At 1PM EST today, I'm going to be leading a virtual session on the topic: 'Twitter as an Assessment Tool'.
This will take place in Virtual Room A in the NECC 2.0 Elluminate Rooms. To take part, follow this link and scroll down to the sessions.
Click on 'Virtual Room A' and sign into the room.
If you have not used Elluminate before, you'll need to download the browser, but it's painless and well worth the time.
We'll be talking about using Twitter in assessment as a lifeline, for review sessions, as a collaborative bibliography tool, for collab assessment, using Twitterfall in open tests, and using Twitter to vet class Wikis.
Hope to see you there.
Showing posts with label assessments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label assessments. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
Social Media's Possible Effects on Assessment, College Admissions, Identity, and Critical Thinking
Engaging discussion this afternoon at the Friday Chat. The topic of discussion concerned the ways in which social media will have an effect on assessment. Going back over the transcript of the chat, three things really struck out at me.
The first was how social media could effect college admissions -- and not in the sense of colleges looking for pictures from high school parties, but from the perspective of how a four-year social media portfolio might demonstrate more about the student's academic, intellectual, and creative capacities than a list of scores on exams ever could.
Second, we discussed the connections between authentic assessment and identity. I discussed this in a post yesterday and have had a lot of conversations about it today. I think it's one to give some real thought to, especially as we see the role of social media becoming more ubiquitous in all aspects of life.
Finally, we had an interesting talk about 'Critical Mass' as a teaching and assessment tool. I am fascinated by the possibilities of using Twitterfall and other forms of real-time search to facilitate critical thinking.
Here are clips from the chat:
On social media, assessment, and college admissions:
On the connections between authentic assessment and identity:
Using Twitterfall in assessments to teach critical thinking:
The first was how social media could effect college admissions -- and not in the sense of colleges looking for pictures from high school parties, but from the perspective of how a four-year social media portfolio might demonstrate more about the student's academic, intellectual, and creative capacities than a list of scores on exams ever could.
Second, we discussed the connections between authentic assessment and identity. I discussed this in a post yesterday and have had a lot of conversations about it today. I think it's one to give some real thought to, especially as we see the role of social media becoming more ubiquitous in all aspects of life.
Finally, we had an interesting talk about 'Critical Mass' as a teaching and assessment tool. I am fascinated by the possibilities of using Twitterfall and other forms of real-time search to facilitate critical thinking.
Here are clips from the chat:
On social media, assessment, and college admissions:
I agree w/ critical mass assessment. For a bottom-line oriented community, though, pointing toward a corpus of work might create conflicts. as in -- "this isn't quantifiable...how did you come up with these grades?" Sadly, more earnest assessment isn't always easy to explain. Nate at 3:25 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
I think that's changing. I think the final push will be when colleges completely stop accepting AP scores and move to student portfolios. Shelly at 3:26 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
As a result, I think teachers then create assessments that are retrograde b/c those structures are easy to perceive as being authoritative. Nate at 3:27 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
'Authority' is on the way out. Shelly at 3:27 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
I hope it's changing. Unfortunately, secondary schools w/ more clout w/ colleges are perhaps more able to take these kinds of risks. I'll have to ask some of my friends in college counseling how they perceive these types of portfolios. Nate at 3:27 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
The 'clout' issue... I think there may be a subtext there with regard to grade inflation. Shelly at 3:29 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
It'd be great if students could include on their college application a blog that they've curated for four years and shows intell. growth. Nate at 3:29 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
Admissions Counselors are savvy. They know what those scores mean. I think admissions wd prefer four-year portfolios. Shelly at 3:30 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
can you expand on what that subtext of grade inflation is? Nate at 3:30 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
And once they put the muscle of scholarship and financial aid money behind it: watch out! Goodnight AP exams. Shelly at 3:30 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
that'd be great. I think the CB tests do emphasize some important intell. skills, but the institution is just out to make $. Nate at 3:31 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
A friend told me a story that when he first came to this country from afar as a teacher, he was giving lot's of low-Bs as his highest grades Shelly at 3:32 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
Pandemonium ensued. Shelly at 3:32 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
That's the subtext of grade inflation. Shelly at 3:32 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
yeah, the issue of grade inflation is rampant at my school presently. Demographic fears (e.g. a top 10% policy) has created a ground-swell movement for higher grades across the board believing that will help. Nate at 3:33 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
Universities, more than ever before, are international. What do you think is going to happen to US students w/o changes in assessment? Shelly at 3:33 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
On the connections between authentic assessment and identity:
I also think that social media and blogging is a good way for students to really distinguish themselves and create a clear identity. Nate at 3:35 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
The 'identity of intellect'. Pappas wrote about this yesterday; I did a follow-up. Absolutely vital to student success. Shelly at 3:36 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
beyond assessment, I think social media helps clearly communicate that the teacher is also simultaneously learning from the students. Nate at 3:38 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
Students need to be connected to and validate one another; that's a successful society. Can't just be looking for approval from top. Shelly at 3:38 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
and that community-construction helps foster an 'identity of intellect' that you mentioned. Nate at 3:39 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
Recognition of teacher learning is a form of good modeling. In seeking information and analyzing info, we model intellect. Shelly at 3:39 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
Using Twitterfall in assessments to teach critical thinking:
how do you articulate the concept of "critical mass" to students? It seems a rather nebulous idea. Do you outline it on your syllabus? Nate at 3:42 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
We look at it in the 'real-world' and discuss what it means. Twitterfall is hands-down the best example for the kids. And the fun thing about Twitterfall is that it can be anything from the silliness of celebrity to the seriousness of warzone events. Shelly at 3:44 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
interesting idea about using Twitterfall to see meaningful vs. non- or less-meaningful postings, thoughts, etc. Nate at 3:44 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
Exactly. All a matter of being able to evaluate good writing and validate or invalidate sources. Shelly at 3:45 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
that's also a great idea for teaching students to read for POV/perspective; how to understand bias and pay attention to the source's origin. Nate at 3:46 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
Heck, I can tell you this: teaching bias via Twitterfall makes teaching Caesar and Augustus a piece-of-cake. Shelly at 3:47 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
yes, primary sources are opaque for students w/out contrasting it with contemporary primary sources--the bias, context, etc. students know. Nate at 3:49 PM, 19 Jun 2009 via web
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Friday Chat: How Will Social Media Effect the Future of Assessment?
