Thursday, January 31, 2013

Chapter 3: Developing Lessons with Technology

Focus Question: 


     How can teachers evaluate and assess their students?


     In todays world, teachers mainly use tests to evaluate and assess their students.  Generally, there is a beginning of the year exam, midterm, and final; the first test is to find out at what level the student is starting, the second exam is to assess the students current progress, and the third exam is to evaluate what the student has learned throughout the entire year.  
     Assessment tests come in two types: a norm-referenced test and a criterion-referenced tests.  A norm-referenced test is an exam whose purpose is to compare students to other students of the same grade.  Criterion-referenced tests, on the other hand, compare a student's performance to specific standards. 
     There are also standard-based assessments, instructionally supportive assessments, and performance evaluations that all aid teachers in evaluating their students in different aspects.  

Tech Tool Link: PBS Teachers


     
     PBS Teachers is a great resource for teachers of all levels.  The website has many links and is very inviting.  The website features interesting articles, videos, and projects.  I was personally drawn to EcoInvestigators.  EcoInvestigators is a site for grades 3-5.  The site is meant to engage the students and excite them about solving environmental problems in their community and the world.  EcoInvestigators even provides an easy to use flow chart for teachers that describes how to use the program effectively: 
     Overall, PBS Teachers seems to be very engaging and useful for teachers, providing the ways and the means to expand on their students, as well as their own, knowledge.

Summary and Connection: 


     This chapter seemed to contain quite a bit of information, while at the same time seemed much more focused than the chapters previous.  The chapter focused on lesson development, which is central to the teaching profession.  Teachers always come to class with a plan for the day, they "rarely create a meaningful class on the spur of the moment."  Every teacher has a different method, a different way they create and perform lesson plans.  Developing lessons is a creative process.  Teachers need to understand how they connect with their students in order to create an effective lesson plan.  Technology can aid teachers in creating effective lesson plans.  Different websites provide sample lesson plans that teachers can look and and use.  Different websites inspire ideas for lesson plans as well.  

1 comment:

  1. Great information in this post and really like the link to EcoInvestigators - cool! :) Have you ever created a lesson plan yourself? It definitely is not as easy as it might appear to make an effective one. Please continue to engage a bit more reflection as to how you have seen the content used, how you might use it your own future classroom, your opinion about it, etc.

    ReplyDelete