Special Needs 2 - Creating Products to Assess Mastery in the Online Environment

The project I am choosing to write about is called Gardens and Functions and it comes from an Algebra I class.  The objective of the project is to have the student show that he/she can compare and contrast functions.  In the project students are to show what the dimensions of a garden would be if she had 50 yards of chain link fencing to use to build it.  The student has to show all the possible dimensions that could be used to create a fence that would have this much fencing.  The students are then asked to pay attention to the area of the garden because area determines how many plants can be grown.  So, after looking at the perimeter, the student then has to do all of the possible area combinations of the garden.  Then the directions say later in the summer the gardener decides to use the fence for rabbits.  So the student has to decide how many square feet of space each rabbit needs and then determine the best way to utilize the length of fencing to make this happen. 

The idea of this project is really good, and it is quite encompassing.  But I think for some students it would be quite overwhelming.  I do like how it incorporates many facets of this unit of material and if a student does this correctly, then I do feel like they would certainly be showing complete understanding of the material.  But for students with anxiety or who struggle with organization this would be a very difficult project for them to complete, at least all at one time. 

One way that I would consider altering this project would be to chunk the assignment for certain learners that would benefit from it.  I might even eliminate certain parts of the project.  As I stated earlier, it is quite encompassing and I think many students would be overwhelmed by this project.  Another option, if I didn’t want to eliminate sections of the project, would be to allow students to complete one part of two parts of the project. 

Another option for choice would be for them to complete the project instead of the written test.  As we all know, a lot of students are not good test takers for many reason – a big one being test anxiety.  If they had the option to do a project in place of a test they could really excel and show that they have learned the material even though they might not be the best test-taker.  If the student chose to do the project instead of the test, he/she could use one of the many free online math graphing tools available to them.  This would allow them to learn about a very cool online program while also showcasing what they learned from the unit. 

Special Needs 2 - Specific Strategies for Online Differentiation and Personalization

Option 2

As a math teacher sometimes the process for learning material can be difficult to differentiate because discovery lessons don’t always work for every topic in math.  However, it can still be done just maybe not with every single topic or at least not have an many ways to differentiate every single topic.  The first method for learning the process I would use would be to have written content for the topics.  Steps for how to solve the problem would be given and the student could have access to these steps and return to them as often as needed.  If we were solving equations, then I would have each step written out and the overall goal of solving an equation.  For students who like being able to have a list and follow it, I feel like this would be a great option.

The second method I would use for learning the process would be to have instructional videos.  This would have two benefits:  the audio would help those who are auditory learners and the visual would help those who are visual learners and can remember how to do something once they have seen it done.  These would also be able to be accessed by the students at any time so they could reference them as often as they needed.  I do this quite often even in my face to face classroom (record the lesson I teach) so that kids can go back and watch how to do it if they forget.  It also comes in handy when students are absent from a face to face class. 

When it comes to the product of showing what has been learned and how well it has been learned I would give two options: traditional test or a project that goes hand in hand with the content.  For the traditional test students would showcase what they have learned through the unit by answering the given questions correctly.  Since I am a math teacher, part of answering them correctly would be to at least show how to set up the problem and then what their final answer is.  I know that a lot of students are very good at mental math so they may not need or want to show every step of their work but I often tell my students if I can at least see how they set up the problem then I will know if they made a careless mistake solving it or if they were completely off from the beginning. 

For the second option I would offer students the opportunity to complete a project that is directly correlated with the standards have been covering.  In many cases the state has created “spotlight tasks” that are great culminating tasks for units.  I would require the students to follow all of the steps of the project and then have a final “product” that might even be used on display in a classroom.  This would be a great option for students who do not like taking tests or who get anxiety from taking tests or simple are not good test-takers.  Also, this would give students the opportunity to share their creativity while also showing what they have been learning in the class. 

Special Needs 2 - Best Practices for Online Communication

I chose to write about option 2 where the student with the 504 plan is doing very well but not turning assignments in necessarily in order of the pacing guide.  One thing that could be going on with the student is that they are just following what is listed in the content and not necessarily following the calendar that the teacher sent out.  I have had students do that and they sometimes end up turning in work late or much earlier than the calendar says.  It could also be, since the student has a 504 for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder that she starts something and doesn’t finish a task at the same time.  Maybe she gets distracted before finishing something and then gets to working on something else and sort of gets out of order that way. 

