I just wanted to thank those that voted for me in the Best Individual Tweeter category and who voted for Edchat in the Most Influenial Series of Tweets. I did a short video this morning expressing my gratitude.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Edublog Award Thank You!
Last night was the Edublog Awards Ceremony. It was a wonderful experience to join Steve Hargadon, Sue Waters, and everyone else in Elluminate to hear the winners announced. There were so many awesome blogs, Tweeps, social networking services, audio and video sites that were nominated. If you have not already, head over to the Awards Site and check out all the nominees. You are bound to find some really awesome things!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
New Posted Resources 12/17/2009
Classroom Assessment | Basic Concepts
Summative assessments are typically used to evaluate the effectiveness of instructional programs and services at the end of an academic year or at a pre-determined time. The goal of summative assessments is to make a judgment of student competency after an instructional phase is complete
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Summative? Formative? I Just Wanna Know What My Kids Don't...
I was once a young teacher, fresh out of college, bright eyed and bushy tailed, full of great ideas. There were all these things I wanted to try with my kids, new ways of teaching and figuring out I was doing the best job possible. Then reality. My teaching was stuffed into a box and I was told that the only way to understand what my kids were learning was through testing. Standardized Testing. Data, data, data...I was confused. That totally went against what I was taught in college but I was young and new and didn't want to make waves. I fell in line and did what I was told...for a year. Then it dawned on me. It's not all about data. It is all about kids.On #edchat last night participants discussed and debated Formative and Summative Assessments and their role in the classroom. They also examined the role of the teacher and the student when it comes to assessments. It was, as it always is, a wonderful discussion full of insight and interesting ideas.
Here is some of what was said:
- Formative assessments are a teacher's bread and butter. We use all sorts of techniques from formal to quick and easy to see if our students are gaining understanding. Formative assessments are used all the time throughout a unit and the results from those assessments help us determine how to continue and when to change a lesson, review, repeat, skip, move faster, slow down, etc. Summative assessments are necessary for grading purposes. As was mentioned in the chat parents and other powers that be require some form of grading or testing. I prefer to use projects and different types of products as summative assessments as opposed to paper and pencil tests. -A Teacher
- I think formative assessment can be helpful to the learner and the teacher. So it can play an important role in the classroom. I worry less about summative assessment because I think learning is not about being able to demonstrate knowledge as much as it is developing thinking and knowing how to solve problems. Students of the future will need to know how to be a learner more than they will need to know facts. -A Principal
- Formative assessment lets teachers and students know where they are in the learning process. Summative assessment lets teachers and students know how much of the material has finally been mastered. Both are integral to the learning process. -A District Administrator
- There is a merit to both types of assessment. The key is that they must be used correctly for the purposes of improvement. Teachers should be using formative assessments to reflect on their instructional practices as well as for improving student achievement. The focus should be on learning and not on grading. Grades can occur with or without learning. -A School Administrator
First some background. What are summative and formative assessments? The Florida Center For Instructional Technology at USF has broken it down really well.
"Formative assessments are on-going assessments, reviews, and observations in a classroom. Teachers use formative assessment to improve instructional methods and student feedback throughout the teaching and learning process. For example, if a teacher observes that some students do not grasp a concept, she or he can design a review activity or use a different instructional strategy. Likewise, students can monitor their progress with periodic quizzes and performance tasks. The results of formative assessments are used to modify and validate instruction."
"Summative assessments are typically used to evaluate the effectiveness of instructional programs and services at the end of an academic year or at a pre-determined time. The goal of summative assessments is to make a judgment of student competency after an instructional phase is complete."
Yea, assessments...thats not a touchy subject at all. (Note the sarcasm...)
I will start just like I did yesterday saying that this was not a discussion on just standardized testing. We, for whatever reason, can not change (at least in the near future) that our kids have standardized testing. Those are the mandates put in place by the All-Knowing, All-Powerful, Federal Government. (Note the sarcasm again...it's the last time, I promise.) Whats worse is those at the state level have been drinking the data kool-aid and instead of standing up for education in their state they follow right along. Oh and it could be the threat of revoking millions in federal funds that has them scared to do anything different. (Money has the strange ability to make people stupid.)
So standardized testing (a form of Summative Assessment) is a reality. It's there. We have to deal with it. But just because the state requires one week of testing or a series of tests for your class or course, does that mean testing is the only option? Much to the surprise of administrators everywhere the answer is no.
As many people last night pointed out a test is not the only form of Summative Assessments. Products and portfolios that demonstrate student understanding can provide as much if not more information about learning than a test. Testing is recall. Low-level thinking skills. Products and portfolios, if properly designed, integrate very high-level, analyzing and application skills.
There are tons of teachers out there who use projects and portfolios at the end of learning. But really, how many teachers are taking the time to really look at their teaching and what their students are learning and making changes. Formative assessments can be as simple as anecdotal observations. Watching the kids when they working together, listening to what they are saying, can provide valuable information. Doing a "ticket out the door" where students answer a simple summary question(s) each day can provide insight into who gets it and who doesn't and what changes need to be made.
So lets think about that for a second. You mean to tell me that by having the students take 5 minutes, everyday, and reflect on what they learned, I can understand what they know and what they don't know and how I need to adjust my lessons for the next day?
Why aren't we doing this? If we are doing this, why are we not pushing for more of this type of assessment in the classroom? Yes data is important. Understanding the end product and making sure students "get it" in the end is important. But think about what if you knew if they got it right after you taught it? That is formative. So instead of allowing summative assessments to drive our teaching we need to begin the transition to relying on the use of formative assessments to tell us, not only how our kids are doing, but how effective our teaching is and what changes we need to make.
What do you think? How do you use Formative Assessments in your classroom, or how do you see them used in your schools? What is the role of summatives in your classroom or in education in general? Do standardized tests have a role at all? If you are a parent, which do you prefer?
Image from Google CC Image Search
New Posted Resources 12/16/2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
A Common Sense Approach To Internet Safety
As educators, no matter our title, we are all responsible for teaching kids about the right and wrong ways to use the vast resource known as The Internet. Google and Common Sense Media make that job a little easier with the video I have embedded below.
I like that there are 3 audiences. First, telling parents they need to be involved and know what their kids are doing online and limiting the amount of time they spend online. (Yes, believe it or not, there are some parents out there that have no clue...) The video also speaks directly to kids, telling them why it's important to keep their information private and how to do it. Lastly, speaking to teachers and students the section on information literacy is often left out of discussions like this. Kids need to know where their information is coming from and whether or not it is reliable. And teachers need to understand, they need to reinforce that with their students, both in examples and practice.
So the next time you do a parent meeting to talk about Internet Safety (you do do that, right?) you might could use this video. What other resources do you use? Leave me some in the comments section and I will compile them and post.
Monday, December 14, 2009
It's Great And All, But What About My Privacy?
One of Google's core missions is to catalog and categorize the world's knowledge. They are well on their way with their in-depth search products, real-time search, book search, product search and more. But now they want to make it easier for anyone with a camera and a cellphone to know more about, well, whatever is around them. Introducing Google Goggles. In short, you take a picture of an object and the program returns search results. Want to know more about a restaurant? Take a picture and Google Goggles will tell you the menu, reviews and even automatically dial the number to make reservations. Found a book but want to know more. Take a picture of the cover and Google Goggles will return Amazon reviews and even tell you if you can find it cheaper somewhere else.
Here is the Official Video with some pretty cool examples...
Pretty cool huh?
One question...so what will Google do with all the images submitted? They will have a picture, your cell number (probably) and your location, not to mention other information about you.
Don't get me wrong, I love Google and most all of their products. I exclusively use Google Docs, Google Book search has saved me a few times and I am typing this blog post in Chrome. So Google already knows a lot about me. But do I want them to know more? They say they use the information responsibly and will not sell information or target ads but one has to wonder how long that policy will be in place?
Does all this even matter? With more and more people (myself included) living their lives on the Internet, is privacy even that much of a concern anymore? I could be "googled" and lots of information could be found out about me. So is anything that might be gathered from me using this application any worse?
What about for kids? We teach them to keep their information private, but then use services like Google Docs where Google can see exactly what is in the document (even though they say they aren't looking). This app has great potential in the classroom but shouldn't educators, instead of just taking it at face value, ask questions first?
What do you think?
Note- Google Goggles is only available on phones running the Android Operating System but there are plans to release versions for other phones such as Blackberry and iPhone in the near future.
Update-As you can see in the comments, a kind reader has placed links to the privacy policy for Google Goggles. To you sir or madam, thank you! While that clearly states their policy there is a larger question here. First, do we trust that they will do what they say they will? They have a lot to gain from using that information, but also a lot to lose. There is also the question of privacy in general and what we are teaching our students.
Image from Google Goggles
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