Posts Tagged 'Time'

Smartphone -1 Computer -0 Speed of Getting to Material

Published September 18, 2011 Computer , Lab , Learn , Material , MLD , Mobile learning , Time Leave a Comment
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I have been using Smartphone / Mobile Learning for the semester in my Spanish class.   The class does meet in a computer lab.  However, the other day, the power of mobile learning and QR codes  shone.  I offered students the opportunity to do an activity on the smartphone or on the computer. The students who used the Smartphone & QR code were on the site and most had completed the  short activity before  the computer students had even logged on the network.  The computer students had to turn on the Windows machine before doing the log in.  The more time we save on getting to material in the classroom , the more time there is for learning.

An additional speed benefit of Mobile Learning /Smartphone and QR codes is that students do not incorrectly  type in the URL (Http://…)  even when I have shortened the url.  When students mistype the url, they have to retype it. Again, wasted class time.

How do you use Smartphones/ Mobile Learning to Speed up getting to learning materials?

My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students, is available through Eye on Education.

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Also, my  book,  Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, is available through Eye on Education.

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Baby’s Learning and Our Students’ Learning

Published February 12, 2009 Accountability , Achievement , Assessment , assessment for learning , Class , Concept , Formative , Formative assessment , Growth , Skill , Student Leave a Comment
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My wife and I  have taken care of our ten month old grandson for two days.  He  now puts Cheerios in his mouth.  He cannot yet feed himself with spoon. Life skills take a long time to develop.

I teach a college composition and research course  in which I spend the whole semester in having the learners develop their essay skills. Most students come in with a very low level of skill. Numerous students write their first essay as one long paragraph with no introduction, no conclusion, no major categories of proof, no evidence and no detailed examples. By the end of the course,  they can write a full five paragraph essay in 50 minutes. We constantly assess and improve upon the various skills in essay writing until they can skillfully use them.

I wonder how much time we spend in our classes in teaching the life skills of our course. Do we give our students prolonged time to learn, practice, and be assessed on their critical skills?  Do we consciously build on the skill over time to get it to a proficient level?  Do we revisit the skill to help them increase in their level of the skill? Do our students finally reach a level that they have developed a life skill of our course?

My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Students, is available through Eye-on-Education.

Reponding to Your Students

Making the learning stick

Published November 17, 2008 Achievement , Activity , Answer , Class , Content , Curriculum , Education , Engagement , Experience , Formative , Formative assessment , Growth , Guide , Instruction , Learn , Learner , Lesson , Material , Meaning , Model , Participation , Teach , Teacher , Teaching 2 Comments
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When I was putting the insulation on my windows, I had two different products. One had the instruction of waiting fifteen minutes before I removed the backing to the two sided tape. The other did not have that instruction. The fifteen minute wait tape was far superior to the other.

I wonder how much time we give our students to stick to their new learning before we ask them to use it. Fisher and Fry suggest in Better Learning Through Structured Teaching that when we give our initial modeling of the new learning, we do not ask students to actively participate but, instead they are to think about this new learning. If they do not firmly understand the modeling before we ask them to practice it, then there is a high likely hood that they will do it incorrectly. Their first steps of doing it wrong will be cemented into their brains. Instead, we can model the learning for them and go over an exemplar of it. We can let them think about the new learning and then scaffold them through it.

Let’s organizing our teaching so that we allow students plenty of time to think about the new learning before they are asked to do it. Let’s let them get firmly stuck to the new learning before they use it.

For any one who is interested in implementing formative assessment in the classroom, my book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Students is available through Eye-on-Education.

Panic Attack: Chalk is the Technology in the classroom

Published September 5, 2008 chalk , chalkboard , Classroom , Computer , English , LCD , technology , technology integration , technology-infused 2 Comments
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I’m teaching as an adjunct at a community college which is part of the state system. I was shocked when I went into my classrooms and discovered that chalk was the technology. There was a dusty overhead in the corner. There was no computer and no LCD. For as many years as I can remember I’ve had a computer and projector in my classroom. Now when I want to use images in the classroom, color coded items in a paragraph, graphics to highlight a writing aspect, Youtube clips as a writing prompt, I cannot. Apparently, English teachers do not need technology. This English teacher does!

I am finding it very hard to go backward in terms of teaching. I’ve covered the chalkboard, erased it, and written over it again. So much wasted time. Each class is in a different room so I have to rewrite the same thing. I certainly am not going to write a long paragraph on the board.

I may have to  resort to buying transparencies so that at least I can show some items- about $1.50 per transparency. I may use up my pay for the courses just in transparencies.

I need  technology for my classroom so that I can spend more time teaching and less time writing on the chalkboard.

Time to Teach or Time to Learn

Published May 13, 2008 Achievement , Learn , learning , Student , student learning , Teacher , Time , Time on task Leave a Comment
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I was talking with another educator who teaches the same course I am now teaching. He spends the first half of the course in teaching about how to give a speech and then, in the second half of the semester, he has the students do speeches. I have my students give speeches after the third class. I think that I have scaffolded their speeches so that they can be successful in including all of the elements of good speaking. The proof will be tomorrow when they give their first speech.

Do you spend much time in teaching the material and then give the students a little time to practice it or do you present the material quickly and then give the students much time to practice?

Time for Formative Assessment?

Published January 28, 2008 Accountability , Achievement , Assess , Assessment , assessment for learning , Formative , Formative assessment , learning , Time , write , Writing Leave a Comment
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I have been trying to apply a formative assessment approach in my writing class. Based on the learning gaps that my students demonstrated on their diagnostic writing, I developed a checklist for proficient writing. We went over the list in class. Then I used that checklist to assess their next writing. Sixteen hours later I am still going over their papers with about five papers to go. I’m assessing about 64 papers. Most teachers do not have 16 hours+ to develop to assessing two sets of papers. I am not happy over all of the time I’m spending and I wonder how much students will actually improve based on the feedback.

My guess is that the students will be shocked at their 2 out of 4 (4= above proficiency) rating. Probably I gave them too much detailed feedback to be effectively; research shows that 2-3 salient points are best. If I use a more general writing rubric then the rubric will only serve a summative purpose and not a formative one since the rubric will not offer help to the reader on how to improve specifically.

Teachers are caught in a delicate balance between wanting to give formative assessment and yet not wanting to spend hours and hours on an assessment. I’m searching for a middle road where the students get formative assessment on their writing that helps them to improve and where I do not spend my life in giving them formative feedback.

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