The first method of communication I would choose to use is a phone call.  Phone calls often clear up so much confusion and answer many questions that the parent and/or student has about the course.  It is sometimes much easier to have conversations over the phone rather than trying to type out everything you want to say and put it into words that make sense.  I would call the student the first time I noticed assignments being submitting out of order to help avoid the same thing happening in the future.  I would expect the outcome of the phone call to be positive and have the student begin to follow the course schedule in the correct order. 

The second best practice of communication I would choose to implement would be to send a personalized email to the student.  It is possible that the student lost the schedule and doesn’t know where to find it in the course.  So I would send an email and remind her that she needs to follow the calendar so that she doesn’t get any late penalties.  I would also compliment her for turning such great work and working so hard in the course.  I would attach the schedule for her to have and remind her to contact me any time she has any questions.  I would expect the outcome of this method to be that she would begin following the schedule in the correct order.

The third best practice of communication I would choose would be assignment feedback.  In the feedback of an assignment that the student turned in early I would say something like “You did excellent on this assignment but please make sure you are following our course schedule.  If you need help finding it please don’t hesitate to send me an email or call me.”  If the assignment was late I would obviously apply the late penalty but would also address the fact that it was late and to remember to follow our course schedule.  I do think most student read the feedback so I would think this method of communication would also be effective. 

Summer Lunch and Learn 2018

This year's lunch and learn was full of great and very useful information.  Unfortunately, I was unable to attend live because my face to face school had already gotten  back in session!  The recording was just as informative though.  I do like the idea of the escape room to help the students become more familiar with the course and where to find things.  I know when we did the escape room activity at the PLS, it was great!  I really enjoyed going through the activity.  And although I feel quite comfortable with our policies and procedures, there were a few questions that did make me second guess myself!  So it was nice to have a good review of them.

For this lunch and learn activity I am going to focus on some of the O365 tools that I learned about that I am begin using right away.  I feel like I am pretty well versed in using O365, but these were some nice little features that can easily go overlooked.

Office 365 Templates

Email Template:

Oftentimes I receive the same question in an email from students that I have to respond to over and over again.  For example, most semesters I take the projects out of my course because I feel like there is enough work already in the course and I save the projects for extra credit or remediation opportunities.  Each semester I get numerous emails from students asking me if they have to complete the projects even though there is a strike through them on the schedule.  I created a template email to be able to send out each semester (and probably more than once each semester) about this topic.  I also set up an email template to remind students of our weekly synchronous session.  These are things that will ultimately save me time and are not very difficult to do.

Filtering Emails by Conversation:

As we all known we get many, many emails each day.  So, I liked the idea of filtering my emails by conversation.  This organization feature makes it easier for me to locate emails and keep track of what I still need to respond to.  It also helps me keep track of parent communication that is done through O365  (not coming through THESIS).  

Calendar Template:

The last feature that I chose to highlight is the use of the calendar template.  I use my O365 calendar for a lot of things.  It helps me stay on track with when I have meetings, due dates, etc.  I chose to make a repeating calendar event to remind me and even have the ability to send to my students of our weekly synchronous session.  I am hoping this will be a way that I can increase attendance at my live sessions.  We'll see how it goes!

The lunch and learn was very beneficial.  I am glad I was able to listen to the expertise of the colleagues that shared the various tools.  I look forward to implementing the escape room next semester and putting these tools to use!

Special Needs 1 - Developing an Individualized Plan

In looking at the two Individualized Education Plans, it is obvious that Plan B is the preferred plan.  You can tell almost from the very beginning of the 504 that B is the preferred plan.  Plans A and B both begin with describing the student’s disability, but plan B also gives a short synopsis of what her teachers have reported about her.  It states in addition to the description of her disability that she is a hardworking student who is determined to overcome challenges that she faces.  This extra insight into the student’s work habits is beneficial when determining the appropriate accommodation. 

Plan B gives much more detail about the accommodations that the student needs.  The percent of extended time on tests is specified.  The amount of extended time on assignments is given.  The expectation for reduced coursework is specific.  The check for understanding is specifically laid out as a weekly check in via phone, email or synchronous session.  Also, it is stated that she should be given the option to respond orally so that it is less strain on her eyes.  It is important that any individualized education plan be as specific and detailed as possible. 

For Plan B the only thing that might suggest is to add in how the student/parent should complete the expectation and how often it should occur.  If these things are not specified in the 504, then no one will not the guidelines for how it should be done and there will be no documentation to hold anyone accountable. 

