My tech days are comprised of experiments. As new types of learning require new types of assessment, I find myself being inspired by the websites I'm familiar with already and those which are new to me.
My students enjoy diversified lessons and once they're taken to the computer room they emerge as responsible creative learners helping their peers and enjoying the process.
When I design Performance-Based Tasks for the computer room, I always precede them with an enabling activity, for instance, before teaching them a lesson on the "Hall of Fame" song, they were to guess or talk about the concept: "Hall of Fame".
I first conducted a brainstorming activity and then gave them the lyrics and we went over the vocabulary.
Then, at the computer lab, they were asked to watch the song clip and answer questions on a file handout. Then – in groups, they decided how they will present the song in class. Since they really like singing and performing, this was a welcomed challenge.
In such a Learner- centered classroom, students are free to work at their own pace.
The authentic song, with which some of them were familiar, enabled me some flexible mentoring and guiding for evaluating their work and correcting them.
I usually approach each and every one of them to check their progress and assist them.
PBL works great with my student population for oral and written skills.
I can set rubrics and they can know ahead what they're expected to do.
Again they know they'll be evaluated inclusively, therefore the pressure is off, their motivation increases and their performance will improve.
Some of my recommended websites for PBLTasks:
http://www.colorincolorado.org/ - great for reading skills
www.ldonline – for working with the learner-disabled
www.readwritethink – similar to the first site, with numerous activities
www.brainpop.com – many ideas on many subjects
http://www.isabelperez.com/ - CALL methodology, links, songs and grammar
www.aesopsfables.com – great listening and reading activities, including lesson plans
http://www.schrockguide.net/ - great assessing and rubric tools, great lesson plan ideas
www.scholastic.com
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/
http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/ -– great clipart, check out their "Puzzlemaker"
http://www.timeforkids.com/ - need I say more?
One more way to have a pre- activity for PBL is to take them on a field trip. Some years ago I had worked in High School with LD learners.
We used to take them to an outdoor mall near school where their task was to read the signs in English. Then we discussed in class the possibilities for using some of the vocabulary we saw (authentic material) to produce a written/oral presentation (i.e.: a
T-shirt, a slogan, a sales pitch).
Students who write well can do a comic life strip about their own world using templates and rubrics. They can help their less -skilled friends in pair and group work.
I also think that biographies are an interesting topic. You can easily find materials on biography. com, History Channel or learning media. My students have written about Walt Disney and Neil Armstrong. Ilan Ramon was the Israeli astronaut who perished in space and I have asked them to write about both astronauts – thus, HOTS and critical thinking were used, by comparing and contrasting.
WebQuests are truly great for students to quench their thirst for curiosity.
This encourages them to read but they are not even aware of the reading process and they can find a great many links and ideas.
Zunal. WebQuest and Questgarden are wonderful. There are nice rubrics for "webquesting".
If we are to allow more learning – we have to give our students more autonomy.
Assessment can be based on holistic, formative, summative and analytic tools, but we have to bear in mind each and every student's needs.
I hope to learn much more next week,
L.
My students enjoy diversified lessons and once they're taken to the computer room they emerge as responsible creative learners helping their peers and enjoying the process.
When I design Performance-Based Tasks for the computer room, I always precede them with an enabling activity, for instance, before teaching them a lesson on the "Hall of Fame" song, they were to guess or talk about the concept: "Hall of Fame".
I first conducted a brainstorming activity and then gave them the lyrics and we went over the vocabulary.
Then, at the computer lab, they were asked to watch the song clip and answer questions on a file handout. Then – in groups, they decided how they will present the song in class. Since they really like singing and performing, this was a welcomed challenge.
In such a Learner- centered classroom, students are free to work at their own pace.
The authentic song, with which some of them were familiar, enabled me some flexible mentoring and guiding for evaluating their work and correcting them.
I usually approach each and every one of them to check their progress and assist them.
PBL works great with my student population for oral and written skills.
I can set rubrics and they can know ahead what they're expected to do.
Again they know they'll be evaluated inclusively, therefore the pressure is off, their motivation increases and their performance will improve.
Some of my recommended websites for PBLTasks:
http://www.colorincolorado.org/ - great for reading skills
www.ldonline – for working with the learner-disabled
www.readwritethink – similar to the first site, with numerous activities
www.brainpop.com – many ideas on many subjects
http://www.isabelperez.com/ - CALL methodology, links, songs and grammar
www.aesopsfables.com – great listening and reading activities, including lesson plans
http://www.schrockguide.net/ - great assessing and rubric tools, great lesson plan ideas
www.scholastic.com
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/
http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/ -– great clipart, check out their "Puzzlemaker"
http://www.timeforkids.com/ - need I say more?
One more way to have a pre- activity for PBL is to take them on a field trip. Some years ago I had worked in High School with LD learners.
We used to take them to an outdoor mall near school where their task was to read the signs in English. Then we discussed in class the possibilities for using some of the vocabulary we saw (authentic material) to produce a written/oral presentation (i.e.: a
T-shirt, a slogan, a sales pitch).
Students who write well can do a comic life strip about their own world using templates and rubrics. They can help their less -skilled friends in pair and group work.
I also think that biographies are an interesting topic. You can easily find materials on biography. com, History Channel or learning media. My students have written about Walt Disney and Neil Armstrong. Ilan Ramon was the Israeli astronaut who perished in space and I have asked them to write about both astronauts – thus, HOTS and critical thinking were used, by comparing and contrasting.
WebQuests are truly great for students to quench their thirst for curiosity.
This encourages them to read but they are not even aware of the reading process and they can find a great many links and ideas.
Zunal. WebQuest and Questgarden are wonderful. There are nice rubrics for "webquesting".
If we are to allow more learning – we have to give our students more autonomy.
Assessment can be based on holistic, formative, summative and analytic tools, but we have to bear in mind each and every student's needs.
I hope to learn much more next week,
L.
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