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. 

Sometimes Technology is Messy

As I have mentioned in a few previous posts, I have returned full time to the classroom and I am loving it. As a result of my three years' hybrid teaching/coaching role, I have been able to really think about my teaching practice and make changes and upgrades to my teaching style this year.  One of the upgrades I have begun working on is using an online collaborative forum where my students can participate in discussions and post work--Edmodo.  I was excited to try this with my classes this year, but realized that sometimes technology is messy. I don't mean messy in the sense of no order and chaotic, but messy in the sense that I will be relinquishing some "control" over to students.

When I introduced this platform to the students, the idea was met with mixed enthusiasm. Some students thought it was "cool" while others were very uncomfortable with the idea that their work would be posted for everyone in the class to see.  Still others, very honestly, asked if I would keep up with the online format  throughout the year. It seems those students had teachers who had tried forums like this in the past only to abandon them as the school year became busier. 

I tried my best to address their concerns and told them that we would all try this for the first semester. If we all hated it, we would abandon it and go back to the traditional method of writing and printing hard copies.  I was very honest with them that this was new to me as well, but I thought it was important for them to learn how to navigate technology in an academic setting. 

Likewise, I shared with them that I wanted to grow in this area as well. I explained that I spent the summer looking for just the right forum.  I chose Edmodo because it was fairly simple. Since it mimics Facebook, I thought it would be comfortable for students, parents, and me. I wanted a "closed" forum  that felt safe for the students and parents. We are four weeks into using Edmodo and my students are slowly coming around to the idea. Also, I am getting comfortable with commenting on their writing entirely through electronic means.

 Now, here is where it gets messy.

Some of my students were ready to jump in with both feet, while others were very hesitant. For the first assignment, only one-third of the students posted online.  Some students wanted to word process the piece and print it off for me and others simply wanted to hand-write the assignment. While I encouraged everyone to try the Edmodo forum,  I accepted the assignment in all forms. For the second assignment, more students posted online, but many still turned in paper versions.  With each assignment, students are becoming more comfortable and are deciding to use the Edmodo forum.

Was this a lot for me to keep up with? Absolutely. Has it been challenging for both my students and me? You betcha. I think it is a worthwhile process, though. I have learned that while my students are digital natives, they haven't had much experience using technology in an academic setting. Sure, they have used computers to research and type papers, but they have rarely used technology to participate in academic discussions and post their work for feedback.  This has led to many impromptu teaching moments.

I don't have it all figured out yet, but I am learning every day. One of the challenges I am facing is deciding when and how often to respond to student posts and work.  After all, it is much easier  to leave a set of papers on my desk at school than it is to ignore the "54 posts" notification on the Edmodo App on my phone. Also, I need to figure out how students can post their work (without printing everything out) as evidence for their paper portfolio that our state asks us to collect each year.

I think my students are appreciative that I am using this forum and learning along with them. So far, I have heard far more positive comments than negative ones. In another couple of weeks, we are going to invite parents to our Edmodo class as "read only" members, so they can see first-hand their students' work and discussions.

 I will keep you posted as we continue on this journey. In the meantime, I would love to hear how you use technology to foster conversations, collaboration, and productivity among your students.