on my lessons, activities, and what I can do to improve next year.

Collecting Input

First, I’m trying to identify my awful lessons or units so that I can rework them over the summer. For example, I set as a goal to take the most boring lesson or unit from one year and making it epic next year. Last year's most boring lesson, my PSAT prep unit, came back from the dead this year when I dressed as a zombie and created World War Z-themed zombie prep. (I think an awesome teacher can make any content cool and interesting.)
Second, I want to understand firsthand what kids love and what they hate. They need to watch me level up from year to year, because they have to level up, too. I'd like to share how I gather that information.

1. End-of-Year Focus Groups

I end the year with students in a circle. I turn on the audio recorder in Evernote to capture the conversation, which goes something like this.

I'm so proud of what you've done this year and how you've improved. Today we have a focus group. [Explain what a focus group is.] I need you to help me set my goals to improve this course for next year and to be a better teacher. Will you be honest so that I can improve? I'm recording this in Evernote so that I can listen to the conversation again this summer.

First of all, what did we learn that you loved this year? [Each student answers. We go around the circle for every question.]

What were the things we learned that you liked the least?

So what is the most boring thing we did the whole year? Do you have any ideas for making it more interesting?

Is there anything you wish we'd had more time to do?

Was there anything you wish we'd done more of?

How about ______? What can I do to improve that? [This is where I insert specific initiatives.]

My final purpose is a quick review of what we've learned. You can feel as if you've done nothing the whole year when you're tired on the last day. I want them to leave me with their impression of the whole year in their mind so they (and I) are positive about the effort we've put in since September.

2. End-of-Year Survey

I do an anonymous end-of-year survey as well (particularly if a class was reticent in the focus group time). You could adapt this and send it to parents for feedback. I do this in Google Forms and like to use open-ended answers for several of the questions.
This survey is more focused on finding the things I may need to improve in a personal way, because kids may not want to say those things in front of their peers. Questions might include:

• Is there something you wish I knew about this class that would make me a better teacher?
• Is there a habit I need to work on improving to be a better teacher in the future?
• Is there something you wish that you could have told me this year?
• Is there anything good you'd like to leave as an encouragement to me?
• Name one small thing I can do to be an amazing teacher.

Instead of getting bogged down in the details, I'll take the answers and paste each one into a text file. Then, I'll paste them in Wordle to see trends. If I need to read each answer, I will, but I usually wait until summer when I'm more rested.

3. Anonymous Notes

I always make a point to tell every student that they can type or write their feedback and put it on my desk any time. I suggest that you invite anonymous notes, because sometimes students want to tell you important things but don't want to be a "snitch." That's why the last day of the year is the best time for this type of note -- no repercussions and total honesty. One year, I found out that some kids had been dishonest, and the next year I changed how I administered a certain test to end cheating.
Just keep anonymous notes in perspective. I have received one from an angry student. It was vitriolic! These things happen. Learn from it if you can even if it is to know that many kids are angry. Hurting people hurt people but I’m still glad they can give me feedback.

Why You Must Reflect and Improve

Students are what we do. They are the center of our classroom, not us. However, as a teacher, I am the most impactful single person in the classroom. Honest feedback from our students will help me level up.
I've been doing this for more than ten years. Sometimes I laugh, sometimes I cry -- and sometimes I'm mortified. But I can honestly say that every single piece of feedback I've received has made me a better teacher. And great teachers are never afraid of having or inviting hard conversations. This is one of best practices that has helped me to be a better, more excited teacher every year.

Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher's Profile

Hello Everyone, this the third online course for me in the PIDP program. PIDP 3260 is the last one before the Capstone project. It is a busy time with work and kids sports. I m looking forward to learning new techniques, skills and completing the program.

Here is a link to the SIE Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/VCCSchoolOfInstructorEducation

Week 8

It is getting to the end of PIDP 3250 . I learned about student engagement techniques, how to create a blog, fair cell phone policies for adult learners, chatted with some nice people and learned a lot more.
Here is a link to some motivational videos for students:



https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=motivational+videos+for+students&ei=UTF-8&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001

 Here are the links to my classmate blogs:


 https://dhadli.wordpress.com/

http://automentoring.com/personal-development-blog.html

 http://dangunn.weebly.com/

https://simoncrothers.wordpress.com/

 http://henrystavastpidp310.weebly.com/

Here is a great link on motivating adult learners:
elearningindustry.com/17-tips-to-motivate-adult-learners

 

What is classroom management?

