When writing assessments, I always think of the audience (my class) and aim to deliver an AoL that incorporates lots of choice, diversity, and encapsulates the mission statement of my home school. The first assessment I put together (titled Assessment #1 attached below), allows students to research more in depth about catalytic converters and explore the arguments surrounding the legal requirement of installing it in every car. Although catalytic converters have been legal in Ontario for the past 35 years, in this assessment, I urge the students to consider the pros and cons and why the Ontario government ultimately decided that the pros outweighed the cons. This assessment has many purposes. For starters, it caters to DSSS's mission to be the change, and to explore environmental as well as technological education. I also included an aspect in the assessment that required students to interview their parents to get an adult's perspective on the issue because their parents are the ones ultimately making the decision to buy cars. By doing so, I urge the students to communicate with their parents and to share their environmental education that they learn at school with their parents as well; something that DSSS values. Finally, I also consider this a critical thinking exercise whereby students will not just accept things at face value as many decisions in society were put in place after careful decisions and considerations from many parties. I hope my students can consider all sides of a debate and not just accept things at face value. For this assessment, I've also designed a rubric that aims to eliminate confusion with "soft" language such as "some, many, insufficient, etc." Instead, I've included numbers of arguments that students should come up with under each level and in class, I would explain and use examples of what a "convincing argument is" in order to communicate effectively the specifics of the assignment. I would take some time to go through the rubric and to see if anyone has any questions to make sure everyone understands their roles. Assessment #2 (I have not formally drafted because I replaced it with a critical thinking activity which I outlined below) is on career exploration designed like a UDL and I think this is an assignment that can be used in any classroom at any home school. For starters, science students often take science courses because they want to understand how the world operates and how living things interact. Thus, an assessment on the practical application of the chemistry concepts that they learn in class is a great way (in my opinion) for students to explore relatedness between school and the real world. I've laid out the framework around single displacement reactions and how exploring careers in metallurgy could be one direction that students take, but as long as the career has chemistry as a major element, the students are free to pursue any direction. The critical thinking activity on single displacement reactions I think is also a great activity to do in any classroom setting, and especially DSSS due to its emphasis on technological and environmental education. Here, students are asked to work in breakout rooms of 3 and document their notes on JamBoard (https://jamboard.google.com/d/1YF9vaNrpbff4LgSOPUQjwPfU8BtMktumtChG6cn4XFo/edit?usp=sharing). They will analyze data from charts that have corrosion rates listed from various materials as well as corrosion rates based on diameters of the pipe. The goal is to find the optimal material and width of the pipe to conduct water to the school. Cost of materials is also included in a separate chart in which students must consider different perspectives to find the optimal design. For example, they are asked to think from the perspective of the school administration team in a less fortunate community, a third-world country where access to materials is scarce, an Indigenous or rural community where well water is the primary source of water, and finally in a school such as DSSS. The hope is to raise students to be globally competent thinkers and know that as North Americans, we are very privileged that we have safe drinking water and sanitation. Credits go to marine.copper.org for supplying the data tables and charts, and Earl Chemistry for supplying the idea. For other AfL and AaL activities, I've put together a lab on single displacement reactions that translates what we might do in class in an online environment. With regards to the needs of our cohort, I've pre-filled the charts in the results sections of the lab and would most likely exclude the fill ins in a SCH3U class at DSSS. The inclusion of a lab is critical, in any science class, in my opinion as many students are kinesthetic learners, and many students take the sciences because they are interested in research in the future. I also noticed that there is no SCH3C course at DSSS and wonder if there may be a reason why not many DSSS students take chemistry. My exit tickets https://docs.google.com/forms/d/139ymj7H4ATpN7KyUIxWC3jXfVcZj5bT1tsMOpTF0_UU/prefill) are also based on slides directly taken from the lesson so students can use it as a gauge to see if they understood the material from class. The benefits of an online learning environment is that these Google Sheets can provide instantaneous feedback allowing students the chance to see their level of understanding before class ends. Furthermore, the use of interactive multiple choice, short answer, draggable, and drawing questions on PearDeck is a really engaging way to teach chemistry. The use of these questions distributed throughout the lesson allows students to focus and put pen to paper - or mouse to screen in a virtual setting - and allows a mini-check in for the students. Finally, I love including fitness challenges in my lessons which can serve as a mini-check in as well as a stretching break that still keeps students engaged in the learning. Often times, when students are given a break, they may take longer getting back to the classroom if there is a long line up in the washroom, at the coffee shop, or they just may be distracted by social media and lose focus. By introducing a fitness break on concepts we just learned, I can test the students' knowledge (if A, then do action X, if B, then do action Z) and even allow muscle memory to develop if I associate the appropriate action with the correct response. For example, students may stand up and sit down if the scenario has lots of collisions, and students may crouch down and sit back up if the scenario has few collisions. This way, I can also cater to different learning styles. The discussion with our chemistry teachable group was fairly interesting and very insightful. Eddia, a year 2 MT candidate who has a class to teach this practicum in a virtual setting provided her input teaching a class of SCH4U. She mentioned that although the use of JamBoard in theory works really well, but in reality, only 5-6 people participate in the breakout room discussions because teachers often don't monitor the breakout rooms. I think this contrasts our APP adapted practicum because when we attend our classmates' lessons, we want to participate and support their teaching in order to give them feedback. Our motivation may not align with the students. In addition, Eddia commented that the class typically has their cameras off so building connection is even more difficult when you don't even know what your class looks like. Again, perhaps only the same 5-6 people are answering your questions in chat. Thus, Eddia mentioned the use of Google Forms as an excellent way to gauge entire class understanding. I think using PearDeck, where the screen projected to the class is anonymous but teachers can see who replied, allows active participation but also teachers to follow up with those who are unsure of the material taught in class.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorHi! Thanks for taking the time to read about my journey. I hope you can take something from my experiences and share yours in return. Don't be shy! ArchivesCategories |