Heading home...

Well, ISTE12 is over and I am on the train home... Exhausted and brain fried, but the last four days have been great. After I have time to sleep and decompress, I will start reflecting and blogging. Which might be tonight...lol. We will see :) So much good stuff, so stay tuned!!!

#iste12 day 1 = amazing!

I'll blog later.  It's been awesome and I've only been here for 6 hrs. :)

Can't wait for the rest of the week! If I don't have time to blog before Wednesday, I'm taking notes every day so I'll  make sense of it at some point!

Going Paperless: WPP's have a new name!

I think I just had a brilliant idea. Don't you love moments like that?

Throughout the year, I have my students complete "WPP's" (yes, another acronym!).  That stands for "Word Problem Poster".


See my instructional samples here and here, grading rubric here. 

Basically, for every type of word problem we learn about throughout the year, students have to:
1. Write their own story problem, create their own numbers, etc
2. Solve the problem, showing all steps and explaining clearly.
3. Put it together neatly on a poster with images to go along with the story.
4. Trade it with a partner to solve and score (must show own work on back of rubric)

Students are encouraged to "keep the storyline" throughout the year (they do 13-14 of them total) and have fun with it.  I love seeing the creativity come out.

I think it's a great activity because:
1. Students are required to actually write their own problem, forcing them to think critically about the important information needed in the problem as well as how to state it clearly and correctly.
2. Students are able to be creative and have some fun in math!
3. Students get double the practice because they write and solve their own, then read and solve a classmate's.


Okay, so what is my new brilliant idea??

Word Problem POSTERS no more... 

Word Problem PLAYLISTS are here!

Using MentorMob as the host, students will each create a "WPP Playlist" that they will add to throughout the year.  Each WPP will have 3 parts:
1. Image/Introductory step (they can find an image online, draw a picture, or record a quick clip of something that corresponds to the story problem)
2. Explanation of the problem step (they will type up the details of the problem on a word document...thinking about if I want this just typed or if I want them to have to read it out loud as well?  Don't know of an audio-only recording site since I don't do that...Could the audio and the text be embedded on the same step? hmmm ideas...)
3. Video explanation of the solution step (they will explain the solution to the problem either by using an iPad screen recording app, their digital or cell phone camera, or another device... maybe teaching them to use Jing or Screen-casto-matic?? We'll see...)

It would be a little something like this (but much more creative, this is my quick-put together of instructions)

Create your own Playlist on MentorMob!

Then, students can go online and pick a classmate's (or even more than one!) WPP to solve... I guess this would be on "paper" - I'll have to think about it a little more.  They can add comments to the steps on the playlists if something is unclear or if something is incorrect.

Benefits I can see:
1. Much more paperless than before!  Students have a digital record of their work and it is much easier to modify because they just have to re-upload.
2. Sometimes when students would "trade and grade", one poster was never turned in because the partner would lose it or forget about it... now they are all online!
3. I can actually read through all of the problems on my own time (normally it was solely a peer-graded activity and I would glance through some of them) without having to lug home the posters.
4. I (or students) can comment on each individual step of the playlist to say what we like, what needs clarification, etc.
5. I can hear my students explain their work, which not only helps THEM to have to talk through it, but helps me see where they are making misconceptions.

I thought about this idea about 10 minutes ago, so it's still a work in progress.  

What do you think? 

Ideas? 

Things I haven't considered?

Things that aren't clear?

It's ISTE time!!

Now that #flipcon12 is "over" (until the virtual sessions get posted!), it's time to look to ISTE in San Diego.  I am SO excited that I get to go this year and SO glad it's just an hour and a half away!

I'm preparing myself to be a little overwhelmed, but I am a big planner so I already have the ISTE app on my iPad with all the "sessions I want to go to" (which is about 5-6 per time period) as well as some of the booths I want to visit.  I've been warned to not go too crazy and make sure to plan time to rest.  I don't HAVE to attend something during every session, and sometimes the best part of the conference is the conversation you have with others outside of the sessions.

(I just wish ISTE was as cool as #flipcon and would give you access to the archives of all their sessions :))

One of the things I'm most excited about is meeting my PLN in person, since everything is basically via this blog, twitter, and Edmodo!
So... ARE YOU GOING TO #ISTE12?  If so, please comment or send me an email (see "contact me") or send me a tweet and let's connect!  Either at the conference or in one of the evenings.  The only evening I have planning right now is Tuesday night's TechSmith reception.  I'd love to connect and chat and just meet you in person!!  I don't want to leave it up to chance that I'll run into you, so please let me know if you'll be there!

