Sunday, January 27, 2013

Going over tests/Patterns

     On the website http://ambercaldwell.wordpress.com/2010/07/06/virtual-conference-on-soft-skills/  talked about a great way to go over a test. The teacher had the students form "sessions" on the day they got the test back for 10-15 minutes where one student in the group explained how to solve that particular type of problem, and all questions would be directed at the student leading the session. If a student then mastered their group they could go to another group and work on that topic.
     This is a great way to encourage students to study for tests because they want to be chosen as the "presenter" in the group. It also encourages peer-teaching, which helps the students to hear their friend explain the material and for the student explaining it reinforces their knowledge of the material. It is also a lot more engaging for the student than zoning out while the teacher go over the most missed points.
     This was really helpful because it is hard to come up with ideas for change when you are so used to a certain way. Also it helps because it starts discussion about other possible options for going over tests. I would probably use this method of going over tests, or something similar to it because students learn best when they are actively engaged and I feel this is an example of a good way to engage students. I would probably merge the idea in this article with the way my chemistry and physics teacher went over tests. Her method was grouping students into 3s that had gotten different parts correct so that one student could explain one topic, and the other students could explain others.

     On the website http://www.visualpatterns.org/ there are a series of images of the first three elements of a pattern and it asks for the number of cubes in 43rd element of the pattern. There is a "submit" box under each picture for you to guess the correct number of cubes. If you guess correctly it tells you what the equation is for the pattern.
     This would be a good website for your students to use if you were in a patterns section for class. It is also good simply as brain teasers to help students practice their ability to recognize patterns and think mathematically/logically. I would probably use it as an extra credit assignment, to write out the answers and the equation to a few patterns, maybe with a sentence on how to got those answers.
     I'm not sure that I would blog while teaching, I think I will read plenty of blogs but I think I might be too busy trying to use all the ideas I get from blogs that I won't be able too. At least until I'm a few years in to being a teacher.

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