Kim Caise's Blog, page 8
August 5, 2016
Student Incentives Based on Test Scores?
I came across a blog post shared by @atchalkface on Facebook of a letter sent by a group of second grade teachers to parents for an end of the year incentive party based on scores on the high stakes state tests. The students could attend the incentive party for various periods of time based on the scores made on the state standardized test. Below is the letter that lists the criteria to attend the party.
This concerns me a great deal. I know there are teachers that say external factors do not ‘factor in’ to test scores but students have off days or family issues that affect their performance on standardized tests. The above criteria are punitive in nature in my opinion. The blog author, @atchalkface, called for naming which school and teachers this letter originated.
I, too, would love for the school to come forward but with the backlash that will ensue I can understand why the teachers would remain silent on their actions. I find this insulting and belittling to the students involved. Passing on the pressure and the results of teaching the students tested concepts throughout the past school year and burdening the students with that pressure is beyond my comprehension.
Incentives such as the ones featured in the letter are contemptuous at best. Students can only do their best and should not be penalized for poor performance unless a student deliberately tanks it as a measure to get back at their teacher. I seriously doubt this kind of behavior would result from a second grader. Also, scores are to be kept confidential. If a student only got to attend the party at the specified time for not doing well on the test, then everyone knows how well that student did or did not do on the test. That is a blatant disregard for the confidentiality of the results of the test scores.
I agree and also ask for the parties to come forward that came up with this idea. Not to throw rotten tomatoes but to request they attend training on confidentiality and test scores as well as sensitivity training. Being caring and sensitive to the emotional, physical, social, behavioral and psychological needs of each student probably cannot be taught but it is worth a try on my book. Those skills are definitely lacking in this instance.
What is your take on this letter? What if your child received this letter? What would be your response? We need to take a stand on issues that occur like this and this situation should never have occurred in the first place.
June 28, 2016
Why I Won’t be at CAMT 2016
I have had to regretfully pull out of presenting at the Council for the Advancement Mathematics Teachers conference held in San Antonio, Texas this week. It does conflict with the International Society for Technology in Education but that is not why I am unable to present.
In February I had a surgery and on June 9, 2016 I had to go back in to remove a hematoma that was very large. I am attached to a wound vac and have to go for treatment in a hyperbaric chamber for two hours every day for up to 30 days. Then every other day that packing that is in my right breast has to be removed and replaced which is painful.
I didn’t expect and wasn’t prepared for any of this so I am making the resources available that I would have shared had I presented. I will upload the videos another day so that you can view how the tools work on another day. There is no audio at this time as they are demo videos only and thought I would be speaking while they played during my presentation. So check out the resources and feel free to leave comments or questions and I will do my best to respond to them very soon.
Thank you for your continued support and understanding during this difficult time.
Mobile Devices in the Mathematics Classroom from Kim Caise
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June 5, 2016
May 22, 2016
May 2, 2016
Group Work – Who’s Missing?
Quite often teachers want students to acquire collaboration skills and create group project assignments requiring students to work in groups. This is definitely a needed skill to learn and requires students to use critical thinking skills and the upper tier of Bloom’s Taxonomy when collaborating on a group project.
Having students in online learning programs participate in group projects is a lot more challenging to structure. Finding a time that is convenient for everyone and some type of meeting platform must be used like Skype or a VOIP platform like Blackboard or Adobe Connect. There are many other platforms for students to use to meet but those are the most prevalent ones. I keep a wiki on web conferencing platforms so feel free to review the wiki page for alternatives if you are looking for a meeting solution: http://caisefiles.wikispaces.com.
One of the frequent challenges that arises is that one person doesn’t show up or contribute to the project. One blog author, Torria Davis, Ph.D., shared that one of her colleagues recommended the “Survivor’s Clause” where the student is ‘voted out of the group like on the Survivor TV show. How do you handle this situation regardless of whether you are teaching online or face to face classes? Do you give that person the whole assignment and they do everyone’s part? Do you counsel that student or colleague and hopefully they come around in time? I would love to hear your thoughts on how you handle this situation. Please share in the comments.
April 24, 2016
Personal Experiences of Blended and Online Learning
Personally, I am a huge fan of online/blended learning both as an instructor and student. In the past though, my interaction has primarily occurred through the use of Moodle or some type of LMS as the instructor of the course and student taking the course. One important goal of online learning that I consider paramount to student success as a result of my past experiences is the importance of the instructor facilitating the course to create engaging lessons and opportunities for discussion and interaction among students and the instructor. The courses I created and participated in didn’t encourage or foster engagement with other students as much as engagement with the content and I felt something was lacking. Through my experiences teaching and participating as a student in recent online learning opportunities, my goals as an instructor in online learning have changed and are centered around discussions and lessons where students have to internalize, conceptualize and actively participate in the activities and discussion forums for successful achievement of course goals. Engagement is my key goal for my students and a new experience and focus for me via online learning courses as a result of not having experienced this to a large degree in previous online learning courses.
Engagement with other students is a critical component for students to learn and experience as much as they can in this type of learning environment. Creating and structuring opportunities to interact with one another is most important and I hope to gain more information on how to create motivating and engaging lessons for my students. Interaction will be a critical component as well as activities that focus on critical thinking and communication. Although interaction will be asynchronous, I hope to structure and facilitate discussions so that students get the feeling of participating in a synchronous course. This is another factor that I feel is critical for students to experience and is something I hope my students participate.
I have been challenged in several ways in some of the online courses in which I have been a student or teacher. As an instructor, giving neutral feedback and knowing how much to respond to a course discussion forum have been very challenging for me. I know with time the challenge will lessen as I refine and develop my skills in these areas. Practice, practice, practice is the key solution for me. That and the guidance of my instructor. Without that guidance, I won’t know if I am straying off task and not effectively instructing and engaging my students.
For those of you that teach online/blended courses, what are your thoughts and goals for instruction in your courses? What do you want your students to accomplish? Feel free to leave a comment below sharing your thoughts and opinions.
April 19, 2016
Florida Senate Considering a Proposal to Count Coding as a Foreign Language
In early March 2016, the Florida Senate voted to approve a proposal that would allow classes that offered coding and programming to count as foreign language credits for graduation. This is exciting news!
I don’t know if it passed the Florida House and if the Governor enacted the proposed legislation or not. Democratic Senator Jeremy Ring, former Yahoo employee, was asked if coding is bilingual and Senator Ring indicated that he felt it definitely was.
The article went on to state,
It’s interesting logic that some district officials might find hard to swallow. In a state like Florida, where Spanish is spoken heavily in many cities and towns, creating a system in which computer science and foreign languages compete in order to exist might not do students any favors.
Hopefully the legislation passes and other cities follow suit. Coding and programming is a language in itself and is becoming increasingly necessary for many jobs that today’s students will hold in the future. Having the coding knowledge and skills will definitely give some students an advantage by being able to demonstrate coding and programming skills.
Several cities, like Houston and Los Angeles, have plans to offer computer science to all students and want to include coding/programming as a requirement for graduation. It will be interesting to see how many other cities join forces with Houston and Los Angeles.
What are your thoughts? Please respond in the comments area as I would love to hear your thoughts on this issue.
March 28, 2016
March 25, 2016
2016 PBS Digital LearningMedia Innovators Program – Local Representative
Recently I received the honor that I was part of the PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovators Community. I received the following email sharing the good news and I wanted to share this with my readers as you helped me reach this goal by providing an avid audience for me to publish the treasures I find and learn about:
