Evaluating Learning

When I was in school I always thought that teaching techniques like using a rubric or citing information in a paper was brand new because I wasn't introduced to it until middle school or higher! So as the naive little girl I was I thought wow this teacher really knows what they're doing they came up with this thing called a rubric and it tells me exactly what I need to do to get an "A!" He should tell the other teachers about this! 

Even though I wasn't smart enough to know that my middle school teacher didn't come up with this I was smart enough to know that following a rubric was one of the best things I could do for my grade. Everything was laid out exactly how I should complete my project in order to achieve success. 

The resource I found in the ASCD was The Formative Assessment Action Plan: Practical Steps To More Successful Teaching And Learning. The description of this resources says that:

                "Students perform poorly on assessments primarily because they don't see the relevance of the content they are expected to master, they think they know the material but really don't, or teachers don't recognize that students aren't learning." 

The last part of that statement is pretty powerful! Teachers don't recognize that students aren't learning. Maybe I'm a little harsh, but, how does a teacher not realize their students aren't learning? Isn't that the purpose of formative assessment? 

The purpose of this resources is to ensure the following:

1. Ensure students understand the purpose of the assignment, task, or lesson, including how they will be assessed. 
2. Provide students with information about their successes and needs.
3. Capture the performance data that teachers need to guide student learning. 

Number 1 does a great job explaining the purpose of a rubric. To inform the student how they will be assessed. I think sometimes in education it's all about the element of surprise, for example teachers won't tell students what will be on a test so that they study everything, or they won't share the format of the test, and for what reason. So they stay up all night studying useless information, or so they worry their buts off to realize it's multiple choice. I think that as teachers we need to remember that education is about preparing our students for the real world. And the real world is about preparation and application. It's not a matter of regurgitating what they learned and forgetting it right after the "test." So we should prepare our students. Tell them what we expect and what grade they will receive for the level of effort their willing to put into their work. 

In all of the classes we have I try to draw parallels, because in some ways I feel like the pedagogy of teaching is very linear. And so in the Stoughton reading we learn that there are two main types of rubrics. There is task specific and generic. From there they are divided into analytic and holistic  And so to me the analytic rubric reminds me of a managerial lesson; assessing the students on their proficiency in the area. Holistic reminds me of a operational lesson; assessing the students on their ability to perform the task. We know that in a managerial lesson our goal is that the students would structure their thinking in the way of "solving a problem" per say  And so assessing their proficiency of a subject would be assessing their thoughts and knowledge of a subject. And operational lessons are assessing their ability to do something. So could they make a pen that allows the animals to be gathered and contained. Yes or no. Of course I could always be wrong in the way i'm thinking, I just wonder if for the different types of lessons we're teaching if we should be using a different type of assessment. 

I really like the idea of assessing students using a concept map. Like Warner says in the reading having students complete a lab only shows that they can follow directions it doesn't show that they know what's happening. A few weeks ago our reading reflection was to create a mind map for the principles of teaching. I found this exercise to be very helpful. We know that all learners are unique and learn in different ways. In creating a concept map the students are able to show the connections they make. It's more of a student centered approach. Like the problem solving approach, the teacher knows where he/she wants the class to go but allows the students to get there with little structure and direction. This seems like the same thing to me. With the different formats of concept maps we're able to offer that little bit of structure and direction but the student manages the learning. They complete the map and then we can look at it to see if their forming the right connections or if they need more clarity in a specific area. 

The first story in Chapter 14 is typical of the two types of people we hear about: Street smart, and book smart. I find that in high school the book smart people reign while in college sometimes it's the street smart. They already have the work ethic because they built it up in high school in order to do well. Struggling with a subject isn't a surprise to them they already know they will need to study more. Whereas the book smart individual has more of a fixed mindset in the manner that if they can't do well in a subject it's because they're not good at it.

As educators I think it's important that we don't promote the labels of street smart and book smart because the real question is "how are you smart?" Just as there are different learning styles there are different assessment styles. And we want our students to do well and succeed in order to do that we need to accommodate their need for a more unique assessment if that's whats necessary. In every unit we teach I think we should be striving to have 3-4 different forms of assessments so that our students don't fall under the mindset of "i'm not smart" but instead say "this is how i'm smart!"

I did follow the link in the Stoughton reading for a rubric generator and made this one. I think that's a great resource! I didn't realize they were so easily available!

