Well, there's no sense lying- I've already fallen short of my professional goal this year. (My goal is to develop a differentiated assessment for each unit in social studies.) We just finished Mesopotamia and I didn't create a differentiated assessment- I failed!
Now here's the part where I make up an excuse. Here goes: Part of it has to do with the fact that I've never taught ancient civilizations, so much of my time and preparation is in day-to-day lesson planning and background reading to increase my own knowledge of the subject. I know where I want the course to go conceptually speaking- the themes I want to focus on within each unit of study and the materials I want to use to get there. I had my differentiation book out, open to the chapter on differentiation by product, but there was a large obstruction blocking the creative juices in my brain. I couldn't think of a project for this unit! (What do you think of my excuse? Post comments!)
Despite the fact that I didn't meet my goal for the first unit, I still think it was pretty successful overall. We studied the geography, culture (tools/technology, writing, language, religion), economy, government, and social structure of Ancient Mesopotamia and we read Gilgamesh the Hero in Language Arts (which the kids loved). The librarian from the public library gathered about thirty books on Mesopotamia for me, and students used those throughout the unit in addition to the textbook. We watched a series of short Discovery Education videos which were very engaging and provided some excellent visuals for the kids. Students worked in cooperative groups, each group became experts on a specific technology and taught the class. I have a book with awesome simulations for each ancient civilization and the kids really got into that. They made their own clay tablets and wrote their names in cuneiform (messy, but fun- definitely got across how difficult being a scribe was). Hammurabi's Court was a fun class period, but it wasn't until I read their essays that I realized they thought people who broke the law really went to a place called "Hammurabi's Court." Didn't make that point clear enough:) A lot of reading and double-column notes of course.
My assessment for this unit was a seven paragraph essay: introduction, geography, religion, culture, economy, political/social systems, and conclusion. Students wrote this over the course of one week. Day One: Reviewed some steps for expository writing. Students used a graphic organizer I provided to organize information for their essays. Day Two: drafting. Day Three: typing. Day Four: peer revising and publishing. Of course the students wanted to know how much they had to write, so we worked off of a general framework: 3 details per paragraph- okay (C), 4 details- better (B), 5 details- best (A).
The best part of having students write is it really shows you what they know. They knew a lot about the geography, religion, economy, and culture, but much less about the political and social systems so I need to spend more time and rework that section of the unit. The other thing I noticed is that students recalled and organized information effectively, but I would like to see them move beyond restating- only a handful of students explained or drew conclusions. This is something we will address, practice, and reinforce in the remaining units. The assessment for each unit will always be an essay, because students need to write as much as possible, but I definitely want a differentiated piece so students have an opportunity to showcase their strengths.
I will not give up on my goal. My next post will be about my differentiated Egypt project!
Friday, December 11, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Test
I just tried to set this up as Angie suggested so that everyone who has been contributing or reading the blog will get an email notice when someone posts something new. Did it work?
-Tamar
-Tamar
Using the students' questions
A few days before our unit test, I gave students the following directions:
Look back to everything you have learned starting with the microscope. Using your notes, handouts and your textbook, create a fair test that includes content about microscope and slide preparation skills, identifying cells and cellular structures under the microscope, lab safety rules, and an overview of the 6 Kingdoms of Life.
The students were very engaged in creating a practice test with an answer key, and their tests were actually really thoughtful.
On the following day, students exchanged tests with other pairs and then were graded. For HW, over the weekend, students were to review the tests they created as well as the tests that they took. On Monday, we had a quiz show, which the kids were just over-the-top excited about. They loved it so much, they wanted to have a similar quiz show for math. I asked students to write down questions that were new to them or that they got wrong during the game so they could add them to their study guide.
I used the students questions to create questions from the test. Some were questions they had answered during the quiz show, and other were the questions directly from their practice tests. Tuesday was the day of truth.
I looked back at our first disappointing test and the averages in the two classes were a 64% in 7F and a 65% in 7P. For our second test, there was a 10 point increase in both class averages: 74% in 7F and 75% in 7P. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was hoping that most students would do well. The case is that a few did well and most passed, hence the low average. Still, I think the 10 point increase is significant and a small success. I believe the students who failed are students who relied solely on the time we spent reviewing in class and spent no time at home preparing.
