In terms of my first goal of having student design and developing their own academic plan, I have the form created and have found several resources. Some of the resources I have found are: cool math games.com, multiplication drill and programs for the smart board using manipulitives. The idea of students developing their own academic plan is for self assessment. Self assessment is a way that students can use to understand the criteria they are using (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009).
I am finding the resources that I need with the help of my colleagues. Mike Ondayko informed me of a site he uses called portaportal to create online test for his students. A school partner and I have also been working on our test generator and getting tests posted on line. We had success today and found a way to post tests for our students. I have learned that these tests also will allow numeric answers and short answer questions. The short answer questions are not automatically graded but the students have put their answers in a box just as if they would on the state test. These features are important to myself and my department as it allows us to give our students practice with online testing before the state test in the spring. It also helps us create equality within the classroom by working with those students who do not have access to computers at home. We need to provide equity in access so all students can become successful and well adjusted learners (Nieto & Bode, 2008). I have learned a lot about connecting the tests online. Working with the program and trying to find a place to load the tests has been time consuming but will be very helpful. Finding resources are not hard it is just time consuming because I have to check out each site for appropriateness (Eagleton & Dobler, 2007).
I do not need to modify my plan at this time other than the amount of time some items are taking such as developing the assessments. However, I do need the weather to cooperate so I can have time with my students. We have had two-hour delays cutting our class times to about 30 minutes, which is not enough time to instruct my student in setting up blogs and to get through all of the plans.
The questions that have arisen are about time management and organizations. I am concerned about being able to monitor their blogs on a weekly basis and helping the students adjust to taking tests online.
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use. Mason: Cengage learning.
Eagleton, M., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the web. New York: Guilford.
Nieto, S., & Bode, P. (2008). Affirming diversity: the sociopolitical context of multicultural educaiton. Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing.
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Hello Deanna,
ReplyDeleteThe question of properly assessing student’s progress is a big issue. I am also making some of the same considerations as you are. Creating tests and work sheets which can be accessed at anytime does seem to be the way to go. My only concern is for students who do not have internet access at home. We still do have several children who do not have the capability to get to a computer after school hours. Some students mention that they only have one computer in their household. When parents and siblings share it this leaves little time to complete projects. The only solution I have come up for this is to have printed copies of projects / assignments to supply students who are in this situation.
Another online resource you may want to consider is the interactive web site called “free rice”. The web site address is: www.freerice.com
The user gets to choose from a wide range of topics to answer questions on. For every question they answer correctly rice is donated through the World Food Program to help end hunger. There are sections on Math, English, Language, and Art, to name a few. I am just not sure if it covers the areas you need to address. It is worth checking out!
References:
Internet resource www.freerice.com
Good luck with your project.
John M
Deanna,
ReplyDeleteIf you RSS each of your students blogs in perhaps Google Reader, and make a separate subfolder for them, could that help you with monitoring their blogs?In Google Reader it indicates when a blog has been updated, maybe this well help, well I hope.
John,
ReplyDeleteI have heard about "free rice" but had forgotten about it. Thank you for reminding me about it. It does have some areas I can use plus I can work on my students giving and using that information mathematically. We have a very caring school and the students would enjoy making a difference.
Nish,
ReplyDeleteI was going to set up the RSS feed for each of the kids but did not think about a sub folder to put them in. It would definitely help me keep track of them and read them. I do not know why I did not think about sub folders to begin with.
Thanks for the help :-)