EEND 679 Module 7 discussion:


Hello class,

For this discussion we are supposed to comment on how we utilize data to improve our instruction.  Specifically, how can we use the data to personalize instruction.  Luckily, this has actually been the goal of our PLC (professional learning community) for Biology over the past 2 years.  We make common questions for our assessments, analyze data, and discuss what improvements need to be made as far as instruction is concerned.
 
Our PLC uses a program called Mastery Manager to collect our data.  This program has been really helpful in allowing us to set what questions we want to collect data and has made it easy to compare among classrooms.  You can easily separate out specific questions, align questions to standards, run data analysis for sub groups, or really any other data piece I can think of….

Specifically, we analyze 10 common questions that we all put on our summative assessments for each unit.  We then discuss what went well, what needs improvement, and what questions need to be rewritten.  But, the most powerful aspect of analyzing this data is we can personalize instruction more for our students.  If one teacher uses a strategy that he/she feels works well for a specific topic, and then it shows in their student’s test scores, the other teachers can use this data to enhance their classroom or personalize the instruction for their students based on data.  This has been very advantageous for me, and I have included many lessons over the past 2 years because of this collaboration.  Every teacher has strengths, and using data to highlight these strong lessons improves the instruction of every teacher in the PLC. 

This also leads to mastery learning in the classroom as well.  I have adopted a Mastery Learning approach with all of my assessments this year.  Students can “retake” any test or quiz that they did not Master the first time.  All they have to do is come to 2 review sessions, offered everyday before and after school, to get a ticket to the retake.  Then, they take the same assessment scrambled.  The student gets the better of the two grades, which is almost always the second test.  I use these individual review sessions to individualize instruction, use the data we got from the first test including student misconceptions, utilize my co-workers collaborative ideas, and personalize the instruction to help the student achieve mastery with the content.  I tell my students that it isn’t about “re-doing” the test… If my goal is to get the info in their noggin, then does it really matter if it takes a little extra time working with the material and reassessing them afterwards.

One area of assessing that I need a little work on is rubrics.  Especially for projects and activities.  My rubrics are pretty basic, and are also I’ll admit extremely subjective.  After viewing our resources for the week, I realize I need a lot of work in this area.  Definitely somewhere I could grow with the help of technology and my coursework at SFU.

Thank you,
Jim Nielsen

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

EEND 675 Artifact #2: Palm Oil and Deforestation-blend space

EEND 675 Artifact 2 Jim Nielsen The second artifact that I am going to discuss was my favorite piece I created for this entire course.  The website was suggested to us by our instructor as a really good blend space, something that I have never heard of before.  Hyper-docs have become really popular in our district and I see teachers using them all the time.  Personally, I never really understood why hyper-docs where that interesting and I honestly thought they were just a glorified listing of websites.  That is why I am so excited that I was introduced to the website www.tes.com/lessons.  So excited that I have already hosted a PLC "training" on the website and have multiple other teachers using the website for their classes now.  Again, it really is awesome that we are learning about technology tools that we can actually apply in our classroom. The blend splace, tes.com/lessons, is really a supped up version of a hyper-doc.  But it is so much mor...
Read more

EEND 679 Module 4 Discussion

EEND 679 Module 4 Discussion Jim Nielsen The idea of personalized learning has been around for a long time.   I mean, it sounds like an amazing idea!   Cater all learning to the individual that is doing the learning- makes sense!   The problem is how do we do that in a class of 30 students?   Or an entire course load of 150 students over the course of the day.   Where do we focus our personalized learning goals?   Is it to struggling students, social economic disadvantaged students, students from different races, students that are advanced and need to be pushed?   I have heard all of these groups singled out at different times in my career for personalized learning.   As an educator, how can we streamline this process, and how does technology aid us in this borderline impossible task? I teach co-taught biology and have taught this class for 10 years now.   I feel comfortable saying that I have one of the most diverse classes in the ...
Read more

678 Module 8 Discussion

Hello Class, What a topic for this week's blog... Fake News.  Obviously, this saying has caught wind with our current President's use of the term at every press conference.  In fact, it is probably the only thing I agree with him on and understand what he is talking about... Especially as a science teacher! Teaching students about reputable websites or sources has always been a critical aspect of science education.  But now, more than ever, with the internet and freedom to publish any nonsense you want with social media, teaching the difference between credible and reliable resources is an extremely important aspect of the curriculum. So much so that I think my number 1 job as a science educator is to make more scientifically literate citizens.  This means that they need to be able to research, think and come up with their own conclusion based on real evidence.  This will determine many of their choices later in life.  Such as who they vote for, what ...
Read more