FabuAssessment

I have been worried about my Grade 10s. Yes, I've only had them for 3 lessons so far, but you know that feeling a teacher gets? I knew something wasn't right, so I decided to throw an assessment at them.

Today they wrote a short test on exponents. It had 5 questions and was worth 15 marks. When it was finished, they passed it to the front and I took a photo of each test and, much to their surprise, I passed it straight back to them.

On the back of the test, I asked them to write down the following headings:

(Yes, I have a chalk board. And yes, my handwriting leaves much to be desired.)

The learners had to answer the first 3 questions on their test paper before they marked their own test. I told them they needed to explain their answers, but that their answers would also be considered as private.

After giving them time to respond, I explained the basic difference between formative and summative assessment. This test was a formative assessment, in other words, it was designed to inform us on their progress in the section. I added that if they just looked at their mark and made no effort to find out where they went wrong, then they'd probably never get a better mark in this section than that one. The responsibility falls on their shoulders to choose whether this test will help them improve their knowledge of this section, or just determine all their future marks for this section.

But wait, there's more...

I told them to mark their tests but told them I wasn't going to give them a memo. They could mark them on their own, or ask friends for their opinions, but I wasn't going to help at all. At first they were too shy to leave their seats, but after a few minutes of struggling, they started to get the idea.

This was a great reflective experience and something I want to encourage in all my classes. I want to teach my learners how to think about what they're doing, why they're doing it and how they can do it better next time.

I have spent some time marking their tests (the photos I took before handing them back again) and I'm considering giving them the same test tomorrow. I'd like to see if they've used today's experience to improve their knowledge of the section. They've had access to the memo on the fabumaths.co.za website, so maybe it will be good to see if they made use of it?

Until next time, much love.

Online Courses vs Conventional Teaching Year Plans

Dear Reader

I am busy doing a year plan. Yes, I know, I've already finished one day of school and they aren't completed yet. (Naughty Helen!) In my defense, my website was my year plan and I thought it was pretty amazing... And then I tried to use it to make individual lesson plans and I got overwhelmed.

Online courses give you a wide variety of what you can do. They are designed with the idea that the user has an undefined amount of time to complete the section. On my website, I have embedded short explanation videos for those users with very little time, and multiple links to other resources for those with lots of time.

In class, I only have 1 hour of contact time a day. This requires a much closer eye on the time in order to get through the content. The content was already allocated to weeks in my calendar, so all I needed to do was put this into a spreadsheet.

I have included all of our teaching weeks for the year and any notes for those weeks (like exam time). I have a column for the section of content to be taught, like Exponents, and then a column for the specific content or skills (copied straight from the SAGS/CAPS document) next to it. I've also chosen to include which chapters and exercises from the Mind Action Series suite the content. It's still a work in progress, but you're welcome to check up on it by clicking here.

It's interesting to notice these differences and I think the comparisons could help those who are developing online courses to be used in a classroom environment. For example, in schools where devices are shared, an online course would have to apply similar strategies to cope with the limited contact time.

Well Reader, I have procrastinated too much now. I must get on with it.

Until next time, much love!

Excitement for FabuMaths.co.za

I have just published my website - fabumaths.co.za - and I am so super excited! Let's dissect my excitement together:

1. I set my mind to something and I finished it! ...well almost... I completed the pages needed to teach the content in Term 1. Saying that though, I don't plan to use the website in class at all. The more I work with technology in education, the more I feel the teacher is the most important part of the classroom experience. 
2. I managed to create a website! The website is not anything hugely original and I haven't specifically generated new content to fill the pages, but I am pretty proud of the way I've collate relevant resources to suit the content.
3. I have something to call my own! This is quite important to me. Over the last 4 years, I have contributed to many projects and I am proud of all of them. My name appears in the front of textbooks and in the credits of video lessons, but they are not my personal projects. I can call this my own, and I can design and use it exactly how I want to. #suchfun

To my bosses: don't worry, I have also been doing my conventional planning. I forgot how long it takes to do exercises out of a textbook, but it's been good fun. There is no better self esteem boost than getting an answer right!

Please take a look at my website (fabumaths.co.za) and give me your honest criticism. I need to live up to my name - Helen the Great. (Helen the Average just doesn't have the same ring to it.)

Much love!