In my class, blogging is the primary form of assessment. Everything from vocab dictation quizzes to student posts on the ties between history and current events gets thrown up onto the students' blogs.
I originally started doing this as a way to develop portfolio reviews so that the students would have an easy-to-use resource for studying for the exams. Along the way, I discovered that the blogs themselves were a much better indicator of student understanding than the exams.
Now I'm weighing whether the exams are even worth it.
This Week's Friday Chat will be at 1PM EST on June 19th
The topic will be: How Will Social Media Effect the Future of Assessment?
How will the integration of social media into assessment effect the authority of final exams and high stakes tests as 'authentic' indicators of student understanding and achievement?
The Friday Chat: Hosted by TeachPaperless every Friday at http://todaysmeet.com/teachpaperless
I originally started doing this as a way to develop portfolio reviews so that the students would have an easy-to-use resource for studying for the exams. Along the way, I discovered that the blogs themselves were a much better indicator of student understanding than the exams.
Now I'm weighing whether the exams are even worth it.
This Week's Friday Chat will be at 1PM EST on June 19th
The topic will be: How Will Social Media Effect the Future of Assessment?
How will the integration of social media into assessment effect the authority of final exams and high stakes tests as 'authentic' indicators of student understanding and achievement?
The Friday Chat: Hosted by TeachPaperless every Friday at http://todaysmeet.com/teachpaperless
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Reminder: This Week's Friday Chat on the Effect of Social Media on the Future of Assessment
Reminder:
This Week's Friday Chat will be at 1PM EST on June 19th
The topic will be: How Will Social Media Effect the Future of Assessment?
Is blogging more effective than the writing of traditional academic essays? Is a Twitter-enhanced collaborative test more authentic than a traditional selected response test? Does the integration of social media into student assessment portend the end of high-stakes testing?
The Friday Chat: Hosted by TeachPaperless every Friday at http://todaysmeet.com/teachpaperless
This Week's Friday Chat will be at 1PM EST on June 19th
The topic will be: How Will Social Media Effect the Future of Assessment?
Is blogging more effective than the writing of traditional academic essays? Is a Twitter-enhanced collaborative test more authentic than a traditional selected response test? Does the integration of social media into student assessment portend the end of high-stakes testing?
The Friday Chat: Hosted by TeachPaperless every Friday at http://todaysmeet.com/teachpaperless
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Friday Chat: How Will Social Media Effect the Future of Assessment?
This Week's Friday Chat will be at 1PM EST on June 19th
The topic will be: How Will Social Media Effect the Future of Assessment?
Is blogging more effective than the writing of traditional academic essays? Is a Twitter-enhanced collaborative test more authentic than a traditional selected response test? Does the integration of social media into student assessment portend the end of high-stakes testing?
The Friday Chat: Hosted by TeachPaperless every Friday at http://todaysmeet.com/teachpaperless
The topic will be: How Will Social Media Effect the Future of Assessment?
Is blogging more effective than the writing of traditional academic essays? Is a Twitter-enhanced collaborative test more authentic than a traditional selected response test? Does the integration of social media into student assessment portend the end of high-stakes testing?
The Friday Chat: Hosted by TeachPaperless every Friday at http://todaysmeet.com/teachpaperless
Friday, May 29, 2009
Reminder: Today's Friday Chat about Assessment and Grading in the Digital Age
If it's Friday, it must be the day for the Friday Chat!
Today's Topic: Assessment and Grading in the Digital Age
We'll talk blogging as formative assessment, alternatives to traditional tests and essays, online gradebooks, use of social media in assessment and more.
Friday May 29th, 2009
1PM EST
http://todaysmeet.com/TeachPaperless
Today's Topic: Assessment and Grading in the Digital Age
We'll talk blogging as formative assessment, alternatives to traditional tests and essays, online gradebooks, use of social media in assessment and more.
