Just a quick blurb to share my excitement! My very first Nearpod Authors presentation is currently available in the Nearpod store!
Download it for free on a mobile device near you!
Thanks also to Nearpod for the mention on the Nearpod Community blog here !
Up to this point in my career, I haven’t really questioned my procedures for grading homework. This year, our staff has been challenged to think about assessment in terms of learning… are we assessing student learning, or student behaviors?
I am still working this out. I need help from others to continue to gain perspective. My hope is by the fall of 2013 I will have a solid homework system in place. Right now, I am still bobbling around, seeking opinions and research, all specifically with mathematics content in mind… because I believe when it comes to grading (or not grading) homework, the content area, specifically with respect to mathematics, can’t be ignored.
I started some dialogue several months ago here, and really enjoy reading different ideas from other math teachers in the trenches. Some of us seem solid in our systems, not questioning whether homework is assessing learning of content or behaviors. Yet, I wrestle with not only *how* to “grade” homework, but whether “grading” homework in math is even fair at all. So, here are my “before and current” homework grading procedures. I’ll follow up with “potential future” methods I’m tossing around.
“Before & Current”
Up to this point, I have graded homework primarily based on completion. There. I said it. And it goes a little somethin’ like this:
3 points: Student legitimately tried every problem, with evidence of work, even if there are errors (This is the first chance to practice a new skill or concept, after all… are we expecting perfection at this point? This is part of the reason I think “grading” homework in math seems inappropriate).
2 points: More than half but not all problems legitimately attempted
1 point: Less than half of all problems legitimately attempted
0 points: Homework not done or not present at due date/time
To encourage math communication, students get into a “homework huddle” at the start of each class (small groups or pairs of students comparing and discussing homework answers, seeking resolutions for discrepancies). While students “huddle” I take a lap around the classroom, glance at student work and listen in on dialogue, recording scores as mentioned above. We come together as a class, I either ask for answers verbally, display the answer key, or use a tool like Socrative or Nearpod to spot-check specific problems. Generally, questions are minimal after a “huddle” since students help one another talk through and correct errors or misconceptions. This process helps me know if I need to do a little reteaching before moving forward as well. To put the homework “grades” in perspective, my current district chooses to weight homework as only 10% of students’ average… which tells me, whether I choose to “grade” it or not, it’s not worth very much. At only 10% we don’t seem to value homework as a “grade”, do we?
So why “grade” it at all? (Am I being devil’s advocate, or posing a legitimate question?)
“Potential Future”
A feasible method to “grade” homework in such a way that scores reflect learning of math content, not behaviors, could be as follows:
* Assign daily homework, as in the past.
* Facilitate a daily “homework huddle,” spot-check work, and listen to conversations.
* Display answer key, or use an app to do a quick check of specific problems.
(So far, nothing in the plan has changed… wait for it…)
* Don’t assign a homework score for each and every assignment. Rather, give a weekly homework “quiz”, perhaps every Friday. Problems on this quiz would be inspired by homework problems, but wouldn’t be the exact same problems. Allow students to use the homework they completed throughout the week as a reference during the quiz (this would hopefully provide incentive to do it, now that actually recording a score for every assignment has been taken away).
* “Grade” the “homework quiz” knowing that students have been practicing on a daily basis, have communicated with one another about the concepts, and have had reteaching classroom opportunities.
Ultimately, if I opt for the “homework quiz” philosophy, I’d like to utilize an app to help with the actual grading or scoring. Socrative could help, but because students can accidentally press the wrong answer choice, it’s not ideal for graded assessments in my experience (I REALLY REALLY hope they change this issue soon because I love their instant color-coded data reports so much!) I am looking into The Answer Pad as an option, and Infuse Learning looks promising, though I prefer apps that don’t require the teacher to manually enter student/class info.
What are your thoughts? Is the “Before & Current” plan acceptable? Should we aspire to assess mathematics over behaviors and embrace a plan more like the “Potential Future”?
Please discuss, and thanks in advance for reading and for your input! 🙂
This post was also shared here.
Happy Pi Day!
At 1:59 my inbox was flooded with Pi Day greetings from my students… who are currently on spring break! Some students sent e-mails from destinations with differing time zones. Most students aimed for 3/14 at 1:59, and a few chose to send me greetings around 3:14.
Before break, I held to my tradition of giving every student this Happy Pi Day greeting card. Students inevitably attempt to memorize the digits of Pi… and the winner this year memorized a whopping 65 digits in no time at all! Though we all understand that this task is highly impractical 😉 it was fun and impressive to see how quickly students could memorize SO many digits! Too bad they didn’t see this video beforehand (how clever is he?)
