Cats are a good teaching tool and I incorporate physical tools as well.Most of the students in our technical school are hands on learners. Knowing the different learning styles can help you develop formative and summative conclusions when accessing the learning levels and abilities.
i can use them with each chapter in our course
Mini projects, and application assignments are helpfull in determining how much transfer has occured.
CAT's are useful to give us a quick an easy way to assess where all our students are in the class. It does not threaten students as much as a regular exam would, so they are more relaxed.
True but you are getting an idea of what is going on in a quick easy way that does not take much of the classtime away from actually teaching and learning
You can use them to make sure you are covering the content you wanted to as well as making sure the students have understood that content before you move on to the new topic
indeed, CATs are important but throughout it all remember to listen to your instinct-listen to the student and gather more information to help the student progress. Make feedback positive.
Hi Melody - I'm glad that you liked the "punctuated lecture" idea. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I like the idea of utilizing "Punctuated Lectures". Student feedback is important in accessing the level of comprehension as well as engaging students to participate as "active learners".
I think using the games I have prepared would be considered CATs. It gives me feedback as to what my students have learned. It's timed and we bypass those questions that are not answered and talk about them later so the material isn't missed. The students seem to enjoy this and all participate. If there is someone who seems to know all the answers they are assigned to ask the questions to give others a chance at answering.
Hi Patrick- Thanks for your post to the forum. How do you give feedback on the hands on practice evalautions? Best wishes - Susan
Hi Bill-Thanks for your post to the forum. Amazing how much more assigned reading gets done when students know to expect that quiz! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I have just this past year began using CATs on a regular basis, and I offer points for each one - not a lot, which is clearly defined in the Course Addendum. I do this both at the beginning and the end of classes, and also when I notice the students "drifting." The ones at the beginning of class are based on the assigned readings for that class - since I find that many students choose not to do the readings assinged for the class.
The easiest way to do this is to introduce a topic and then have the students perform a task relative to the topic.
We use hands on practice evaluations to evaluate the students' learning after lectures and demonstrations, but before the students' have their graded performance.
Hi Timothy-Your plan to use CATs in your classroom is right on! I hope that you find them to be a useful addition to your teaching skills. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
I believe I could incorporate CATs into my classroom assessment in several ways.
Asking what they know about the topic I'm teaching, Minute Paper - Looking at result to continue on with the current instructions plans or to redirect my instruction to better meet the needs of the student. Then giving feed back to the students.
Hi Faith- Thanks for your post to the forum! You have nicely illustrated how CATs can play an important role in our instruction. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Hi Renee- I'm glad that you liked and will use the Minute Paper in your classes! Susan
Hi Robb- Thanks for your post to the forum. Those pre-tests will also show you where you need to concentrate and will also be useful after the course as students take a post-test or summative assessment and can by comparing, see how far they have come. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
