During CEP 817, my goal has been to tackle the problem of “Students failing to develop 21st century skills through out Science curriculum”. We are tasked with following the design process. This week we are plotting through the Ideation phase of the design process and were encouraged to brainstorm thoughts, ideas, and questions related to our problem. The goal is not to come to a specific solution, but to think up possible solutions and trot through questions that we have. Below our my brainstorming notes.
This process was great and applicable to the current path my school is taking to implement one-to-one devices. As we as educators are encouraged to be innovative it is easy to skip the step of “ideation” and jump right to “prototyping” and “building”. But, in order to be innovative and creative it is important to take the time to just THINK. We need time to think up crazy solutions and ideas related to our problems. I would even add discussions with others as apart of this brainstorming process. Creativity takes time. So let the creative juices flow and stop and THINK before creating.
This course has been one of my favorite courses that I have taken yet in the MAET program. CEP 813 has gone beyond the virtual walls of this classroom and infiltrated my current classroom environment. It was well taught and very applicable to my current classroom. As a result of taking this course, I begun to completely rethink every assessment that I give to my students. It has pushed me to create rich assessments and utilize technology to engage students and create powerful assessments. I hope others are able to learn even a small portion of what I have learned through my assignments and posts. Read about all the wonderful things I learned in this course this semester by clicking on the link below.
Throughout CEP 813, we were asked to create a formative assessment that reflected the best practices that we learned for an effective formative assessment. After 3 iterations, my assessment is complete. This process has taught me to closely analyze the assessments that I create and give to make sure they are not meaningless, but are utilized for providing good actionable data that informs instruction.
Below you will find the link to my Formative assessment in 3 stages as well as my project-based formative assessment. Hopefully, through the process of my iterations you too may learn to critically evaluate the assessment you give in your classroom. I know I certainly have.
Through CEP 820, we are asked to create an online course. During the creation of my course, it has gone through several iterations. The goal for my course was to create a self- paced blended learning environment that could provide the needed instruction while creating opportunities for great differentiation. I designed my course to be easy for students to follow with different folder colors for each lesson with a picture to match, different font colors to emphasize key elements, a consistent structure, and brief and simple written instructions. Each lesson was created to display the learning objective prominently and in easy to understand language so students understand their goal for the lesson. Next, instructional videos were embedded, followed by the bulleted listings of student homework to complete. I chose to add the answer keys for the students to use to assess their own learning along the way and identify areas that they may need to relearn. This process helps students to take ownership of their learning. I created quick quizzes after each lesson as a quick way to assess student learning along the way. They are self-graded and are used as a quick formative assessment. Based on the data pulled from these quick quizzes, I can identify which students need to meet with me for one on one or small group direct instruction. Utilizing instructional videos is an important part of self-paced learning because it allows each student to get instruction at their own pace and also allows students the opportunity to revisit core instruction as often as they need, which is a luxury that students cannot do with whole group instruction.
Self-paced learning has afforded me the opportunity to create an environment with high levels of differentiation that whole group instruction simply does not allow. The goal for all the lessons is not to simply complete math worksheets, but for students to master the skills being taught. With self-paced learning, I am able to create an environment that fosters maintaining a growth mindset and allows students to learn from their mistakes. In traditional whole group instruction, students that are not yet proficient in a skill are forced to move on before they are ready to keep up with the pace of their classmates. However, in self-paced learning each student is able to spend as much time or as little time as needed on a lesson and assignment.
In addition to the traditional math assignments, I also tasked students with discussion posts to link their math content to real world situations. This will help them transfer their knowledge to real world situations and see that math is not just in the classroom, but all around us. I also require assignments where the students video record themselves teaching an audience how to solve one of the word problems from their book. Teaching content requires a higher level of understanding. Through this assignment, I gain a better understanding of what students have learned and what holes there are in their knowledge. Later, in the lessons I also give students a performance task that requires them to apply all the content they learned to produce a tangible and functional pyramid.
Some pitfalls that I have faced would be technical issues in general. Every once in awhile, the school WiFi will have issues which makes it difficult to access all of our math instruction. You should always have a backup plan that does not require internet access in case this happens. Other pitfalls I have faced would be students cheating on assignments since the answer keys are provided. At the beginning of the year, we have a long discussion about this very issue. We discuss how the only person they are hurting if themselves when they cheat because they are cheating themselves out of learning the material. I explain to them that when it comes to quizzes and tests, the truth will be shown. It usually takes about 1 or 2 students cheating to teach the whole class a lesson. The truth will always be found out. Most students follow the honor system and only use it to check their work. Integrity is a citizenship skill that is important to teach students and this process provides a great opportunity to do so.