#flipcon12 (Wed afternoon) SAMS/BERGMANN KEYNOTE, HEATHER WITTEN

Note: I would highly suggest you check out these sessions yourself as well, because what stood out to me may not be what impacts you the most! :) 

Register for virtual access to all these sessions here.


See previous posts about #flipcon12 here:

#flipcon12 (Monday)

#flipcon12 (Tues morning)

#flipcon12 (Tues afternoon)

#flipcon12 (Wed morning)

Last afternoon of #flipcon12! I am very excited for the archives to be posted next week. After this week, ISTE next week, and then watching all the sessions I missed, I may be PD-d out for the summer!!! But, it's all good :)

It is very helpful for me to blog and digest what I heard because honestly, right now, it's all just coming so fast. I'm planning on trying to blog at ISTE (who knows, it may be too crazy!) and blogging through the archived #flipcon12 sessions. I will probably give it a couple of weeks and then decide what I am going to do with all of it and where I want to go with all this info in my classroom.

Alright, Keynote #3 (or "plenary session #3", as it is officially called :)). Jon Bergmann and Aaron Sams are two teachers formerly from Woodland Park, CO (Jon moved on last year and is a Technology Coordinator in Illinois I believe, and Aaron is moving to Philadelphia (?) this next year). They both taught science and flipped their classes for about 6 years. I am excited to get their book, which should be in the mail any day now. You can find it at http://www.iste.org/store/product.aspx?ID=2285

Here are some things that stood out to me, which is definitely not all inclusive of everything they talked about... (from Jon/Aaron in bold, from me in italics):

Jon Bergmann and Aaron Sams - Keynote 3 - The future of the flipped class

• Knowledge resided in the teacher’s head, the textbooks, and the library... now there is no shortage of information with the internet, iPhones, etc... education is changing!
• This is how education used to be...times are changing and so must we!
• #flipclass is a “bottom up” movement - it is coming from the trenches, from the classrooms!  Individual teachers are taking the idea and doing what they think will work in their classroom with it. “A bunch of teachers trying to do what is best for their kids”
• “Where did this idea come from?”
• Having a conversation with Asst. Sup’t of Schools at Woodland Park. “My daughter’s boyfriend loves these videos because he doesn’t have to go to class anymore!” → Then what is the value of class time? BIG QUESTION: “What is the best use of your face-to-face class time?”  There is not one way to do this or one answer.  Don’t adopt the “Bergmann - Sams method” - do what’s best for YOUR students!
• I think this is one of the biggest things I've learned this year... well maybe a few things. #1 My class time must still be valuable to students #2 My class time doesn't need to look anything like another flipper's class time because I need to do what is best for my students and they need to do what is best for theirs.  Yes, we will probably have similar bits and pieces as we share with each other, but there isn't a step by step guide on how to make this work.
• Flipped Class 101
• What used to be done in class is done at home, what used to be done in home is done in class - very FUNDAMENTAL LEVEL flip
• Pretty much every teacher starts here... most don’t STAY here!
• I was here for the first 3 months or so, and then I got connected online and really started trying some new ideas out.  Until I started communication with my PLN, I was stuck in "Flipped Class 101"
• Myths and Misconceptions about the Flipped Class
• Flipped Learning Relies on Videos
• Yes, a key component and a valuable tool to have as an archive 
• I am very interested to see where I am at this time next year. I still see the videos as a very important part of my flipped class, but I am really hoping to broaden my horizons this year and see what happens!   
• Flipped Learning Creates a Digital Divide
• 20% of kids had no internet at home when they started this 6 years ago. Flash drives, DVDs... just a little creativity!!
• Yes, a legitimate concern and you must address it... but it’s NOT an insurmountable hurdle.  Be resourceful! Be Creative!!
• Flipped Learning Propagates Bad Teaching (lectures)
• Video is not just recorded lectures!
• Flipping enables amazing things to happen in the classroom
• Bring other mediums into the video! Interaction! Real-life examples!
• I don't think my videos are amazing, but I do think they are pretty good. I try to stay engaging and interactive with the students...but I'm always looking for more ideas!
• Flipped Learning Relies on Homework
• not necessarily. 
• My flipped class runs best right now when students do watch the video outside of class time (which normally means at home). I haven't gotten to the point of eliminating hw yet, and don't know if I want to in math.  Again, we'll see where I am at next year!
• Flipped Learning Requires Front-Loading with Video
• Can put video in middle of the learning cycle after topic has been introduced
• Flipping Bloom’s Taxonomy - videos are great for Remembering/Understanding!
• I front-load the majority of my content.  Something I would like to try to do this year with some of the trickier concepts is do a 5-10 minute intro at the end of class for what they will be watching that night, just to get their minds in the right place.  Another something to think about...
• The Flipped Classroom is a TECHNIQUE that you leverage when it is appropriate to meet the needs of our students.  This is also a STEPPING STONE/BRIDGE towards heading towards a more project-based, student-centered environment 
• This makes me think of something someone said on twitter in the last few days: (paraphrased) "Isn't a student-centered environment what we have wanted all along? Why do you need the flipped class to do that??"  My response: YES, I think we all want a student-centered classroom. It's just really hard to do in today's day and age with all the pressures and content and testing and such.  So, the flipped classroom is a TOOL/TECHNIQUE that has worked FOR ME to get that student-centered classroom in a way I wasn't able to do with traditional.
• Universal Design for Learning … Inquiry … PBL … Mastery … PD … AFL … 21st century learning
• The flipped classroom is what connects all of these together and allows us to actually have the time and figure out how to do it in class
• These are all things we’ve WANTED to do... but never really had time to do in class.  By restructuring time so “direct instruction” is done outside of class, it frees up time to actually do all this stuff.
• I want to look into all of these later this summer :)
• Steve Kelly video (again)
• They showed some edited clips from here, so I thought I would just embed the whole thing here.

