Sunday, January 24, 2016

Blending Old School with New School


The last few weeks I have been looking for ways to make my assessments more effective and quicker to grade. As I reflected on the first semester of school, I found there was one area of my grading system with which I found myself growing frustrated   And no, the sheer amount of grading wasn't one of them. As an English teacher, it's par for the course. 

One area I was frustrated with was the quick beginning-of-the-class review I often give students.  I have done this in a number of ways. Sometimes I verbally ask students questions, but I find only a handful of students have the opportunity to respond. Other times, I have given a paper/pencil option where students respond to a short-answer question or multiple-choice questions. Often these were not quick as students took longer than expected in responding. Many times I would collect their responses with the intention of looking at their results during class, only to find that time has gotten away from me and students were long gone before I could view their responses. This delayed analysis prevented me from helping students who were struggling until the next class. 

These frustrations led me to analyze my purpose for this activity. It wasn't to give students another grade in the grade book, rather I want to know what they understand from the previous day's work. I need the assessments to be quick and to the point, but I also need students' to be engaged in the assessments.

This led me to Plickers, a tech tool that allows me to give quick, formative assessments. It's a quick polling tool. The advantage to Plickers is that students do not need a device to participate. I don't have to wait for students to log in to a computer, or download an app, or try to remember their passwords and log ins. Students use cards that I printed out on card stock. Each card has a multiple choice option on one of the four sides of the card. I display the questions through my LCD projector and students hold up the side of the card that displays their answer choice. I use my phone or iPad to scan the room. 

I have the results I need in minutes. My high school students like the old-school and new-school mix of technology. I like that they are all engaged. 

I don't use Plickers for every formative assessment, but I have found that it is perfect for those quick reviews and checks for understanding I often give at the beginning and end of every class. 

I would love to know what you do in your grading practices that you think are efficient and worthy of you and your students' time. 

Monday, January 18, 2016

New Year's Challenge: Update

On January 3rd, I wrote about my New Year's Challenge of leaving my bag at school. I know to some of my readers that goal seems silly, but it really was a challenge for me.

On January 4th, the first day of my challenge, I walked out of my classroom with only my lunch bag and purse. I actually felt a little anxious leaving the bag at school. There was plenty for me to do if I brought the bag home, which meant there would be plenty STILL to do if I left the bag.  I know the goal of the challenge was to see if I could be more productive during the school day, but that first day back I still had lots to do that evening. 

Still, I closed my classroom door and left the bag there. The next day it was a little easier, but I still felt anxious about leaving the bag at school. When Friday afternoon came and it was time for me to leave, I debated whether to take the bag home again. I decided I had prepped enough for Monday that I didn't need to take it home. And, I didn't. Over the course of the next two weeks, I continued to leave my little bag behind. 

I learned a lot about myself during this challenge. I learned I can relax in the evenings with my family. It felt good to be present with them in the evenings. There wasn't a bag of work looming that kept my attention divided. 

I learned that the school building won't fall in if I leave work undone overnight. Imagine that. 

I also learned that I was more relaxed during the school day despite not completing tasks the evening before. This sounds contradictory, but I think knowing that I was going to have a respite each night from work allowed me to focus more during the day. 

I hope to continue leaving the bag at school. I know there will be times when it is more difficult to do, like when my students' essays come rolling in next week, but I hope to figure out a way to leave the bag at school and rest in the evenings. 

Maybe this will be one challenge that becomes a habit. 


Sunday, January 3, 2016

New Year's Challenge: Leave the Bag

It's the evening before school starts back after winter break, and I find myself reflecting on how I can do my job more effectively. How can I use my intellect, experience, and resources better? How can I use my time more wisely?   

Selfishly, I want to free up some personal time that I feel has been sorely lacking in my life. It's a sad fact that I have read very few books, written very few blogs, and have been too exhausted to help my own children with their homework in the evenings this past year. That has to change.

I know there are some routines that I could put into place to help me achieve a better balance. I just need to figure those out and start implementing them. As someone who loves my job and has a tendency to be obsessive about it, cutting back on my hours will be difficult. Yet, I know it is something I have to do. Somehow I need to find a way to do my job well without sacrificing my personal life. 

I spent a couple days over break researching ways to be more efficient in grading and organization. I had many virtual chats and  read several others' blogs about having a work-life balance. Many colleagues  mentioned the guilt of the school bag. If you are a teacher you know what I am talking about. It's the bag that we stuff full of work--unfinished lesson plans, papers to grade, or notes to write--and then drag home after we leave our classrooms at 5 p.m. We plan to get caught up in the evening, only to find that our family needs us to be present, so we lug the bag back to school and feel utterly exhausted and guilty. 

Several teachers mentioned that they stopped taking the bag home each night. They found that it forced them to be more productive during the day.  At the very least, they stopped feeling guilty when they brought the untouched bag of work back to school. 

I find the idea of leaving the bag at school intriguing. At the same time, this idea makes me a little squeamish. That is why I know I need to do it. I know it sounds ridiculous to some, but for me this will be a true New Year's challenge. Leaving the bag will force me to stop working when I leave the building. That is tough for a type A overachieving teacher, but I feel it is necessary. 

This first week back from break, I am going to leave my school bag at school. I'll check back next week and let you know how it went.

In the meantime, what do you do to set parameters on your work time? I would love to hear your tips.