There were several reasons that I did not choose Plan A as the best example of an individualized education plan.  There were not very many details associated with the accommodations that were being requests.  All stakeholders need to know the exact details of how they re to carry out the accommodations.  If things are not specified then chances are, every teacher will handle them differently.  An effective IEP/504 plan will have precise details and give direct guidelines. 

Special Needs 1 - Accommodations in an Online Environment

I had a student with juvenile arthritis a couple of years ago.  It turns out that same year my four-year-old daughter was also diagnosed with juvenile arthritis.  This is a condition that presents itself in many different ways and every kid has different symptoms and joints affected.  Typically, there is a lot of inflammation in the joints that is accompanied by pain.  My student that had the disease was affected mostly in her knees and hands.  She was on medication that was an infusion every six weeks.  This caused her to miss school days to go for her infusions as well as her doctor’s appointments.  She also would miss school on days where it was very cold or we were having a lot of rain because (like we have all heard) the weather does impact how your joints feel, especially when they are already compromised. 

I believe this student would have truly benefitted from the option of taking her high school classes online.  She would have loved to have the ability to not have to be in a face to face classroom for 7 hours a day.  She also would have benefitted from the flexibility of the schedule of assignments.  And lastly, she would have enjoyed the one on one contact she would have had with her online instructors. 

The fact that online students do not have to be in a classroom for hours each day would have helped my former student out tremendously!  She would get so behind from missing classes for doctor’s appointments and infusions.  With online learning, she could have done her lessons when it worked with her schedule.  Also, on the days when she wasn’t feeling well or was in significant pain, she could have taken the day to rest and then get caught up with her assignments when she was feeling better; if her work was completed by the assigned due date.  The one on one contact with her teachers will be invaluable to her. 

As with most high school age students, one challenge would be the self-motivation.  When you have more flexibility to get work done, it is very easy to put it off until the due date or possibly even miss a due date.  This takes intentional planning on scheduling by anyone but especially teenagers.  Also, it takes a bit of adjustment time to get used to reading and following the schedule that is provided.  Switching to online classes is like most new things, there is a learning curve involved.  But if the student is motivated to do well and continue in this educational setting then they will do what it takes to succeed.  For some students this take a little monger to figure out, but once they do it is very rewarding!

Special Needs 1 - Applying Strategies and Best Practices

Kali’s Other Health Impairment

Kali’s diagnosis of Lupus allows her to be served under the diagnosis of Other Health Impairment.  I would have concern after seeing that she has several absent periods with her login history.  I would be impresses that she took the initiative to email me as most teenage students do not take that type of role in this situation.  I would email her back to discuss my expectations but would follow it up with a phone call.  I have learned that oftentimes, phone calls are more personal and give more detail than emails. 

I would offer to meet with Kali in a synchronous session time to go over material that she has missed.  If she cannot attend my regular hours, I would work with her to find a time that would work for both of us.  I would also contact the case manager about seeing if I could reduce her coursework schedule.  There are typically items that are not considered the “meat” of the course and could be eliminated as required assignments for Kali.  Most importantly, I would stay flexible with Kali.  Students who have health issues such as this can have some periods of time where their focus is not on their schoolwork, it is on there health.  And ultimately, that is where is should be!

Hopper’s Dysgraphia

Hopper’s diagnosis of dysgraphia allows him to be served with an individualized education plan.  I would start by checking in with his case manager to see if she has any suggestions on what she thinks would best help Hopper.  I would also suggest giving him the option of submitting audio recordings of his reports or typed reports instead of handwritten reports.  Students with dysgraphia typically struggle so much with their writing that I would need to keep in mind what a challenge that is for him. 

I would also be concerned with Hopper’s confidence in himself.  I would try to encourage him and let him know about all the good things he is doing.  I would let him know I can see what great effort he is putting forth and encourage him that hopefully being able to submit his reports in another method (like I suggested) will help his grade because I want to focus on mastery of the topics. 

Jigsaw 104

Link to Recording

As you can see a screenshot my storyboard is above. 