Friday May 29th, 2009
1PM EST
http://todaysmeet.com/TeachPaperless
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Friday Chat: Assessment and Grading in the Digital Age
As has become our custom here at TP, Friday is the day for the Friday Chat!
This week: Assessment and Grading in the Digital Age
We'll talk formative and summative assessment, alternatives to traditional tests and essays, online gradebooks, use of social media in assessment and more.
Friday May 29th, 2009
1PM EST
http://todaysmeet.com/TeachPaperless
This week: Assessment and Grading in the Digital Age
We'll talk formative and summative assessment, alternatives to traditional tests and essays, online gradebooks, use of social media in assessment and more.
Friday May 29th, 2009
1PM EST
http://todaysmeet.com/TeachPaperless
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Twitter-enhanced Assessments
I will be live blogging Tweet feeds of live Twitter-enhanced assessments all this week. Mostly Latin II and III classes.
The feeds will be available on Cover it Live, and I'll be posting schedules there as well as updating on my Twitter feed.
This will allow folks the opportunity to watch how we use Twitter live in the classroom both as a real-time exchange tool for collaborative assessments and as a communal lifeline on individual assessments.
At the end of the week, I'd like to schedule a live blogging session for all teachers and folks interested in using Twitter in the classroom.
More info soon.
The feeds will be available on Cover it Live, and I'll be posting schedules there as well as updating on my Twitter feed.
This will allow folks the opportunity to watch how we use Twitter live in the classroom both as a real-time exchange tool for collaborative assessments and as a communal lifeline on individual assessments.
At the end of the week, I'd like to schedule a live blogging session for all teachers and folks interested in using Twitter in the classroom.
More info soon.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Transcript of a Twitter-enhanced Latin II Test
Here is the feed from today's Twitter-enhanced Latin II test as live blogged on CiL.
We've been working with Twitter in this class for about a week and a half. This was our first test featuring Twitter as a lifeline.
This feed does not include the finished translations -- they are posted on individual student blogs. This is just the raw feed from the session.
Two notes: 1) Not all students are featured in this transcript; I just chose a handful at random to make accessible via CiL. 2) Twitter IDs have been altered.
It may be a geeky thing, but I think there is something wonderful in this raw feed. But the really wonderful thing is that in the last week I've seen comprehension on pre-assessments rise at a greater rate than I've ever seen after introducing a new technique into my teaching.
We've been working with Twitter in this class for about a week and a half. This was our first test featuring Twitter as a lifeline.
This feed does not include the finished translations -- they are posted on individual student blogs. This is just the raw feed from the session.
Two notes: 1) Not all students are featured in this transcript; I just chose a handful at random to make accessible via CiL. 2) Twitter IDs have been altered.
It may be a geeky thing, but I think there is something wonderful in this raw feed. But the really wonderful thing is that in the last week I've seen comprehension on pre-assessments rise at a greater rate than I've ever seen after introducing a new technique into my teaching.
8:38 Shelly_at_TP
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:38 AM
Ok. So yesterday we were having connection issues... I blogged about that here: http://teachpaperless.blogspot.com/2009/05/and-what-about-when-technology-fails.html
But this morning everything seems to be working well. Students have started their test and Tweets are coming in. I'm working on linking them in directly to this feed.
8:41 MrW via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:41 AM
Yup. RT @tschaf @ayyybr are you asking if that's the right spelling of it or how to spell it, because i think thats right?
8:44 Dantho via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:44 AM
where it is in 240 miles longitude and 180 miles latitude.
8:44 Shelly_at_TP
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:44 AM
Have patched into the feed on Twitter. Should be up and running in a few.
8:46 whowantpanca via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:46 AM
Among the Helvetii, Orgetorix was by far the most famous and rich. Back when Marcus Messala and Marcus Piso were reiging consuls he was ...
8:46 Dantho via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:46 AM
The 140 character limit makes it hard to put the latin in with the english without breaking it up into really small pieces
8:47 whowantpanca via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:47 AM
Apud Helvetios longe nobilissimus fuit et ditissimus Orgetorix. Is M. Messala, [et P.] M. Pisone consulibus regni cupiditate inductus co ...
8:49 whowantpanca via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:49 AM
perfacile esse? need help
8:50 MrW via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:50 AM
Help out, folks: RT @whowantpanca perfacile esse? need help
8:51 kazame via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:51 AM
Die constituta causae dictionis Orgetorix ad iudicium omnem suam familiam, ad hominum milia decem, undique coegit,
8:51 barkel via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:51 AM
His rebus adducti et auctoritate Orgetorigis permoti constituerunt ea quae ad proficiscendum pertinerent comparare, iumentorum et carror ...
8:51 kazame via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:51 AM
THe day that Orgetorix's trial was set to be held, he called to the trial everyone in his family, numbering about two thousand men
8:52 barkel via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:52 AM
Persuaded by these events and moved deeply by the clout/authority of Orgetorix,
8:52 barkel via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:52 AM
they prepared to gather what they needed to be sent out onto the field, to buy the greatest number of mules and carts,
8:52 kazame via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:52 AM
and gathered from every direction
8:53 Dantho via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:53 AM
it means "it is very easy"
8:53 barkel via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:53 AM
to do a large amount of planting, in order to have enough/sufficient supplies for their journey, and to confirm peace and an alliance with
8:53 whowantpanca via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:53 AM
M. does mean Marcus? Right?
8:53 barkel via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:53 AM
the citizens close by. Two years was enough for these things to be led; in the third year, they confirmed their motion of departure.
