Cadet Tech : Assessments
Showing posts with label Assessments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Assessments. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Castle Learning Users: Go Beyond the Test

11:04 AM 0
Castle Learning Users: Go Beyond the Test
If you are a Castle Learning user, this post may help you to dive deeper into the needs of your students.

Castle Learning is a great review tool, especially with end of the year exams right around the corner. Many Castle Learning users do not know that you can go deep into the analytics of Castle Learning questions and use other tools to make your life easier.

Castle Learning Data

Castle Learning can provide you with more than just an assignment score, but you can find out how students are doing based on question types, question style, blooms level, or a unit of content being assessed.

·         Castle Learning data can be provided based on 
o   Question type
o   Topic
o   Tag/Nat’l Standard
o   Difficulty Level
o   Bloom’s Level
o   Document Type (quote, graph, cartoon, diagram, etc.)
o   C3/Common Core

It is a simple three step process.

Step 1: Click Assignments

Step 2: For the corresponding assignment, click the magnifying class and paper (might be green, red or white)

Step 3: Scroll down to the bottom of the page.
TO FIND IN DEPTH INFORMATION ON STUDENT RESPONSES, CLICK ASSIGNMENT COMPREHENSIVE REPORT


On this following page, there are charts and info, all of which is malleable, that tells you the strengths and weaknesses of your students. 

You can set your threshold on top to see if students are meeting the standard you set for them. This will adjust what appears in scary red or calming blue. 



This personally saved my life years ago when I came to find out that my students were weak on a particular unit and on a particular skill, so I could focus my review and adjust for the next year. 


Vocabulary Lists/Study Guides Are Automatically Created on Castle Learning


This is a tool that only exists to make your life easier. If you are ever looking for a quick vocabulary list, an answer to students who ask what will be on the test, or if you need a study guide to satisfy an IEP, Castle Learning has you covered!

There are two ways to access this. The first is in the assignment itself, click "Display/Print" and click "Vocabulary". Then click print and the website will create a vocabulary list based on the test in the format of a PDF. Then either save and share or print. Remember, all old regents exams are also on Castle Learning, so this will also help to follow the vocabulary trends. 




If the assignment has already been given, you can access a vocabulary sheet of terms from questions that students struggled with. If you are looking to reteach anything, this list may also help. 

Monday, March 27, 2017

Reflection Skills, Literacy and Formative Assessment Through Pear Deck

10:51 AM 0
Reflection Skills, Literacy and Formative Assessment Through Pear Deck
Make presentations interactive using the Chrome App Pear Deck!
Pear Deck allows for teachers to integrate reflection questions, formative assessment prompts, or any kind of responses or tasks they may want students to perform. Teachers can choose to project the responses to share them with the class, or check them later after the presentation.

It is actually pretty easy and self-explanatory, but this post will walk you through it all if needed!

Exciting Features:
  • Allows students to respond and participate in real time.
  • Easy integration with Drive and Office.
  • Turn on "Student Pace Mode" to allow students to work through at their own pace, independently of a formal presentation.
  • Allows for free response, multiple choice, polls, numbered response, free drawing, graph paper drawing, or temperature checks (thumbs up/down).

Getting Started

Connect the Pear Deck app on your Chromebooks or iPads (in Safari) or go to Peardeck.com on a computer/laptop.

Sign in with Google to get started!




If you would like to work with a presentation you have already created, click to upload from Google Drive or from the computer.

If you need more help uploading a presentation (Slides, PowerPoint, PDF) this video may help...



You can also create a new presentation from scratch.

You can create, edit or add to the presentation using edit mode. Start by clicking a presentation and clicking the edit button. This feature will allow you to add any prompts or interactions you may want the students to work with.




Now you can add prompts, interactions, questions or content to the "student view" 

Feel free to watch the videos to learn how to input questions and prompts.





After Your Prompts Are In, What Do The Students See??


Students will see a split screen of the presentation or content you have selected and the opportunity to answer.



As the teacher, you can see the bar graph of your class responses LIVE. You might want to project the results, especially if it is a poll or opinion response. 

