I have started carrying out parts of my GAME Plan. I have made sure to bring home all my pacing guides and resources that I had at school. I have also started perusing the web for resources to use with my ACTIVboard. I have found some great flipcharts that I can customize to meet my needs, especially in language arts and math. One area I have not started working on yet is finding a secure photo sharing web site. I am wondering if any of my classmates have used a photo sharing site with parents and how it worked out. My blog is set up to begin using for next year, but I need to work on creating a letter that introduces the idea to the parents. I also need to add information about the blog to my beginning of the year PowerPoint I share with parents at open house.
After the readings last week and this week, one thing that has come up in my mind is revamping not just my lessons but assessments too. Although I use all four types of assessments, I lean heavily on forced-choice simply because they are easy to grade. As I am revamping lessons I am also going to be finding ideas for more project and performance based assessments.
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Hello, Jennifer. It sounds like you will be inviting parents to participate, which is a great way to keep them involved. Do any of your colleagues at school have blogs, and do they invite parents to participate? Do they get much participation? It's always nice when you can find a way to keep families involved.
ReplyDeleteAs far as changing your assessments, one thing that's nice about some performance-based assessments is that you do most of the scoring as the student presents his/her work; there isn't a stack of papers to grade later.
Good luck with your plans.
Becky
Jennifer, I agree with you that the summer is when a lot of this core curriculum work will get done. I too am planning to readjust my assessments because so much of what I have to do is multiple choice due to time. I think I'm going to scale back the number and focus on more essential skills so I have more time for the project and performance tasks.
ReplyDeleteFor your photo sharing site, would a site like photobucket.com work? I know on that site you can password protect an album. Or, you could have students sign up for accounts at a place like Shutterfly where they can "share" albums but still maintain ownership of them. How exactly do you need the photo sharing sites to be secure?
Tracey Waid
HS French
Becky,
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know, I will be the first teacher to use a blog to interact with parents. Several teachers have web sites that they post important information, and although I have that, I want something a little more interactive.
I agree that using more performance and project based assessments cuts down on the amount of papers to grade. This is a huge plus for me because I always seem to be behind on grading.
Jennifer
Tracey,
ReplyDeleteI think photobucket.com sounds like a site I need to check out. You mentioned you can password protect an album and that is what I am looking for. I was just thinking about student safety when posting pictures and I want to share with parents via the internet but do not want the entire world to be able to view the photographs. Thanks for the suggestion. I will check out the site.
Jennifer M.