8:53 Dantho via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:53 AM
Flumen est Arar, quod per fines Haeduorum et Sequanorum in Rhodanum influit
Arar is a river which flows by the border of the Haedui and ...
8:54 ayyybr via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:54 AM
in which merchants often travel to cause minds to weaken,minimeque ad eos mercatores saepe commeant atque ea quae ad effeminandos animos ...
8:54 Dantho via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:54 AM
Arar is a river which flows by the border of the Haedui and Sequani into the Rhone,
8:54 barkel via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:54 AM
how do you direct message someone?
8:55 Dantho via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:55 AM
incredibili lenitate, ita ut oculis in utram partem fluat iudicari non possit
incredibly smooth as the eye can not judge which part of ...
8:55 Dantho via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:55 AM
...which part of it flows
8:55 Shelly_at_TP
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:55 AM
Now we are cooking with gas. The students are Tweeting their translations as they are working.
8:56 tschaf via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:56 AM
frumentum omne, praeter quod secum portaturi erant, comburunt,-> they burned up all the corn, except what they were to carry with them,
8:56 ayyybr via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:56 AM
proximique
8:56 ayyybr via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:56 AM
?
8:57 kazame via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:57 AM
What do u guys think about this part? - per eos ne causam diceret se eripuit. - To speak during his trial and rescue him.
8:58 Dantho via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:58 AM
Id Helvetii ratibus ac lintribus iunctis transibant.
They crossed on a Helveti ship and small boat joined together
8:59 barkel via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:59 AM
alyssa-- close to or nearby
8:59 whowantpanca via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:59 AM
...he told them it would be easy, becasue they are all gifted with valor, so they can totally conquer and command Gaul.
8:59 barkel via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:59 AM
Haeduii??-- i know it is a tribe but does it translate to something else in english?
8:59 whowantpanca via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:59 AM
perfacile esse, cum virtute omnibus praestarent, totius Galliae imperio potiri.
9:00 ayyybr via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:00 AM
thankssss (:
9:01 ayyybr via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:01 AM
Matrona?
9:02 MrW via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:02 AM
Which river is this, folks? RT @ayyybr Matrona?
9:03 whowantpanca via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:03 AM
its quality over quantity on these paragraphs right?
9:06 ayyybr via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:06 AM
haha
9:07 barkel via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:07 AM
Eodem tempore-- at the same time
9:09 MrW via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:09 AM
Keep posting your Latin/translations to the feed, folks.
9:10 barkel via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:10 AM
eodem tempore-- ablative
9:10 ayyybr via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:10 AM
to produce as much planting, to be sufficient in corn for the journey..sementes quam maximas facere, ut in itinere copia frumenti suppeteret
9:11 whowantpanca via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:11 AM
He persuaded them even more easially, because Helvetii's are surounded on every side by the rank of thier nature.
9:11 barkel via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:11 AM
Helvetii iam per angustias et fines Sequanorum suas copias traduxerant et in Haeduorum fines pervenerant eorumque agros populabantur.
9:11 whowantpanca via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:11 AM
Id hoc facilius iis persuasit, quod undique loci natura Helvetii continentur
9:11 tschaf via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:11 AM
trium mensum molita cibaria sibi quemque domo efferre iubent....they commanded everyone himself to take home provisions for three months.
9:12 barkel via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:12 AM
Now, the Helvetii led their troops across to the boundaries of the Sequani through a narrow passage, and arrived at the territories of t ...
9:12 Shelly_at_TP
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:12 AM
The students are basically using Twitter here a) as a lifeline and b) as a place to post 'first drafts' of translations for me to check before they continue. That way, they are on solid ground to produce a meaningful and coherent translation. Too often students get frustrated with foreign languages precisely because they don't receive any formative assessment -- especially on tests. Twitter allows assessment to be formative and ongoing during the actual process of translating itself.
9:14 kazame via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:14 AM
would Tolosatium finibus be the borders of the Tolosati?
9:15 barkel via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:15 AM
consanguinei--- of related of the blood?
9:16 barkel via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:16 AM
what is that supposed to mean? blood- related??
9:16 whowantpanca via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:16 AM
Iura? What does this mean?
9:16 ayyybr via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:16 AM
to call to witness..maybe related to judgement
9:18 whowantpanca via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:18 AM
altera ex parte monte 'Iura' altissimo That word doesn't seem to fit in the sentance
9:19 Dantho via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:19 AM
Ubi per exploratores Caesar certior factus est tres iam partes copiarum Helvetios id flumen traduxisse
Where Caesar's scouts became set ...
9:20 Dantho via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:20 AM
Where Caesar's scouts became settled they had already lead three parts of the many Helveti across the river
9:20 MrW via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:20 AM
Someone help out: RT @whowantpanca altera ex parte monte 'Iura' altissimo That word doesn't seem to fit in the sentance
9:20 Dantho via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:20 AM
quartam vero partem citra flumen Ararim reliquam esse, in truth, the rest of the fourth part is on this side of the Arar
9:22 whowantpanca via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:22 AM
lacu Lemanno? What lake????