FOLLOW-UP!
An inspired student studied pi over spring break – check out this amazing feat!
To see additional resources I’ve used to celebrate Pi Day over the years, check out this post. Cheesy Pi Day videos with cheesy Pi Day songs are included. 😉
I didn’t learn about ThingLink until a few months into this school year… and now, I’m hooked! Every unit of study since, I’ve created an interactive ThingLink for students to reference as an anchoring activity, study guide, and “pre-teaching” tool. As my students are currently basking in spring break relaxation, I’ve been preparing this image to help them get focused on the morning that dreaded alarm clock sounds after 9 days off!
I love that ThingLinks can provide instant differentiation too. Some students may prefer to read the text I’ve included, while others go straight for the video and Prezi links. Certain students may benefit from tutorials and the follow-up problems that hold them accountable, while others may find the visual images on the Keynote slide itself helpful, especially the graphs… which brings me to a huge shout-out to Desmos! Not only did I use Desmos to create the graph and table images here, but I also graphed the 4 functions (color-coded to match the ThingLink images) and included a direct link to my graphs for students to explore! Usually when folks ask about a good graphing calculator for the iPad, I say, “Be careful, kids can’t use the iPad for testing so they need to know how to use a *real* graphing calculator…” BUT… there is SERIOUS value in using Desmos for instruction! Color coded graphs… iPad-friendly… AND, you can graph things ahead of time and create an instant URL great for sharing the graphs quickly! Go Desmos!
My hope is that the brain-friendly strategy of showing students information in multiple ways helps prepare them for actual instruction and assessment… which hasn’t even happened as of their first interaction with a ThingLink such as this. As a matter of fact, I allow students time to explore the image, then go around the room asking each of them to tell me one thing they learned… inevitably, students practically teach quite a bit FOR me!
Any great iPad-friendly links that would make this ThingLink even better? Send ’em my way!
Curious about more ways to use ThingLink in the classroom?
Check out this document which is jam-packed with ideas!
Using iPads in a 1-to-1 classroom can be overwhelming at first. So many apps and tools exist that it’s tough to know where to start. Here’s a top 5 list of quick and simple ways to get your feet wet if you have a case of iPad cold feet:
1. Try a Drawing App
Ask students a question, or ask them to quickly demonstrate a skill or concept. Have students answer the question or work a problem using their iPads and a drawing app (such as Glow Coloring or Doodle Buddy). Students can save the sketch to the Camera Roll to reference later.
2. Try a Content-Specific App
If you find an app in the App Store that addresses a skill or concept that’s relevant for your students, give it a try! Using a one-hit-wonder during its time of relevance can be powerful for students. Though you may use the app once during instruction, students often continue to “play” after the lesson is over (Check out exhibit A here). Some math freebies I like are Number Line, MathTappers Equivalents, and FactorMan. Not sure what to try? Ask the students to find an app that addresses upcoming content to suggest to you to preview before sharing it with the class. If you decide to use the app, give credit to the student who found it.
3. Try a “Web App”
Websites that are iPad-friendly can be just as useful as apps! One of my favorite go-to websites for quick yet customizable skill practice is thatquiz.org. ThatQuiz is not just for math – check out the science, foreign language and geography options too! Just be sure students orient their iPads “landscape” rather than “portrait” for this website to function at its best.
4. Annotate a PDF
Save a file you already have and had already planned to photocopy as a PDF. Upload it to your website or use a workflow tool such as iFiles or eBackpack for students to retrieve the file. Consider a topic where color-coding might be important or especially helpful – remember PDFs can be in full color since we’re not photocopying them! Have students retrieve and open the file using an annotating app such as DocAS and mark it up!
5. Socrative
Go to socrative.com and sign up for a free account. Choose several questions that would inform your instruction for a specific lesson (assess prior knowledge, vocabulary, etc. – think of things you might have asked verbally anyway). From a computer, login to Socrative and scroll down to Manage Quizzes. Select Create a Quiz, and give the quiz a name. Select Multiple Choice, then type the first question in the Question blank. Type at least two answers in the rows that follow, clicking the box to the left of the correct answer. Follow these steps for each question. When the quiz is complete, click Save.
Have students download the student Socrative app before your first class quiz. The day of your first quiz, students open the app and type in the teacher’s Socrative room number. The teacher chooses Start Quiz. Select the quiz you want to administer from the saved quiz drop-down menu. Students will type in their own names at the start of the quiz. Want to motivate and excite students? Project the quiz from your teacher login view for the whole class to see, and select “Teacher Paced Quiz”. That way, students will see the live results for each question through bar graphs that change before their eyes. End the quiz, and opt for the report to be e-mailed to you. All of this will happen in mere minutes (including receiving the student data!)
