With class sizes of 20 or more students, crazy schedules and the various time restraints that teachers face, where do you find time to check for understanding? Sometimes I see teachers just glance at homework while others grade the homework every day. I try to check for understanding constantly. Homework, classwork, answers to daily questions, along with exit tickets all help me to know if the lesson that I just taught was successful or whether the objective needs more time and more review.
Earlier this year I came upon a program entitled Plickers.com. It is a program that enable the teachers to check for understanding in real time. It is intended for the teacher to have "quick checks" for understanding to know whether students are understanding big concepts and mastering key skills. I would like it if we could implement this program in our school .............hopefully we will soon. The program works so that when a student holds up a white board with an answer others can see it. Others may copy it but with this program students have their own card and don't know what they are showing to the class. This program would enable me to check the understandings of individuals or the whole class, which is great. The drawback is that all questions are multiple choice. Has anyone had experience with this program? Is it helpful? Would you recommend this program?
In the meantime, what are some ways that you check for understanding in your lessons?
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ReplyDeleteIt is challenging and every class is different. During the beginning of class students complete a 2 minute do-now in their math journals and I walk around and stamp and spot check homework. Then I provide answers to the homework and we review the do now. Checking two or three questions for the correct answer while spot checking homework lets me know if they're ready to move on as a class. However, you are correct...It is very difficult to check for understanding using the traditional teaching models. I use white boards and communicators (which are like clear diner menus and I can insert things like graphs, coordinate planes, number lines, etc...). I will give the entire class a simple problem, something very quick, and say, in 3-2-1 communicators up. It lets me know immediately which children understand and which ones do not. Then I can differentiate my instruction and give the class another, more challenging problem to work on while I assist the child or children that need help. I'll bring one of the communicator in on Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteI love the topic of your discussion. I agree that every class is going to have its challenges that every teacher will have to face at some point but we have to have our bag of tricks in order for the classroom to run smoothly and make sure that every child is learning. I feel as though many teachers still have a difficult time checking for understanding with their students in the classroom. Its very difficult when you have children whom are all on different learning levels and you have to differentiate but make it so that every child is walking out of your classroom learning something. The program that you are talking about is something that is new to me and I have not had any experience with it. I feel as though this program may work in some classrooms but may not in other classrooms it all depends on the teachers teaching style. I would recommend this program because I am always ready for a challenge and if it doesn't succeed in my classroom I will find other ways to accomplish checking for understanding. In my lesson plans I usually have a class discussion to check for understanding and I also ask questions during the lesson to individual students. After I find out who is having difficulty I can then differentiate my instruction and modify it so that it is a little more challenging or a little less challenging for the students.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a great topic! I have never heard of Plickers.com, but would like to see it in action to gain a better understand of how it works. In our classroom we do grade the homework every day. We also walk around as students complete individual and group work to check for understanding. For certain lessons we use white boards and with every lesson there is ample questioning to check for understanding. I am very lucky to be in a co-teaching environment which enables us all to pick up where each other leaves off and cover all of our bases. However, I realize that once I enter the profession I may not be in a co-teaching classroom and websites like Plickers.com may be very useful when budgeting my time to completely cover checking my students' understanding.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great topic to discuss because I am sure many of face that challenge daily with the students. Like Nicole stated you have to have a big of tricks on how to check for understanding. I have not heard of the program Plickers, but that does sound very interesting. I believe that would help some students in the class especially students who need that simple movement of holding up a white board to show their answer. The only fear I have is the students who are shy and not wanting to share their answer to the class. They don't feel confident and do not want to be wrong in front of the class. Also the next draw back is the student's sharing their answers or copying another student's answer. It will not show their understanding of the content.
ReplyDeleteAfter class discussion on Tuesday night I now can understand the Plickers program. It sounds like a quick way to check for understanding. I check for understanding through a few ways. Mainly, teacher observation of students as they complete work. Also, in math centers students rotate to the "teacher time" center where I am able to check for understanding in a small group setting. As a whole class I check for understanding by using individual white boards, as Rosalie suggested communicators as a quick and simple way to check for student understanding. Students that are reluctant to share their white board responses, I am able to take a mental note and check for understanding further in centers as students rotate through in small groups. I have also used exit slips at the end of class for closure to check for understanding.
ReplyDeleteChecking for understanding can be difficult to do with everything else going on in the classroom. After our discussion on Tuesday, I do feel that Plickers program would be a good tool to use. As far as in my classroom, we check the student's work in many different ways. For example, they cannot hand their math journals in until a teacher has looked at it. Morning work is checked and placed into folders. Work done throughout the day is also checked by the teacher or me. Also, asking questions on a new lesson at the end is usually done. What the students are learning is reinforced several times in many different ways as well. When they learn a new sight word, they use the word in worksheets, writing journals, and reading stories. I also feel that checking for understanding is done when we dont even realize. I walk around the room often just to see if students are understanding and they are showing that understanding through various assessments. Good topic Kyle!
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