Problem Solving Approach

Up until the point where Dr. Foster listed the four types of problem I was completely lost. I had no idea how to not only come up with a question but how to implement it into the classroom. The minute he listed the four approaches it came full circle, the light bulb turned on. OOH this is what he's been talking about. I met with Laura, and she said we only need to change a few things and I think it will be a great idea! So I it seemed like it was so much easier than I thought. I planned my lesson and was feeling very prepared. But like usual lessons always sound better on paper!

The first problem I had was that two of my student were not in lab and it changed my plans. My interest approach was to have one student get flowers to another student and from there have them talk about the way flowers makes one feel. I though it was a great interest approach and implemented appropriately I still believe it was. So anyway, the problem came when my students were jerks, Allison went in the hallway and I told Todd to present her with the flowers and I thought, "this should go well..." and the first thing Todd does when Allison comes in the room is throw a punch at Allison! And she throws a punch back! And so he gave her the flowers and as I tried to facilitate questions around this it didn't work. Allison was calling Todd ugly and I was just mad, so I yelled at Allison and sent her to the back of the room. It may have been overkill, but I knew I needed to nip it in the but.

The next problem was that I wasn't comfortable enough with my content area to structure the feedback I was getting from the students. I knew where I wanted them to go with it but I messed up in actually facilitating that.

If I could do this lab over again...

I would have prepared the questions that I asked the students. I think in the problem solving approach the two most important things you can do to prepare is:
                     1. Know your content area
                     2. Prepare the questions for the students
If I had prepared the questions to ask my students if things weren't really going well I would have been one step ahead. I would have been able to rope them back into the lesson.

I would also create a PowerPoint that could lead the discussion. I did have the bouquet which I used to facilitate the conversation. However, having a visual with pictures of flower arrangements would have directed the conversation and created a structure to the lesson.

Once again, I am not very happy with my performance in this lab, but I am very glad that I made the mistakes here rather than in the classroom and it gave me so many ideas for how to prepare lessons that align closely with this one.

The Problem solving approach

The problem solving approach is a great idea! Obviously it's nothing new, generations upon generations have learned through solving problems long before my time. To use it in the classroom is a phenomenal teaching method.

I am excited when I think about students learning through this approach. This approach takes the fundamentals of what you're teaching and applies it directly to the real world. Which we know is a principle of teaching an learning.

As said in the Handbook reading Dewey referred to the problem-solving approach as reflective thinking. Which is a great concept for high school students especially. Students in high school are still forming connections in their brain and forming their idea of the world and what they believe. If these students are following the scientific method in the classroom, they're practicing reflective thinking. It sets them up for success in the real world. They realize that when they are making a decision they must think through the outcome of that decision and determine what they will do. They make the decision, and then reflect on the decision. This is something students will be doing for the rest of their lives and if in the agriculture classroom we're setting them up for this then we're doing one of the greatest services to the students that we can. We're creating reflective individuals of society. How many other professions can say that!?

Demonstration Lab_ Failure to Launch

Of the three labs I've done so far, I would say I had the least success with my demonstration.

I think I had the right concepts and tried to think boldly; However, I definitely need my big eraser for this one.

One thing I have learned through this semester thus far is the power of scripting. In the beginning of the semester and prior to I thought that it was silly. But now when I sit down and think about a lesson plan and how to move through it scripting it helps me to figure out how much time will be needed for each task, and how to give clear and concise directions. But, the one thing I forget to do is script transitions. I always assume that the teacher in me will just kick in and that will naturally happen. But it never just kicks in, it has to be fostered and thought about and then practiced. For my next lab, transitions will definitely be at the top of my list as things to improve on.

The one thing I try to avoid most is teaching with PowerPoint. I hate to create them and I hate learning through them, so I don't want to do that to my students. But rather than shutting out PowerPoint I should instead understand the benefit and purpose and how it can be utilized in my classroom. For example, my lesson was on reading a micrometer. To make things easier for my learners I should have had a micrometer blown up on the screen. If there were a visually impaired student in my classroom it would have been very difficult for them to learn from my teaching technique.

My classroom management technique is randomly calling on students. I have a difficult time gauging "wait time". So I just do popcorn style and call on students. This way all the students are engaged because they don't know who I'll call on, and I think it keeps the energy level up. But, I struggle when a student refuses to give an answer. For example, Todd likes to say I don't know or just refuses to answer the question. So I would really like some input on how to get an answer from a student that refuses to answer the question.

I do think that my classroom is well managed, however my teaching technique for today was not the quality that I can be satisfied with. But, the experience is definitely something to be applied to future lessons like this one! =D