• Carolyn Durley video
• Carolyn (@okmbio) is another one of my tweeps (who is heading up the Canadian flipped conference later this week with a couple of other awesome flippers!!). Jon and Aaron asked her to put together a video for their keynote.  So, here is one the Canadian flippers put together about "Flipped Classroom as a vehicle to the future" and then one of Carolyn talking about her experience with the Flipped Classroom. Great stuff!

• In 5  years time...
• Redesigning learning spaces
• Gamification - Paul Anderson (Bozeman Biology)
• Hiring - how does this change how we hire?
• Differentiation - FC solves this problem. Individual education
• Personalization (can’t standardize, we must customize)
• Student-Created Content (mathtrain.tv - Eric Marcos) 
• These were all very interesting things to talk about.  I'm definitely thinking for next year on redesigning my learning space the best that I can and continuing to build up student-created content.  I have only checked out mathtrain.tv a little bit, so that will be on my to-look list
• Blank slide b/c “there is no answer!!” 
• I'm sure a lot of people at #flipcon12 wanted to leave with the easy answer, the checklist, the steps of how to flip their classroom.  But, there is no easy answer, there is no right way.  It starts by the individual teacher asking the question "What is the best use of my face to face in class time with my students" and going from there.
• Yes... start by making content videos. BUT.. If I’m NOT going to do that in class, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO???

 Heather Witten is a Spanish teacher and one of my "tweeps" (twitter friends).  I wanted to attend her session even though I'm not a FL teacher, and still took a lot from it!  She even gave me a shoutout at the beginning of her session (thanks Heather!) :)

Here are some things that stood out to me, which is definitely not all inclusive of everything she talked about... (from Heather in bold, from me in italics):

