DanielleV

How do I assess student learning?

Assessment is both formative and summative.  I assess student learning through rubrics, checklists, anticipation guides, conferences, observation, essays and projects.

How do I involve students in the assessment process?

I involve students in the assessment process by providing them with rubrics and checklists and go over them orally before students begin the project or assignment so they understand what the expectations are for a completed project or assignment.

How can projects help my students meet standards and develop 21st century skills?

Project based learning gives students an overview of skills they will use when they enter the real world.  Students learn time management, organization and literacy skills that can be used within a framework outside of the classroom. 

How can I use projects to enhance student learning?

Projects are often a motivator for student participation.  Projects offer students choice and a means to showcase their personalities.  Projects can be used to enhance student learning by offering project choices and designing different projects with all students in mind.

How can I use the Internet to support my teaching and students' learning?

The Internet can be used for research, collaboration, reading, writing and thinking.  Often, the Internet offers immediate feedback which can be important to students.  Additionally, the Internet can be seen as a motivator for students who love to use technology; they are learning without knowing.  The Internet can also be used as a classroom management tool through social bookmarking sites such as del.ici.ous and ikeepbookmarks as a way to keep students on task when asked to research a particular subject or topic.  Social bookmarking can also be used as a collaborative tool that students can add to as they find sites that are relevant to the topic being studied.

How can I ensure responsible and appropriate use of the Internet?

I can educate myself about the best practices for using the Internet in the classroom.  Then I teach, teach, teach students and model, model, model how to be safe and responsible when using the Internet in and outside of the classroom.

The creation of a student sample can help me clarify unit expectations and improve my instructional design because I can see the assignment through the eyes of a student and determine more effectively whether that assignment meets the objectives of the unit.

I can ensure my students will achieve the learning objectives when creating their student projects by creating rubrics that match the objectives, but are written in a way students understand what is expected of them when their project is completed.

How can Curriculum-Framing Questions help support my students' learning?

Using an essential question helps the teacher and the student focus on a theme and understand how that theme fits in the overall scheme of a unit or a project and give students an opportunity to explore 21st Century skills needed to be a lifelong learner and productive member of the real world.  Unit questions give students an anchor to the particular novel or concept being studied while also being a frame of reference to the essential question.  Content questions get to the heart of the standards being covered.  These qeustions allow students to focus on skills that are necessary for completing some requirements such as passing the FCAT or other exit exams.

How can I plan ongoing student-centered assessment?

Using the standards, think about what you want students to learn and be able to produce at the end of the unit.  Through questioning, collaborative work, one-to-one conferences, etc., I can guage my students' level of knowledge and what they have learned and what they need to know.  Planning some of these assessments before they take place, gives me an opportunity to reflect and revise the unit and content questions as well as think about other ideas that fit in with my essential question.