Virtual School Dispatches

Polling and Formative Assessment When teachers do formative assessment effectively, students learn at roughly double the rate than they do without it. ~Dylan Wiliam    Formative assessment is planned to gather evidence of student learning. It enables both students and teachers to understand where they are in regards to learning and for teacher to make necessary adjustments. It is incumbent upon the teacher to take responsibility for the learning of all students and to respond by matching the instruction with each student’s current needs.   Incorporating polling into your lessons enables you to gather evidence in real-time. Nearpod and Zoom provide opportunities for formative assessment through polling. Whether it’s a thumbs-up/thumbs-down or an embedded poll, you can quickly check for student understanding to determine your next step.    How to Use Polling Early elementary: Practice formative assessments through the day and use polls in low-sta...

  Q-TIP Principle As an educator I take my work seriously and personally. Sometimes too personally. When a student acted disrespectfully in my class or directly to me, I always took it to heart; the more disrespectful the act, the more it hurt. When a student promised to do their homework, but didn’t, I questioned our relationship. When Kenny, a student I invested so much in, cussed me out, I spent the rest of the day doubting myself and my value. I know I tend to over perseverate, but I’ve made improvements. I wanted to share something I recently learned about. It's the Q-TIP Principle. Q uit T aking I t P ersonally Hurt people hurt people. Very rarely do any of us, especially children, want to harm. Most often when they do it’s because they haven’t learned the necessary social skills yet.   Kids who misbehave are lacking the skills they require to problem solve and appropriately deal with the situation.   When a student commits a disrespectful act, that action says more...