Chapter 11

Focus Question:

What is performance – based assessment for teachers and for students?

I learned that there are four different types of tests/assessments that teachers can use to evaluate a student’s progress: norm-reference, criterion-referenced tests, standards-based assessments, and performance-based assessments. Supervisors can also use the same assessments the teachers used for their students, to evaluate their teachers as well.  

Tech Tool:

I appreciated the fact the authors of our book provided different resources for digital portfolio building resources. I for one am not the most organized person in the world, so keeping EVERYTHING that I have ever done for all of my education classes will be impossible for me! Thinking about it gives me a headache. L Fortunately, some smart people came with a way to keep all of my work/files organized by creating digital portfolio building.

Initially, the task seemed impossible, but doing so online makes everything a lot easier! Out of the three resources that were provided to us I liked TaskStream the best. (iLife looks like more fun to paly with but I do not own an Apple computer so I can’t enjoy the site. Aww well J) Anyway, all of the sources get the job done but TaskStream made it easier to put documents together, and it was more appealing.

Summary:

I’m kind of sad that this will be my last blog about this book. I really enjoyed reading because there’s sooooo many tools for educators for educators to enhance their assessments that I would know nothing about. The part of the book that I enjoyed the most was the Tech Tools. Providing these sources allowed me to go check things out for myself and get a feel for what I like and dislike, and things I need to get better at using. 

Chapter 11 basically gave us steps on how to make ourselves, as educators, more marketable by taking advantage of creating digital portfolio building resources. I was also informed on how to enhance our students’ classroom experience by using pre-assessment tools like clickers or interactive surveys/polls. (If I had fun in class with the polls at 21 years old, any kid will!)

I really enjoyed your class Professor Coleman. I feel like this is the last day of school; maybe because this is my last post. I have learned a lot from the book and from being interactive with you in class as well. Thanks for everything! J  

Chapter 10

Focus Question:

How can teachers use technology to create universally designed classrooms?

Creating universally designed classrooms requires a teacher to do one of two things: change the classroom environment or change the way he/she would deliver the curriculum to their students. I learned that there are three different "toolkits" a teacher can choose to use for his/her classroom: low-tech, middle-tech, and high-tech. (Basically, different levels of technology.)

Tech Tool:

Since I am a math geek, I did appreciate the Tech Tool in this chapter - online calculators. I LOVE ONLINE CALCULATORS!! They are super convenient. Although "extra-large" calculators come in handy as well, I do not have to worry about carrying that big thing around if I have some sort of technology on hand like a smart phone or a laptop. I do love online calculators but I did not like the resource that was provided in the book. I understand that the larger calculator will benefit those students with visual issues, but there's no color and no way to create graphs. (Unless it's a huge graphing calculator, but those things cost an arm and a leg!

 One of my favorite websites is called Mathway.com. You do not have to subscribe for basic math problems, but if you would want the step-by-step directions there will be a fee. There are so many things you can do on this site - from graphing quadratic equations to figuring out a simple fraction. This tool can easily be used effectively within a classroom setting. It's free and safe for all students to use, even special needs students. I would recommend it to any teacher.


Summary:

Chapter 11 basically taught us how teachers can take advantage of technology and use these tools with all types of students, even special needs. There are are so many tools out there that a teacher can use to further help her students understand the material like: handheld spellers, electronic calculators, speech-to-text software, and interactive storybooks. These tools are aids to further ensure that students needs are being catered to. These digital tools are effective and are proven to help students comprehend the material better.