(what the teacher sees, which can be projected)

***After you create the prompts, make sure to save the presentation in Pear Deck. If Pear Deck recognizes the presentation as a PowerPoint or Slide file, it will limit the amount of times you can present.


Can I Create a Prompt While Presenting?

Of course you can! In presentation mode, click the + icon and you can add a variety of interactions on the fly for your students such as:

  • Thumbs up/down
  • Free Drawing
  • Grid Drawing (graph paper)
  • Free Response
  • Multiple Choice
  • Numeric Answer
  • True False
  • AND MANY MORE!
(Adding on the fly actually offers more options)

To add while presenting, click the + icon, select question type, the students' screens will change to allow for them to answer and the teacher can verbally ask a question. Refer to this video for help.







IDEAS, IDEAS, IDEAS

  • Run an interactive live poll with student feedback or opinions.
  • Students provide live document analysis.
  • Brainstorming with Pear Deck's answer clusters.
  • Visual learners can draw their responses, draw a battle map, draw a flowchart, or draw a brain web.
  • Live answers for math equations or graphing.
  • Labeling diagrams.
  • Creative drawing for live projection. 

***If you would like support in working with this tool, please reach out to your friendly LTT Instructional Technology Teacher.



Friday, March 4, 2016

Kahoot

1:53 PM 0
Kahoot

Want to make learning fun? Are you sure?

Even if they advertise it as...

Then try Kahoot!
Free
Easy
No apps
Internet based
No student accounts
Assessment based game

Click here for a quick and easy Kahoot start guide created by HS teacher Vicki Newman.

You create a quick Kahoot (multiple choice), get a code then share it with the class. 

This is popular in many classrooms, what are you missing out on?

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Google Forms and QR in the Classroom!

4:39 PM 0
Google Forms and QR in the Classroom!

QR codes can be an amazing tool for students. Since QR codes link to any URL you can virtually make anything a QR code!

Sean D'Abreu has started a trend mashing up QR Codes and Google Forms. We built a slick workflow where students scan in the QR code and submit which assignment they are missing and why. The Google Form then compiles all of the information and generates an email merge that pulls from a database of emails associated with that student. As soon as a student submits that they did not do their homework their parents are emailed with their submission reason. No more paper homework slips. Sean has helped set up some team members with the same workflow at Village and I have set up a few Forms for NW teachers as well! Check out my guide on creating a missing homework QR code check in: http://hiltoncadettech.blogspot.com/2016/03/missing-homework-check-in.html

Coleen Maccracken and Jen Sica also use QR code Google Forms for Maccria Points - Their classroom tool for student self management. Students scan in the QR code and enter their points for each day. Behind the scenes the spreadsheet compiles each students points for the week and even totals up the class for Sica and Maccracken.

Jen Humphreys and Casey VanEpps are using Google Forms for daily reflections following their "Genius 1/2 Hour" activities. Students use Google Forms for reflecting on their problem solving strategies, successes, struggles and utilization of different IB learner profile traits. In addition to this, Jen and Casey have dove head first into Google Forms using them for exit tickets and checks for understanding as well as quick pre assessment strategies to get a gauge on student understanding and learning.

These are just a few examples... The possibilities are endless!

Monday, March 16, 2015

Spring and the New LTT Blog!

2:01 PM 0
Spring and the New LTT Blog!
Spring has sprung for Learning Through Technology. With assessments right around the corner and end of the year projects on the near horizon we have the tools to engage learners and help you streamline your classroom.

Here is what we are loving right now... OneNote classroom notebooks are out! These handy tools allow you to create a digital binder for your students and control documents, notes, and collaborative spaces. You can bounce between students view progress and individualize feedback. Sounds pretty nifty! Check out are resources on integrating these into your daily workflow.

Assessments, Assessments, and more assessments- You have the power of assessment in your one-to-one classroom right now. Two great tools to integrate assessment of all types into your workflow: Socrative, and Google Forms. Both are great, and super easy to integrate right now!
Great ways to use them:
  • Check for understanding
  • Quizzes and tests... and they are graded for you
  • Polling
What is better than that!