• In my session I used pane 1 to help my students put a face with a name and turned on my webcam.  I like to do this a few times throughout the semester, just so my students can see me and know that there is a real person behind what is going on in the class!  I would like to add some music to use for future sessions as well. 
• In pane 2, as you can see, I have my Welcome Session Powerpoint.  I use PowerPoint quite often in my sessions.  I like to enlarge the presentation so it is easier to see and I use the follow me pointer a good bit as well.  That is very useful in helping the students know what I am referring to and where I am on the slide.  
• In pane 3, I used a survey.  I do not think it showed up in the recording, but as you can see from the screenshot it was there.  I also used the notes feature and discussed the benefits of using that.  
• In pane 4, I have a fun image loaded.  I like to use these to make the room feel a little more comfortable and also to know that I am present and working in the room also!  I sometimes like to put informational images there in pane 4 as well.  

Reflection:

I have truly learned a good bit from going through these 4 sessions of Jigsaw U.  I have to admit that I was pretty lost in the beginning of last semester, but I feel like I have come a long way with this new program.  I know I still have a good bit to learn and perfect, but I have enjoyed learning about this and trying new things.  I hope I can continue to learn and work to improve my jigsaw sessions.  

Jigsaw 103

PANE 3

For Jigsaw 103, we were to demonstrate the use of pane 3 and pane 4.  Above you can see where I utilized pane 3 to do a survey with my class.  Unfortunately, on this particular evening I did not have any students who up to my session, so I was unable to actually try it out.  But I do look forward to trying it again in the future.  As you can see I survey was going to help me gather information about what day of the week and time would be most convenient for my students to be able to attend.  Obviously, the night I had selected on my own was not most convenient for my students!  I was also trying to see if they would prefer me to preview upcoming material or what they would like me to do in the sessions instead of previewing new material.  I like the fact that we can gather reports/graphs from these surveys.  That makes it much easier to see what most of the responses are and how to move forward with those responses.

I have also used pane 3 for notes in previous sessions.  I would allow students to post questions and ideas in pane 3.  Obviously, the students enjoyed that.  they felt a little more involved in the session that way.  The map feature that is available in pane 3 is also interesting.  I like to keep up with where my students are located in the state.  So that feature is pretty cool.

PANE 4

Pane 4 is useful for adding fun images, like the one above, and for adding informational images, also like the one above.  I have tried using pane 4 with my tablet to be able to write and solve math problems, but that was pretty difficult.  I hope to continue working on that and improve my use of pane 4.  I think this could be a great tool for teachers, especially in math classes.  But it will just take some getting used to and adjustment time!

Jigsaw 102

Demonstrate the use of Pane 1 (your choice: webcam, video, or audio) for instructional purposes and describe your approach.  Demonstrate the use of Pane 2 (your choice:  presentation, document, or screenshare) for instructional purposes and describe your approach.  Reflect upon best practices for utilizing these two panes.

Provide evidence:  Screenshots with explanation; screencast

Provide reflection:  Paragraph

Pane 1

Instructional Video for Accelerated Coordinate Algebra/Geometry A - Solving Exponential Equations:

In my September 25th class, we were going to be working on solving exponential equations with unlike bases.  This can be a tricky concept for some students to grasp so I thought this might be an opportunity to try out a video on this topic.  This is a nice chance for the students (even if they are not live, but listening to the recording) to hear someone else talk or watch someone else solve a problem instead of it always being me!  Once the video had played (it was a fairly short video), then I went over some more examples of solving exponential equations and was sure to work through them the same way the video had shown.  Sometimes when I show various methods to solve the same problem, students get confused.  So, i typically try to do the same method every time, especially when I am introducing a topic for the first time.  Below are several screenshots of the video I used during my session.  

Pane 2

For Pane 2 I decided to use a presentation.  I have been working on this and am much more comfortable with this than any of the other options.  I have also been working on using the annotation tools when my presentation is a PowerPoint.  It is not perfect at all, but it does at least help my students see how I work problems out.  I am still perfecting my writing!  Below is a screenshot of a presentation where we were discussing characteristics of exponential functions.

Reflection

I am slowly becoming more comfortable with the different features in jigsaw.  It is hard to branch out and try different things once I become comfortable with what I have been doing!  But I am trying!  Some best practices that I have tried to work on is to be prepared before it is time for my live session.  This means I have to have my lesson prepared and uploaded into my assets ahead of time.  I also have to keep in mind that little timer that counts down when you are trying to record your session.  There have been several times when I start right away and the beginning of my lesson gets cut off because it hasn't started recording yet!  Also, I use the red dot (follow me button) a lot when going over items.  That helps my students know where I am in the explanation.  And of course, I always have to remember to check my microphone settings so that my students can hear me and remember to push the "push to talk" button!  