9:23 Dantho via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:23 AM
lura means pale. Maybe it's referring to the light color of the snow topped mountains.
9:24 barkel via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:24 AM
brett: out of the highest part of the mountain
9:25 Dantho via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:25 AM
from the third watch with the third part of the people the army set out to go walk over our part which the river has not yet reached.
9:25 Dantho via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:25 AM
e tertia vigilia cum legionibus tribus e castris profectus ad eam partem pervenit quae nondum flumen transierat.
9:25 whowantpanca via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:25 AM
thanks guys
9:26 Dantho via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:26 AM
Pyrenees mountains castro
9:27 Shelly_at_TP
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:27 AM
So, as the students are working here, they are posting the completed portions of their translations on their individual class blogs.
9:29 Shelly_at_TP
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:29 AM
That's where I will give them a summative assessment. The participatory part is all wrapped up in the formative.
9:30 Shelly_at_TP
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:30 AM
Ok. We're finishing up here. Quote from student: "That wasn't so bad... usually you take a test and get stuck on one part and spend like twenty minutes on it."
9:33 MrW via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:33 AM
Ok folks... That's time. Post to yr blog whereever you are. Looks like most got through last third of 2nd para.
9:33 MrW via twitter
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:33 AM
Be sure to check my blog for HW. Thanks!
9:34 Shelly_at_TP
Wednesday, May 06, 2009 10:34 AM
Ok. I'm going to post this transcript later today with some comments and ideas. This was our first test in Latin II taken with Twitter as a lifeline. They are getting the hang of it.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Live Blogging a Twitter-Enhanced Latin Test
At 1PM this afternoon, I'll be live blogging from my classroom as my Latin II students take a test on Caesar's Gallic Wars. I'll be reporting on all aspects of the test taking and will be reposting from our live class Tweet feed.
Tweet feed?
Yes, because they'll be doing the entire test online via their blogs, exclusively using online dictionaries, and using Twitter as a live lifeline and place to help one another through the test.
"SO," the cynic says, "they are just going to copy the work of the smartest kid in class, right?"
Well, no... not exactly. Because each student will be translating a different section of the text.
To get students involved actively in the Tweet feed, there will be a requirement to participate in the Tweets. But, this will not be a 'minimum' requirement -- that just encourages students to post some junk quickly so they can get that out of the way. Rather, this will be an 'equivalent' participation requirement -- meaning that students will be required to pay attention to the feed and reply in proportion to what is incoming.
And the kicker? Students will be receiving two grades: one for their individual work and one for their helping other students and taking an engaged and active role in the Tweets.
We've been working for the past week and a half on setting up this situation and making sure everyone in class is comfortable with it. That's not to say that we spent a week and a half learning to use Twitter: that would be silly. Rather, a week and a half ago, I started projecting a Tweet feed on the wall during class translations and allowed students to take part in the feed while we were having discussion and while we were working on the translations.
It worked like a charm. Over the last week alone, I've seen student confidence in translation work increase and on the last informal assessment I gave, the overall class average was up 5 to 8%.
Check out the live blogging at 1PM EST. Available via RSS, on this site, and via Cover it Live.
Teaching Latin via 21st Century Skills and teaching 21st Century Skills via Latin: that's what we do.
Tweet feed?
Yes, because they'll be doing the entire test online via their blogs, exclusively using online dictionaries, and using Twitter as a live lifeline and place to help one another through the test.
"SO," the cynic says, "they are just going to copy the work of the smartest kid in class, right?"
Well, no... not exactly. Because each student will be translating a different section of the text.
To get students involved actively in the Tweet feed, there will be a requirement to participate in the Tweets. But, this will not be a 'minimum' requirement -- that just encourages students to post some junk quickly so they can get that out of the way. Rather, this will be an 'equivalent' participation requirement -- meaning that students will be required to pay attention to the feed and reply in proportion to what is incoming.
And the kicker? Students will be receiving two grades: one for their individual work and one for their helping other students and taking an engaged and active role in the Tweets.
We've been working for the past week and a half on setting up this situation and making sure everyone in class is comfortable with it. That's not to say that we spent a week and a half learning to use Twitter: that would be silly. Rather, a week and a half ago, I started projecting a Tweet feed on the wall during class translations and allowed students to take part in the feed while we were having discussion and while we were working on the translations.
It worked like a charm. Over the last week alone, I've seen student confidence in translation work increase and on the last informal assessment I gave, the overall class average was up 5 to 8%.
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Teaching Latin via 21st Century Skills and teaching 21st Century Skills via Latin: that's what we do.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Latin Test via Twitter
As I'm writing this, my Latin II students are taking a pre-test translating sections of Book I of the Gallic Wars. I allow them to open the text on Latin Library, a tab of one or both of two solid online Latin dictionaries, and a tab of the hyperlinked-grammar version of the text in Perseus. For the test, they won't be able to use Perseus.
