The Use of Social Media to Help Engage Students in the Classroom

Currently in my classes as I am working towards my Master's of Education degree we are conducting research for a Review of Literature before implementing an Action Research project this fall.  Below is the link to the introduction of my Review of Literature as I work towards the use of Social Media in the classroom to help engage students in their learning.

Introduction for RoL: Student Engagement Using Social Media

Concept Map

Using Student Data:Response to Rebecca Alber's Edutopia Blog

Originally written 5/3/2014 for my Master's of Education in Teaching and Learning Classes.

As teachers we are called to adapt our teaching to meet the needs of our learners, and we often do this by collecting data so we can analyze it and draw up a map of where to go.  As Rebecca Alber points out in her blog, there is too much emphasis on standardized testing when really that is just giving us one snapshot of how students are doing.  I think we have to look at is like a doctor would look at an illness.  With those students that are sick (struggling), we may need to dig a little deeper, look more into their educational history (cumulative files) and run more tests (both formative and summative assessments).  While checking through files of all of our students may be ideal, is it always practical when you are looking at teachers that have over 100 students.So, it is not always practical. I also have a few reservations about looking into cumulative files because I feel that it can create preconceived ideas about some students when they really need to come into class with a clean slate. For this reason I have not looked at student files much prior to having them, although I do meet with the grade 5 teacher every year to go through student concerns.  Looking back though, it might actually be better to just look through their files and form my own judgement instead of relying on what the 5th grade teacher may have to say.

To get a better idea of where my students need help I have been trying to be much more purposeful with pre-assessments and then using formative assessments more in my classroom.  I know I have used both in the past, but not always with a clear idea of how I was going to use the data that I collected.  I think one thing I want to look into more moving forward is using those formative assessments more often with struggling students so that I can better pinpoint where they need assistance, while using them less often for students that are doing well, and using more as a check-in.

One thing I questioned in Rebecca Alber's blog is her use of summative assessments.  She made it sound like you use data collected to make adjustments in the future, which I took as the next year.  I don't think that is soon enough sometimes.  While we might be able to gather some small snippets to adjust for the next year, or it may target a concept that students really missed, we might have to readdress that material right away.  We don't want students to miss out on the understanding just because they didn't get it by the time we expected their summative assessment to be complete.  Sometimes students work on a different timeline than we do.

Assessments, Assessments Everywhere, but not a Test to Grade?

Originally written 4/14/14 for my Masters of Education in Teaching in Learning Classes

After attending the Spring Conference yesterday my mind has been overflowing with new thoughts and ideas.  The two sessions that were probably the most thought provoking were the ones on whether homework should be graded and then the use of Standards Based Grading.  In keeping with the spirit of those discussions I read an article written by Dan Meyer called "How Math Must Assess".  Grading in such a hot button topic right now, I think even more so in Math classes.  Do we allow students to retest? Do we make them? Are students at all motivated?  Are we doing them a disservice by allowing them to retake tests?  Should homework be graded when we say that it is just practice?  If we don't grade it will the students actually do it?

I found this article very interesting as he approaches grading more from a standards based approach, but that he in a way created his own standards.  However, one thing he talked about was the stress and all the material that is thrown at a student on a test, and that they often make it difficult to pinpoint where problems are.  They are also very time consuming, especially if we are allowing students to retake tests for better grades.  His approach is assigning each skill a 4 point value and only testing on one or two skills at a time.  Students can go back and reassess (using a much smaller, quicker assessment) to improve their scores at anytime, always taking and keeping their highest score.  Once they have shown mastery of the skill a couple of times it is checked off as completed and the student does not need to worry about being assessed on it again.

He stated that students in his classes are much more motivated to retest and get the help that they need because the pieces are much more manageable and they can easily see where they need additional help.  Is it the correct approach and the final answer?  Probably not because methods are always adjusting and improving, but something that might definitely be worth checking out.

Writing Blogs and Following Blogs

Originally written and posted 3/20/14 for my Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning Classes

I have been a blog dabbler for about a year now.  I have never actively followed any blogs, but usually rely on my PLN on Twitter to direct me to blog posts that might be of some interest to me.  There are quite a few I come back to fairly regularly, but how much they directly relate to my research is another question.

T
he first blog I finally subscribed to is http://flippingwithkirch.blogspot.com/  This blog is written by Crystal Kirch and if you have ever done anything, or are interested in doing anything with a flipped classroom she is a great resource.  She often shares various forms that she uses in her classroom, as well as weekly reflections on how things are going, and then just sharing resources that she finds.  Her blog and website were a great resource when I first began flipping my classroom.  It has been awhile since I visited her blog, so this will be a nice incentive to return.

The second blog I have subscribed to is http://www.tcps.org/blogs/math/ (Making Math Fun). I picked this particular blog because it seems to focus on real life applications of math and how they have designed projects and activities that use real-world math.  I have wanted to incorporate ideas like this into my math classroom, but often feel crunched for the time to design them.  If I can find projects and ideas from this blog it would be a life-saver!!