Jigsaw 101

Jigsaw 101

Upload a diversified set of 5 assets into your asset library and tag each asset with a desired system of your choosing.  Demonstrate how you have used one of these assets in a session.  Reflect upon best practices for setting yourself up for success prior to synchronous sessions.   

Here are 5 assets that I have uploaded into my asset library.  I have found that presentation is what I use the most and tends to work the best for my and what I am trying to do with my students.  

Here is where I tagged my assets.  

Here is where I used one pf my presentations in a synchronous session.  I used a Powerpoint presentation to teach a lesson on how to solve systems of equations.  


Jigsaw 101 Reflection 

Learning how to used Jigsaw has definitely had its bumps in the road, but I am starting to feel more comfortable with the program.  Once I figured out how to load the assets in and share them in my session, I started to feel like I was getting somewhere.  While I was much more comfortable sharing my screen in adobe connect to teach lessons, I am slowly getting used to this format.  It is going to take some getting used to, but I think I will eventually get there!

As far as using Jigsaw, I have learned that it is much more helpful for me if I have my lesson prepared a couple of days ahead of when my session is.  This makes it easier when the synchronous session time comes and I already have the presentation loaded into my assets and I can just log in and be ready to get started!  I am definitely keeping this simple for now.  But I am looking forward to learning more about Jigsaw and becoming even more comfortable with the program as we move through the semester.  

Evaluate 3.1.2 Self-Reflection and Teaching Abilities

Self reflection is one of the biggest ways you can improve things in your life.  But in order to do that, you have to listen to what others have to say and be honest with yourself.  Since I have not started teaching the online classes yet, I don't really have any artifacts and digital feedback to post in the blog.  But I can discuss how I feel this training has been and my reflections on my traditional classroom.

This TOOL training has been quite an experience.  When I began I thought it was going to just be a lot of pointless hoops to jump through.  But as I have worked through the many quests, I have found that I have learned a lot of new things!  I have read about so many new ideas and ways of doing things.  I have also tried out and learned a lot about many new websites that are great for educational purposes.  I hope I have the chance to utilize them even more through the GAVS program.

In my traditional classroom, I always try to step  back and look at what all I do with my students to make sure I am doing them every kind of service I can offer them.  I always have to keep in mind that they are teenagers and are still trying to figure everything out!  I feel like I have a pretty good relationship with most of my students and they have gotten to where they are pretty honest with me.  They let me know when I seem like I am in a bad mood or when I didn't explain something very well.  But I try to take that constructively because, ultimately, they are my audience, so they need to feel good about what we are doing in class and understand the different processes.

As a teacher, we have to be able to change things and be flexible with our students.  And that means we need to regularly evaluate ourselves to make sure we are doing right by our students.  We need to stay up to date with the latest trends and happenings so that we can do what is best for our students.  Below is a link to my website for my traditional classroom.  I want to make everything as accessible as I can for my students, so I keep homework, notes, and announcements up to date pretty much every day.

Mrs. Pruitt's Website

Evaluate 3.1.1 Differentiation

I am not currently teaching any GAVS classes and have not ever had the opportunity to do so.  But I am familiar with differentiation and have read a good bit in the resources provided about the LMS that is used by GAVS.  I think as a teacher, a certain level of differentiation is natural.  I feel like I can typically see my students weaknesses and strengths pretty easily.  As a math teacher, it is easy to notice the difference between careless mistakes and completely not understanding material.  When I give assessments, whether they are formative or summative, if I notice problems areas then I know I need to go back over that material.  Sometimes I have to wait until a little later in the semester to do so, simply because time does not always allow me to take extra time on topics, but I make a note to revisit it later.  Sometimes if there is a small group of students that are struggling, I will get them in a group either at my desk, the hallway, or up front while the rest of the class is working on something else and we can go over the problems they are having.  These are just a couple of simple, but usually very helpful, ways to address problem areas.

As far as grouping students, there are several options.  And it depends on what the goal of the assignment is.  Sometimes it is best to group a higher level student with a mid-level student and a mid-level student with a lower level student.  This will usually help some unusual leaders emerge during an assignment or project.  But there are times when you feel you want to keep your higher learners together and maybe mix the mid-level student and lower level students together.  But like I said, it is all dependent upon the goal of the assignment/project.