Overall, integrated technology and creating a blended, self-paced learning environment is a constant learning process. Be constantly evaluating your processes and how it works for your students. Just because one process worked for one group of students doesn’t mean it will work for all. This year alone, I have changed the design of several things to meet the needs of my current students. Start small when creating your learning environment. Creating a blended or flipped course is not a small task. There is always room for improvement, so don’t be afraid to jump in and try new things. Learn from your students. Kids these days are so tech savvy that sometimes they can teach you new things or have great ideas to help the class. Learn together. Don’t forget to have fun in the process as you become an innovator!
This week, we were asked to make a few tweaks to our original CMS assessment and talk a little deeper about it. 3 minutes certainly goes by quickly! I did my best to discuss everything within the time frame. Below I answer each criteria more in depth.
Rubric 4.0 Alignment
Open Ended Questions: This quiz assesses students problem solving skills. Math is difficult to have open-ended questions with because the answer is either right wrong. However, students can arrive at the answers by using different methods. A performance task would better fit this criteria.
Teacher Feedback: When the teacher grades each question there is an option to provide a comment to give students more informed feedback to enhance their learning.
Timing of Assessment: This assessment is given after Lesson 9 in Unit 1 and used to assess students’ learning of the core content up until this point. This leaves plenty of room for reteaching.
Transfer of Knowledge: A performance task would allow for better transfer of knowledge, but this assessment does use a word problem that presents them with a situation that students might face in real life. This allows them to start making connections to the real world.
Self-Assessment: The assessment allows students to review their answers before submitting and make sure they answered everything the way that they wanted.
Inform Instruction: This assessment is timed perfectly to use to inform instruction. It is given after Lesson 9 to assess their fluency of 2s, 5s, 9s, and 10s multiplication and division. Based on the assessment, I pulled small groups of students to reteach the skills that I saw they needed help with. We used manipulatives and additional practice problems with discussions to make sure they understood the material.
Aligned to Learning Goals: The assessment is linked to the Common Core Standards for students and parents to see on the assessment. It also closely tests their fluency with the 2s, 5s, 9s, and 10s, which is the goal from Lesson 1- Lesson 9.
Flexible not Fixed: This is difficult to do outside of a performance task for math, but I allowed students to record their answers on the word problem as an option for expressing their thoughts and answers. I also made the questions short answer rather than multiple choice so students can express their answers in different ways.
Self-Monitor: Their scores are given in a timely manner so that students can see how they are progressing in completing Unit 1 with proficiency.
Positive Learning Culture: This assessment is given to inform instruction which helps to teach students that we can learn from our mistakes and always improve in our learning. Is it also part of the self-paced learning that allows each student to progress through their math at their own pace.
Interaction between the CMS assessment tool and the learning that my students will have: Schoology is a great CMS to used that allows for self-paced blended learning. This allows each student to get the instruction that they need. This affords me the opportunity to really push the students that are excelling and reteach lessons to students who might be struggling. I can individually assign lessons and assessments as well. This assessment tool allows me to differentiate by allowing students to record answers which helps students who might not be good as expressing themselves in words or type. This CMS tool allows me to provide quick feedback to individual students that helps them to learn and inform their instruction.
This week we were asked to look at the power of using games in the classroom and more specifically Minecraft. Since Minecraft would not download onto my computer I was given a different assignment to evaluate a different online game that I found could be used for assessments as well. I chose Prodigy games. Prodigy is used to assess students on their Math knowledge that is linked to the Common Core Standards for the grade level you selected for your class. Students show their knowledge of the content by answering questions correctly or incorrectly. The program then creates diagnostics for the teacher to use to inform instruction and track student progress. It is a great tool to use for assessing student learning because it is engaging and students feel like they are playing a game rather than learning. It also does the work of grading and analyzing the data for the teachers. It creates quick actionable data.
It aligns to Rubric 4.0 in several areas. It provides promote feedback stating if the answer is correct or giving them hints to help them learn and adjust if their answer is incorrect. It can also be used in the middle of instruction and creates reports so that teachers can use the data to inform their instruction. It also aligns the questions students answer to the different Common Core Standards to show how it aligns to the goals of the classroom. Prodigy is a great gaming assessment to use in the classroom for Math skills.
“Gamification” as it has been coined is making its way into the education system. For years, teachers have been taught to activate students prior knowledge and make connections to students’ backgrounds and cultures. In today’s world, this means video games. 91% of children play video games (Camp, 2011). That is a staggering percentage of students who participate in a culture that our education system is only beginning to tap into. Why is “gamification” in education important and how can it be utilized for curriculum and assessments in the classroom?
