Tomi,
Yes and students love real life examples.
Renee Shaffer
Thanks for sharing the RSQC2 approach. I have never heard about this before so I definitely learned something new today :-)
I also like to use real work scenarios as much as possible. I think that they are essential especially in the field on management that I teach. I have never thought about the "guest appearance" approach but it really sounds interesting.
I use reflective writing a lot. I believe in giving critical thinking assignments such as ethical dilemma scenarios and asking students to reflect on them. I also ask students to write learning summaries of the chapters and other course materials that they have read, and to reflect on the learning events they have experienced during the past week. I encourage them not just to summarize the chapters but to tell me and the class what they viewed as the most important, and whether anything surprised them or changed their previous views.
LE,
I love that you use real-world problems. Students like that and concepts/problems which are relevant to their lives.
Renee Shaffer
I like to pose a real-world problem and ask students to conduct some research and explain how they could address the problem using a specific theory and to deliver the solution in any medium except written. (Video, Audio, Presentation, etc)
Sometimes, we have student groups research a specific theory and then give a "guest appearance" for the class on the Theory, but they have to be 'in-character" it is very interesting seeing students respond to questions about Maslow's hierarchy or Herzberg's Two Factory Hygiene Theory while in character.
Vimlarani,
Wonderful ideas. you certainly put a lot of time and effort into your teaching. Keep up the good work!
Renee Shaffer
Carol,
I have tried corssword puzzles and my students hate them. Or that is what they tell me. I thought that the would enjoy doing them. But wo knows? many times teachin is just trial and error.
Renee Shaffer
Formative assessments are set of tools that will help me understand how much the students have learned and will assist me in planning instruction. I will use formative assessment to determine the students' strengths and weaknesses, and to segregate my instruction to meet the needs of the diverse students in each of my class.
I will often use RSQC2, which stands for Recall, Summarize, Question, Comment, and Connect. RSQC2 is an assessment device that encourages students to recall and review class information comprehensively. In so doing, it allows me to compare students' perspectives against my own. Students who are less skilled at organizing information and applying it to the supporting foundation of the course will always be benefited by this assessment. Other groups of students who are having difficulty figuring out my perspective as an instructor are also most likely to benefit from this assessment.
RSQC2 works like this: I will ask students take two minutes to recall and list in rank order the most important ideas from a previous day's class. Then I will ask them to take another two minutes to summarize those points in a single sentence in order to "chunk" the information. Next, students will be asked to write one major question that they want to be answered. Finally, students will identify a thread or theme to connect this material to the course's major goal. As an option, I may ask students to add a comment regarding their confidence in or wariness of the specific course content as a concluding statement.
In my opinion RSQC2 is a powerful and multifaceted assessment tool that takes time to administer and to evaluate the outcome. Also as I see it, Recall, Summary, and Question sections are amplifications of the Minute Paper. I feel that the connect feature is key because it forces students (and me as the instructor) to confront course structure. It forces me to think: exactly what is the relationship of this topic to the overall course plan? Why is this material important? Student feedback through RSQC2 may be crucial for aiding me to identify where students really need help the most. Besides it would make me where students lack in constructing relationships between ideas.
1. This assignment is focused on the new material just taught and each question addresses a specific skill or piece of information just taught. The students return the assignment quickly to be graded by me and for me to use the grades as a guideline for the next teaching step.
2. I will grade the formative assessment (pass or fail based on the rubric) and tally how well the students did based on their responses. This will give me an overall idea of how well students understand the topic. If most of the class failed, I will need to intervene and re-teach the topic. If most of the class did well, I will just need to go back over specific aspects of the topic, or move on to a new topic.
3. I will make a checklist so that I can determine how many students answered each question correctly and incorrectly. This will give me detailed information on the subtopics of the assignment and how well students understood each subtopic. Now I know the students' individual strengths and weaknesses in each area I have taught.
4. I will assign flexible groups for the remainder of the unit. Based on the results determined in Step 3, I will put students in groups of mixed strengths and weaknesses. Pair students who missed certain questions with students who got them right; so that they can help each other learn through the remainder of the unit.
5. I will also assign another assessment after I have had a chance to re-teach the areas that most of the class did not understand. I will also give students a chance to make up for lower grades on the first assessment by re-taking it or taking a new assessment to replace the first grade. This way, I can differentiate my assessments for students who took a little more time than others to learn the concepts I have taught.
I like to give the students other doing projects to demonstrate their understanding of the core concepts. One of my favorites is crossword puzzles which I share as a part of course materials and then we do together in a group session where they can fill in the answers on the whiteboard or by responding in the chat box.
I like to have the students use reflective writing to assess what their expectations were at the beginning of the class/project and compare this to the actual outcome/result. I find that the students often start off with lower expectations than the ones they truly achieve.
The active learning strategy I like to use is reflective writing. Reflective writing help students become aware of their understanding and thoughts of the topic being research as well as see their thoughts on paper. Reflective writing also helps the students develop confidence in their-self and their ability to communicate. The development of confidence and communication is necessary for student’s success in the course as well as their careers.
Shundra Mosby
I assign students to present orally and a written report in the classroom setting on a topic, allow the other students to ask the presenter questions, this prior to me teaching the class content to the class. This approach is reading , reflective writing , displaying and interactive involvement.
I use the Socratic Method while teaching. It keeps everyone engaged in the class and it gives the class a laid back feel and it makes it fun to learn. We learn by asking and answering questions and talking with others about the questions and answers.
Reading a textbook is boring and is not an Active-Learning way of doing things.
Reflective Writing can be helpful in fully understanding a subject. This I do incorporate in my classes.
I realize that what I am about to discuss here is not part of the questions, but I encountered the subject of rubrics a little too much here in this class.
Rubrics should not be a part of any learning If a teacher needs a rubric to grade something---do they really know their subject well enough to be teaching it?
I like to get students to reflect on the processes and characteristics of effective group projects. So, I ask that students within a group come up with a list of characteristics of effective group dynamics. At the end of the project, I ask students to write a reflection piece on how closely their own group followed those characteristics, the extent to which they felt their project and group dynamics were successful, and strategies they have for making future group projects more successful.
This would be a doing and reflecting active learning activity.