I also let them use Twitter to ask each other questions and give each other help. I follow the Tweets and can easily swing into action to help with a tricky verb form or a misconstrued phrase; in addition, during the pre-test sessions, the students themselves will often cite websites in their Tweets to be included in our ongoing hyperlinked bibliographies.
Last week, I gave my first Latin test using Twitter. My Latin III students had to translate the 'In Taberna' section of Carmina Burana. I allowed them to do it as a collaborative assessment and I gave a single score to the entire class so long as everyone contributed equally in the Tweet feed. Students had the text open in a Latin Library tab, had their online dictionaries open, had their blogs open in which to post their sections and organize their translations, and followed each other on Twitter. The trick was that although this was a collaborative assignment, the students -- under penalty of forfeiting the grade for the whole class -- were not allowed to talk.
All discussion had to take place on Twitter.
The results were extraordinary. I watched as they used Twitter to chunk the seven stanzas of the text and organize who would be available to help in different ways. Some students focused on looking up vocab and figuring out morphology while others construed the sections into a unified whole. A particularly interesting exchange occurred when three students realized that their chunks contained shared words that individually each had broad semantic ranges -- so they had to make compromise decisions on what definition to use for each.
I would not want anyone to think that this is the only way I assess the students. In fact, I'm a big supporter of using as many different sorts of assessments as possible -- after all, the students have to be ready for anything in the 'real world'. But, in terms of using Latin to teach 21st century networking and using 21st century networking to teach Latin, this experiment produced excellent results.
Here are portions of our feed with names changed (for chronology, read from bottom to top... it's a Twitter feed). BTW, for those of you who do not use Twitter (yet), this is going to look very strange to you. It may even look quite useless. But strange as this all may look, imagine: a class of Latin III students knocking out a strong translation of the entire 'In Taberna' from the original Medieval Latin by sight with the aid of only a dictionary in just over a half-hour's time. In addition, as opposed to traditional small group projects where one student might do the majority of the work and the others might slack, on Twitter you can see in real time the contributions of each student in the class. You can see precisely the types of mistakes they are making AS THEY ARE MAKING THEM. And a record is kept of that.
This is just a random sample; for those keeping score at home, we produced about 125 Tweets in less than 35 minutes.
Here is an example where I am watching the editing of several translation drafts at once and setting up student teams to organize sections into unified wholes. Students are directing each other to full versions of the sections I have looked over located on their own class blogs. Remember to read from the bottom of the selection.
Here is a section where I am directing students to definitions live as they are sight reading. You will notice that our discussion evolves from my making a student explain herself in the use of a translated word; in a few Tweets, I manage to catch three different students who otherwise would have made translation errors and would have been thrown off later in their sections. Also, I pick up a mixed construction in the process. By nailing down these problems AS THE STUDENTS ARE TRANSLATING rather than waiting for them to finish and turn something in, we all wind up with a less frustrating and more accurate finished product. Read from the bottom.
This sample is from the end of the test. You can see that I am still helping individual students with grammar issues while other students are preparing the final copy for submittal. The final version -- comprised of the work of all of the students -- was then posted on a single blog that all of them subscribe to.
Now, as I'm following this Tweet feed, I'm also following each student individually on their own blogs where they are live-blogging their edits. Might sound complicated, but really just a matter of tabbed browsing. The end result of all of this is me -- the teacher -- having a much better feel for the formative aspects of the students' skills in translating and the students having an immediate feedback session where they are collaborating both with their teacher and with their peers.
Last year, when I started experimenting with this type of assessment, I did it live through a collaborative Google Doc. Twitter, however, now makes everything far more efficient -- and each student is left with their own copy/transcript of the entire event.
I would like to know how other teachers are using Twitter. I see it as one of the most powerful tools for education available in Web 2.0. One of the things I really like is the use of @Tweets. Students are able to directly address one another or directly address me and I am able to directly address that particular student in return; but because we do it via @Tweets, the exchange shows up in the transcript of each of the students' feeds. So, even if a student was not working on a particular part during the assignment, they now have a record of another student's questions and my responses to those other sections. In a way, the @Tweets make the Twitter feed a document far more complex than anything we could have created merely via a back-and-forth; for students, this is great because now in addition to having taken part in a collaborative assessment, they also have a complete transcript which can be used as a study guide for the final exam. In fact, I am thinking that I'm going to have the students go over the transcript and create hyperlinked annotations back to Perseus for all matters of vocab and grammar. Those documents will then be combined and shared via a Google Doc as a practice guide for the year end summative assessments.
I also let them use Twitter to ask each other questions and give each other help. I follow the Tweets and can easily swing into action to help with a tricky verb form or a misconstrued phrase; in addition, during the pre-test sessions, the students themselves will often cite websites in their Tweets to be included in our ongoing hyperlinked bibliographies.
Last week, I gave my first Latin test using Twitter. My Latin III students had to translate the 'In Taberna' section of Carmina Burana. I allowed them to do it as a collaborative assessment and I gave a single score to the entire class so long as everyone contributed equally in the Tweet feed. Students had the text open in a Latin Library tab, had their online dictionaries open, had their blogs open in which to post their sections and organize their translations, and followed each other on Twitter. The trick was that although this was a collaborative assignment, the students -- under penalty of forfeiting the grade for the whole class -- were not allowed to talk.