Heather Witten (@srawitten) - Foreign Language Fun with Flip

• Benefits of the flip
• Class can go on even when I’m not there
• Talk to every kid every day!
• Identify learning gaps more quickly
• effectively monitor student progression
• These are the huge benefits of flipping my classroom as well.  I had to be out of my classroom 20 times this last school year (and NONE were personal days!). It was crazy. But when I was gone, my classes still went on.  Not as great as when I am there and can ask those questions and challenge my students, but still pretty good.
• Don’t just try to teach more material... give them more practice and application time of what is taught!
• I think this is a very important key - you can't choose to flip because you want to just cover more material. It won't work that way.
• Hmmm REQUIRED assignment and SUPPLEMENTAL assignments
• I like that she gave both to her students.  Later we found out the supplemental ones were for students who needed to retake a test (those then became required).  However, I would really like to have "challenge" assignments for students who are ready to work ahead as well.  Takes time - we'll see how this summer pans out.
• “Classwork Benchmarks” - DEADLINES
• I am on the same page as Heather here in that I am still keeping most of my class on the same "schedule" - they can work ahead, but they have to keep up with certain deadlines
• Triple the amount of time for video length that it takes students to watch it.
• I would agree with doubling or tripling.  My end of the year survey gave the same results
• Class structure: Organized Chaos!
• Need a focusing/starter activity
• Then “required” assignments
• Additional “fun” assignments to apply learning
• Quick conversations - “you have 30 seconds to tell me about your favorite shampoo”
• I think my "focusing/starter" activity is the WSQ chats we have. Sometimes I'll do a quick recap if I feel it's absolutely necessary, and I'll go over the goals for the day.  Then they get right into their groups!
• I just came across some stuff on our hard drive from 4 years ago that I never really used - they do come from the textbook publisher, but there are "chapter projects" and "Make a Decision" problems that ask students to apply their knowledge of what they learned.  I need to look at them more closely, but that may be my answer to some of the "mini-PBL" I am looking for.  At least a start!
• Google Voice!! What a great idea!
• Record a prompt and once a week students have to call in and respond (1 min response)
• I love this! I don't know if I could use it in my math class, but I think it's awesome!!!
• “Ticket to the show” - if you bomb a test, you can have the chance to fix it (we want them to LEARN!) - supplementary assignments that must be completed first
• I revamped my retake policy this year and students had to fill out an "application" to retake a test.  My retake numbers when down exponentially.  I still need to re-think what I want my policy to be.
• Teacher Benefits:
• inclusion of all aspects of language in every unit
• I can finally TWIRLS in my class!
• continue learning even when teacher absent
• students engaged  almost 100% of time
• There is no time to lean back, sit back, slouch, and space out.
• identifying learning gaps
• less reteaching
• My tutoring hours are going to cut back big time next year, and my husband is going to be happy :)  The students don't need it as much!
• never have to deal with “what did I miss?”
• :) wonderful.
• Student benefits
• more time to practice [language] - excited about it
• peer to peer learning, teaching each other!
• Once students get comfortable with each other, they love it and it is so good for them as well!
• more time to ask questions (give the nuts and bolts at home, spend class time asking questions)
• This might be one way I explain the Flipped Class to my students/parents next year. "I'm going to give you the nuts and bolts at home, so that way you can spend class time practicing and asking questions"
• better and more varied assessments
• Still a work in progress for me... there are another couple of sessions on assessment I am going to watch when the archives arrive.
• Student feedback
• “Whatever you put into it, you get out of it!”
• This quote from one of Heather's students is so true.  I think it's true in any class, but even more so in the flipped class because I truly believe every student has an equal opportunity to succeed in a flipped class.  In my traditional class, students who were slower learners, shy to ask questions, or who didn't have support at home were at a disadvantage. This evens the playing field a bit.
• For super-super shy kids - don’t ask the question “do you get it”... ask them “hey, let me see your work” “Hey show me what you’ve done”
• I NEED TO WORK ON THIS BIG TIME!!
• What are you going to change the most for next year
• Project-Based Learning (cross-curricular)
• re-doing the videos to make them better

end of Mark Siegel's presentation (watch the archive)

• Only answer question ONCE - after that, that student becomes the expert
• Structure group more for lowerclassmen than upperclassmen

Random links

• Online Equation Editor  http://codecogs.com/latex/eqneditor.php

• JacDeHaan - His presentation was not recorded or archived :(... so disappointed!  Loko through all this stuff and blog later!
• MM playlist http://flippedlearning.mentormob.com/learn/i/25-studentvideo-interaction-wyoutube-jac-de-haan 
• http://www.techwithintent.com/ 
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtG6yw2IrlI 
• http://www.youtube.com/user/techwithintent 
• storify http://storify.com/techwithintent/youtube-interactive-flipped-conference-2012?utm_content=storify-pingback&utm_campaign=&awesm=sfy.co_c0Je&utm_medium=sfy.co-twitter&utm_source=t.co

• Brian Bennett 
• Summer task: Look all over his website!! http://www.brianbennett.org/ 
• "I am trying to teach your child to be a well rounded individual."@bennettscience

• http://www.googleartproject.com/

• One teacher's video about his Flipped Mastery Classroom
  http://vimeo.com/43880885#

#flipcon12 (Wed morning) - RYAN CURTIS, DALIA ZYGAS

Note: I would highly suggest you check out these sessions yourself as well, because what stood out to me may not be what impacts you the most! :) 

Register for virtual access to all these sessions here.

