Technology/ Action Research

I would say I use technology at least once or twice a week in my classroom. For three days this week we used clickers! I really enjoy using clickers and I think the students also like them because they are a break from worksheets and they can instantly see if their answer is correct. In my class I usually introduce a lesson and do a couple of problems. Then I turn the students loose to practice. The next day I have a Smart Board presentation with several problems. Sometimes they are multiple choice questions, (i.e. angle relationships), or they could be solving for a missing angle (entering a number). The students answer the question and then we insert the pie chart of everyone’s answers on the Smart Board. The students get excited when their answer is correct. This gives them more confidence to explain how they worked the problem (I look at the expression on their face before I call on them). I’ve had some students even want to come to the board and work out the problem for the class. By using the clickers, I’ve experienced my students gain confidence and participating in class. They are taking a test on Tuesday and I can see how these grades correlate with doing problems on clickers. I have had some students want worksheets. They like to work more independently and have the problems in front of them.
 

My action research topic is my journey through standards based grading. This is the first time I have been in a school that uses standards based grading. Since students usually receive only one grade per standard this is usually a test grade. However, it could be a project. This brings about the question “what about homework/participation?” I plan to investigate whether standards based grading affects participation in class and completed in class work. There are some students who think because it isn’t a grade they don’t have to do work that day. The way students are motivated to do the work is so they can pass their test. If they choose not to participate in class work they will get a write up for insubordination (not following directions). This tactic has worked so far! I’m very interested in the articles about standards based grading. I hope on finding out what strategies make standards based grading work effectively. As far as data I’m collecting, I’m not quite sure. I can use a journal/blog about my experiences. I could also survey students about participation/tests related to standards based grading.

Assessments (the good, the bad, and the ugly)

One of my students made an interesting comment to me last week. They had taken their test on information from a diagram and naming things such as lines, planes, rays, etc. Needless to say all of the classes did not do so hot. It brought a lot of their grades an entire letter grade down. The test wasn’t multiple-choice like the rest of their tests. Brad* asked why the test wasn’t multiple-choice. “The ACT is multiple-choice and that’s what we are trying to pass to get into college. In football if it’s going to rain at the game we practice in the rain. That way we are prepared for the conditions.” He has a great point! If the ACT is the multiple-choice test that gets them into college why shouldn’t all tests be multiple-choice to give them the practice to pass? My counter statement was, “how do I know you really understand the material and didn’t plug in all the answers.” My goal for my students is to be proficient in geometry. I have already had a student guess on a test and get about a 50%. Now if I give a multiple-choice test I make sure to say show your work or it doesn’t count.

My mentor teacher had a way of grading assessments that I had never seen before but it made a lot of sense when I heard her explanation. The only grades in our class are tests. We give the students a test on each standard when we cover it. This allows us to pinpoint exactly what topic that students didn’t understand. We also don’t grade on a 100% scale. During my school career, teachers gave tests that had about 20 questions on them and if you missed one you got 5 points off for every question you missed. I think it’s kind of ridiculous that if you scored between 0-60 you failed and you had to get in the small window of 90-100 to get an A. My mentor’s way of grading is based on above proficient, proficient, basic, and below basic. There are usually 9 questions on a test ranging in difficulty (3 easy, 3 medium, and 3 hard). If this was to be graded out of 100% and a student missed one question, they would get an 89 so a B. I believe that tests should reflect a students’ mastery of a concept not how many questions can they do in the class period and miss the least. By demonstrating they know the basic concepts (so easy questions) they should get a passing grade, C. To get an A, students should demonstrate a deeper knowledge or problem solving skills, aka solving harder problems.

The math department also has made common assessments for Algebra I and Algebra II. Apparent,h last hear the math department threw the assessments together and none of them were good. The teachers didn't even use them last year so the main focus this year was to improve the assessments and use them. They have just collected data from their first test. I am not there for the departmental meetings because of a class conflict so I'm not familiar with what they talked about. The data is a great way for teachers to see how they compare to other teachers. Teachers can compared teaching techniques they used if their class dirk really well compared to another teachers class. I read an article during inservice last week that said teachers are more likely to change their teaching techniques because of common assessments!

These are some of my revelations I have been having on assessment. This has triggered my action research topic which is focused around standards-based grading. I’m not sure if I want to compare traditional grading (participation, homework, tests, projects, bell-ringers) VS standards based grading (just tests). Or just focus on my experience with standards based grading (something I’m not familiar with). Regardless I think both would change my views on assessments and grading so I’m excited to see the outcome!

*Names have been changed