Blogging in the Classroom

Chris Ludwig, a science teacher in Colorado, is a teacher who has decided to blogging for the purposes of classroom assessment exclusively.  He has gone as far as abandoning testing in its entirety.

Without going to a blogging-only model, many of his ideas are exciting to me, a pre-service teacher.  I especially liked his idea of getting rid of the old worksheet approach.  Also, forcing students to write more is definitely a plus as teachers are encouraged to improve student literacy across all subjects.  Also, it'd be a great way to allow parents to read and monitor the work of their children.

So how do we assess the students (mandatory) responses? Well, you can always use a rubric that others have made, or make your own just like you would for any paper-based evaluation.

Journeying by Google Maps (Part 3)

This is, more or less, the bus route I take to school each day.



View Larger Map

Take the 95 from Norice and Woodroffe until you get to the Campus station.  It's the Transitway all the way!  There's a neat little path through the woods to get from Woodroffe into Centrepointe.  Beware: It can be pretty scary at night!

Journeying by Google Maps (Part 2)

Here's a satellite view of Lake Ontario.



View Larger Map

Journeying by Google Maps (Part 1)

Right now I'm in 'Integrating Technology in the Classroom'.  I sure wish my teacher journey would take me to Chateau Lake Louise!

Luckily, I can take a virtual vacation:



View Larger Map

Vector Marking

Is is time for a quantum revolution in student assessment?

Background:  One of the most important differences between classical and quantum physics was the replacement of scalar quantities by vector quantities.

How does have this have any relation to education? I don't think that the scalar quantities that educators are so used to using (marks from 0-100, letter grades, individual marks on test questions) are the best way of assessing the information that we, as teachers, are receiving.  Why aren't we using the insights of linear algebra that companies like Google use all of the time to help us provide incredibly relevant feedback and analysis of student strengths an weaknesses.

Perhaps the 0-4 rubric system is a step in the write direction, but it's only the first step of a journey of a thousand miles.

What do you think?  Do I even make sense?

In the beginning...

Hello to all of my readers!

I've decided (been commanded) to start a blog!  I feel so 2006 :)

Seriously though, I hope to share some of my thoughts and experiences as I am initiating into the teaching craft.  I will also use this as a means to make reasoned commentary on anything I deem worthy of comment.  I also hope to develop my writing style.  As I do so, please feel free to ignore my catharsis.

RV