Hi all,

So this last week we were continuing our unit on forces. We did Can Roll Races on different surfaces. We discussed friction (with gestures) and how some surfaces create a lot of friction and some do not. I have always struggled with the idea of assessing if the students learned objectives in Science. While some students do OK writing up an experiment, others with developing fine motor skills see this as a daunting task taking away some of the joy and excitement from the experiment. This was very apparent when I put the science experiment up on the SmartBoard and one little girl slumped over in her desk and heavy sighed!

What I have discovered using WBT is that some of my students who struggle with writing are particularly good at orally drawing conclusions using because slappers and adders. Why ask them to write more when I can assess their learning through WBT Critical Thinking techniques? At the same time I can challenge my students to write sentences if that comes easier for them. Not to say that all my students shouldn't practice their writing skills but I think there is a time and place, and the time and place is not necessarily in the afternoon after a fun experiment.

Furthermore, these same students are finding success doing this and their self-esteem is growing!!

Reflecting on what I ask my students to do a lot of during the day I can conclude that most of it involves writing!!! How frustrating for children who struggle with fine motor skills, not to mention reading!!

Liann
WBT Intern

Think of this, when you use WBT you can document that with the gestures, teach/ok and tell your neighbor, brain toys and other WBT strategies that your students know the material even though they struggle.

With Behavior and learning plans in place in almost every school you can "prove" that academics are evident through other modalities other than just writing! We knew this in special education long ago, but not all teachers had the opprotunity to teach in these areas.

WBT allows us to see and hear the whole learner special or not!

Annette

So true Annette!! I think the key to documenting their progress is to sit down after each day and record observations about your students' learning successes. I was reading some best practices of other teachers and one shared that she picked 5 students a day and wrote down a few jot notes related to their learning for that day. I tried that but found I liked doing a quick note for each child in my class per day. It was great and very quick. Now it is just a matter of being consistent. Any other assessment ideas out there? I LOVE WBT methods - I'm wondering how to document my observations within time constraints. Any other ideas?

Liann

WBT Intern

Inutini,

Two questions:

1. About how long does it take you to do the documenting each day?
Was there a learning curve so that you got faster as you went? What can I tell the team to expect?

2. What format are you using? Do you use a matrix or other "spread sheet" for your comments to make it easier to get it done?
If so, would you be willing to share the format?

Thanks for your help.

Jason

Hi Jason!

1. About how long does it take you to do the documenting each day?
Was there a learning curve so that you got faster as you went? What can I tell the team to expect?

I just did a quick example and timed it - it took 10 minutes to write a general observation about each of my 21 kids. I am a fairly fast typer although I did not have a list of my kids in front of me. I think it would go faster if it was more of a specific anecdotal. For example, does each child understand what a noun is? Yes or No? I found that the more I do it the faster it gets. In elementary, learning is so fluid - sometimes the kids will know something one day and the next it will be gone - that is why more general works for me.

2. What format are you using? Do you use a matrix or other "spread sheet" for your comments to make it easier to get it done?
If so, would you be willing to share the format?

I wrote the date at the top of the page and then wrote each child's name as I thought of them with a brief comment. I am looking into using a data base of some sort - it would be so great to compile all of these comments to review before writing report card comments.

Hope this helps!

Liann
WBT Intern

Liann,

Thanks for the full reply.

Your dedication is quite impressive! Just 10 to 15 minutes a day for four classes is an extra hour of work. Your school and student are lucky to have you.

If one of the teachers on our team creates a n excel type spread sheet, or some such to make the data entry and retrieval easier I'll be sure to post it for all to use if they want it.

Jason

Hi Jason,

I forgot to say I only will comment on one lesson a day:) or I will make a general comment about something I observed during the day. That way it only takes me 10 minutes:)

Liann