I am using more cooperative learning activities in science class now (i.e. JIGSAWS, 3-minute review, team-pair-solo) more often in I am hoping that the class average on our next test can be comfortably in the 80-90 range. I plan to use this method again, though there are some drawbacks. It does involve several days of preparation prior to the test, and as I found, some students are content to rely only on the time we spend together in class as their review time. What do I do with these students? I am reluctant to give them more of my time if they do not take any time on their own to prepare. I don't assign students any science homework (except to finish work they've started in class), so I think it's a reasonable expectation to have them study for tests on their own at home, especially if we've already devoted so much class time to reviewing.
Look back to everything you have learned starting with the microscope. Using your notes, handouts and your textbook, create a fair test that includes content about microscope and slide preparation skills, identifying cells and cellular structures under the microscope, lab safety rules, and an overview of the 6 Kingdoms of Life.
The students were very engaged in creating a practice test with an answer key, and their tests were actually really thoughtful.
On the following day, students exchanged tests with other pairs and then were graded. For HW, over the weekend, students were to review the tests they created as well as the tests that they took. On Monday, we had a quiz show, which the kids were just over-the-top excited about. They loved it so much, they wanted to have a similar quiz show for math. I asked students to write down questions that were new to them or that they got wrong during the game so they could add them to their study guide.
I used the students questions to create questions from the test. Some were questions they had answered during the quiz show, and other were the questions directly from their practice tests. Tuesday was the day of truth.
I looked back at our first disappointing test and the averages in the two classes were a 64% in 7F and a 65% in 7P. For our second test, there was a 10 point increase in both class averages: 74% in 7F and 75% in 7P. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was hoping that most students would do well. The case is that a few did well and most passed, hence the low average. Still, I think the 10 point increase is significant and a small success. I believe the students who failed are students who relied solely on the time we spent reviewing in class and spent no time at home preparing.
I am using more cooperative learning activities in science class now (i.e. JIGSAWS, 3-minute review, team-pair-solo) more often in I am hoping that the class average on our next test can be comfortably in the 80-90 range. I plan to use this method again, though there are some drawbacks. It does involve several days of preparation prior to the test, and as I found, some students are content to rely only on the time we spend together in class as their review time. What do I do with these students? I am reluctant to give them more of my time if they do not take any time on their own to prepare. I don't assign students any science homework (except to finish work they've started in class), so I think it's a reasonable expectation to have them study for tests on their own at home, especially if we've already devoted so much class time to reviewing.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Assessments
My efforts to have students become thinkers and problem solvers...
Although this post is more about students thinking (or not thinking) about their evaluations!
Some thoughts on Angie's comment about study guides etc. On our first big food chemistry assessment the students reviewed their notes in small groups and wrote example questions using Bloom's taxonomy, and from those questions I typed up a study guide...rather simple, grouping similar questions. The test was OK for some, but I'm concerned about the students we are always concerned about...Do they make no effort to prepare other than sitting in class? Do they not process anything that goes on in class? This was also the time of kids being out for 3-4 days at a stretch. Do I need to teach the class to them after school? Maybe that's what I should have done. Classmates shared notes with them and helped them with the study guide, but I had two students tell me they just couldn't do the test; they had been out sick, but they also did not seriously use the extra time they received or fully complete the study guide. After the first round with the test, I redid the study guide giving more space, making more diagrams etc. and students who wanted to complete the new guide could retake the test. There was only one student who really made an effort to do it well and retake the test. He did much better. It seems like a lot of work on my part for not much return. I would be interested to hear more about the assessment group Angie works with to get some ideas. DC
Goal Blogging
How well is this goal blog working for you all in terms of giving and receiving feedback? Tamar, I wonder whether you could update the settings to email everyone participating in the blog when someone publishes a post so that we can see what everyone is doing/trying and give each other feedback in a timely manner. What do you all think?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)