It's 8:05 P.M., Your Homework is Late!

Following up on my previous post on how I want to stop grading, I thought it would be good to provide some notes from the field as we head in to our second full week.

• I sent out a "Math Checkup" using a Google Form. This was a pretty quick and easy diagnostic assessment that I made using NYS Testing Program multiple choice questions. A few students had trouble opening the form either in their e-mail or through a hyperlink, but after a few days most everyone had figured it out. I now know a rough estimate of each student's proficiency and could figure out the value-add at the end of the year if I give a similar exam. I also know a few topics to cover early on that I may have skipped over. Oh, and did I mention that I can skip collecting exams, grading the answers and entering the data into Excel?

• We have started to do nightly homework assignments also using Google Forms. When I gave out a quick survey at the end of this past week, I got the following results:

"The one thing that should change about this class is..."
"The homework" (1)

"The one thing that should NOT change about this class is..."
"The homework" (2)

Ever seen kids answer a survey and say that they didn't want the homework to change? And that one student is getting a paper copy printout tomorrow.

• While the students are completing their homework in Google Forms, I come home from school everyday and check my Google account after dinner. I always get to see who has completed the assignment already and can think ahead to what we need to review in class the next day.

The next steps for this project:

1. Reliability - This is an issue. Some kids have been reporting trouble opening the email or submitting their finished work. I think a few more test cases should help solve this.
2. Confirmation - Everyday students have come in to class asking "Did you get my homework?" It's music to my ears! However, I'd like for them to know that I received their work before then so there is no anxiety. Currently, I've customized the confirmation note, but even this leaves them wondering if it even worked.
3. Feedback - One possible solution to #2 is to give the students permission to view the results. This would be great because it could give them instantaneous feedback on whether they got it right or not. However, currently this would mean they could see everyone's answers. I need to make sure they can be trusted not to use that information for evil. I want to trust them, but we need to discuss this and maybe build up our group norms a bit. There is also the risk that they could cheat by seeing the answers then sending them to a friend. But that's why I love that time stamp feature that is built in. I wouldn't mind students submitting, checking and resubmitting. In fact, that would be the best. Video games good.

Some More Shocking Research on Study Habits

From the NY Times. For all the learners out there, these study tips were helpful. The general idea is that studying can be more effective by alternating the a) environment, b) content, c) schedule as well as by introducing some more frequent (self) assessment.

Alternating environment:

For instance, instead of sticking to one study location, simply alternating the room where a person studies improves retention. So does studying distinct but related skills or concepts in one sitting, rather than focusing intensely on a single thing.

And switching content:

Varying the type of material studied in a single sitting — alternating, for example, among vocabulary, reading and speaking in a new language — seems to leave a deeper impression on the brain than does concentrating on just one skill at a time.

And changing the study schedule:

An hour of study tonight, an hour on the weekend, another session a week from now: such so-called spacing improves later recall, without requiring students to put in more overall study effort or pay more attention, dozens of studies have found.

Plus my own little pet project. Assessment:

That’s one reason cognitive scientists see testing itself — or practice tests and quizzes — as a powerful tool of learning, rather than merely assessment. The process of retrieving an idea is not like pulling a book from a shelf; it seems to fundamentally alter the way the information is subsequently stored, making it far more accessible in the future.

Teachers! Take note of this last one. It seems some of the things we spend a great deal of time learning about is not supported by psycho-ed research.

Take the notion that children have specific learning styles, that some are “visual learners” and others are auditory; some are “left-brain” students, others “right-brain.” In a recent review of the relevant research, published in the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest, a team of psychologists found almost zero support for such ideas. “The contrast between the enormous popularity of the learning-styles approach within education and the lack of credible evidence for its utility is, in our opinion, striking and disturbing [my italics]” the researchers concluded.

Study Tips That Work

The link is here.

I especially liked

• #1 - Adopt a growth mindset
• #4 - Test yourself
• #8 - Get handouts prior to the lecture
• #9 - Believe in yourself

#4 was misleading however, since the articles says "time spent answering quiz questions (including feedback of correct answers) is more beneficial than the same time spent merely re-studying that same material", and follows up that thought with, "self-testing when information is still fresh in your memory, immediately after studying, doesn’t work. It does not create lasting memories, and it creates overconfidence."

Teachers Unite! Let's Stop Grading!

Teachers are amazingly talented professionals with a wide range of skills from delivering content instruction to all types of learners to offering support and consulting to troubled youths. But, nearly across the profession, one particular skill has way too much time being devoted to itself: GRADING.

I want to cut my grading time down to nothing. I might not make it all the way, but the closer I get the better I'll be at every other thing, from lesson planning to instruction to advising and on.

How Am I Going to Start:

1. Watch YouTube
2. Get together a team of dedicated teachers, who want to plan smarter and grade less.
3. Try and try again until we succeed.

Who's with me?

Grading Regents

I had my first experience grading state regents exams today. It felt like a terrific rite of passage, like jury duty. Only I was disappointed to see firsthand what Diane Ravitch described in The Death and Life of the Great American Education System, including how a student can receive a passing grade for scoring about 1/3 of the possible points.