Week 4 Assignment

We are finally at the FACTs! Here's my plan for the rest of the book:

1) Read about 5 FACTs per week (this week that's 1-5, p. 45-62).
2) If one works with a current unit, try it with your class.  Share with us which one you did, what it looked/sounded like, and the results.
3) If it doesn't work out to do one with your class that particular week, write one that you can use with a future unit. Share it here.

Hopefully by the end of the book we will have many of these saved and hopefully tried and will get some results!

Week 3 Assignment

Last chapter before the actual FACTs!

Read chapter 3, pg. 31-44 and answer the following questions.

1. When thinking about the bullet point on p. 35 that says "Don't grade FACTs," but also knowing that we want to provide feedback to the students, what do you think is the best way to go about this?  Should we grade it, but not enter a grade in our gradebook? Provide more verbal/written commentary? Check +/ check - type feedback? What do you think works best and why?

2. Looking at figure 3.3 on p. 39, what questions do you already feel you converse about with your department, and which do you feel you need to discuss more? Which do you think FACTs will help us out with the most?

3. After reading these first 3 chapters, are there any major concerns you have about implementing these in your classroom? What do you think is a reasonable goal for you to set for yourself? 1 per week? 1 every other week? Commit to a goal that will work for you (considering we can share these amongst ourselves) and let us know how many you plan to implement.

Next week we will start reading through these a few at a time and trying to implement them in our classrooms. I can't wait to hear which ones we use and how they go!

Please try to respond to this post by Friday, October 24. Then respond to one or two colleagues' posts by Monday, October 27. If you get behind, no worries! This is not meant to be stressful. Also, continue to keep track of your own hours during the course of this blog.

Week 2 Assignment

Read Chapter 2 and answer the following questions.

1. We have used the 5E Learning Cycle with iDiscovery.  What are some differences you see between the 5E and SAIL Cycles?

2. During which SAIL stage do you see FACTs as being most useful to you and why?

Remember to post a response by Friday and then respond to one or two colleagues' comments by the following Monday.

Thanks!

Week 1 Assignment

Read chapter 1 pg. 1-14. 

Questions for discussion:

1) Looking at Figure 1.1 on pg. 4, think about your use of these types of assessments in your classroom.   What percent of your assessments are of each type? What percent of each type do you think we should do/ would you like to be doing and why?

2) What does "assessment FOR learning" mean to you?

3) Which 2 or 3 of the 20 purposes for doing FACTs in Figure 1.2 on pg. 6 seem the most important to you and why?

4) What will you need to do to make a shift to a formative assessment-centered classroom? What will the challenges be? What will the rewards be?

Please briefly answer these questions in a comment on this post by Friday, October 10. Don't forget to log your hours for reading and commenting. By next Monday the 13th, please respond to one or two of your colleagues comments. I will have each post up on Saturday. Please let me know if you have any suggestions or comments for this blog!

-Carrie