See previous posts about #flipcon12 here:

#flipcon12 (Monday)

#flipcon12 (Tues morning)
#flipcon12 (Tues afternoon)

This has been an early morning! I woke up at 6:15 to get the first session of the day and I definitely think it's time for a nap! I have a small break before the keynote, so we'll see :)

This morning I was able to see Ryan Curtis' workshop on Algebra PBL with Google Sites, the tail end of Brett Clark's session (will have to watch the full thing in the archive), Dalia Zygas' workshop on alternative assessment ideas, and the last 15 minutes of Kristin Daniel's and Wayne Feller's presentation on the Stillwater project (can't wait to see the whole thing!)

Ryan Curtis is a math teacher who has been having his students basically create their own businesses (using a Goggle site) and then apply the different math skills they are learning to an aspect of the business.  It's a very interesting idea that I would like to look more into once I have time to process.  I really want my students to use more technology THEMSELVES next year and GoogleSites is a great way.  I also like the PBL aspect of what he presented, since I've been looking for math ideas for a while.


Here are some things that stood out to me, which is definitely not all inclusive of everything he talked about... (from Ryan in bold, from me in italics):

Ryan Curtis workshop: Making Algebra come to life - rcurtis@fortsmithschools.org

• Mr. Q-U-E - YouTube
• Awesome math raps on all content. Share with students next year?

