Thursday, January 30, 2014

The Exit Ticket of the 21st Century


I love exit tickets. I think they are a simple, quick way to check for student understanding during or at the end of a lesson, and, through some simple, quick analysis, can inform further instruction. So, please know that in no way I am advocating we say good-bye to the exit ticket.

Instead, I'd like to offer up a new way of thinking about exit tickets, in case you want to tap into some technology and mix it up a bit. I often recommend teachers vary their ways of checking for understanding and their activators and summarizers, because I think variety can keep students engaged and invested. So, "modernizing" the exit ticket is just one more tool to add to the ol' toolkit. 

I can't take any credit for this idea -- I stumbled across it via the following blog from Edutopia. Check it out by clicking here. Heads-up: you may or may not agree with everything this blogger states (check out some of the post's comments for some interesting debate and extensions to the ideas). But, the ideas included about using some digital exit tickets are worth some thought. If you've got the digital means and access, why not try some out and see how it goes? I'd love to hear from anyone who's either interested in doing this OR who tries it out and can report back on how it went.

Monday, January 27, 2014

Time on Task

As educators, we all want our students' time-on-task to be as high as possible. We don't want our students to waste precious learning time! Sometimes our students have other ideas about this, though, and can spend time off-task for a whole boatload of reasons (boredom, anxiety about an issue outside of class, daydreaming, lack of understanding. . . . . ).

While teachers conduct a lesson, check for student understanding, make on-the-spot decisions about objectives and behavioral management, handle interruptions, give directions, etc., etc., etc., however, it can be tricky to factor in a way to document how much time on task (or off!) students are spending.That's where I come in!

As an instructional coach, this is just one of many areas I can help teachers out with by being a second pair of eyes in the classroom. If a teacher has a goal of increasing student time-on-task, it's good to first establish a base-line. How much time, on average, are students already spending on task? As coach, I can come in to observe a lesson and narrow my focus to just recording on- and off-task behavior. Since this is my main focus, I can even narrow my observations further, recording behavior that is on-task, passively off-task, verbally off-task, and actively off-task (all three of these off-task behaviors can benefit from different intervention strategies, so it's important to distinguish among them). Later, I can share my findings with the teacher, presenting him or her with the percentage of time students, on the whole, are off-task during class, and even the percentage of time students are off-task passively, verbally, and/or actively. We can then work together to plan some interventions with the hope of reducing the amount of time off-task. What's great is that I can continue to come in to collect the same data at different intervals, which means the teacher can have very specific data to inform her about how she's doing with her goal, or about how his interventions are working.

Having another set of eyes to collect student data in the classroom can be helpful in a multitude of ways -- this is just one example of the benefits of instructional coaching!

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

There's More Than One Way to Participate in Class

As a student, I loved class discussions. I was in my comfort zone. Asking questions, offering up evidence-based opinions, thinking through something while talking, understanding and making meaning through dialogue -- these were all skills perfectly suited to my learning styles and preferences.

As a teacher, however, I began to notice that class discussions (both formal and informal) were primarily beneficial to the same kinds of student I was (and still am), students with the same types of learning styles I had. Other students struggled with participation in class discussions not because they didn't care or because they were lazy, but mostly because this was not how they learned best. Some of them couldn't keep up with the learning that happens in a fast-paced discussion because this was not the optimal way for them to process and think about information; making meaning through on-the-spot dialogue didn't work for their learning styles.

Now, I'm not saying we shouldn't all have to stretch at times and work outside of our comfort zones; being asked to learn in a way that doesn't match up with your own learning preferences is not only fine, it's a great way to improve and grow as a learner. However, with that said, it is also a good idea to not rely too heavily on types of activities that all fall under the same learning style.

One way to do this is to re-think what participation can look like in a class discussion. There are a myriad of ways to do so, but I'll offer one up to you this week: take it virtual!

There are lots of benefits to having your students participate in an online discussion. It can provide students with more time to process what their peers are sharing, more time to come up with a response that's really phrased effectively. The discussion is "recorded," so you can revisit it anytime. Students can share links to websites and videos and other online resources that help them illustrate their points. And often, the students who shine in an online discussion are those who may be more reluctant to speak up during class -- online discussions can be real confidence-builders for these students, leading to them opening up during class more often.

Edline has an online discussion forum that teachers can set up for their classes to have online discussions. And there are other (free!) sites that offer online discussion forums as well. Two popular, user-friendly sites are Edmodo and Collaborize Classroom -- check them out! 

Friday, January 10, 2014

A CAGE to Set You Free

Did you know there's a cage out there that you can keep your students in? AND it will give them more freedom?

Last night I attended the first of four sessions of a Primary Source workshop, Teaching for Global Understanding. The presenters introduced us to -- yet another! -- educational acronym (because who doesn't need another? I mean, I personally love them!). This one is CAGE, and here's how it breaks down:
Choice
Authentic
Globally connected
Exhibit to authentic audiences

CAGE is a lens through which to view your assessments. The idea is to think about assessments you already give, and apply the CAGE acronym to them. Does the assessment provide choice to students (can they choose their own topic, or product)? Is the assignment authentic -- is it something that people in the real world actually do? (For example, I don't know anyone in the real world who writes book reports. But people do other types of writing in "real life." And people do other types of things to share their ideas about a book in "real life.") Is the assessment globally connected -- does it provide students with an opportunity to explore or investigate global perspectives? Finally, can there be an authentic audience for the student's work -- is the audience more than just the student's teacher and classmates?

These factors -- choice, authenticity, connectivity -- can be real motivators for students. Don't pressure yourself too much, though. Not every assessment you give can (or potentially even should) meet all the requirements of CAGE. But it's excellent food for thought -- can all, or at least almost all, of your assessments meet at least half of CAGE? Can some of them meet all of CAGE? 

If you're interested in designing some assessments (or updating assessments you've given before) so that they motivate students, engaging them as global citizens and empowering their ownership over the assignment, please let me know! I'd love to provide you any support you need or want in freeing your students -- and yourself -- through the use of a CAGE.