Chapter 1
The first thing I would like to touch on is speed-drill practice activities. I know this is at the beginning of the chapter but I really like speed drill practice. I have noticed that you can turn this type of activity into fun games that the students really enjoy... such as math around the world where each students stands by their desk, the teacher goes around the room with math flashcards and the student has one chance to answer the flashcard in less than five seconds. If the student gets it wrong they have to sit down and the last one standing wins. It's a really great game that I have noticed students really enjoy.
I also think that application activities have a lot of potential. This is an area where teachers can become creative in what they do with their lessons and how they teach their students.
I like how the chapter broke down what each of the different types of assessment tasks involved. It think it's really important to understand what each of these involve. These areas also show why it's important to have different types of components on a test...for example a true and false section, multiple choice section, essays, ect. This all validates why testing is important after the teacher has taught a section in a subject. It seems that in elementary through the end of my bachelor's degree, all the testing was about those three types of assessments. Now in grad school it seems to be more a long the lines of nontraditional assessment. I like it though because I feel like the teacher has to pay more attention to whether I really know the information rather than just throwing a test on my desk and having the scantron machine grade it. I think the blogging that we do is a good example of nontraditional assessment.
Chapter 13
I liked this chapter because it talked more about hands on learning and activities that can be done that are fun yet educational. However, I did think some of the activities were confusing- like the "round we go". I was easily confused by that. But, I liked the "Piles" activity. I think that one is more easier for younger children. In my class we do that a lot with feeling cards and putting the feelings that are similar together. (In my classroom we focus a lot on behaviors and correcting the behaviors).
Another activity that I have done many different ways is the scavenger hunt. I have noticed that students love it and it can be made in an educational way but fun so that the students see more of the fun side than the educational side but are learning. Scavenger hunts have such a two way street that it makes them very effective.
I thought this chapter gave a lot of ideas on different ways to make teaching into fun activities. I am going to spend some more time looking at this chapter because I really like the activity ideas that it has.
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I agree with what you said about Chapter One, it is very important to to have different types of components on a test. It is very frustrating as a struggling test taker to have a test given to me that is all multiple choice. This may sound weird, but I would much rather take a test that was a few types of many questions. I have never been a good test taker, I read too much into things many times, second guess myself, get nervous, and that all turns me into a confused mess.
ReplyDeleteI also liked the different practice activities as well. It is important to mix up your style, as we know no two students are identical so therefore they do not learn the same. I think this is evident with me and you for this example. As a student I HATED math around the world type games. I am not a quick thinker under pressure. However I thought the round we go activity sounds super fun! I think my students would really enjoy it. This is why we do what we do though, we know everyone is different and deserves to be treated that why with learning adapted to meet them!
I remember playing someof these games back in grade school. The book made a good point about the facdt that students had to have the skills first before the fun games. I agree the games increase adaptability and fluency. I will probably keep that book. At this time, most of the activites I cannot apply to my clients. However, when I become a teacher it would definately be a great reference tool. It is always nice when there's learning taught in a fun way that the students dont realize that they are being assessed and taught and prqacticing skills. They think it's just a fun game.
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