All discussion had to take place on Twitter.
The results were extraordinary. I watched as they used Twitter to chunk the seven stanzas of the text and organize who would be available to help in different ways. Some students focused on looking up vocab and figuring out morphology while others construed the sections into a unified whole. A particularly interesting exchange occurred when three students realized that their chunks contained shared words that individually each had broad semantic ranges -- so they had to make compromise decisions on what definition to use for each.
I would not want anyone to think that this is the only way I assess the students. In fact, I'm a big supporter of using as many different sorts of assessments as possible -- after all, the students have to be ready for anything in the 'real world'. But, in terms of using Latin to teach 21st century networking and using 21st century networking to teach Latin, this experiment produced excellent results.
Here are portions of our feed with names changed (for chronology, read from bottom to top... it's a Twitter feed). BTW, for those of you who do not use Twitter (yet), this is going to look very strange to you. It may even look quite useless. But strange as this all may look, imagine: a class of Latin III students knocking out a strong translation of the entire 'In Taberna' from the original Medieval Latin by sight with the aid of only a dictionary in just over a half-hour's time. In addition, as opposed to traditional small group projects where one student might do the majority of the work and the others might slack, on Twitter you can see in real time the contributions of each student in the class. You can see precisely the types of mistakes they are making AS THEY ARE MAKING THEM. And a record is kept of that.
This is just a random sample; for those keeping score at home, we produced about 125 Tweets in less than 35 minutes.
Here is an example where I am watching the editing of several translation drafts at once and setting up student teams to organize sections into unified wholes. Students are directing each other to full versions of the sections I have looked over located on their own class blogs. Remember to read from the bottom of the selection.
54. MrW @gol You and Alesia need to compare because you have many of the same words. Decide which translations you want. 15 minutes ago from web in reply to gol
55. koko 2nd half of stanza 1: When in the tavern he is led by it, where coin is the barmaid, that is work, so he may grumble, but let me speak s ... 15 minutes ago from web
56. TAstu Stanza 6: http://musilatin.blo... 15 minutes ago from web
57. brandi http://romansp.blogspot... STANZA 4 is on my blog. first link 15 minutes ago from web
58. TAstu Stanza 6: Lines 1-3 The poor man drinks, the sick drink the outcasts drink, the strange drink the boys drink, the old drink 16 minutes ago from web
59. gol @MrW what do you mean? 16 minutes ago from web
60. MrW @TAstu Check with Austin. 16 minutes ago from web in reply to TAstu
61. gol posted on my blog, http://latin.blog... 24 minutes ago from web
Here is a section where I am directing students to definitions live as they are sight reading. You will notice that our discussion evolves from my making a student explain herself in the use of a translated word; in a few Tweets, I manage to catch three different students who otherwise would have made translation errors and would have been thrown off later in their sections. Also, I pick up a mixed construction in the process. By nailing down these problems AS THE STUDENTS ARE TRANSLATING rather than waiting for them to finish and turn something in, we all wind up with a less frustrating and more accurate finished product. Read from the bottom.
62. MrW@gol 'wanderer's' 25 minutes ago from web in reply to gol
63. TAstu How about the 'wanderers' or 'outcasts' mr w? 25 minutes ago from web
64. koko 1st half of stanza 1 .... When we are in the tavern, do not care where the ground may be, but they do hurry to gamble, who always sweat. 25 minutes ago from web
65. MrW Everyone, please provide a link to your section. 25 minutes ago from web
66. Chel26 @MrW thank you 25 minutes ago from web in reply to MrW
70. MrW @Chel26 "who drink first is captured" Mixed COnstruction 26 minutes ago from web in reply to Chel26
77. MrW @Chel26 No. Libertine does not mean 'free men', it means basically 'partiers' 27 minutes ago from web in reply to Chel26
78. gol the master drinks, the mistress drinks, the soldier drinks, the clergy drinks, he drinks, she drinks, the maid serving drinks, some ... 27 minutes ago from web
79. brandi times for the learners, twelve times for those who repent, and thirteen times for those who journey. For the pope and king are al ... 27 minutes ago from web
80. Chel26 freed men. not libertines... 28 minutes ago from web
81. MrW @TAstu 'exiled' drink? 28 minutes ago from web in reply to TAstu
82. Chel26 http://latinmove.blo... this is my blog link and carmina burana stanza 3 is the top post 29 minutes ago from web
83. MrW @Chel26 What are 'libertines'? 29 minutes ago from web in reply to Chel26
84. MrW @brandi Not 'scattered'; look up that word. 30 minutes ago from web in reply to brandi
85. Chel26 heres stanza three completed i have to post it piece by piece! "First of all the wine maker is giving drinks to the libertines.. 30 minutes ago from web
This sample is from the end of the test. You can see that I am still helping individual students with grammar issues while other students are preparing the final copy for submittal. The final version -- comprised of the work of all of the students -- was then posted on a single blog that all of them subscribe to.