• DETAILS OF BUSINESS: Students create their own businesses online and updating the website (on a business consulting team with two other students - so they are editing the other two students’ websites as well!)
• Had his students use Google Sites (google account → share with teacher’s email address only)
• Side note: He thinks that when students enter 7th grade, parents should “own” the student’s email address... The power of Google Docs, Sites, Calendar can’t be just pushed aside! Don’t shuffle it off to the school - parents need to be involved!
• I agree... I am amazed/appalled when students enter 9th grade and don't have an email address. Same thing when a student enters 9th grade with 5 email addresses because they kept "forgetting" the login so they just created new ones. Email is essential in today's world (although some teens would disagree and say they never email, they just text...). We need to teach students how to use email both appropriately and effectively. I am a huge fan of Google, and although some people are hesitant with how much information Google is collecting about them, I am not concerned at this point. I use Google everything - gmail, reader, calendar, docs, sites, etc.
• This is the real assessment!  The “quest” is an afterthought
• What a great authentic assessment! My only concern is: Can students REALLY learn all the content from a unit with this one project? Sometimes I feel like there are lots of small things that are important as well...
• By the end of the year students have a web portfolio of math topics and their applications
• Such a great sample of their work and learning!
• Can use any tool to illustrate their learning BESIDES written notes
• Videos
• Prezis
• SlideRocket
• ScreenCast
• Love all of these ideas and getting students "out of the box" of just typing or doing powerpoints. They need to become proficient with technology. Even in today's "digital native" world, I still have a lot of students who are uncomfortable with technology and have a hard time figuring things out. It's a life skill that needs to be learned.
• Logistics
• Spend extra time at start to allow “personalization” of websites - student buy-in
• • Four great tips. Sometimes I forget that it is worth it to spend the time for students to invest in their projects because I want to "get through more stuff". But, it is valuable and I need to remember that.
• Develop relationships with 2-3 consultants
• I love the consultant idea. Like Ryan mentioned, that basically means they are doing "3 projects" because they have their own + 2 others to look over.
• Highlight a student’s website each week (same website all period all week)
• Great student buy-in... take pride in their work. I need to do this more!
• Call a parent or two on Friday (let them know what is going on and keep them involved)
• I think parent involvement with this is key, especially since it is all online (still private to whoever has access, but still). They need to be informed, but also excited about what their student is doing!
• On Day 1, teacher gives the “hook” (see samples on website) https://sites.google.com/a/fortsmithschools.org/ramseyalgebra/home
• Coming up with great "hooks" will be my roadblock in starting this.  Ryan suggested at the end of his session to collaborate with each other and share ideas so we could just have a huge "bank" of hooks. 
• This website has his "sample" with the full hook, as well as several student examples of varying levels of proficiency
• Have students take a quiz as a group first - they have to get 100% as a group. Once they got 100% on the group quiz, they take it individually and must get an 80%.
• They have four times to retake it
• If they want to retake it again, they have to write a letter explaining why they should be given the chance
• Interesting idea about having students take a group quiz first. They HAVE to get 100% together before they can take it individually. I'm not sure how this would look in my classroom, but I like the idea.
• He suggests looking and using what is out there for the videos first (Brightstorm, Khan Academy, Virtual Nerd, Nutshellmath)
• This was the one thing in his presentation that I disagree with greatly. Yes, making my own videos takes a lot of time... but I feel it is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO important. Will I add those sites to my "supplementary resources" page for my students? Of Course! But I will never send them to those sites as the first point of instruction. I just think it's so important that I am teaching my own kids.
• Take time to show them video note taking
• Passive vs. Active!!!!
• “You write everything down written down in the video... AT LEAST... if not more!”
• I need to make sure to SPEND TIME to do this next year. Students really don't know how to take notes from a video! They are used to passively watching TV or YouTube videos - not learning from them! Still trying to decide how to present this to them - a combination of instructing, modeling, practicing together, etc?
• “Is it okay to give them three or four days to work on something like this?”
• Yes!
• High level bloom’s
• have something to show for it, not just a test
• Have to work on pretty much three projects because they are editing them
• This is my biggest concern with PBL is time, since we already don't "cover" the material. But like he said, this work is high level Bloom's and the students are not just memorizing facts and spitting them back out. We are going to start implementing CCSS next year (full implementation 2013-14 for our district) and I am excited to see how that transitions. Although, in California, of course our state added the full extra 15% to the national standards, so we still have more to cover!
• Email him if you want his bank of questions from his moodle account
• Released questions put on Moodle - I like that students can get instant feedback on those questions for test prep
• Random note, but I would like to do a better/ different job of my "test prep" time for my students...now that CSTs (state testing in CA) will be going away in 2 years :). I like somehow having them online with instant feedback... but yes, it would take a lot of time - he had his TA's do all the work.
• Peer editing
• Just kinda notice as walking around, since most of the work is done in class (some done at home)
• If there is a bad error (spelling, etc), call the whole group out on it (not in front of the class, but in front of the group)
• I asked this question online of how he monitors the peer editing. I think accountability and knowing you are going to be asked about your teammates' work is key.
• Day 1: Give the hook. Day 2: Start taking their group quiz (can move on to individual). Day 3-7 work on team/solo quizzes. Day 8: As a whole class, come back and talk about th eoriginal problem and how the math learned can be used. Day 9: Work on in class. Day 10: Peer edit and turn in. Day 11: Give “Quest” (summative)
• So, I'm glad he gave the outline for a unit. 11 days...Basically 6 days of practice and quizzing before they even get into the projects. I would love to actually see this in action (even clips from each day) and talk to students about it.
• Side note: I have my Math Analysis Honors kids do a Business Plan (full-blown) when we talk about Profit, Revenue, Cost functions and systems of equations. I could totally see them doing a Google Site instead of typing and printing it all. That way they could embed prezi's, powerpoints, videos, etc. It would also be paperless (yes!!!). All students could edit it at any time and they wouldn't have to worry about who has the document. I could see their progress at any time, not just when they decide to submit stuff to me... hmmmm great idea!!!!

Dalia Zygas (@daliazygas) is a chemistry teacher who presented on some different types of assessment she does in her flipped class.  Since I am really trying to focus on differentiation next year, this session was of high interest to me.

