Chapter 11 - Digital Blog Post J

Time to Engage:

A nice opening to any new class, for teachers and students alike, is to predetermine how much a student knows upon entering the class. The term for this approach is known as a pre-assessment. A pre-assessment has many forms; it can come as a quiz, worksheet, survey, or mini writing assignment in order to evaluate how much material a student knows about the subject at hand. This is important because I feel it is necessary in order to build off of student’s prior knowledge. This also gives us, as educators, a peak into the student’s mind so we can be better prepared when creating lesson plans and finding useful ways to engage students. Instead of throwing a multitude of information at learners that will likely fly right over their heads, or worse, scare them, pre-assessments give us a better idea on how to tackle the teaching process.

Chapter 11 discuses a valuable approach to engaging students through student participation systems. In short, this is a hands-on way of allowing students to interact and respond to classroom stimuli through various tools. One way for students to participate is through the use of clickers. This is a small device that allows students to press a button or type an answer in response to a question. Different types of clickers can let students use “multiple choice, yes/no, true/false, ranking, numeric, and short answer questions” (Maloy, et al, 2014, p. 288). I personally like this method because as the educator it gives you an idea of how many students are grasping the concepts being presented. On behalf of the students, I think this allows students to remain active in their learning and keep them on their toes.

Democratic schools and classrooms was a great topic to cover within the reading. By allowing teachers and students to unite in their decision-making process, it makes for better communication and involvement. This allows students to feel more engaged and are less threatened by participation as well as expressing their thoughts and concerns. By conversing with the teacher as a class or individual, students can relay how they feel about different aspects of the school, staff, classes, and even topics not associated with school i.e. weather, sports, stores, people, etc. I think this form of engagement can be beneficial. It fosters an environment that produces strong teacher-student relationships. This approach would ultimately increase student input because it adds to the students’ interests.

In conclusion, we understand that student reflection is not only valuable, but can be achieved through various methods within the classroom. Whether it’s a pre-assessment  a student participation system, or a democratic learning approach, each method requires students to reflect and take the time to work out their thoughts to better express their understanding. These methods may benefit the student, but they also come as a great innovative way for teachers to evaluate their students.

  

Resources

Chasteen, S. (2009, November 12). Students and Teachers Speak: Clickers in the science classroom. Retrieved November 8, 2015 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpAEx2abKBQ

Goshay, N. (2015, November 8). Engaging Students. Created with Tagxedo http://www.tagxedo.com/app.html?url=https%3A//tackk.com/pucavq/embed&shape=Classic&orientation=Any&font=ChunkFive&theme=Just%20Peachy

Maloy, R., O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Woolf, B. (2014). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.