http://www.edutopia.org/blog/5-highly-effective-teaching-practices-rebecca-alber
This article, from edutopia, has five incredibly helpful teaching strategies. I loved the idea of formative assessment, which gives us an idea of what our students are grasping, what they are struggling with, and even evaluate how we teach based on what worked well and what did not. Formative assessment allows adjustments to be made and everyone, students and teachers, to track progress instead of waiting until the end of a unit to test.
Also, feedback is another strategy that I found incredibly useful. I think papers should be given feedback in a conference setting. Too often English teachers write corrections in the margins or draw arrows, but do our students always know what our notes mean? Could we have not processed what our student actually was trying to say? I also think it is also important, as the article mentions, that we allow our students to give us feedback as well.
January 28, 2016 at 12:36 am
I really like these ideas as well! My question for you is how are you going to have the students give you feedback? Or what is the best way? In a sit down chat, a suggestion box, a class meeting?
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January 28, 2016 at 6:33 pm
I love the idea of a suggestion box! I didn’t even think of that as an option. I would like to implement a variety of formative assessment strategies, such as exit slips, journal entries, games, etc.
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January 28, 2016 at 7:02 pm
I love the idea of conferences! Sure, some teachers notes on papers are universal, but I have often left classes where I am not completely sure of what their advice meant. These conferences would be a great solution. You could even have individual conferences about papers or projects even before their final drafts are turned in to ensure that the students are on the right path and have no questions along the way! Logistically, how would you make sure that the entire class has adequate and fair time with you alone? Would you hold all of these conferences during one class period or half conference and half teach?
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February 2, 2016 at 3:39 pm
I often say to my teacher education students that formative assessment is one of the most important things that teachers can do in the classroom. It keeps everyone informed about what a student has learned and helps keep students accountable. Love the suggestions it gave.
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