tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8537494321067959493.post7839543694291636249..comments2024-03-04T21:07:02.238-08:00Comments on BorschtWithAnna: End of year celebration of knowledgeAnna Blinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13960574914938362477noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8537494321067959493.post-5345816851270500532018-06-03T21:17:04.888-07:002018-06-03T21:17:04.888-07:00Marissa, did students select the learning objectiv...Marissa, did students select the learning objective for which they provided evidence of understanding? Was it looking at a single assessment (project, quiz, etc) or at growth in understanding that objective over time? I think that if I do portfolios, I would like to heavily focus on the mathematical practices or growth over time, but that definitely seems to require a lot of advance planning and a clear idea of what I’m looking for from students.Anna Blinsteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13960574914938362477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8537494321067959493.post-80112179410270152192018-06-03T21:13:42.734-07:002018-06-03T21:13:42.734-07:00Amy, I really like the idea of students collaborat...Amy, I really like the idea of students collaborating to make a class review activity for each other. It seems like another great complement for an individual assessment. I haven’t used Delta Math, but it’s on my list of resources to check out over the summer. What do you like about it? How does it compare/contrast to Khan Academy?Anna Blinsteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13960574914938362477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8537494321067959493.post-4853467166428220942018-06-03T21:08:27.937-07:002018-06-03T21:08:27.937-07:00Re ensuring appropriate depth of projects, I think...Re ensuring appropriate depth of projects, I think that this can’t be the first time the students are doing a big Math project because then they don’t really have a frame of reference for what makes for a good project and what is a reasonable question to bite off in the amount of time provided. My students this year tended to overshoot and be overly ambitious so we talked a lot about backup plans and more achievable goals on the way to the Really Amazing But Super Hard Question they were interested in exploring, just in case the giant, ambitious goal didn’t work out or took too long.<br /><br />I think that you make some very valid points about the disconnect between presentations and some students. The big positive for presentations in my book is the creation of an authentic audience to whom results must be communicated. Rather than saying, “explain your thinking so that an imaginary peer who hypothetically could read your writing would understand,” it’s patently clear that the presentation, which has an audience of very real peers, needs to make sense to them. I am thinking more now, however, about coaching or helping students for whom public speaking is stressful or who would not shine in that medium.Anna Blinsteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13960574914938362477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8537494321067959493.post-57444364487906063582018-06-03T18:38:45.171-07:002018-06-03T18:38:45.171-07:00For me, presentations always made me nervous. I st...For me, presentations always made me nervous. I still to this day occasionally get a case of nerves despite having to talk in front of groups fairly often. Also while I love Math, I'm not very keen on graphic design or slide creation. So the pressure of the presentation did always outweigh the learning opportunity part. But you could easily make a claim that it was a life skill I needed to practice.<br /><br />Also, although this can be corrected for, I often see projects devolve to either take a survey, graph some data and do some cursory analysis OR do a simple probability experiment. So I think the key is to vet the ideas.<br /><br /><br />Benjamin Leishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10974191081762367425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8537494321067959493.post-51052188751990758592018-06-03T17:14:27.126-07:002018-06-03T17:14:27.126-07:00I did a three part final in my post Algebra 2, Col...I did a three part final in my post Algebra 2, College Readiness class: 10% a do now/take home Quadratic anchor problem set, 40% Delta Math 12 problems, 6 concepts--no penalty for incorrect answers, and 50% THEY made a Desmos Activity Builder that the other student had access to of the semester's review topics. (One concept per two people). <br />It was wonderful. My students worked so hard during their final bc they could see their Delta Math Progress. Amy zimmerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09960137549431994944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8537494321067959493.post-22187731744868846532018-06-03T15:39:03.828-07:002018-06-03T15:39:03.828-07:00I love all these ideas! At my last school, in addi...I love all these ideas! At my last school, in addition to a final exam in each class the students had to do a portfolio assignment. The basic idea was that students had to describe one learning objective and how their work at some point in the semester demonstrated their understanding of the objective. It was really cool, but definitely had some kids scrambling at the end who had procrastinated. I also was not super familiar with what it should have looked like so I could have done better at making them think about it more throughout the semester. Most students chose a project that they did but some did different things like quizzes or random assignments. I think a portfolio could be a great replacement to a final exam, as long as it's organized enough.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13340405557891349916noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8537494321067959493.post-78548201689436262292018-06-03T15:11:48.353-07:002018-06-03T15:11:48.353-07:00Do you think that doing projects and presentations...Do you think that doing projects and presentations would have been less useful as a learning opportunity for you because you disliked them? I think a lot about the tension between choice, which usually means students pursuing deeper things they're already interested in or believe themselves to be good at, and pushing students (gently) to work on aspects of their thinking and learning that are more challenging for them.<br /><br />Thanks for the addition of take-home problem sets. I'll go ahead and add it to the list above. I haven't used this strategy much, but know lots of people have. It seems like a way to save time and make a final exam feel less stressful for students. Would you give problems at the same or a higher level of difficulty for a take-home assessment as for an in-class timed one?Anna Blinsteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13960574914938362477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8537494321067959493.post-22910223318722545192018-06-03T11:38:38.132-07:002018-06-03T11:38:38.132-07:00I like the idea of multiple pieces to the end asse...I like the idea of multiple pieces to the end assessment. They all cover different things and allow more opportunities for ss to demonstrate understanding. As an aside, as a student I strongly disliked projects and presentations so a choice would have been my vote back then. Also I'm just at an event today at UW that is using oral solution presentations. So that's on my mind. They're doing 5 problems over 3 hours with multiple chances to reexplain. The nice thing is that if the problems are meaty enough you can proctor a whole room without everyone bunching up for the oral portion. One other format I like is a take home problem set with some kind of honor code about doing it without outside help. Benjamin Leishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10974191081762367425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8537494321067959493.post-70383647628332095972018-06-03T11:16:52.299-07:002018-06-03T11:16:52.299-07:00Yes! Why do we have to choose? I feel like project...Yes! Why do we have to choose? I feel like projects and presentations complement some of the other options so well. It means there are multiple ways to show understanding, which lowers the stakes on each individual component. Anna Blinsteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13960574914938362477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8537494321067959493.post-47742115457626389402018-06-03T08:16:51.982-07:002018-06-03T08:16:51.982-07:00In most of my courses the final is just a last SBA...In most of my courses the final is just a last SBAR opportunity. I ask everyone to do at least one problem, and I try to have a fun synthesizing problem as that choice. But I love the courses where we can end with a project and student presentations. And the more choice the better.John Goldenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18212162438307044259noreply@blogger.com