Week 5 SCED 330 and EDUC 410

SCED 330

Tuesday my science fair group met to work on our project. We are testing to see if washing your hands has an effect on how germs spread, as well as if different soaps have an effect. To show this we are using slices of bread. We took slices of bread and put them into ziplock bags. One slice was the control where no one touched it. We all took another slice where we all touched it before washing our hands. Then we all washed out hands with a different soap and each touched a slice of bread, labeling the bag with the type of soap we used. Now we are just waiting to see what happens. I am really happy with how this experiment is started and cannot wait to see where it goes. I am also looking forward to get our water cycle project going with my other group.

Right now the biggest struggle I am having this week is with the hyperdoc. My group’s hyperdoc is due this week and we have been struggling to find time to get together. We tried to get a meeting set up early this week but it did not work out. So it looks like we will be connecting with each other mostly through email and phone. My plan is to work on this as much as I can throughout the week but I am not sure how much internet access I will have so the majority of my work on this project will have to be completed Monday. I hate this because I was doing well at getting things done in a timely manner, but sometimes there is just no control.

Speaking of hyperdocs: 

EDUC 410

This week in EDUC 410 we are looking at assessment. In our virtual meeting we discussed the reliability and validity of an assessment and how important these are. The reliability of an assessment refers to its consistency. The assessment should measure the same. It should not matter what time of day a student does the assessment, and if a student gets an answer right he/she should be able to get the answer to a similar question correct as well. The validity of an assessment reflects accuracy. You are wanting to measure whether the students are understanding the content you are teaching so your assessment should reflect this. If your assessment has nothing to do with what you taught then it is not valid. To have a good assessment you need both of these, not just one or the other. This goes with standard 5 of the NCTCS. Specifically 5a which says, “teachers analyze student learning.” Teachers are to create affective assessments and then continue with them. They cannot just create the assessment have the students do it, grade it and stop there. They need to look at these assessments and take what they learn of their students and use that to help them improve. This is what I plan to do in my future classroom. I want to create reliable and valid assessments and then use the data I glean from them to improve my teaching and the learning of my students.

Outside

I have another story from my job this week. I have a student who really wants to behave and is pretty good for the most part. However, he gets into these crying tantrum fits. Any time he does get into trouble he freaks out. He also does this when he is playing a game and is “out” or does not think he was treated fairly. Well the other day he got into trouble. At the time I was busy helping my other students with their homework, I called him down for something, but proceeded to work with another student. The other group leader happened to be in there as he had already dropped his students off with their tutor so he was giving me a hand. Well when this student was still not doing what he was told this group leader took it from there. It escalated into one of his crying fits, after a while I could see that the other group leader was not to get anywhere with the student so I traded off with him. I was able to get things under control which I was very proud of but the main piece of this story is that when the day ended the other group leader came to me asking questions about it. He has decided to go into teaching himself, though at the high school level, (by the way this was a second grader that we were dealing with). He is having problems with his discipline and management skills with the students. Especially those at a younger age. So far every week he has come to me with a new question, a new scenario and how I would handle the situation. I have just been so proud to be able to help a fellow teacher grow like this, at least the best I can. This also goes with the NCTCstandard 1: “Teachers demonstrate leadership.”

Twitter

This is so important. Through out all of our classes we learn this everyday. This is the whole point of looking at the data, so that we are able to gauge where our students are and go from there. We cannot skip ahead to another lesson if they have not mastered the last one.

As teachers we need to remember this. Focus on our students. Change the world for that one student, it has an impact, see it, use it.

This is a cool read. Having students peer edit can help them better see when errors happen. Doing this will help them better see them in their own writing and help them know how to correct these errors. Peer Feedback Article