A thought provoking tweet on assessment, a great March Madness in the Classroom activity, 53 Ways to Check for Understanding Chart, and a must-do writing assignment I just learned in a PD workshop called Make-It-Worse/Make-It-Better
As always your feedback on these educational pieces is appreciated. Enjoy!
Here is an interesting take on averaging grades. Provided you weigh all those Units tests equally it is interesting to see how consistent performers can potentially be averaged the same as students who are really up and down... Maybe it should say "This is why it's wrong to ONLY average grades"?
Dr. Justin Tarte
This is why it's wrong to average grades: via @tguskey
March Madness in the Classroom
A timely short article about having books, historical figures, mammals, etc. compete in bracket form much like the NCAA "March Madness" tournament. Students can debate about the best books, most important presidents, use statistical analysis of the actual teams in math classes,etc. Looks like a great educational connection to the actual tournament.
53 Ways to Check for Understanding
A simple and to the point list of 53 ways to check for understanding (formative assessment) all on almost one sheet! Click the download button after you go to the link.
Make-it- Better/Make-it-Worse writing assignment
I am currently having lunch at a professional development workshop entitled "Writing Matters" with two AV staff members. One great writing activity that we discussed that really seems great is called Make-It-Better/Make-It-Worse. This could be a great activity for any class writing lesson and depts. may want to use it for their grade 10 Open-response blitz activity.
Would love to hear if you try this out....
Here's how it works:
1. Have students respond in writing to any prompt
2. Have students grade themselves (1-10 scale), keeping in mind it's their first draft.
**You could also use our own AV 1-4 MCAS open-response rubric
3. Talk about how they scored themselves, and what a draft with a lower score would look like.
For example, if a student gave himself a 7, what would a 5 have looked like?
4. Have students write a second draft, this time making it WORSE. Also have them make a list of what they did to make a second draft worse.
5. After discussing, have students go back to their first draft, and write a final draft, this time making it BETTER. Again, have them make a list of what they did to make the final copy better than the original one.
It was great to see the lists that students made about their understanding of how they made it better and how they made it worse. This really showed a higher level of thinking for these students.
Student statements for Making it Better
- Made the intro more engaging
- Included more details in body
- Used better wording throughout writing
Student statements for Making it Worse
- Non-engaging intro
- spelling issues (not an MCAS concern for us but still relevant)
- No definite conclusion
- strayed from line of thought
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