Earlier this year, my analytic geometry students were really struggling with factoring quadratic functions and solving quadratic functions.  We had done a good bit of work on it, but I gave them a quiz on it and most of my students really did poorly on it.  So, we took a few days off from factoring and moved on to the next topic.  My students were frustrated, and I probably was too!  But at the end of the following week, we used Friday to go back to factoring and reteach and practice.  I gave them several options for working on the practice.  I had some students working up on my smart board so I could check their work.  I had some others working in groups together.  I had some students that just wanted to work on their own.  I was very flexible with how they could work.  But then they had a 10 question graded assignment that was an independent assignment that I would use to replace their low quiz grade.  I have shown some screen shots of it below.  The grades on this replacement assignment were so much better than the original quiz!  This just reminded me that sometimes you have to change your plans up and make sure you are doing what is best for your students.

Evaluate 2.1.2 Rubrics and Competencies

Rubrics and competencies are great tools for setting up structure for students on assignments and projects.  These tell students exactly how they will be assessed and what is expected of them on the project.  Most teachers have used rubrics to help with this.  It is helpful if the teacher will post some examples of what is a poor example and also an example of an almost perfect project.  This way students can get some ideas of what is expected of them.  If you have developed a good rubric, then there should be no subjectivity for the teacher when grading.  It should all be straight forward and laid out so that the student could actually grade his own project based on what the rubric says.  Below I have a couple of screenshots of a pretty good math rubric that deals with math concepts.

Evaluate 2.1.1 Data Driven Instruction, Analytics, Reporting Tools

As educators, especially online educators, we can gain a lot of knowledge from the LMS about a student's background and achievement in courses.  This information can help teachers make decisions to better help their students be successful.

The enrollments and attendance data shows a student's current course load, basic information about a student's classification such as gifted, special education, ESOL, or regular education.  This also lets the teacher know if the student will be taking an EOCT course and an attendance summary.  There are many ways that all of this information could be useful to the teacher.  If a teacher is having problems with a student, she could contact the student's other teachers to discuss the student's progress in their classes and find out about some different approaches that may work in reaching the student.  Also, the special education aspect of this information is extremely important,  This would let the teacher know to be on the lookout for any accommodations that the student might have.  The teacher can also see the student's attendance information and if he is showing a lot of absence, the teacher would need to contact the parent.

The LMS also features a communication log.  There are some cases where the log is updated by the LMS, but for the most part the instructors will have to manually enter each communication.  As online instructors, it is so important that we develop good, consistent relationships with our students and their parents/guardians since we typically won't meet face to face.  We need to remember that parents and students like to hear good things they are doing too!  They don't like to be contacted just because something is wrong.

The course progress feature is a very valuable tool for data collection for the instructor.  This allows the instructor can see how often and for how much time the students are logging in and working on their assignments.  It also shows the number of kilobytes of data used with the tool.  this means the instructor can tell if the students are actually working or just logging in to make it look like they are working!

The last part is how students can monitor their own progress.  It is particularly important for online students to be able to work independently and be self-motivated.  With this tool the students can see grade and they can also see specific feedback from the instructor or see questions missed on tests or quizzes.

The more the instructor uses the LMS, the more it will become an advantage for him and the student.  Knowing more specific information about each students helps the instructor be able to help the student in the best ways possible.

Evaluate 1.1.3 The Summative Assessment

Summative assessments are a tool used to measure what a student has learned in a particular unit of material and to what extent they learned it.  In math the formative assessments are, usually, a great way to measure students readiness for a summative assessment.  Formative assessments in math can be the daily homework assignments, quizzes, and tickets out the door.  All of those things give the teacher an idea of where the students stand with the level of knowledge dealing with that particular topic.  Typically, formative assessments tend to correlate pretty well with the summative assessments.  If I have a student that doesn't do any homework and makes a 40 on a quiz, then I am not surprised when he makes a 50 on the summative assessment.  However, if I have a student that consistently does the homework assignments and makes a 80 or 90 on a quiz, then I expect them to do well on the summative assessment as well.  To measure the validity of a summative assessment, I use the attached spreadsheet (I couldn't get the actual file to attach, so I had to do a screenshot of it).  This spreadsheet is designed to tell you how many questions of each standard you need to have on the test based on the amount of time you spent on it.  This is a very helpful tool to make sure I am not putting too many of a certain type of question on the assessment.  To measure the reliability of an assessment, I check to make sure that the formative and summative assessments line up, for the most part.  To evaluate security, I give two or three different versions of a test.  I also check students work to make sure it matches up with the answer that they actually wrote down.  If it doesn't, then I know something has compromised the security of that test.

