Hi Kathleen, I often use this tool as an extra credit device as well. There are many students that may decide at times to go home early, therefore, I will also reward the students that stay till the end with a bonus question for the class. This way, I will see how well they understood and it motivates the students to stay till the end.
Students need feedback today as a reinforcement during their education. It is very importnat for us as instructors to incorporate various ways of assessing the students, so that they are aware of their strengths and weaknesses as well as how to fix any problems they may have.
By incorportaing the CATs in the class, we as instructors will also be able to learn from our experiences, as well as change our mistakes.
One of the advantages would be a pretest/posttest
scenario where a few carefully selected important/relevant posttest questions were given at the beginning of the course. This would not only enable the instructor to guage how well student retained information, but would also cue the students regarding course expectations as well.
Hi Jo - Welcome to ED 103! I'm glad that you have found some of the info useful and would love to have you send me any new ideas that you come up with as well. Thanks - Susan
I like the idea of the CLassroom Assessment Technique usage. I think it is not intimidating as it is not graded.
I utilize this already but did not know what it was called. I usually do a review prior to any quiz that basically addresses what is on the quiz through direct questioning on topics pertinent to subject and questioning information. It involves all students as I ask them individually and rotate through class participants.
I would like to incorporate some of the other suggestions as well and may come up with other ideas as well.
Well... at the end of each lecture, I have a list of questions that are important points of the lesson. I ask different students questions to see if they picked up these points.
I will incorporate the Minute Paper early in the quarter to see how well students are absorbing all information. Having students list one unanswered question they might have on their 1/2 sheet summary is a great ice-breaker!
Hi Rulon- Welcome to ED 103! Building CATs into your regular lesson plans is an excellent idea. It will continually keep you aware of your students progress.
Yes, I believe that by sharing the CATs summary results, will encourage the students to work harder to over come their fears and reach their goals in life.
CATS are easy indicators to build into learning objectives. They allow students to refocus their thinking and keep current with the flow of the course. I like to build them into my daily lesson plans. Students begin to expect these assessments and learn to self-evaluate their progress.
Hi Brian - welcome to ED 103! It is difficult to teach a class of students that are at different levels of ability. Sounds like you are handling it well - best wishes for continued success!
I tend to evaluate a students knowledge of the subject before hand and tailor the instruction around that knowledge. Since I do a lot of one on one with the students at the end of the course they are all basically at the same level or close to it. Doing this helps me see how well a student can process the info and how I am doing teaching the subject.
I think we are on to an interesting idea with CAT's and taking the time to explain. I have not formally done a CAT, but I think that it also might be important to show the students an example of a good and a poor response. This can lead into a discussion of the responses that should lead to better results!
I incorporate CATs without telling the students what I am doing, instead in the middle of a lecture, I may create a quick, collaborative assignment and once it is completed, I tell the students that the assignment was a direct example of the lectured chapter. It creates the "OH" factor, which is when students realize that they learned something without actually knowing that they are actively applying their knowledge.
one way would be a pre test and see where students strong points are
I think CATs would be useful in my math classes, especially in the case of background knowledge. If I found that most students were proficient in a certain area of math, I would not take as long on that particular area. If I found that a section was new, I would take more time. I also like the idea of the minute paper in both my English and math classes where students could communicate with me what they learned and therefore I would be better able to self-assess in order to improve my teaching methods.
The "Minute Paper" concept is a great idea. Letting the student anonymously summarize what they've learned gives the instructor a clear understanding of what they are absorbing. Listing one question allows students to ask without being embarrassed and the instructor can see if multiple students have the same question.
this can be helpful to understand if the class is retaining the information with out feeling they are losing somthing in grading
I think the anonymous "CAT" works best and is less threatening. I used CAT activities when I first started teaching, as I was developing my course but stopped using it after the class was developed.
I plan to check out the website provided to us and utilize CATs in my English course.
The idea of using the "Background Knowledge Probe" at the beginning of class, and then the "Minute Paper" at the end of class seems like would lend itself to the re-enforcement of that days topic.
Summarizing the findings at the beginning of class the following day would also help keep and review the previous lecture at the top of students minds. I imagine this would also lead to a Q and A session, as well as act as a lead in to the topic of the day.
All in all, more interaction between students and instructor, as well as being able to modify and readdress the information in different ways—to their learning styles. The more questions they ask/are asked, the more feedback they will get, the better they will do on tests, the more positive the results. Round and round we go.
