Today's class activities reminded me of the value in and usage of in-class assignments or points. Today two of my classes watched a video at the end of class and instead of completing a worksheet related to the lesson for the day I decided to simply show a related video and ask students to reflect on five things they learned. It is a really simple assignment that is done fairly quickly, but allows the students to get in some very important learning from the video that requires them to pay attention or miss the information they will need to complete the assignment. It also quickly shows me who is paying attention or not and who can synthesize information from videos and who struggles. These are quick grading items for me as well. I am not so much concern with looking for right and wrong answers as much as who is paying attention, following instructions, and putting effort into their writing skills.
Completing this with two of my classes today actually inspired me to use the concept of in-class points for work with two of my other classes. It was a review day for the 7th grade before their test tomorrow. Normally on review day we go over my expectations for the essay questions and then I give them time to either play online review games I have set up through www.quia.com or to use their study guide. The study guide is not usually a popular item, because the games are more fun and contain actual test questions, but today I had students study for half the period with their study guide and gave points to those that showed me they worked (written work on essays or definitions) before allowing them game time. I will be anxious to see if I see some improved effort on the essays simply because of the time some of them spent with looking at the essays versus their normal aversion to preparation for them.
Sometimes I feel like I place too much emphasis on out of class assignments, projects, or just maybe too many worksheets in general. I need to understand that sometimes giving small in-class assignments can be just as beneficial or valuable as the ones I have students do outside of the classroom.
Monday, February 3, 2014
Friday, January 31, 2014
What Does Grading Have to do With It?
Fridays are days where I try to take it a bit easier on students with the classroom work load; less notes and more activities/videos/no homework/extra in-class work time. It means they are happier and I get more time to catch up with students who need a little extra prodding when it comes to late/missing homework. Lately late/missing work has become an issue in my classroom and is always a constant debate topic among the staff. I previously had a late policy with the high school that did not allow work to be turned in late and offered a penalty for my junior high students, but last spring we adopted a school-wide policy. This means that I am required to take late work and therefore spend a lot of time now hunting down students and trying to extract homework from them. Today was one of those days.
During prep time I always try to grade some homework or I try to find time during videos or while the students work, but unfortunately most of that gets left to the evenings at home. This means that I could end up going a few days without having graded assignments and then one night a week grade several assignments and get the grade book caught up. Students will find that one day everything might look okay on their PowerSchool and then the next they may be missing assignments they had forgotten about. Many students have the work, but just forgot to turn it in. There are, however, a few of the habitual offenders that require homework detentions or structured study hall time. This whole late work thing had me really thinking today. I spend so much time grading the late work and penalizing students that there has to be a better way of handling things. I always think that getting a good score on an assignment would motivate students to do better. It always seems like students don't want to turn things in because it is late and will be penalized. I can't seem to get through to them effectively enough to get them to understand that some points is better than a zero.
As I have been reflecting on motivation and productivity, it leaves me very frustrated. Each day I try to provide students with work time to get started on homework so that late work won't be such a problem, but it still is. Inevitably there are always students who, no matter how much time I give them, will have late work. Even those that at least get a start on it during class time are not guaranteed to get it completed outside of class and turn it in the next day. Encouraging students to use their work time more productively and decrease the amount of late assignments is something that needs my consideration. One of my co-workers approached me today (appropriately timed on her part) about a new grading style they learned about at a meeting earlier in the week. She immediately thought of me. It is about giving two scores: one a late score and the other an achievement score. This sounds extremely intriguing to me and potentially beneficial! I am really excited to explore it further. As part of our professional development this year, I am in a group investigating standards based grading. I have been struggling with it applying to my classroom so this new style may be my standards based alternative. This new grading style has piqued my interest for sure.
As I have been reflecting on motivation and productivity, it leaves me very frustrated. Each day I try to provide students with work time to get started on homework so that late work won't be such a problem, but it still is. Inevitably there are always students who, no matter how much time I give them, will have late work. Even those that at least get a start on it during class time are not guaranteed to get it completed outside of class and turn it in the next day. Encouraging students to use their work time more productively and decrease the amount of late assignments is something that needs my consideration. One of my co-workers approached me today (appropriately timed on her part) about a new grading style they learned about at a meeting earlier in the week. She immediately thought of me. It is about giving two scores: one a late score and the other an achievement score. This sounds extremely intriguing to me and potentially beneficial! I am really excited to explore it further. As part of our professional development this year, I am in a group investigating standards based grading. I have been struggling with it applying to my classroom so this new style may be my standards based alternative. This new grading style has piqued my interest for sure.
Thursday, January 30, 2014
The Chaos of Activity
Today my American History was involved in the first day of a two-day simulation activity about the Great Depression. This activity requires them to pair up and make financial based decisions like the ones people would have had to in the Great Depression. They start with $110 and must pay bills, care for their family, and decide where to scrimp and save in order to make it to the end of four rounds with money left over. Day one is very basic, but students start to feel the pressure of not having enough money. It is very interesting to see their reactions to consequences of not paying their bills or not having enough money to buy what they think they need. It is activities like these that really help students to engage in a time period that they cannot personally witness and learn about what people had to deal with, even if it isn't exactly what it would be like in real life. I wish I had time for more activities like this or that I was creative enough to come up with more...I found this one on the Internet.