For all of the above: If the rest of the lesson does not involve iPads, it is okay to tell students to put the iPads away. It’s also okay to ask students to demonstrate or help if you need assistance trying something new! Students are eager to trade roles with you.
Remember, we are all learning! Which brings me to share a place I learn a LOT – Twitter! Not sure who to follow or where to start? Search hashtags like #ipaded #edtech or #edchat and follow folks who tweet info that resonates with you.
Here’s another resource full of hashtags to try:
http://www.teachthought.com/technology/the-complete-guide-to-twitter-hashtags-in-education/
And here is a post to ponder:
http://smartblogs.com/education/2013/03/06/teaching-the-last-backpack-generation/
I love teaching mathematics, but I have to tell you… teachers of other subjects seem to be able to use iPads to make a lot more “fun” and “creative” projects than I have ventured to try for Algebra and Pre-Algebra this year. Well, it’s time to break that mold and try something a little different.
Inspired by the current “Harlem Shake” YouTube craze (don’t tell me you haven’t heard of this yet, the kids are eating it up!) it’s time to spice up the Quadratic Formula! Lots of folks have already posted vids of their own renditions… well, later this week my Algebra students are going to be the next YouTube sensation… with your help!
I’m showing them this ThingLink sampling of some of the best videos I’ve found. Check back in a week or so to see our version! I have visions of video editing dancing in my head…
Update!
This Quadratic Formula video mini-project was well worth the 15 minutes of class time! To see it, click the heart icon in the ThingLink above and choose the full screen option.
Last Thursday, I shared the ThingLink above as well as the 4 sample YouTube videos with my Algebra students. Then, students used their iPads to film their own videos. Video files were small, so students simply e-mailed them to me. I spent about an hour editing the compilation using iMovie, and surprised the students Friday by starting class with their movie! They hadn’t seen one another’s songs, since students recorded their videos in the hallway one group at a time. Fun stuff!
Other than enjoying the enthusiasm students possessed while creating these videos, I loved how comfortable they were with the formula on Friday during a lesson on how to use it. Everyone was singing as they worked! When mentioning the discriminant, I would say “b squared minus 4ac” and, right on cue, the class would say, “What?” Who knew such a clever “hook” in the video would help all students remember the discriminant?
I think creating Quadratic Formula song videos will become an annual event in my classroom!
When folks ask me about the impact having 1-to-1 iPads this year has made in my classroom, the very first thing I mention is the iPad’s power in the realm of formative assessment.
When folks ask me about my planning time, and whether it has increased because the iPad is such an amazing tool, capable of amazing things, I offer a resounding YES. Planning time as well as content creation can be a beast when starting from scratch, especially if you have the natural tendency to be very “type A” like yours truly.
However, let me offer you some practical ways to use two of my favorite apps for formative assessment without devoting hours to content creation… minutes, maybe… but not hours. 😉
1. Nearpod “On the Fly”
I’ll be honest – there’s no such thing as using Nearpod spontaneously! However, if you prepare a presentation or two ahead of time, there’s potential for lots of mileage if they’re created as “templates” rather than subject-specific presentations that can be used once per school year. For Nearpod newbies, this app is a-maze-ing. Upload PDF “slides” to Nearpod’s website, then have fun inserting interactive tools along the way so students can participate. Polls, quizzes, and a drawing feature are among the many interactives. Nearpod brings good presentations to life and makes them great!
One “template” that I’ve mentioned before is for homework review. It’s a way to receive a real-time work sample from every student, which allows them to virtually “go to the board”.
Slide 1: Directions about what’s expected My first slide communicates that I’m about to “assign” students a problem from last night’s homework, and each student will show the work for the assigned problem in the assigned ink color. That way, I can easily scan their work samples and see that red ink means I am looking at a thumbnail of work for problem #1, blue ink means problem #2, and so on.
Slide 2: Nearpod asks for students’ names. It just does. And that’s good, because now you, as the teacher, know whose work you’re looking at.
Slide 3: Use the Interactive Drawing Tool. Generally, I choose 3 problems to focus on from last night’s homework, and assign each of the 3 problems to two rows of students (6 rows in my wide and shallow classroom).
So, rows 1 and 4 may be assigned problem #3 to work out in red ink.
Rows 2 and 5 show work for problem #7 to work out in blue ink.
