Mo Physics Mo Problems

  One of the summative assessment options I love is something I've termed Evidence of Mastery or Mastery Defense Presentation. In this, students will present evidence from the unit to show that they have mastered all unit outcomes and present it to me face to face. When we do this face to face, I can then asks them questions or have them elaborate on points that they may not have covered. It takes time, but it gives me a clear idea of a students understanding of a concept. Due to social distancing in the classroom, I didn't have a good workflow for this in our 1st unit this year. I've brought this summative assessment option back and using Flipgrid to leverage it.  Traditionally, I had students construct their own slideshow presentations from scratch. This time around, I decided to make them a template of what I wanted them to specifically present to me. I put in space for them to present work that they had done in the unit. Specifically in this unit, it was graphs from lab...

  This year, our students have the choice to be in person or virtual. So in my physics classroom, roughly 20% of my population is virtual. This has resulted in me making major changes in terms of labs (not sharing materials for in person and coming up with solutions for virtual students.) But this week is our first unit assessment. One assessment structure I used last year during virtual learning was so effective, I decide to use it again this year. This structure was a bingo choice board in which students submit responses using Flipgrid. What I love about Flipgrid is that it provides such a wide variety of expression options. So when I tell students to create a video using Flipgrid, they have so many options in terms of creation. They can use audio, they can add text, they can capture video, they can upload video, they can upload images, they can add emojis. In addition, they can annotate live over everything. On the Bingo board students choose the content of the video. On Flipgri...

In this new landscape of Virtual Learning, I've lost many of my favorite activities and labs. But thanks to ideas from my Professional Learning Network and the support of my administration, I feel like I've been given the freedom to think differently. To not simply retrofit activities and assessments into a virtual model, but to try something different and leverage the change in instruction and environments. In a recent podcast, Kasey Bell presented 12 practical tips for remote learning that forced me to rethink what I was trying to do . It was a fantastic episode that moved me to question my current practice and try something different. So, I took a tip from another one of her episodes on Choice Boards . As we finish our energy unit, I wanted to create a more unique opportunity for learners to demonstrate mastery. So, I created an Energy Bingo Board. I would not consider this a true choice board for a couple of reasons. But, I'd like to discuss the design of the ass...

My school district will be out next week to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Over these days students will be assigned virtual learning assignments to be completed at home with the assistance of their Chromebooks. I'm designing a series of daily activities for my students using a number of resources. I just wanted to do a quick share and provide some 1 minute videos just in case you were interested in trying these tools out. Pear Deck I will be providing guided content instruction and videos through the use of student paced Pear Decks. These are Google Slide decks with added interactivity via the Pear Deck for Slides add-on . Some slides have videos embedded and others have the ability for students to respond to prompts. In student paced mode, students join the deck via a link and progress at their own pace. The teacher is then able to view their progress and responses to prompts in real time. To learn more about using Pear Deck for virtual learning, check out this post b...

insta worthy When a picture is good enough to be posted on Instagram 1. Do you like this picture? Oh yeah, totally insta worthy! -From Urban Dictionary In a presentation I attended at ISTE, Kasey Bell focused on students publishing for real world audiences. As I near the point of completion on my master’s project work, I’ve been thinking about that session. While I will be using the product of my work in my classroom this fall, the nearly 100 hours of work I have spent putting the project together will culminate in a presentation to one person. The only person who will hear me speak to my work will be my academic advisor. Thinking on that, I realize how this is a direct reflection on many of the assessments students complete in my classroom. These assessments are presented to an audience of one or one confined to the walls of the classroom. Think about anytime you’ve finished an exam. Were you feeling a sense of relief because it was done or a sense of accomplishment...

My spring break is filled with little jobs I like to accomplish. One of those jobs is switching over the garage from winter to summer. See in Wisconsin, we truly have 4 seasons. Every year there is around a 100 degree difference between our coldest winter weather to our warmest summer weather. We get feet of snow in the winter and dew points above 70 in the summer. Every spring break, I am excited for the great garage switch over. The snowblower gets packed up and put in the back and the lawn mower gets pulled out an put in the front. The problem is though, the grass is never ready to be mowed over spring break and many times we haven’t seen the last of the snow for the year. This year we got several inches of snow shortly after the break so I had to undo my work just to get the snowblower out. Yet, I still find myself sticking to this yearly plan despite the fact that the weather doesn’t comply with my plan. A few years ago during a technology refresher for our school gradebo...

I had the opportunity to read a wonderful and super rich book about grading practices by Cathy Vatterott called Rethinking Grading : Meaningful Assessment for Standards-Based Learning . The book is not only for those thinking bout implementing standards based grading.  It has important, research based strategies that we should all be using in our classroom from crafting learning objectives, forms of assessment, and the power of feedback. I put together some of my takeaways from the book in a single diagram.  This image can't do justice to the depth of the book. My highlights covered over 10 pages in a Google Doc.  So, search it out and dig in. If you find errors in the doc, I'm always looking for help proofreading! Thank you

Exam time seems to be all about quantitative data.  Teachers are determining how many points students have, percentages are being translated into letter grades, quarter grades and final exams are being weighted and combined to determine that all important final percentage which will determine that final letter grade.  That letter will give us some idea of how well the learner mastered the course outcomes.  In addition, students are using online grade calculators to determine the minimum level they need to perform at in order  to earn the grade they desire.  Yes, final exam time is about arguing for the grade you deserve, but I feel that there is room for more. I always feel that final exam time should be just as much about reflection on learning as it is about expression of learning. It is in that spirit that I am hoping to shift the focus of what goes in student portfolios in my courses. I currently ask students to do some reflection, but it seems mi...

We are a few days away from spring break.  When we come back from break, I will have 4 weeks with my AP Physics students before they take AP Exams in Physics 1 and 2.  After the exam, we will have roughly 5 weeks together before the end of the school year.  Now, I will have no problems covering the content before the AP Exam in either class.  I will definitely be able to teach them all the content.  The issue I have is that there will not be enough time for them to actively learn the content before the exam date. If all of my students were taking the AP Exam, it would be easier to focus the students on a common goal of this exam.  But, only about 50% of my students are taking the exam.  It would be my dream to be able to create multiple paths in the AP classroom, but I’m not there yet. So really the frustration is coming down to two areas.  The first is the amount of content students need to master in a short amount of time to be read...

I finished reading Thomas Guskey’s On Your Mark last night in preparation for a discussion we had today on grading as a part of our PD at Brookfield Central.  As a part of the preparation for the discussion, we were asked to read an article on grading and share out our thoughts in an Ed Camp style environment. Different rooms focused on different practices.  I was shocked to realize we had been talking for almost an hour when our time was up.  I felt like we had just begun digging deep.  It was a great feeling to hear these conversations occurring with a positive mindset. Every once few months I read, see, or hear something that really makes me realize the box I’ve placed myself in.  The box that has been revealed to me this week is the box of using percentages to guide grading.  Like anyone trying to look outside of the box they are in, these views may seem a bit fragmented.  It’s my hope that putting them down will help me see the logic in ...