Objective Assessments

Traditionally, an objective test is one taken with pencil and paper and students fill out short answers or bubble in multiple choice. This type of test can be graded by anyone with an answer key and students either get the questions correct or incorrect. Now days, objective assessments have evolved to being integrated with technology. Computer-based quizzes and student response devices have changed the way teachers can administer such tests. Are tests the only objective assessment of student learning though? I don't believe so. Students can create projects that follow guidelines or a grading rubric. Their end result is graded upon how they meet the criteria that is on the rubric. This is still objective; did the student do it correctly or is information missing, therefore incorrect? Any type of lesson has objectives- what do you want the student to be able to do at the end of the lesson? If the student can demonstrate that he or she has met the objective, then doesn't that make whatever type of assessment objective? There are many different types of assessments that teachers can use with their students. Fill in the bubble and write an essay are just two examples. Teachers need to find ways to assess their students that is as engaging as the lesson. With all of the high-stakes, standardized, state testing these days the students have to sit and bubble in scantron sheets enough. Let them have fun with the learning and the assessment. 




*Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/28854676@N08/3179190602/

A Technology-Infused Classroom

What do you see when you take a peek into a technology-infused classroom?   You will see a classroom that is a busy place where many students are doing different things and utilizing different aspects of technology throughout the classroom. It may look a little chaotic but in actuality, the teacher has created a student-centered learning environment where she is differentiating teaching strategies and providing instruction that is capable of reaching all modalities of learning.

I try to have a classroom like the one I mentioned above. Many elements of technology are present but I am always learning so much about technology and want to incorporate new things into my classroom. If you would walk into my 2^nd grade classroom on any given morning you would see students with ipods, listening to stories read aloud as they follow along in a book. You would also see a few students working on the desktop computers on a standards-based program purchased by my school district and another group of students at the five laptops adding comments to our class message board about the latest chapter book I read aloud. At the front of the classroom, two students would be collaborating at the SMART Board, playing learning games that are aligned to our state standards. And in another corner of the classroom, you would find me at the reading table with a small group. My students would be working in pairs to find ‘cause and effect’ relationships in a book between them. On the table next to me would be a laptop with a SMART Response receiver connected. Each student would have a SMART Response “clicker” next to them in case I want to informally assess their understanding on the spot.

Eventually, I would like to have my students be able to create presentations by themselves at the computer and be able to share them with the class. We visit the computer lab a few times a month so I can instruct the whole class at once and everyone can have their own computer. I have them type their expository essays and narrative stories and would like to incorporate creative writing and digital cameras and let students use Comic Life to develop engaging digital stories. I am always exploring ways to use technology in my classroom. I love using tools that my students want to learn with. It really makes teaching and learning fun.

The following video is a look at how classrooms have changed:

* The pictures in this post are of students in my classroom. They are used with the written permission of their parents.

Visual Literacy and the Use of the Internet



Visual literacy is the ability to see, interpret, and understand an image. With the increasing amount of information being presented to us by way of visual media, being able to think critically and evaluate the importance being portrayed is a skill that students need. Visual literacy can be incorporated into lesson plans in a variety of ways and across the curriculum.

                Language Arts

·         Primary students can take a picture walk through a book and discuss what is happening by looking at the illustrations only.

·         A graphic organizer can be used during a class discussion.

·         A teacher can show a photo or illustration of people at a park and ask the students to see how many verbs they can see in the picture.

                Math

·         A teacher can use an illustration or picture to have young students talk about how many groups of odd or even objects they see.

·         Graphs, charts, and patterns are all great forms of visual literacy that get students talking and thinking about math.

                Science

·         Showing a video of a NASA space station introduce a unit on space will get students thinking and talking. The teacher can then guide the discussion.

                Social Studies

·         Showing a photo of the first American Flag could get students thinking about the number of stars or how long ago it was sewn.

·         A teacher could show a few different forms of communication from long ago to get students thinking about different ways to communicate today.

Visual thinking is a strategy that many teachers use without knowing they are actually using a particular strategy. There are ways, however, for teachers to guide students’ thought processes so the students are leading the discussion. Teachers must ask open-ended questions and students must be able to listen and reflect on their peers’ observations. The use of the Internet can greatly affect the teaching and learning in a classroom. Teachers can use the Internet to locate sources to add visual literacy elements to their lessons. One of my favorite resources for locating effective media for use in my classroom is Discovery Education. There are full length videos, video clips, and images with many of them having accompanying blackline masters or lesson plans.  

The Internet can also play a vital role in other aspects of teaching and learning. The Internet can be a useful networking tool. Teachers can incorporate blogs, wikis, discussion boards, and even social media sites to enhance learning. The Internet is here to stay and teachers need to use it to their advantage in the classroom. It is not meant to add more to an already busy teacher’s plate, but to enhance teaching and offer additional ways of reaching multiple learning styles. The Internet is an integral way of involving students in learning by speaking their own language: the language of technology. This seems easy enough said, but some adults don’t understand most technology like 21^st Century learners do.  The following quote can sum up this concept:"Technology is anything invented after you were born, everything else is just stuff"   -Alan Kay

Instructional Strategies for 21st Century Learners

Using a variety of instructional strategies is extremely important when teaching today’s 21^st Century learners. Teachers must keep in mind that students today are growing up as digital natives.  Technology, whatever it may be, is their native language. Most adults, and therefore teachers, are digital immigrants. We did not grow up with the kinds of technology that our students are growing up with.  While some adults embrace the use of technology, others reject it. Teachers cannot afford to think this way.  We must embrace technology and use it to our advantage in the classroom. Technology has the ability to reach all modalities of learning. Visual, audio, kinesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal learners can all find their niche with technology. Teachers must be able to incorporate technology into their everyday teaching. Incorporating technology cannot be a one-time thing of showing a video or creating a PowerPoint presentation. Teachers must learn to seamlessly incorporate technology into the curriculum. We must evaluate the material we are teaching to our students and ask ourselves: “What is the best way for me to incorporate technology so I can reach all of my students?” Teaching is no longer a chalkboard, a strong voice, and students sitting in perfect rows hanging on to every word. With all of the audio and visual stimuli available to students today it is making teachers re-evaluate their methods.

Children today are growing up with many different experiences than I did. For example, when I first began teaching I was handed a cassette player and a box of books with cassette tapes. I was told that it was to be the listening center for my students.  Sure, I knew how to work it, but my 2^nd graders really struggled.  I was constantly being interrupted during small group teaching to fix the cassette player which meant rewinding a tape or ejecting it and flipping it over so the story on the other side would play. One day I realized: this “tape player” makes no sense to them.  They don’t understand how to use it because they probably haven’t seen one until now.  Soon after, I wrote a grant for ipods. Wow, what a difference!  I showed them the new “toys” and everyone was excited, many of the students telling me and one another that they have one at home. I loaded all the MP3 books onto them and did a quick presentation to each of my reading groups. A week later, they were so independent that anyone with a problem or question about the ipod went to another student! The cassette player was a form of technology from my childhood so I knew how to use it. How selfish of me to think that children born 20 years after me would grow up having the same experiences!

Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time.

-Chinese Proverb