While students enjoy these activities and seem to be engaged in their learning, it leaves me feeling out of control and constantly trying to referee the learning process. A project/activity based classroom tends to be more student centered, which is great for hands-on learners, but at the same time is very loud and chaotic. What I find myself doing more is talking loudly, repeating myself, and having to go around the room to trouble shoot a lot more than normal. What I really hate, is when I break down and threaten to remove the activity from the class if the volume or extra screwing around doesn't come to an end. In many cases it is an empty threat and would often remove the exciting learning opportunity in exchange for a lecture based lesson. I wish there was a better way to make this type of learning more controlled. Maybe the way it is happening is alright and I just need to relax and understand that. I'm not exactly sure what to do about the control side of classroom activities.
Project/activity based learning is always a goal of mine and doesn't always include the disruption of a simulation. Today my 7th graders had an opportunity to be a bit more creative with their assignment than a normal worksheet may be. They had to create a soundtrack of five songs about Benelux. The songs could not be from the country or simply just songs that were popular in the countries, but instead they must be songs that describe the country. They must list the song title, artist, and a description of how the song is a descriptor. For example, they could select Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend by Marilyn Monroe and explained that Antwerp is world famous for their diamond cutting industry. These kinds of activities require students to use their technology to search songs and create an album while using the information taken down as notes during the class period. These types of activities are more controlled and can be quietly completed unlike a simulation or group based discussion/interaction.
The simulation from American History is interactive with history and fun for students, but at the same time so are creative projects like the soundtrack assignment. Both require knowledge and decision making, but at different control levels. I like an interactive classroom and I like both kinds of activities, but I feel like the chaos is counterproductive. Sometimes I find myself wondering if control during an activity can be taught or if it is just the way things are supposed to be. The confusion and control issues are definitely something I need to work out when it comes the activities used in my classroom. History without active learning would be a boring lecture class and counterproductive to my goal of making history fun.
While students enjoy these activities and seem to be engaged in their learning, it leaves me feeling out of control and constantly trying to referee the learning process. A project/activity based classroom tends to be more student centered, which is great for hands-on learners, but at the same time is very loud and chaotic. What I find myself doing more is talking loudly, repeating myself, and having to go around the room to trouble shoot a lot more than normal. What I really hate, is when I break down and threaten to remove the activity from the class if the volume or extra screwing around doesn't come to an end. In many cases it is an empty threat and would often remove the exciting learning opportunity in exchange for a lecture based lesson. I wish there was a better way to make this type of learning more controlled. Maybe the way it is happening is alright and I just need to relax and understand that. I'm not exactly sure what to do about the control side of classroom activities.
Project/activity based learning is always a goal of mine and doesn't always include the disruption of a simulation. Today my 7th graders had an opportunity to be a bit more creative with their assignment than a normal worksheet may be. They had to create a soundtrack of five songs about Benelux. The songs could not be from the country or simply just songs that were popular in the countries, but instead they must be songs that describe the country. They must list the song title, artist, and a description of how the song is a descriptor. For example, they could select Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend by Marilyn Monroe and explained that Antwerp is world famous for their diamond cutting industry. These kinds of activities require students to use their technology to search songs and create an album while using the information taken down as notes during the class period. These types of activities are more controlled and can be quietly completed unlike a simulation or group based discussion/interaction.
The simulation from American History is interactive with history and fun for students, but at the same time so are creative projects like the soundtrack assignment. Both require knowledge and decision making, but at different control levels. I like an interactive classroom and I like both kinds of activities, but I feel like the chaos is counterproductive. Sometimes I find myself wondering if control during an activity can be taught or if it is just the way things are supposed to be. The confusion and control issues are definitely something I need to work out when it comes the activities used in my classroom. History without active learning would be a boring lecture class and counterproductive to my goal of making history fun.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Classroom Incentives
Today is Tiger Ticket Tuesday...even though it is actually Wednesday (no-school day Monday pushed our week off a bit). This essentially means we try to flood our students with Tiger Pride tickets to try to increase their positive behaviors. Every Tuesday our fearless Tiger Pride leader reminds us of ways we can promote positive behavior in our classrooms and throughout the school and then reward the students with tickets for the weekly drawing. Normally I am very bad about doing this regularly, but I do try to make a conscious effort to give out more tickets. Wearing them on my lanyard seems to be helping, but inevitably I am just not in the groove of remembering to reward good behavior with tickets.
Today, I made it my goal to reward students who were on task with their work time. As I reflected yesterday on my concern over productivity, I tried to see if I could encourage good work skills by giving students displaying those skills with tickets in an attempt to encourage other students to copy the good behavior. My entire first period class did wonderfully and I reward them with tickets, but I found myself getting side tracked throughout my class periods with helping students and not remembering to give out tickets like I should have. By the end of the day, I was back to shushing students and trying to get them to work quietly, when I should have handed out tickets and in a way bribed the students to behave. It is something that I am sure could work, but will take some definite focus on my part to remember to give out the tickets.