1. MrW Ok. That's time. Rachel agreed to post the final to her blog. I'll check it there at 12:45PM for group grade. Thank you! Great work. less than 10 seconds ago from web
2. Sbt @MrW will do 3 minutes ago from web
3. MrW @Sbt ...attention to who is teasing... rephrase / object problem 3 minutes ago from web in reply to Sbt
4. brandi. Alesia's 3 minutes ago from web
5. koko have it all on my blog 3 minutes ago from web
6. Sbt But according to Bacchi, they dismiss their fate. (end) 3 minutes ago from web
7. TAstu I'll do it 3 minutes ago from web
8. Sbt because they are able to dress oneself with someone's wallet. There no one fears death... 4 minutes ago from web
9. MrW Let's choose one person's blog to be the place where the final version gets published for the class grade. Ok, decide. 4 minutes ago from web
Now, as I'm following this Tweet feed, I'm also following each student individually on their own blogs where they are live-blogging their edits. Might sound complicated, but really just a matter of tabbed browsing. The end result of all of this is me -- the teacher -- having a much better feel for the formative aspects of the students' skills in translating and the students having an immediate feedback session where they are collaborating both with their teacher and with their peers.
Last year, when I started experimenting with this type of assessment, I did it live through a collaborative Google Doc. Twitter, however, now makes everything far more efficient -- and each student is left with their own copy/transcript of the entire event.
I would like to know how other teachers are using Twitter. I see it as one of the most powerful tools for education available in Web 2.0. One of the things I really like is the use of @Tweets. Students are able to directly address one another or directly address me and I am able to directly address that particular student in return; but because we do it via @Tweets, the exchange shows up in the transcript of each of the students' feeds. So, even if a student was not working on a particular part during the assignment, they now have a record of another student's questions and my responses to those other sections. In a way, the @Tweets make the Twitter feed a document far more complex than anything we could have created merely via a back-and-forth; for students, this is great because now in addition to having taken part in a collaborative assessment, they also have a complete transcript which can be used as a study guide for the final exam. In fact, I am thinking that I'm going to have the students go over the transcript and create hyperlinked annotations back to Perseus for all matters of vocab and grammar. Those documents will then be combined and shared via a Google Doc as a practice guide for the year end summative assessments.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
'Technically' a lot of things are 'Great'
Clay Burell on E.D. Hirsch.
You know what irks me, as a day-to-day classroom teacher? Quotes from Hirsch like this:
These much maligned, fill-in-the-bubble reading tests are technically among the most reliable and valid tests available.
Tests of what?
Burell wants to know: "Whose core knowledge?"
I want to know: "Tests of what?"
Is a child who knows the content necessary to read the allusions in 'The Waste Land' necessarily going to get much of anything out of the poem?
"What is reading a poem?" That's a much more interesting question. What does it mean to feel poetry through your bones? What bubble test assesses that?
Furthermore, and quite irritatingly, Hirsch employs the term 'technically'.
I can't stand the word 'technically'. Every musician out there knows exactly what I mean. Not to offend anyone, but among many musicians of a certain age and mindset there is a running joke that Neil Peart from the band Rush is -- technically -- the best rock drummer. But really, now...
Nothing against Rush. 'Closer to the Heart' does have its time and place. But I'll take 'Yo La Tengo' great over 'technically' great any day.
And that's kinda the way I feel about Mr. Hirsch.
ps -- Do check out this video if you haven't seen it before. This would make my own personal core curriculum.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Assessments: What to do when you want to limit access
A reader is concerned about being able to give an assessment online but limiting the applications the students are allowed to access for completing the assessment:
Two ideas: one totally lo-fi and the second an easy-to-use program.
First: "Hands up! Spot check!" The teacher tells the students at the beginning of the assessment that there will be random spot checks. Anyone who has an illegal browser / program open forfeits their grade. Anyone who continues typing forfeits his or her grade. Students just flip their screens around for the teacher to spot check. I use this method all the time and generally after you catch a student the first time, you never have another problem.
Second: SMART sync 2009. This is the new version of SynchronEyes. It gives you one-button control over all student computers. You'll be able to monitor each screen in your room and you'll be able to block and/or control student machines and access. I've used SynchronEyes in a 'language lab' type of setting and it worked just fine. You can even use the program to create simple self-grading reading-checks.
Easy.
Well, for my needs, it means making the assessment tool the only application available to the student. The best scenario, though, would be to have that configurable, so that not only could they have, say a OneNote page to write their responses and Maple or Geogebra to try out their ideas but not have access to previous notes in OneNote nor social-networking, etc. And this has to be dead-easy, one-click on, one-click off kind of configurability on the part of the teacher.
Two ideas: one totally lo-fi and the second an easy-to-use program.
First: "Hands up! Spot check!" The teacher tells the students at the beginning of the assessment that there will be random spot checks. Anyone who has an illegal browser / program open forfeits their grade. Anyone who continues typing forfeits his or her grade. Students just flip their screens around for the teacher to spot check. I use this method all the time and generally after you catch a student the first time, you never have another problem.
Second: SMART sync 2009. This is the new version of SynchronEyes. It gives you one-button control over all student computers. You'll be able to monitor each screen in your room and you'll be able to block and/or control student machines and access. I've used SynchronEyes in a 'language lab' type of setting and it worked just fine. You can even use the program to create simple self-grading reading-checks.
Easy.
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