Rows 3 and 6 show work for problem #10 to work out in black ink.
Students know they are not to draw anything that might identify their work as their own, and not too much silly stuff (doodles that could be distracting). Once all students have submitted this work sample to me, I scan all the #3s in red, and “push” a few work samples to students’ screens for discussion. Likewise for #7s and #10s. I select a few correct as well as incorrect work samples to guide discussion. This immediate compare-and-contrast is good for the brain while preserving the identities of students… unless, of course they are like my 8th graders who get very excited to see their own work samples appear on the screen… and tend to blurt out, “That’s MINE! Wait… it’s wrong… oh well!” Using Nearpod in this way has contributed to the atmosphere of celebrating mistakes as learning opportunities, so we are able to “keep it real” when we need help with content.
Slide 4: A “The End” Slide Nearpod requires that the last slide of a presentation NOT be interactive, so thank students or write something clever and/or general here to end the show.
Another way to (almost) use Nearpod on the fly is to create a “template” for assessing prior knowledge about a topic. I call mine “New Topic, or Old Topic?” This is easy to use when you have a hunch the concept you’re about to teach is not brand new to students, and you want to gauge their understanding, or lack thereof, before instruction.
Slide 1: Title Slide – I call it NEW TOPIC? or OLD TOPIC?
Slide 2: Students enter their names, per Nearpod. Thank You, Nearpod.
Slide 3: Student Poll I love asking students to rate their own level of understanding, and then see if their self-rating matches the work and/or 
explanation they give. A Nearpod Poll gives a quick snapshot to the teacher, and is always fun for the students to see. Unfortunately, to anonymously show Nearpod poll results, I must place my iPad under the doc cam and zoooooom all the way in to the upper-right corner of the screen so students can see the circle graph representing poll results without seeing individual responses. A little clunky, and I hope Nearpod adjusts the poll feature so students are able to see it better than this. Students LOOOOVE real-time data that represents opinions of their peers!
Slide 4: Draw Tool to Create a Work Sample I used to stop at the two-minute paper idea of “Get out a sheet of paper and for two minutes, write everything you know about_________.” This is the same idea, but much better
because of the ability to share work samples (anonymously) with students via their iPad screens. I get a glimpse of what students already know, and so do they.
Slide 5: A Non-Interactive “The End” Slide, per Nearpod
Socrative is another formative assessment favorite!
2. Socrative “On the Fly”
Socrative is great for gauging how students did on their homework as well. If all you’d like to know, as the teacher, is whether students are in agreement about their answers to specific problems, but you aren’t picky about knowing which specific students provided the answers, this may be your best bet for a quick homework check.
1. The teacher logs in to Socrative and chooses Short Answer.
2. Students enter the teacher’s Socrative room number to join in.
3. The teacher verbally asks all students to enter their final answer for one specific problem.
4. The teacher watches the answers and, after most students have weighed in, projects the answers for the class to see.
5. Discussion and reteaching ensue as necessary.
While it is a bummer that student answers are anonymous, you really can’t beat the immediacy of the feedback! This same process can be used to initiate a class “Tweet” if you will. Verbally ask students a question, and have them type a brief sentence/phrase explaining their thinking. This is a great way to gauge student understanding or prior knowledge of vocabulary and/or concepts.
Want to take it a step further? Before projecting ALLLLL student responses on the big screen, sort through them first, and eliminate duplicate answers by clicking the red “X” next to them. Once you, as the teacher, have whittled down student responses so each one left is unique, you can send the responses as a poll to the class, and students can “vote” on the answer they think is correct or best. Pretty neat “on the fly”!
Sometimes, it’s really not worth reinventing a perfectly round wheel. What I’m trying to say is, there are some great math print resources I run to on a regular basis when I need a little something extra for my students. With iPads, I am able to provide PDF files for students to annotate, so no trees need to be involved in the process (DocAS is my favorite annotating app to date).
1. Kuta Software algebra freebies acknowledge a precious commodity that most textbook companies fail to deliver, and that is… proper work space for students! Answer keys are handy too, though that is all they provide – answers – no steps. Good enough for me, and good enough for students too! I don’t mind giving students the answers for homework that’s designed for practice. Answers give them a target to aim for, and a self-check to know whether they’re on the right track (assuming the key is accurate, of course). These Pre-Algebra sheets are nice too. See the site for free Geometry, Algebra 2 and Calculus resources.
2. Tutor-Usa also understands the need to provide students with work space, and answer keys that are (mostly) accurate. I favor Kuta, but this is a close second. The Kuta website is a lot easier to navigate.