These Tiger Pride tickets have often gotten me wondered about why we are rewarding students for doing things that they should already be doing. Schools have changed so much that required or expected behavior has to be coaxed from students instead of it being automatic. I can remember when sitting still, paying attention, and working quietly was how it should be an anything else was unacceptable by everyone involved. Now, I find myself having to bribe students to behave and rewarding them for behaving. In a ways I suppose I have to look at the tickets like an incentive to work in the classroom just like a paycheck is the incentive to work at your job.
Today, I made it my goal to reward students who were on task with their work time. As I reflected yesterday on my concern over productivity, I tried to see if I could encourage good work skills by giving students displaying those skills with tickets in an attempt to encourage other students to copy the good behavior. My entire first period class did wonderfully and I reward them with tickets, but I found myself getting side tracked throughout my class periods with helping students and not remembering to give out tickets like I should have. By the end of the day, I was back to shushing students and trying to get them to work quietly, when I should have handed out tickets and in a way bribed the students to behave. It is something that I am sure could work, but will take some definite focus on my part to remember to give out the tickets.
These Tiger Pride tickets have often gotten me wondered about why we are rewarding students for doing things that they should already be doing. Schools have changed so much that required or expected behavior has to be coaxed from students instead of it being automatic. I can remember when sitting still, paying attention, and working quietly was how it should be an anything else was unacceptable by everyone involved. Now, I find myself having to bribe students to behave and rewarding them for behaving. In a ways I suppose I have to look at the tickets like an incentive to work in the classroom just like a paycheck is the incentive to work at your job.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Productivity in the Classroom
Productivity to me means getting things accomplished during the time given. For me, that is a problem. There always seems to be too much to do and not enough time to get it accomplished. During a given day we are given a single class period to prep for other classes, tutor struggling students, meet and hopefully collaborate with other teachers, grade, and hopefully relax long enough to pump yourself up for the rest of the day. Time is something we obviously do not have enough time of in a given school day. On a day like today, where we had a two hour late start, that time is an even greater commodity. More things to accomplish and an even shorter prep period for it. In exchange for that, I try to come in early and very rarely do I leave "on time" according to our contract. Productivity is extremely important to the day and the more I can get accomplished at school, the more time it leave for me to do non-school things at home. I have often admired those teachers who have the ability to do it all at school and leave school at school, because in nine years of teaching I haven't been able to do it. School is always part of my nightly routine where I try to be as productive as possible with both school and home things.
Productivity of students has become a new focus for me. It has always been a goal of mine to give students a chance to be productive in the classroom when it comes to homework. I really have always tried to give students an opportunity to get started on their homework in class and maybe even a chance to get it done, by giving them some work time at the end of class. I know that many of them have other obligations in the evenings whether it be school or home related or they may just want a chance to get started and ask questions if need be. Technology has really been a big assistance to me in this category. All of my students use my Moodle site to download the daily notes where I have placed them with blanks in the lesson. They fill in the missing words as I go through the PowerPoint during class. It has enabled me to explain more material in a given class period in a shorter amount of time than I was previously able to do. Students are able to fill in the missing words quickly and then listen to what I am explaining. Previously, note required students to hand write all the information and it was a much longer process. Technology has allowed me to give more homework/productivity time at the end of each class.
This end of the class period time does not always go as I plan. During several of my classes, this homework time where I would like to see students get productive often will get used for talk time. Groups of students will move around the room with their friends and work on the assignments. Many times throughout the day I find myself having to hush them, break them up, or making them go back to their seats. What I wanted to be productive time almost seem unproductive most days. There are exceptions to the rules every now and then with the students that will always use their time or the occasional class that are all good workers, but more often the naught it isn't used as I want it to be. This is a change that needs to be made in my daily classroom routine.
Productivity of students has become a new focus for me. It has always been a goal of mine to give students a chance to be productive in the classroom when it comes to homework. I really have always tried to give students an opportunity to get started on their homework in class and maybe even a chance to get it done, by giving them some work time at the end of class. I know that many of them have other obligations in the evenings whether it be school or home related or they may just want a chance to get started and ask questions if need be. Technology has really been a big assistance to me in this category. All of my students use my Moodle site to download the daily notes where I have placed them with blanks in the lesson. They fill in the missing words as I go through the PowerPoint during class. It has enabled me to explain more material in a given class period in a shorter amount of time than I was previously able to do. Students are able to fill in the missing words quickly and then listen to what I am explaining. Previously, note required students to hand write all the information and it was a much longer process. Technology has allowed me to give more homework/productivity time at the end of each class.
This end of the class period time does not always go as I plan. During several of my classes, this homework time where I would like to see students get productive often will get used for talk time. Groups of students will move around the room with their friends and work on the assignments. Many times throughout the day I find myself having to hush them, break them up, or making them go back to their seats. What I wanted to be productive time almost seem unproductive most days. There are exceptions to the rules every now and then with the students that will always use their time or the occasional class that are all good workers, but more often the naught it isn't used as I want it to be. This is a change that needs to be made in my daily classroom routine.
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