I have also included some screen shots of the assessment I created based off this spreadsheet earlier in the school year.

Evaluate 1.1.2 Quality Feedback

As discussed in previous posts in my blog, feedback is essential to a student's education, especially in the area of math.  If a student doesn't know what they are doing wrong, they will just continue doing it wrong.  But as a teacher, we don't want to just be critical and tell students they are doing things incorrectly.  When I give feedback, I try to say it in a way to let them know I appreciate how hard they are working but they just got a certain thing mixed up or maybe did one operation incorrectly, which affected the rest of the problem.  I also try to balance out corrective feedback with complimentary feedback.  I like to try and point out the things that a student did correctly, especially if it was a difficult problem.  In my current traditional classroom math classes, I have a lot of students that will write me little notes on their papers about how bad they thought their graph is or how they think my bonus question is impossible.  I always like to respond to them in a fun way too!  It helps them feel more comfortable with me and know that I have a sense of humor too!  Since I don't currently have my own virtual classes, I do not have any examples of digital feedback to share on here.  But I have linked a few of my previous posts on feedback to show the importance that I think it plays in education.

Communicate 4.1.1 Evaluation Methods and Communication Practices

Communicate 4.1.2 Rubrics 

Communicate 4.2.1 Feedback

Communicate 4.2.2 Digital Feedback

Evaluate 1.1.1 Formative Assessment

Formative assessments are an essential tool to check your students progress and understanding of material.  There are many different types of formative assessments that can be used in a variety of different ways.  It all depends on needs of the students as to what I would decide to use as a formative assessment.  In math, in most cases, the students have to understand the current material before they are able to move on and be successful in the next lesson.  If I see that a student or group of students is struggling with a particular topic on a formative assessment then I know that they are not ready for the unit test and we need to spend some more time working on that.  Or I may need to reteach something in a different way.  Formative assessments are very useful to teachers and students.  Below I have taken some screen shots of some short formative assessment (ticket out the door) type activities that I have used this year in my analytic geometry class when graphing and writing equations or circles and parabolas.

Circles Formative:

Parabolas Formative:

Create 4.1.3 Aggregating Lesson Material

Edmodo - This is a free way for students and teachers to come together and collaborate.  Students typically prefer edmodo due to the fact that it functions much like the other social media that they are used to.  Also, teachers and students can store a wide array of digital content including pictures, podcasts, videos, projects, and more.

Moodle - This is a learning management system (LMS) or platform that allows you to build courses, lessons, and student-centered activities for free.  I was trained on Moodle a few years ago but have never had the chance to use it in an online course or a traditional setting.

Haiku Learning - This site is a good learning management system.  Teachers can create their own classroom pages, add and organize content blocks, change layouts, and publish them whenever they are ready.  You can create your own content simply by using the third-party services that are involved with Haiku.  However, Haiku is not a free site for the full version.  Teachers are free for up to five classes with 2GB of storage but you can upgrade for a fee.  For a school or school district, depending on how many users there are, there is a free trial, but after that it is anywhere from five to ten dollars.

Create 4.1.2 Principles of Building Portable Learning Objects

A portable learning object is the arrangement of content, examples, or any kind of test items into one manipulative object that students have access to.  Most portable learning objects are things like websites, videos, or interactive materials such as games or puzzles.  These are designed to reemphasize the standards that are being taught in the class.

To complete this quest, I focused on a topic that my students has some struggles with in my Analytic Geometry class.  I used the topic dealing with angle relationships and parallel lines.  The first learning object I built using Quizlet.  This was my first experience with quizlet and it is so cool!  It is very easy to use and does so many great things!  I created a simple set of 7 vocabulary words dealing with angle relationships and parallel lines.  From entering those the site created flashcards, fill in the blank definitions, a test with mutiple choice, free response, and matching questions.  It also created a couple of games that the students could play to help review the words.  Below is a link to the quizlet that I created.

Angle Relationships Quizlet


The other learning object I created was using USA Test Prep.  With this site you are able to select the domain and strand of information that you want to focus on.  You are able to take practice tests, do review questions, and play a variety of different games.  I set up a one player game that also focused on angle relationships and parallel lines.  If you get a question wrong, you get an explanation on why it is wrong and what the correct answer should be.  It was brief and a lot of fun!  Below are a few screen shots of the game I created.  I was not able to import the link because you have to have a subscription to use USA Test Prep.