This year I entered a team of students into an innovations challenge where we competed with several school districts. This was not only beneficial to the students, but to the educators as well. It provided an opportunity to see how I measured up against teachers in other districts. Am I covering the material in depth? Are students prepared and able to perform on a competitive level? It was a wonderful opportunity to gauge student progress. The team of teachers I worked with during this event will be taking next years’ competition to the higher level. We are meeting over the summer to develop an on-line curriculum guide for entrepreneurship. According to the authors, this is an example of a definitive teaching/learning alignment project. Working collective as a team we can share knowledge and resources to help all participating schools achieve success. I believe facilitators need to seek out opportunities for our students to participate/compete at a local or global level.
NV does a great job of displaying our students work and providing authentic learning opportunities for students, which provides an opening for feedback and evaluation by faculty, administrators and our community.
Mrs. McCloe said... For the past three years, I have incorporated the National Financial Literacy certification into my Career & Financial Management class. Students take a national exam which is administered to schools that choose to participate and follow the curriculum. Students also participated in the National Financial Capability Challenge sponsored by The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Department of Education. Not only do NV students become certified but this gives me the opportunity to see how well NV students are doing compared to other high school students in the United States.
This year was the first time that Life is a Reality expo was offered for my students. Students learned about personal budgets in class and had to put their knowledge to work by visiting several booths which pertained to expenses that adults face and are responsible for. Their final outcome was to have $200 remaining in their checking account once they completed the fourteen booths. This program is offered to schools in Broome and Tioga County by Visions Credit Union.
This year I incorporated an interactive Foreign Language website where the students were able to self-assess. They went at their own pace and could repeat any section as necessary. It is a great website because it also introduces the students to Spanish from Spain, which includes a verb conjugation that is not used in Latin America. In addition it was a wonderful introduction into Spanish culture. Next year, I plan to allot more time to this wonderful resource and provide more opportunities like this to help evaluate students’ progress. There are numerous self-directing websites (that teachers can monitor) that I hope to add to my curriculum as an additional support for students whether they are struggling with the language or not.
Also this year, I did a slightly different evaluation for my Spanish 4 college credit course. Last year I gradually increased the level of writing for my Spanish 3 classes and I saw the benefits this year as they completed their first semester in level 4. They had to write a poem about themselves (how they used to be, are, will be, could be, etc.) in Spanish using a particular verb with a minimum of 5 different conjugations. I was impressed by the effort and construction of their poetry. It gave them an opportunity as juniors to see how far they’ve come and to ponder future aspirations. This assessment was a little more “liberating”, (for lack of a better term) because they were able write about a subject they know better than anyone; themselves.
This year I entered a team of students into an innovations challenge where we competed with several school districts. This was not only beneficial to the students, but to the educators as well. It provided an opportunity to see how I measured up against teachers in other districts. Am I covering the material in depth? Are students prepared and able to perform on a competitive level? It was a wonderful opportunity to gauge student progress. The team of teachers I worked with during this event will be taking next years’ competition to the higher level. We are meeting over the summer to develop an on-line curriculum guide for entrepreneurship. According to the authors, this is an example of a definitive teaching/learning alignment project. Working collective as a team we can share knowledge and resources to help all participating schools achieve success.
ReplyDeleteI believe facilitators need to seek out opportunities for our students to participate/compete at a local or global level.
NV does a great job of displaying our students work and providing authentic learning opportunities for students, which provides an opening for feedback and evaluation by faculty, administrators and our community.
Mrs. McCloe said...
ReplyDeleteFor the past three years, I have incorporated the National Financial Literacy certification into my Career & Financial Management class. Students take a national exam which is administered to schools that choose to participate and follow the curriculum. Students also participated in the National Financial Capability Challenge sponsored by The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Department of Education. Not only do NV students become certified but this gives me the opportunity to see how well NV students are doing compared to other high school students in the United States.
This year was the first time that Life is a Reality expo was offered for my students. Students learned about personal budgets in class and had to put their knowledge to work by visiting several booths which pertained to expenses that adults face and are responsible for. Their final outcome was to have $200 remaining in their checking account once they completed the fourteen booths. This program is offered to schools in Broome and Tioga County by Visions Credit Union.
Deb Hospie said....
ReplyDeleteThis year I incorporated an interactive Foreign Language website where the students were able to self-assess. They went at their own pace and could repeat any section as necessary. It is a great website because it also introduces the students to Spanish from Spain, which includes a verb conjugation that is not used in Latin America. In addition it was a wonderful introduction into Spanish culture. Next year, I plan to allot more time to this wonderful resource and provide more opportunities like this to help evaluate students’ progress. There are numerous self-directing websites (that teachers can monitor) that I hope to add to my curriculum as an additional support for students whether they are struggling with the language or not.
Also this year, I did a slightly different evaluation for my Spanish 4 college credit course. Last year I gradually increased the level of writing for my Spanish 3 classes and I saw the benefits this year as they completed their first semester in level 4. They had to write a poem about themselves (how they used to be, are, will be, could be, etc.) in Spanish using a particular verb with a minimum of 5 different conjugations. I was impressed by the effort and construction of their poetry. It gave them an opportunity as juniors to see how far they’ve come and to ponder future aspirations. This assessment was a little more “liberating”, (for lack of a better term) because they were able write about a subject they know better than anyone; themselves.