Gamification is important for the classroom because it bridges the gap between students’ main entertainment and education. Students are spending hours gaming and fully engaged. Yet, teachers complain about the inattention of their students on simple tasks. When the two areas are merged it creates an environment where learning becomes fun and rewarding. In the gaming world, players are constantly rewarded for their actions and successes. Schools are looking for students to have the intrinsic motivation that, especially at an elementary level, they have yet to develop and quite frankly since the rise of video games appears to be dwindling. Gamifying curriculum motivates students to learn and as Gabe Zichermann (2011) said come back to the activity again and again. Many times we hear “gamification” and we automatically think online gaming. We think this must mean we have to transform our classroom curriculum into an online world. But as Zichermann (2011) stated through this many examples of “gamification” in the workplace, that is not the case. Gamification can simply mean applying the ideas of “gaming” with social interactions and rewards to our classroom curriculum. Zicherman (2011) goes on to explain how gaming requires everything listed for creating a more fluid intelligence. Isn’t our goal in education to help students become better critical thinkers? Why then, would we not use the tool that students are already drawn to to help achieve that goal? Take the curriculum that we already teach and gamify it by creating levels and ways for students to “level up”. Integrate activities that require social networking where each student has a skill or “power” that they need to complete the assignment to show their understanding of the content. Utilize online games for assessing students learning and allow them to gain the positive rewards that they desire. Gaming can be a powerful tool that can help bring education to the 21st century and teach students the necessary skills of problem solving, critical thinking, multi-tasking, social networking, goal setting, and hard working.
This week, we were asked to create an assessment using the CMS of our choosing. I chose to use Schoology as my CMS. I currently use Schoology in my classroom for my Flipped and Blended Instruction and I absolutely love it. It has so many amazing features to help students learn, connect parents, provide timely and effective assessments, and create engaging lessons. Schoology has already enhanced the learning of my students in many ways. For one, I am able to differentiate instruction in a way that I was unable to do on my own. Schoology allows me to create individualized lessons or tests and assign them to specific students or groups of students without any other students knowing. It creates a great environment for private differentiation that allows all students to feel success.
This week, we were asked to focus on creating an assessment using the CMS of our choice. I created an assessment for my 3rd grade Flipped Instruction Math course. I chose to create our Unit 1 Math Quick Quiz that is being used to assess their learning over multiplying and dividing whole numbers. The quiz I chose is given in the middle of instruction and therefore meets the “timing” criteria on my rubric 4.0. This assessment’s primary goal is to provide actionable data for the teacher to use to inform instruction, which meets a second criteria on my rubric 4.0. I chose to make the test short answer instead of multiple choice because I wanted to make sure that the students really understood how to find the answer and did not simply guess the right answer.
Schoology is a great platform for providing online assessments. In previous years, I used Google Classroom and had to link my online tests from other assessment creator sites. With Schoology, all assessments can be created, graded, and synced to my gradebook. Schoology gives the creator many choices for their assessment. You can chose to make your questions true or false, short answer, essay, multiple choice, ordering, or matching. They can all be made to be self-checked as well. You can add word banks, pictures, or media. You can also choose to let students answer by creating an audio clip or audio/video clip. There are so many possibilities for creating your assessment. I highly recommend Schoology as a CMS and as a platform for online assessments.
View my assessment below to see a sampling of Schoology and their online assessments.
This week I critically compared three CMSs to determine which CMS would be the best fit for me. I chose to look closely at Schoology, Google Classroom, and Weebly. Schoology by far had the most features and best use as a CMS. Google Classroom had a few features that would warrant it a good CMS, but still fell short in comparison. As for Weebly, I never considered it much of a CMS because it functions more as a website to push out information and not as a place for students to turn in assignments for grades. A good CMS should minimally be able to allow students to turn in assignments for a grade, contain a gradebook, allow communications between students and teachers, differentiate instruction, and house flipped instruction materials. Schoology won the comparison for the best CMS out of all three by a landslide.
I CMS I am choosing to use for this course is Schoology. For one, I currently already use it for my classroom. It has amazing features for a CMS. There are great organizing tools and many ways to create Flipped Instruction. Tests and quizzes can be created and graded within Schoology. Discussion posts can be utilized as well as surveys. Students can communicate with each other as well as the teacher. Parents can be synced to student accounts. The gradebook is held within Schoology and can be synced to Powerschool. I can also embed outside links, videos, forms, etc. right within Schoology. Schoology has many apps that can be linked to it such as Dropbox, Evernote, GoogleDrive, Youtube, Khan Academy, and so much more. Through my experience, it has proven to be one of the best CMS options out there.
To see a more detailed comparison of the three, look at the document below.
This week we were asked to explain more in depth the lesson process that leads to our formative assessment. In iteration 2.0 I explain how the Project-Based assessment is an end of unit project that follows Flipped/Blended instruction in Math. Students work at their own pace during the Math unit to complete the unit. At the end of the unit, students will complete this Math assessment and then a required Unit 1 assessment. To gain more information about the aspects of my assessment, please see the document below.
During CEP 817, my goal has been to tackle the problem of “Students failing to develop 21st century skills through out Science curriculum”. We are tasked with following the design process. This week we are plotting through the Ideation phase of the design process and were encouraged to brainstorm thoughts, ideas, and questions related to our problem. The goal is not to come to a specific solution, but to think up possible solutions and trot through questions that we have. Below our my brainstorming notes.
From: 
Techy-Teacher 