Here are some things that stood out to me, which is definitely not all inclusive of everything he talked about... (from Dalia in bold, from me in italics):

Dalia Zygas: Alternative Assessments

Website: http://www.authentic-labs.com/

• Very surprised about their lack of understanding of self-awareness (metacognition). Fail a quiz and not realize that they need to do something else before the test
• “Not knowing that they don’t know”
• I have the same type of students - I am amazed! They take concept quizzes and have to chart their progress (see Sample here), they should pretty much know how they are going to do come the big test. I actually did my Master's Action Research progress on my concept quizzes (see link to my research on the "About me" tab and there is a correlation between quiz scores and test scores. But somehow, the students still think that if they show up on the day of the test without having passed a quiz, that they will do fine on the test!
• So, this makes me think of a couple of things. #1 we need to train our students in metacognition, like Dalia mentioned, and help them to understand "how to know what they know" and "how to know what they don't know" so they can learn more/better! #2 our students need to show us they are ready for a test before we have them take it - the whole thing from yesterday with "don't waste my time or yours by taking a test you aren't ready for!". I have thought several times over the last few years about REQUIRING that my students pass all their quizzes before being "allowed" to take the test, but I just haven't done it yet. I guess I'm afraid that a few students would just be constantly stuck on a unit or concept and never move on. It's the whole mastery learning thing I just am not ready for yet. I would like to think more about some aspects of it for next year though.
• “Concept Check” with teacher
• asking them questions on their work pages to make sure they actually understood what was going on
• Students in shock at first that they have to be able to explain their work
• “So, if this number changed to this, how would that change your problem?”
• “If you can do a problem right here in front of me, I can give you the points”
• Benefits:
• Students get immediate feedback
• Opportunity to discuss what went wrong and refine strategy
• Mastery
• Personal Contact
• Not just “copy work” to get the “points” - teacher doesn’t have to be the detective of who is copying.
• I would love to use this as a form of assessment next year. I always have conversations with my students, but to actually "show proficiency" they do a regular old paper/pencil quiz or test. What is wrong with an oral exam? I love that this also holds them accountable to being able to explain their work and not just "do the work" without really knowing what they are doing, or like Dalia mentioned, just copying the hw from one another. It also provides great feedback to me as a teacher of exactly where my students are messing up.
• Assessment (purposes)
• Demonstrate skills and understanding
• provide diagnostic info
• learning opportunity
• Open resource quiz
• can use notes, hw, etc
• “People in life have resources”
• Must be careful about the type of questions you ask
• I have thought a lot about this as well over the last year. Is it important that my students have all of the steps and formulas fully memorized when in today's world, they can access those via the internet at the snap of a finger? Or, is it important to me that they know how to APPLY them and USE them? The one thing holding me back is the stupid state tests - they have to be able to do those tests with NO NOTES and NO CALCULATOR! So, I feel held accountable to make sure they learn how to do it by memory.
• Also, the three take home tests I gave this year for Math Analysis didn't turn out so hot - my students didn't study or practice as much because they told themselves "Oh it's open note/video/etc". Then when they got to the test and I put really tough questions on there, they were in shock.
• Partner Quiz
• Way harder material that they can’t just do by themselves
• Not announced in advance (that it is partners)
• Submit “best version”
• paired by achievement (top 2, next 2, etc)
• Interesting idea; don't know where that would fit in my class with the way I have it structured where students are not all quizzing on the same day
• Web 2.0 Projects - connect what they are learning with their passions!
• Glogster (another option: http://thenewhive.com/)
• Sliderocket
• Definitely want students doing more Web 2.0 as a normal part of my class! I even want them to have their own blogs that are used throughout the year... still trying to figure out privacy issues.
• Underachieving students
• bright students but not academically successful
• parents aren’t necessarily aware
• students must learn to advocate for themselves
• students want to “slide by” with multiple guess tests
• Does Dalia work at my school?!?!?! :)
• Learning strategy and teaching metacognition by having a plan!
• “Homework is not for me, it’s for you!”
• Kids need to think about their thinking. What is your process? What is your next plan?
• Reflect on the learning process!!!
• Steps:
• Basics
• Practice
• Assess
• Same thoughts as the beginning with teaching metacognition strategies throughout all these differentiated assessments. We need different ways to assess what students know and understand, but they also need to learn how to tell if they really know something and how to keep practicing something until it's mastered. I don't want to be the one to tell a student "you don't get it". I want THEM to know that and then know what to do so they can get it!

Alright!  Last afternoon session coming soon after a quick power nap!  We have Jon and Aaron's keynote, and then I am flipping a coin between two afternoon sessions I really want to go to.  I am SO glad they are archived because then at least I know I can watch them next week after ISTE.  Patience, patience :)