3. Problem-Attic is a database filled with released test questions that can be customized for students quite nicely! Great for warm-ups, quizzes, cooperative group discussions… this is very a versatile resource!
4. Common Core Sheets organizes resources by topic, and provides gobs of practice for students. Answer keys are also included. Earlier this week, my students worked together and annotated PDFs using their iPads for line plots and Venn diagrams from this site. It’s nice to pick and choose several different topics, then create a custom order to the pages using Preview. I even included the answer keys to the handouts at the end of the PDF file, but students didn’t notice until I brought it to their attention. I love the groans that occur after they realize the answers were just a swipe away the whole time. 😉
5. Worksheet Works provides math resources from the basics up through Pre-Algebra that can be nicely customized.
6. Mathbits.com has some really nice resources for helping students get to know a TI-graphing calculator here.
7. It seems timely to mention the Teach Pi website. Too many great Pi Day resources to mention!
Here’s a Listly of these resources and others I like. I’ll continue to add to this list as I bump into more goodies:
And this little link is just for me, so I can quickly reference it! I just stumbled upon this website I created as project while working on my Master’s degree, and I misplaced it for awhile! If I post it here, I will easily find it again. Feel free to click around! Reminded me of how much fun Xtranormal can be… must dust off that quirky animation tool!
My algebra students have been studying transformations of quadratic functions – most specifically, how does changing “a” and/or “c” in a quadratic function written in the form y = ax^2 + c impact the graph when compared to the graph of the parent function f(x) = x^2?
Students have had a lesson, homework, and a chance to examine graphs using graphing calculators and/or Desmos, but some students still weren’t “seeing it”.
Inspired by this blog post, I used Desmos to create a “Quadratic Chain” activity. Tonight is a “no-homework night” across our district, so I felt that devoting the last 20 minutes of class to this cooperative task would be a good wrap-up.
Boy was I wrong.
It was… an AMAZING wrap-up! Why?
THE CONVERSATIONS!
I was absolutely beaming as I walked around the room, watching students compare, discuss, disagree, and A-HA all over themselves! Boy did I underestimate this one. It was great, and I will do it again! We even created a “gallery” for our “chains” on the wall outside my classroom. Quite retro chic if you ask me. 😉
Here’s the file if you’d like to give it a try! My only wish is that the numbers on the axes were a little larger, but it didn’t seem to impact the activity today one bit.
Quadratics_Chain_Transformations_Practice
Here’s a thorough explanation about how this type of activity works.
Here is a video I took with my iPhone while walking around during student conversations. It doesn’t do justice to all the math talk that was happening, but it’s a little sample!
Not many 24-hour timeframes are as epic as the one I just experienced. Besides wearing my usual “hats” of wife, mother, and teacher, I’ve gotten to wear 3 more, and I like the way they fit!
#3 – Panelist!
This afternoon I had some surprise visitors to my classroom. We had our second official iPad Site Visit at Hill Country Middle School, and while I wasn’t expecting guests this time, folks stopped by to see our classroom happenings anyway! It’s always fun to share ideas and tips with educators moving in the one-to-one iPad direction! I was honored to be invited to our “teacher panel” during the luncheon as well – always fun to candidly share about the happenings at HCMS!
Check out the video, which was streamed live and is now archived:
#2 – Nearpod Author!
I received an e-mail yesterday afternoon that my first Nearpod Author submission was accepted! Yes! This is a classroom tool I truly believe in, and to be a part of Nearpod’s content creation is very exciting for me! TechChef4u Lisa Johnson recently met Nearpod’s top dogs at a FETC conference and shared about our love of Nearpod at HCMS!
#1 – ADE 2013…!
Only hours after doing a Nearpod happy dance, I received the coveted e-mail that I’ve been accepted as an Apple Distinguished Educator! The happy dance took on a whole new meaning, as I found out that Lisa Johnson and Carl Hooker will also be joining the ADE class of 2013! Eanes ISD will have strong representation this year! Here’s my ADE application video. So thankful for the support and encouragement of colleagues, friends, and Tweeps, not to mention Eanes ISD and my awesome students! And thank you Apple, for such an honor!
“The Apple Distinguished Educator (ADE) Program began in 1994, when Apple recognized K-12 and higher education pioneers who are using a variety of Apple products to transform teaching and learning in powerful ways. Today it has grown into a worldwide community of over 2,000 visionary educators and innovative leaders who are doing amazing things with technology in and out of the classroom. Apple is pleased to welcome you to the ADE Class of 2013. Learn more about this group of innovative educators online at http://www.apple.com/education/ade“
