Students must be able to synthesis any problem in order to solve it, but we all know that this is often the most difficult step for students. Now that they have all the information, what do they do with it? Needham has some great strategies to improve synthesis and provide them with strategies likely to strengthen the overall outcome of the process. Students often rely on graphic organizers, which can even add an element of excitement by incorporating a little Web 2.0. The Table 4.1 (p. 84) in Berger's book outlines the features of four different organizers available online. More and more of these free downloads and interactive sites are popping up every day. In the course of this book study you have also discovered many ways by which students can share their information. Needham offers possible forms of synthesis which are more traditional (p. 128), while Berger offers suggestions for us to integrate technology (Ch. 6), all of which can help students better synthesis the information.
1. Explore two of the graphic organizer sites from Table 4.1 of Berger's book (or others you find online) and offer your feedback as to their usefulness with your students.
Traditional evaluation usually takes the form of a scoring guide provided by the teacher, but Needham makes a very valid point (Ch. 11) regarding students' need for self-evaluation. Self-evaluation helps our students practice those essential critical thinking skills. "Change and growth are the result of evalution." The Big 6 encourages students to evaluate not just the product, but the process as well. Students who can identify their strengths and weaknesses in these areas are improving their problem-solving skills and thereby student achievement.
2. Consider the pros and cons of teacher-created scoring guides and student self-evaluation. Share your thoughts on the importance of students becoming effective evaluators.
After responding to the discussion questions, begin thinking about what the synthesis and evaluation pieces will look like in the Big 6 lesson you are developing. Challenge yourself to incorporate technology tools such as blogs, wikis, or other Web 2.0 tools in these steps.
1. I tried Bubbl.us, Wisemapping, MindMeister. Bubbl.us looked like Inspiration but did not work as easily. I did like the fact I could start immediately-the other two required a registation. I liked the Beta version much better, hope it will become permanent. Mindmeister had a good tutorial which would be helpful when implementing with a group. I liked being able to print short cut keys.
ReplyDeleteWise mapping has a tutorial screen but it was not working well when I tried it. Also could print out shortcuts. I think my favorite for now would be mind.meister.
2. Teacher scoring guides help us develop a lesson and also serve as modeling for studnets. Our goal is to give students the tools to become independent learners, so meaningful self evaluation is essential. I think using peer editing is also a way to help integrate collaboration into lessons.
1. I checked out all of the graphic organizing sites listed in Table 4.1 and they were ok, but all of them you had to register to really use the stuff. I am running out of space in my brain to remember all of my usernames and passwords. Then I discovered this awesome site that is ready to use, no registering necessary. The site even gives lesson ideas and books that would work well with each organizer. I literally played on this site for over an hour and I completely forgot I was working. You have to check out this website: http://www.readwritethink.org
ReplyDelete2. I think by allowing students the opportunity to evaluate their own performance we are giving them yet another chance to problem solve. By working through the process of evaluating how they did they are learning how to improve for next time. I also feel students should sometimes help in the making of a scoring guide. I think when students are a part of that process the end result is better; they have more ownership in the assignment.
I use readwritethink alot, Meta. You are right it is awesome and useful to us as librarians. I like the little technology extras that your students can use reight on the site to synthesize and use the information they have gathered. I wish I could find more sites were organized like this one for our grade levels.
ReplyDelete1. I agree with Helen about MindMeister being my favorite. I liked the video tutorial a lot and felt that it made using it easy and straightforward. I am visual and like to see how something works prior to jumping in. I don't like to just start playing, I feel a little lost. The video made me feel confident that I could be easily successful using the tool. One downside, I noticed on the 4.1 table in Berger that a person only gets six maps for free rather than unlimited with the others.
ReplyDelete2. I think a pro for student self-evaluation is a more meaningful learning experience for the student. I have noticed a lot of my students displaying what Needham called "learned helplessness" wanting me to think and evaluate for them. They are so used to being walked through every single step that they are afraid to think for themselves. They want immediate feedback and reassurance that they are on the right track or have the right answer. I think by encouraging more self evaluation and reflection, students would start to problem solve more independently. I also agreed with Needham's point about self-evaluation being less threatening than teacher evaluation. I know about this first-hand with having been on the evaluation schedule the last 5 years! A con for student self-evaluation is time. I find that I want to quickly wrap up a worksheet or task and I don't build in the time it would require for students to adequately complete step 6.
#1. I could not access bubbl.us so checked out MindMeister and Mind42 and WiseMapping. I was not too impressed with WiseMapping although it appeared to be easy enough to use. The graphics were rather sparse. Mindmeister had a great tutorial which helped alot. I like the ability to use links and images. Mind42 was good but above all was MindMeister. I think kids in elementary school could use it with success. there are so many times we could use this process. For example, in Grade 1, we are researching mallard migration following a story we read. As we find the needed information, I will be creating the graphic so to model how it works. When I teach task identification and brainstorming questions to ask, I can create a graphic of the questions and the class can determine which ones they want to keep and research.
ReplyDelete#2 When I started writing this comment, I thought I could, very easily, discribe the difference between the need for teacher evaluation and having students evaluate their product and process. The more I wrote, the more I felt that proper, educated and thoughtful student self-evaluation can be accurate and very powerful, and as a result, very useful to teacher and student. As Needham says on page 132, accurate student self-evaluation needs to be taught. When a teacher evaluates, it is probably for a recorded grade or so the teacher can evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the students and thus design learning. Both self-evaluation and teacher evaluation can be effective towards learning but self-evaluation can be less stressful and for that reason, more effective. Self-evaluation needs to remain focused on the goals. Once that is mastered, having the student evaluate their process will help them gather information about their own strengths and weaknesses and make them more invested in their own learning. I find that if they have to evaluate, they listen to the task, instructions and resons for the lesson better.
