Can you guess what my target audience is? I gave you a big hint up above, but everyone in my audience is unique. My job as an instructor is to get to know and analyze each student. What do they already know, what skills do they possess that will help them succeed, what do they need help with, what motivates them, what is their background and culture, what are their expectations of me, how do they learn best, what is their level of technology experience and have they taken an online class before? Knowing my students makes me a better instructor and creates an effective learning experience.
ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL
Teacherhead.com
Previous knowledge is the building block for new learning to take place. Knowing student misconceptions is a vital part of the design process. One can acquire this information with a pre-assessment using Nearpod, Plickers, or Google Forms. This will allow the instructor to make clear any misinformation for easier retention and understanding of new content. It also can be used as a stepping stone for information an instructor can bypass if the students are already competent on that particular subject.
Edweek.org
Students of any age yearn to own their learning, so let them. Give them choice. Let the student choose how they would like to express their knowledge. Choice Boards are my go-to for assessments because each student can find a way of representation that motivates them, then it provides me with a true sense of each student’s knowledge. When students are given an opportunity to share their talents, experiences, culture, and interests, they will show more investment and have higher rates of participation and engagement. A choice not only focuses on the outcome of an assignment but the process of getting there.
A little knowledge can go a long way toward becoming a better educator.
Susan Ambrose
Resources:
Ambrose, Susan, and Michael Bridges. “The Necessity of Really Knowing Your Audience.” NEA, National Education Association, 2019, www.nea.org/home/34814.htm.
Brophy, J. (2004). Motivating students to learn (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
Sherrington, Tom. “Great Lessons 4: Differentiation.” Teacherhead, Teacherhead.com, 3 Feb. 2013, teacherhead.com/2013/02/03/great-lessons-4-differentiation/.
Warrick-Bell, T'Wana. “Find Out Who Your Students Are.” NEA, National Education Association, 2019, www.nea.org/tools/16049.htm.
Elizabeth, You are SO correct regarding the importance of choice!Whether it is providing various assignment options or topics, choice helps with engagement....and helps us to individualize instruction. Respecting the background of all learners is important. In online instructions this is sometimes tricky, so we need to work within our LMS to discover different ways to do this. One idea (I haven't tried this yet) is to give a quiz, and various quiz scores open various pages, allowing students more prcatice...or less....
ReplyDeleteI am going to find out how to do that on CANVAS! I know Shelby uses a site that does that. I could start there. Thanks for the feed back.
DeleteElizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI LOVE your blog background!! I agree that choice is extremely important, particularly for adult learners! I may have to use your term "Choice Boards". What kind of activities do you offer? Do you create rubrics for each one? The rubrics are always my least favorite thing to create!!!
Amy
I do have a rubric for each one. I can usually reuse the same one with a few tweaks. The students love them and they have fun expressing their learning. Here is a choice board for 8th grade Science I created. Enjoy and thank you for your feeding back. If you can't get to it let me know.
Deletehttps://canvas.instructure.com/courses/1442759/pages/choice-board?module_item_id=21089590
Amy,
ReplyDeleteBullseye! Giving a student the choice of how to learn what they want to learn is the key. Even with my workplace based adult learners I try to provide some learning options, but it is not that easy when learning is a requirement for the position held. You are so familiar with learning apps do you have any suggestions for my instruction environment? Fantastic post!!!
Pamela
Pamela,
DeleteI don't use apps, but I do know of some online software. You may not need all this information, but here is the link to a Sway I created that has some of them listed: https://sway.office.com/bpkPOJC13Fnj132w?ref=Link&loc=play
I hope it helps!
Amy
Amy,
ReplyDeleteAwesome job of giving your students as much choice as possible. I imagine that it complicates the grading process but it definitely make learning better. I know that the more choice I give my students, the more flexible my grading rubrics have to become.
Shaun
I am a rubric user. They very detailed and can be tedious to make, but they do make grading so much easier. The students also know my expectations, so the quality of work I receive is Grade A. A good rubric can make all the difference. Thanks for the feedback.
DeleteElizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI feel like I am being very repetitive, but I am an advocate of student choice and voice as well. I think choice boards are an excellent way to provide those opportunities. Great post.
Thanks!
Choice Boards are my thing. I look forward to making some for our class together! I will be in touch soon. Thanks for your feedback.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI always learn so much from you! The questions you discuss in your post, the pictures you add always provides so much insight to me.
In your blog where you mentioned providing students with choice and how they can use that to express their knowledge I find that to be so true. In my class I see my kids loving it when they get the opportunity to choose.