Using Technology for Assessments

I learned a lot this course, on how to create or use a variety of digital assessments in the classroom that are beneficial for both students and teachers. 

One important component of classroom instruction is formative assessments. If teachers use formative assessments properly, these assessments can guide small group instruction and differentiation to meet the needs of each student. Online assessment tools can help teachers and students receive feedback quickly, all while making it more meaningful to each individual. I decided to dive deeper into NearPod versus Pear Deck. Here is an infographic I made that shows the similarities and differences of these two tools. Overall, I am in favor of NearPod, as they have more to offer to both teachers and student.  

Another important assessment to use within the classroom is self-assessments. It is so important for students to take ownership in their learning, and assess how they think they are doing. Here is a Goal Setting Sheet: Weekly Goal Work that I created for my students to use when setting goals in reading, math, and vocabulary. I realized that there are so many ways for students to self-assess, and that a lot of technology tools out there can help students self-check, like Google Forms.

Overall, this is was a great course, and pushed me to create a lot of different assessment pieces that I can use with my class next year!

Effective Technology Integration Reflection

This course was really insightful. I learned a ton about what a true essential question is, and how to focus on creating a PBL that match a strong essential question. I thought it was really important to find an essential question that I could revisit in multiple content areas.

I also really loved when we created the Device Management slides when in class. I am going to use a lot of your creative slides in my classroom. I am always looking for easy ways to manage all of the 1:1 iPads in the classroom, and after that class together, I am definitely going to run a tighter ship with their iPads! 'Apple Up' is my new favorite phrase :)

Finally, I loved working on Screencastify, and just how easy it is to use. I think that I am going to try out the flipped classroom for certain units in my math class, and see how it goes. I honestly would have never dabbled in screen casting if I wasn't in this cohort, and I am so glad that I did!

Mastery Learning

I had the opportunity to watch a Talk Talk from Sal Kahn, creator of Kahn Acadamy, and listened to his view on Mastery Learning. He started his talk by discussing how gaps in a student’s learning can cause them to eventually believe that they are not capable of reaching a higher level in whatever academic area their gaps were located. Kahn then talked about being in a position where at the end of a unit, a student’s assessment should that they did not master 25% of the foundational skills, yet they are still expected to move on to the next unit, that ends up being more advanced. This type of non-mastery framework will just continue to widen the gaps, and eventually, there will be a moment where learners will hit a wall, and disengage. This really got me thinking. How are we expecting students to continue to learn more advanced material if they were not able to master foundational skills that they will need to master the advanced material? I think that Mastery Learning is really important, and it is something I would like to focus on, particularly in math. I teach the on-level math class, and students really struggle with foundational skills that they should have mastered years prior. I believe if I can slow down, and allow them to master some of those foundational skills, they will feel more confident, and find greater success once we continue to move on. 

In the article, Mastery, from Instructional Design, it states that “Mastery Learning suggests that the focus on instruction should be the time required for different students to learn the same material.”  We have so many tools readily available to us in order to help students reach mastery like on-demand video explanations, adaptive exercises available for students. I think that because we are in a world with technology at our fingertips, helping students reach their full potential and mastering concepts is possible and should be something we focus on. It is especially possible to differentiate when we have 1:1 iPads, and lots of apps and resources to help students practice concepts to mastery.

Mastery Learning will not only benefit students knowledge on particular topics, but when holding students to mastery learning, they really have ownership in the process, it develops grit and perseverance, and lots can come out of this for the child. Students can interact with each other, dive deeper on concepts, project-based learning, the list goes on. Mastery framework teaches students to embrace what they don’t know, and focus on it, so that they can grow in that area.

“If you let people tap into their potential by mastering concepts, and by being able to exercise agency over their learning, that they can get there.” - Sal Kahn