Classroom management is the term used to describe methods of preventing misbehavior and ways of dealing with it. They are the techniques instructors use to maintain control in the classroom. The lack of effective classroom management can reduce learning in the classroom because instructor time is spent dealing with unruly students. Let me know of some situation you guys may have encountered in the classroom and how you resolved it
Here is a link to a site with some good classroom techniques:

http://www.ngsslifescience.com/classroom management

Human attention span

Toronto:  With the rise in digital technology, the human attention span has shortened from 12 seconds to eight seconds in more than a decade, a recent study by Microsoft Corporation has found.

Humans now have an attention span less than of a goldfish (nine seconds average).

The 54-page study sought to understand what impact technology and today's digital lives are having on attention spans.

The researchers collected data from surveys of more than 2,000 Canadians over the age of 18.

They played games and interacted online to help scientists determine the impact of smartphones and other digital media on everyday life.

Participants' brain activity was recorded and behaviour was filmed while they interacted with different social media platforms across devices and in different environments.

The team measured their attention levels and activities to view how attention varied by screen, task, content type and structure.

The findings revealed human attention span has fallen from an average of 12 seconds in the year 2000 to just eight seconds today.

The decrease was seen across all age groups and genders in the study.

Those in the age group of 18 to 34 had a 31 percent high sustained attention span compared to those age 55 and over at 35 percent.

Meanwhile, males (33 percent) had a better attention span than females (31 percent).

Young respondents were more likely to display addiction-like behaviours when it came to their devices.

For example, 77 percent of people aged 18 to 24 responded "yes" when asked "When nothing is occupying my attention, the first thing I do is reach for my phone," compared with only 10 percent of those over age 65.

"Out of the 18 to 24 age group, more than half admit to checking their phone every 30 minutes or less and over three-fourths used their portable devices while watching TV," the findings showed.

On a positive note, the researchers found the ability to multitask has significantly improved.

"Heavy multi-screeners find it difficult to filter out irrelevant stimuli a" they are more easily distracted by multiple streams of media," stated the report posted on the Microsoft website.

College classroom managament

http://www.ehow.com/video_12317641_behavior-managament-college-classroom.html

Classroom mismanagement

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpl64pTDI9k

Critical thinking is the ability to apply reasoning and logic to new or unfamiliar ideas, opinions, and situations. Thinking critically involves seeing things in an open-minded way and examining an idea or concept from as many angles as possible. This important skill allows people to look past their own views of the world and to better understand the opinions of others. It is often used in debates, to form more cogent and well-rounded arguments, and in science.

Open-Minded Approach

The ability to think critically is essential, as it creates new possibilities in problem solving. Being "open-minded" is a large part of critical thinking, allowing a person to not only seek out all possible answers to a problem, but to also accept an answer that is different from what was originally expected. Open-minded thinking requires that a person does not assume that his or her way of approaching a situation is always best, or even right. A scientist, for example, must be open to the idea that the results of an experiment will not be what is expected; such results, though challenging, often lead to tremendous and meaningful discoveries.

Rational Considerations

Another aspect of critical thinking is the ability to approach a problem or situation rationally. Rationality requires analyzing all known information, and making judgments or analyses based on fact or evidence, rather than opinion or emotion. An honest approach to reasoning requires a thinker to acknowledge personal goals, motives, and emotions that might color his or her opinions or thought processes. Rational thought involves identifying and eliminating prejudices, so that someone can have a fresh and objective approach to a problem.

Empathy

Critical thinking often relies on the ability to view the world in a way that does not focus on the self. Empathizing with a person usually involves a thinker trying to put himself or herself in the place of someone else. This is often done by students of history, for example, in an attempt to see the world as someone would have while living in an ancient civilization or during a violent conflict. Communication skills, teamwork, and cooperation are typically improved through empathy, which makes it valuable in many professional fields.