Meta--I have had a headache with user names and passwords, too. I found that the three graphic organizers I tried would accept my first choice--my PH user name and password.
ReplyDeleteWhen I am not able to use that combo I have been saving each new password/user name on a "note" on my outlook. It is quick and easy to post and retreive. --H
I think synthesis of information is one of the most difficult aspects of research for high school students. Often, they have difficulty getting started with multiple sources that contain a common thread that is narrow enough to be analyzed in any depth and also supports the thesis. I found that the thesis builder recommended by Berger (p.87) Ozline Thesis Builder and Outliner would be a good tool to help students first create an effective thesis, and second organize information from multiple sources as well as provide a tool to analyze and evaluate their sources. Visiting some of the recommended sites was overwhelming since I found SO MANY good sources supplied by Berger in this chapter! Many were on Tom March's site, and I believe he was one of the first to create a webquest. I will post some of the sites on Delicious!
ReplyDeleteI believe students who can reflect and assess their own work are likely to leave high school more prepared for the real world and find success. Whether we use the term reflect, assess, question, revise, etc. it is important that we build more self evaluation skills into our high school curriculum. As a former English teacher, reflection and revision, are a critical part of the writing process; however, many students just want to turn it in and be done, and get feedback from the teacher. If we can teach students to critique their own work, they will learn an important life long skill that defies a "sit and get" mentality in our schools. The Big Six, Stripling Inquiry, and Standards for 21st Century Learners all support evaluation and reflection strategies. I believe teaching students this skill set is one of the most important aspects of my job as a media specialist.
ReplyDeleteWeek 5 Question 1. Like Meta, I love to use readwritethink.org with my students. I have used this site for some time with all grade levels; the interactive links have been invaluable, and the site is a great source for graphic organizers from simple KWL charts, story maps. to self/peer assessment charts. Another favorite source for graphic organizers is the Scholastic Teacher site, www2.scholastic.com, which I have used when teaching reading comprehension strategies. The Scholastic site is also full of great links for many subjects I cover during instruction. The sites offered for review in the Berger book looked certainly like possibilites, but the simplicity of my favorite sources may make me less adventuresome, at least for the moment. I did not have to join anything or remember another password, and I feel so confident with these two sources. Question 2: I think both teacher student and scoring guides are important for assessing student performance. I discovered last year during a research project my fifth graders did that using all three assessments provided important conversations about what really was accomplished--what goals were actually met. Incredibly, agreement was often met, and sometimes students assessments were actually less favorable than mine. I will definitely continue doing this. The downside to this is time--it can be a challenge to make sure that all involved provide assessments in a timely manner.
ReplyDeleteSharon Cleaveland and I are presently working on a collaboration on Native Americans. We just explored Bubbl.Us as a graphic organizer and think it be great when brainstorming our task. We like Mind42 because you can import pictures, videos and post it notes and it is collaborative for students when they work together, even from home. And, it is free!
ReplyDeleteI love the maps for Bubbl.us and Mind42. Unfortunately, it appeared MindMeister is only good for 3 maps. I thought these would be great tools for classroom ideas. I really think after guided practice in the classroom, students would really like to play around with and use this tool, instead of paper and pencil. We use maps so frequently for pre-writing, I know they are getting old for the students. Another thing I liked about the Mind42 and MindMeister is the ability for participants to collaborate on the same map.
ReplyDeleteAs for student self-evaluation, it can be a powerful tool for students' learning. I also like the idea of students creating a "laundry list" of questions students must answer. I think this also could be accomplished by creating a scoring guide or rubric with students for the task they are assigned. Being part of the creation of the rubric will really help students be "vested" in the usage of it. Since we have reporting topics to cover, using that as a springboard to create the scoring guide would also give students the chance to really learn the expectations of the learning topic. When we begin our Native American unit, between Corliss and I, we should have students help us create what the product will look like for the synthesis step. As we determine the criteria of what will demonstrate competence, students will be able to give guidelines as to what that will be. I think I will go ahead and record the comments right away in a rubric as we discuss.
The great thing about this particular section of Berger's book is that she got us to reach outside our comfort levels and look at some new online resources. We tend to stay with what we know instead of keeping current. The point of this exercise is to recognize that there are all sorts of resources available, it is up to you and your students to find the ones that work best for your individual needs and learning styles.
ReplyDeleteStep 6 in the Big6 model is evaluation. In this step students are asked to evaluate their product and their process. If we really are successful in our endeavor here, students will be critiquing their work and making adjustments before it is ever turned in for our assessment. Ongoing authentic learning opportunities will help them become effective evaluators.
Question 1. I checked out Wisemapping, Bubbl.us and MindMeister with this being my favorite of the three. I thought that the tutorial was very informative and helpful, although I would probably need to listen to it at least one more time. I also liked the ease with which it operated and all the colorful graphics--I've already said I am visual. It is really too bad that they don't have some type of free educational usage. Don't they realize how good it would be for them in the end if everyone in school learned how to use their program.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2. I think that student evaluation should always go hand in hand with teacher evaluation. As Meta noted by allowing them to work through evaluation of their product it allows them another chance to problem solve. Only by practice will they develope the evaluation skills that will be so critical as they get older. But I also have to agree with what Nicole said about student displaying
"learned helplessness" and wanting to have my constant input. I think for the sake of time also--I finally give in just to wrap it up.