#pw6 No Numbers

Image by dkuropatwa via FlickrMore than once this week, assess your students work without assigning a numeric grade or mark, comments only. Keep it simple, like a short quiz with 1-3 questions. Some advice for giving comments:

Comments should identify what has been done well and what still needs improvement and give guidance on how to make that improvement. (source)

 Give yourself  1000 bonus points if you keep a digital record of this weeks assessments (questions, student responses, and your comments) in a blog, wiki, podcast, or digital pictures on flickr. (You might want to make your students' work anonymous to the public in some way.)

After a week of doing this do you find you ask different kinds of assessment questions?

Did this have any impact on the answers your students gave?

Were there any changes in the atmosphere (culture) of your classroom?

Tweet, blog, leave a comment here or anywhere and include this tag in it somewhere: #wpedagogue

#pw5 Make Thinking Transparent

Image by dkuropatwa via FlickrFind ways to make your students thinking transparent this week. You might have them explain their thinking to the class, write a blog post or leave a comment to a prompt on your blog, or create a visual summary of what they learned this week using five carefully chosen pictures from the flickr creative commons archive.

After a week of doing this do you find you know more about what your students know and still need to know?

Did this have any impact on class discussions?

Were there any changes in the atmosphere (culture) of your classroom?

Tweet, blog, leave a comment here or anywhere and include this tag in it somewhere: #wpedagogue

#pw4 Idea Networks

Image via WikipediaThis week explicitly explain to students how different ideas they are learning are in fact connected. Give yourself 1000 bonus points if you can help them see the connections across different subjects.

Another way to think of this: "Structure learning around the big ideas of your discipline." Can you articulate one or two of these big ideas?

After a week of doing this are your students starting to make connections you hadn't thought of?

Did this have any impact on conversations in class?

Were there any changes in the atmosphere (culture) of your classroom?

Tweet, blog, leave a comment here or anywhere and include this tag in it somewhere: #wpedagogue

#pw3 Expand Your Active Area

Image via WikipediaPay attention to areas in the classroom you physically occupy most of the time. (Front of the room?) Conscientiously expand this to areas of the classroom you rarely teach from. (Back of the room?)

After a week of doing this do you find it less awkward moving into these "student spaces"?

Did this have any impact on your interactions with your students?

Were there any changes in the atmosphere (culture) of your classroom?

Tweet, blog, leave a comment here or anywhere and include this tag in it somewhere: #wpedagogue

#pw2 Identify Preconceptions

Image via WikipediaHave your students explicitly identify their prior knowledge or preconceptions related to the things you teach this week. You might use "entry slips" to do this. Give yourself 1000 bonus points if you used technology in some way to do this.

After a week of doing this do you find yourself teaching differently?

Did this have any impact on the questions your students asked?

Were there any changes in the atmosphere (culture) of your classroom?

Tweet, blog, leave a comment here or anywhere and include this tag in it somewhere: #wpedagogue