assessment Archives - THOM GIBSON

21 Feb 2020

No Planning Time, Low Test Scores, & Correcting Students | Q&A Show

What do you do if you don't have a planning period? How do you help students master a skill after they've failed a test? How do you correct students when they're wrong? Any advice for a first time long-term sub? We explore these questions into today's Q&A show. EPISODE NOTES In this Q&A show, we discuss: How do you support students & help them master content after they've scored low on a test?How do you find time to prep, grade, plan without using all of your free time outside of school if you don't have a prep period?How do you…

17 Jan 2020

10 Grading Time Hacks

It's good to be doing the podcast again after some time off over the holidays! When I got back to school, I led a PD session for my colleagues on how to save time grading and thought it'd make for a valuable podcast. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - Intro3:47 - Update on the podcast6:17 - Why grading takes so long7:28 - Hack 1 | Grade fewer things10:23 - Hack 2 | Have shorter assessments11:52 - Hack 3 | Skip written feedback14:55 - Hack 4 | Batch your grading16:58 - Hack 6 | Take assessment yourself (by hand)19:05 - Hack 7 | Use…

27 Jun 2019

Answering The Web’s Most Searched Questions About Teaching

In this video, I answer the web's most searched questions about teaching. I stole this idea from One Happy Classroom who stole it from Wired Magazine. https://youtu.be/kfNGkqn6bNw 😁One Happy Classroom - https://youtu.be/fYQ1LGemQoY 🖥Wired - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLibNZv5Zd0dwjZFCTVZ8QdKq194CkwXjo 🌮My love for breakfast tacos - https://youtu.be/cQEk-c0cwB0 📋Jennifer Gonzalez podcast on better rubrics - https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/rubric-repair/ 💸My summer side hustle video - https://youtu.be/bQCFaWaoxNo 🌞Ways to make the most of your teacher summer - https://youtu.be/BzLX_sM0dwY 👔My last day of classes vlog - https://youtu.be/BzLX_sM0dwY

26 Dec 2018

Epic Rap Battles in the Classroom

The learning objective on Chalimar Chieza's Early American History classroom reads as follows: "The student will create sick rhymes that showcase their knowledge of the roots of government in the United States." Epic Rap Battles of History is one of my favorite YouTube channels. I knew that giving students opportunities to write songs about content was a good assessment, but I never thought of utilizing raps / slam poetry specifically. So much opportunity for students to show what they know in this creative assessment. Chalimar Chieza has been doing rap battles in her history classes for years. In this episode…

20 Nov 2017

Post 11 – Integers, Rational Numbers, & Sumo Remote Controls

It is Monday of Thanksgiving holiday and as my wife is working Mon-Wed, I'm looking to get all my holiday work done these first few days. I also realized I missed a week of reflections so thought I'd look over the last couple weeks in my classes. PRE-ALGEBRA We finished up our integer unit. Overall it seems students have a great grasp on how to work with integers even in problems where order of operations is needed. Looking over the assessment data, my 1st and 3rd periods generally perform about the same. Class size is similar and a mix of…

11 Dec 2016

Entry 16 – Why I Put the Answers on My Most Recent Math Test

Last week I gave a test in Pre-Algebra assessing their ability to perform all the operations when working with rational numbers. In my previous post, I talked about how I typically have not let students use calculators on this unit but I did this year. Then I thought, 'well why not take the power away from the calculator and just give them the answer and have them show me that they know how to get to that answer.' The plan was solidified when I was listening to a math education podcast and the guest talked about doing the exact same…

07 Mar 2016

Week 26 – Observing Montessori Style & Project-Based Learning

This week seemed pretty brief. I was out (for the first time this year) on Wednesday to observe our elementary campus and their Montessori approach to education. Also did a bit of final assessing for current units before our break. While spring break isn't for two weeks, this next week is something my school does called Project Week. There are no classes and students spend the week on any project of their choice. It's awesome :) OBSERVING OUR ELEMENTARY MONTESSORI CAMPUS The Khabele School haS three campuses; the early childhood campus (18 mo - 5 yrs), the elementary campus, and…

03 Oct 2015

Week 6 – Student Banking Chaos, Tests Without Grades, and Cheez-Its

Week 6 is coming to a close. I've gone home this week a few more times a bit more flustered than usual, mainly because of the chaos of getting students familiar with our classroom economy online banking system. But at least I had Cheez-It's to comfort me. Oh, and I'm not writing grades on tests anymore either. TEST WITHOUT GRADES I saw a video recently about a math teacher who will highlight where students made mistakes on their tests and doesn't put the actual grade on the top of the test. She posts grades online the day after they get…

31 Jul 2015

Assessment FOR Learning vs. Assessment OF Learning

Recently read an article from EDge titled ‘Assessment For Learning.’ The biggest push of the article was that assessment is most often used as a measure of what has been learned at the end of a unit (assessment OF learning) and then you move onto the next topic. It can be a pretty defeating experience for those who fail and don't have much chance to really learn what they were supposed to learn. They cite research on the positive effects on assessment used FOR learning; something like a pre-assessment or assessment in the middle of a concept. It's effectiveness is…

02 May 2015

So Failing Exams Can Be A Good Thing?

I recently read the New York Times article 'Why Flunking Exams Is Actually A Good Thing' by Benedict Carey. A pretty insightful read. Found things I was doing, things I had done, and things I plan to do. Carey proposed having a pre-course exam could be helpful. He stated: A test can be an intro to what students should learn instead of a final judgement on what they did not. I thought maybe a pre-course exam for my math classes but definitely multiple choice (probably use a Google Form). If not for the whole course, at least for each unit.…