Barry Westling

Chris, This is terrific. Only the most unaccountable or disinterested student would not benefit from these grade and information sharing discussion sessions. Barry Westling

ROBBIN, Right. The student response (and their expectation) demonstrates they appreciate well organized, prepared instructors, ready for each class session. Barry Westling

ROBBIN, Yes, me too. I find my lessons can be more focused and targeted when I have a clear idea about where the core knowledge-level of my class is performing. Barry Westling

Abayomi, Thanks for the interesting summary of this critical topic. Barry Westling

Jeff, Subjectivity should always be minimized. My assessments attempt to measure learning, based on defined outcomes and course objectives. Barry Westling

Abayomi, I agree. I like to arrive in class before students do so that I can do needed classroom setup left from the prior instructor, such clean the white board, reposition desks or tables and chairs, lay out my handouts, etc. Barry Westling

Abayomi, Awesome listing of ideal learning goals. Hopefully we're able to accomplish many of these with at least some our students. Barry Westling

Sean, Great. Students are only able to make critical adjustments in their study focus when they have current and relevant grade information to make informed decision making. Barry Westling

ROBBIN, I vary my approach, but at times, I have given the usual number of quizzes, but I broke down the tests to 4-5 "mid-terms", essentially providing no comprehensive final exam. It's sort of the teach-test method, and students know more clearly where their focus of study should be. Other times, I've mainly used the formative for quizzes and summative for tests. Barry Westling

ROBBIN, Frequently asking students to recap the past moments is a great way to keep every one on their toes, as they don't know who will be called on next. I have a deck of cards that I reuse over and over again) with current students names. They see me shuffling and pulling names at random. Sometimes, it just appears I'm shuffling -- and actually I've "stacked the deck" so that the talkative, inattentive, disinterested, or distracted students names come up more frequently than "statistically likely" (sneaky, but effective). Barry Westling