http://webphysics.iupui.edu/papers/jcst_warmup_paper.pdf

This is Lauren's selection for this week.

Although not everything described in this article applies necessarily to all subjects, the idea that teachers need to be more aware of the prior knowledge students have before they present new materials is very interesting. In second language, for example teachers use students' oral and written productions to assess their command of grammar but before any cultural or historical unit, it would make sense to address prior knowledge and rectify what needs to be rectified before introducing new ideas/material.

week 8

This addresses the importance of teaching knowledge on reading. This article (that I had to order through the library) shows how ESL students who are taught background cultural knowledge can understand texts that are more complex linguistically than those who aren't.
When they have no background knowledge, students tend to rely on their own cultural knowledge which can interact with the implicit cultural knowledge of a text and lead to misunderstanding and distortion.
This is fascinating because any authentic document used in second language class carries so much implicit cultural knowledge that if teachers don't spend time unpacking this knowledge students might misunderstand a lot. At the same time, I would argue that reading with a critical and questioning mind, might help students learn about the other culture. This can be taught as well.



Floyd, P., & Carrell, P. L. (1987). Effects on ESL Reading of Teaching Cultural Content Schemata. Language Learning, 37(1), 89. doi:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1968.tb01313.x

www.ascd.org/...t@-Why,-What,-and-Whether.aspx

Week 7 - Partner : Lauren Geier

In this first chapter of his book, Popham (2008) attempts to define what formative assessment is and what it is not. He insists on the fact that formative assessment is a process and in his opinion a classroom process. He refers to a meta-analysis conducted by Black and William (1998b) to show evidence of the benefits of formative assessment and quotes Black and William's claim that "student gains in learning triggered by formative assessment are "amongst the largest ever reported for educational interventions" (p. 61).
Popham also warns educators against testing companies who are now offering interim or benchmark tests as "formative assessments" and claims that there's no scientific evidence that district-developed or state-developed periodically administered assessments will improve students' achievement.

This is a very helpful read for teachers to improve their understanding of formative assessment and of the benefits for students.

http://quizlet.com/

Quizlet is a tool that allows teachers to create flashcards, (mock-up) tests and study games. When designing activities, teachers can add pictures and voice over. Teachers can monitor their students' progress and the time they spend on the activities.

The activities can be assigned by the teachers but students can go back to Quizlet on their own to review or prepare for an assessment.

Flippity allows you to create Jeopardy-type Quiz Shows from spreadsheets. There's a template that you need to use and you can change the categories, the questions and the answers. You can have as many teams as you want and therefore students can work in groups as well as individually.
This can be a great review activity for many subject areas : history, English, world language… You can review the plot of a book, a cultural unit…