How to Apply It

Effective critical thinking often begins with a thinker analyzing what he or she knows about a subject, with extra effort made to recognize what he or she does not know about it. This forms an initial knowledge base for consideration. The thinker can then look at what research has been done on the subject, and identify what he or she can learn simply by looking over such work. This approach is often used in science, as it allows a scientist to determine what people do not yet know or understand, and then look for ways to discover this information through experimentation.
When someone applies this approach to his or her own life, he or she often places more emphasis on finding prejudices and preconceived notions he or she holds. This lets the thinker strive to eliminate or avoid these opinions, to come to a more honest or objective view of an issue. Someone struggling with a fear of heights, for example, might strive to determine the cause of this fear in a rational way. By doing so, he or she might be better able to deal with the root cause directly and avoid emotional responses that could prevent self-improvement.

Common Uses

Critical thinking is used in many situations. Students often use it to evaluate the plot of a book or a character’s motives in a literature class. Members of a debate team frequently think critically about a subject to form a strong argument and anticipate points their competitors might make. Diets using common sense, in which the focus is on how weight is gained and lost through calories and exercise, can require that the dieter thinks critically about his or her lifestyle. Many people use open-mindedness and empathy in their professional lives, allowing them to work better with others and complete tasks more effectively.

Teaching This Skill

School systems in the US usually teach critical thinking from elementary school up through college-level courses. Teachers encourage students to learn through writing assignments and problem solving. For example, younger students might be asked how their lives would be different if they were born in another country or in a different time period. Such assignments push students to let go of what they know about the world around them, to better consider other perspectives and apply new ideas to their own lives.

Hello,
I just complete the digital presentation. This the first time doing this and it was a lot work and a lot of learning. I did the presentation in PowerPoint 2010. I have used PowerPoint before and the comfort zone was there. PowerPoint 2010 has a lot good features and was easy to use. Once the PowerPoint presentation was completed I used site a called Brainshark to convert it to a video. This is where the learning began. Brainshark is a good site. Recording a narration for the presentation was a challenge.

Student Engagement Techniques

Tristan de Frondeville
Credit: Courtesy of PBL Associates

As a teacher, my goal was to go home at the end of each day with more energy than I had at the beginning of the day. Seriously.
Now, as I travel the country coaching teachers on how to successfully use project learning, my goal remains the same. And I try to teach educators the strategies they need to achieve this goal in their own classrooms.
A teacher in one of my workshops said, "When my students and I are in the flow, then I don't feel like I have to work as hard." I heartily agree. When 90 to 100 percent of my students are excitedly engaged in their tasks and asking deep and interesting questions, I experience joy, and joy is a lot less tiring than the frustration that comes with student apathy.
Project-based classrooms with an active-learning environment make such in-the-flow moments more common. Yet these same classrooms require many teacher and student skills to work well. As teachers, we can feel overwhelmed when we try something new and experience chaos instead of flow.
The good news is that the strategies for creating and managing high-quality project-learning environments are productive in any classroom, whether project learning is a central part of the curriculum or not. Here are ten ideas that you can start practicing in your classroom today to help you create more moments of flow.

Create an Emotionally Safe Classroom

Students who have been shamed or belittled by the teacher or another student will not effectively engage in challenging tasks. Consider having a rule such as "We do not put others downs, tell others to shut up, or laugh at people." Apply it to yourself as well as your students. This is the foundation of a supportive, collaborative learning environment. To learn and grow, one must take risks, but most people will not take risks in an emotionally unsafe environment.

Create an Intellectually Safe Classroom

Begin every activity with a task that 95 percent of the class can do without your help. Get your students used to the fact that when you say, "Please begin," they should pick up a pencil and start working successfully. This gets everyone on the bus. Then make sure your students know that these initial easy tasks will always be followed by increasingly challenging ones. Create rich and complex tasks so that various students have a chance to excel and take on the role of helping others.

Cultivate Your Engagement Meter

Be acutely aware of when your students are paying strong attention or are deeply engaged in their tasks. Master teachers create an active-learning environment in which students are on task in their thinking and speaking or are collaboratively working close to 100 percent of the time. Such teachers notice and measure not only when students are on task but also the quality of their engagement.
Although it may take years to develop the repertoire of skills and lessons that enable you to permanently create this active-learning environment, you can begin by discerning which activities truly engage your students. The more brutally honest you are with yourself, the faster you will get there.

Create Appropriate Intermediate Steps

The first question I ask educators when I coach them on project learning is how many of their students say, "We can't wait to do another project," versus "Oh, no! Not another project." Teachers tend to get the first response when they scaffold challenging tasks so that all students are successful.
For example, take the typical task of interviewing an adult outside the classroom. Some teachers assign the task on Monday and expect it to be done the following Monday, confident that by including the weekend, they are providing sufficient support. Other teachers realize that finding, cold calling, and interviewing an adult are challenging tasks for most young people, so they create intermediate steps -- such as brainstorming, searching online for phone numbers, crafting high-quality interview questions, and role-playing the interview -- that train all students for success.

Practice Journal or Blog Writing to Communicate with Students

Japanese teachers highly value the last five minutes of class as a time for summarizing, sharing, and reflecting. A nice way to change the pace of your class is to have students write regular reflections on the work they have done. Encourage and focus their writing with a prompt, such as "The Muddiest Point and the Clearest Point: What was most confusing about the work you did today, and what new thing was the most clear?" Use this approach to guide future lessons and activities. Consider writing responses to student journal entries in order to carry on a conversation with students about their work.

Create a Culture of Explanation Instead of a Culture of the Right Answer

You know you have created a rich learning event when all students are engaged in arguing about the best approach to the assignment. When you use questions and problems that allow for multiple strategies to reach a successful outcome, you give students the opportunity to make choices and then compare their approaches. This strategy challenges them to operate at a higher level of thinking than when they can share only the "correct" answer. Avidly collect problems and tasks that have multiple paths to a solution. As a math teacher, I create problems that have a lot of numbers instead of the usual two. For example, I can present this problem:
5 + 13 + 24 - 8 + 47 - 12 + 59 - 31 - 5 + 9 - 46 - 23 + 32 - 60
Then I can say, "There are at least three fundamentally different strategies for doing the following problem. Can you find them all?"

Teach Self-Awareness About Knowledge

All subjects build on prior knowledge and increase in complexity at each successive level of mastery. Effective learning requires that certain skills and processes be available for quick recall. Many students let too much of their knowledge float in a sea of confusion and develop a habit of guessing, sometimes without even knowing that they are guessing.

Credit: Courtesy of Tristan de Frondeville

To help students break this habit, paste the graphic at right next to each question on your assessments. After the students answer a question, have them place an X on the line to represent how sure they are that their answer is correct. This approach encourages them to check their answer and reflect on their confidence level. It is informative when they get it wrong but marked "for sure" or when they do the opposite and mark "confused" yet get the answer right.

Use Questioning Strategies That Make All Students Think and Answer

Pay a visit to many classrooms and you'll see a familiar scene: The teacher asks questions and, always, the same reliable hands raise up. This pattern lends itself to student inattention. Every day, include some questions you require every student to answer. Find a question you know everyone can answer simply, and have the class respond all at once.
You can ask students to put a finger up when they're ready to answer, and once they all do, ask them to whisper the answer at the count of three. They can answer yes, no, or maybe with a thumbs-up, thumbs-down, or thumbs-sideways gesture. That also works for "I agree," "I disagree," or "I'm not sure."
Numerical answers under ten are easy to show with fingers, but don't limit yourself to math questions. For instance, if you're teaching time management, have students let you know what their progress is halfway through the class by putting up one or more fingers to show whether they are one-, two-, or three-quarters done with the assignment, or finished. Do these exercises at least two or three times per class.

Practice Using the Design Process to Increase the Quality of Work

Students in school get used to doing work at a consistent level of quality. Unfortunately, low-performing students get used to doing poor-quality work. To help them break the habit, use a draft-and-revision process.
Many professionals use such a design process to increase the quality of their work. Engineers build prototypes, respond to critical feedback, and refine their design before going into production. Artists make sketches of big works and revise their ideas before creating their final piece. Use the design process to drive your students to produce higher-quality work than they are used to doing when they create only a first effort. Include peer evaluation as part of the feedback they receive.

Market Your Projects

When your students ask, "Why do we need to know this?" you must be ready with the best answer possible. Great projects incorporate authentic tasks that will help students in their lives, jobs, or relationships. Engage students by developing an inventory of big ideas to help you make the connections between your assignments and important life skills, expertise, high-quality work, and craftsmanship. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills provides a good starter list.
Also, search out the powerful processes and ideas experts in your own subject use repeatedly. (In math, for instance, my list includes generalizing and parts and wholes.) Keep a journal of the big ideas you've discovered simply by teaching your subject. By continually referring to these big ideas, you will encourage students to think and act like subject-matter experts and develop skills they will use throughout their lives.