Saturday, October 1, 2011

10 Weeks and No Tests


http://www.thenerdyteacher.com/p/about-me.html

10 Weeks and No Test” is a section of Nicholas Provenzano‘s blog. Check out this section to see how Nick has been using tools such as Prezi, Glogs, YouTube, and e-magazines for students to showcase their learning instead of using standard assessments (i.e., tests). Included in the “10 Weeks and No Tests” are samples of student responses to show their learning outcomes. Please take some time to look at the students’ work, and then let us know how you feel about using online multi-media as a way for students to demonstrate learning outcomes. In addition to the four media from which students chose to demonstrate their learning, as seen on the blog, what other media or tools do you think students could use to demonstrate obtainment of learning outcomes? Nick is also known as The Nerdy Teacher, but most of all, you should know he is an English teacher, and he is a fan of integrating technology into his teaching to advance his students' learning through hands-on, interactive techniques. I have included his logo from his About Me page on his blog.

5 comments:

Jenn O. said...

I really liked how the students created the Prezi presentations. I have to admit that I've never read the book though, but I understood completely the theme behind it. Prezi does seem like a wonderful tool to use in the classroom to assess students' knowledge and understanding. I could use this in my classroom to. The students read a lot of books and during our workshop they sometimes work collaboratively using the same book. Overall, I try to keep the themes consistent within all the reading groups. Prezi would be an excellent way to discuss those themes. For example, some of my students read Bridge to Terabithia and they could show many things: character traits, plot, foreshadowing, and most importantly friendship. They also read Number the Stars. What a great way to demonstrate what happened during the holocaust. I think it is time that I learn how to use Prezi so they can use it!!

Jennifer F. said...

This article floored me. I was beyond impressed by the work the students displayed between the Prezi and especially the YouTube video.

We are teachers in the classroom, but its not our job to dictate lessons to our students. Isnt par t of teaching the ability to provide students with the tools so that they may create their own learning, connect with whatever the topic may be.

It is also our job as teachers to assess our students. This article was the perfect way to show teachers that admninistering a written test is not the only way to assess knowledge. I think this teacher has taken on a lot more work by allowing his students to be creative. In our graduate classes, we are given rubrics as guidelines when creating our work. I think providing students with the same information allows them to be creative within guidelines to be assessed.

Beth said...

I love this post. In my school last year we had a presener come in and encourage us to find new ways to assess our students other than the traditional paper adn pen tests. Using these programs is a great way to do so because the students are able to use their knowledge and put it into action using new forms of technology. I have been teaching active reading strategies and elements of a story - Prezi would be a great way to check their understanding... as qwell as asking comprehension discussion questions using blogger.

Annica said...

I am really encouraged by all the exciting ways the students demonstrated their understanding of the text, but my biggest question considering the uniformity and conformity to standard in education today. Was one rubric to grade all the different projects or were there multiple rubrics? I demand that the rubric(s) be share.

Dave C said...

I love his idea, especially in a humanities class. It really brings the idea of MI into the classroom and allows the students to own their own learning and understanding of the material. One idea that struck me as interesting was the fake Facebook pages for the characters - it really allowed the student to bring a classic story like The Great Gatsby into modern times and would allow the student to show what the characters' personalities would be like today via their online presence.

It really made me think about how to incorporate this kind of learning into my classes, especially math classes. I am always looking for alternate ways to allow students to show their creativity and understanding of the material. In some classes, I have had them read a math or science related novel and report on how it related to the class, but technology has opened the possibilities for this kind of project. Blogs like this are great because it helps give me ideas that I can modify for my own classes and unique student!

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