Mrs. Miniaci’s Blog

This first week of summer vacation I spent on location with my masters’ cohorts.  Our role was to report on the athletes heading to the 2008 Olympics.  We went to Iraq to interview sprinter Dana Hussein.  Click on the link below to hear the broadcast Ramona, Victoria, and I prepared.   TSPN Interview with Dana Hussein

 

 TSPN Interview with Dana Hussein: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

      Do you know the benefits of curriculum mapping?  Recently Sue and I made this presentation to our Curriculum Mapping class at Fresno Pacific.  The assignment was to prepare a presentation that could be made to our grade level partners or coworkers.  Since we are already successfully using curriculum maps at our site with our grade level partners, we decided to present to the entire staff on using curriculum maps to articulate between grades.
Curriculum Mapping Presentation

This performance assessment follows a chapter on fractions.  In the assessment students are asked to tally the number of students in our class by hair color.  They are then asked to write a fraction for each hair color and simplify the fraction.  I asked the students to order the fractions from greatest to least and write statements telling what fraction of students had red, brown, blonde, or black hair.   math-chapter-7-performance-assessment-final.doc

I was able to gain some insight into students’ thinking by the kinds of questions they asked as they were attempting to follow the directions.  When it came to ordering the fractions from greatest to least, I was surprised that several students asked if they should use the fractions with the same denominators or the simplest form of the fractions to determine their order. 

I developed a simple rubric that students had knowledge of as they were working and which I used to assess their work.  In the past I have used short answer and multiple choice tests to determine their proficiency.  This performance assessment was more motivating for my students.  It held their interest long enough that even those students who usually don’t finish a basic computation test finished.  The assessment was quick and easy to grade.  I was able to see specifically what they knew and how well they knew it. 

These are some of the results from the Science Performance Assessment mentioned in the previous post.  Alarm System Design    Written Explanation of How the System Works    Self-Evaluation using checbric
Alarm System Design 2   Written Explanation for Alarm Design 2�
Alarm Design 3   Written Explanation for Design 3   Self -Evaluation of Design 3 �
Alarm Design 4 �
Alarm Design 5

     Have you ever used a performance assessment for science?  Our new science text, California Science, Grade 4, MacMillan/McGraw-Hill, has some ideas at the end of each chapter.  I adapted the assessment at the end of Chapter 6 on electrical circuits.  I hoped it would be engaging for the students as well as give me insight into their understanding of how electrical circuits work.  I developed a checbric (a checklist and rubric combined) to help my students know exactly what I wanted them to include in their final product.  They also used it as a self-evaluation tool.  The Assessment and Checbric are attached.  To see some student samples look at Electrifying Results post.�

  Visalia Unified Technology Coach Terri Lieberman interviewed me recently about the VISTAS master’s program.   We recorded the interview at my school site one day last week.  I learned about Audacity while editing and adding music to the final product at home later that evening.  It’s amazing how much time I spent on such a short piece.  How will I use Audacity in the classroom?  I think students might have fun dramatically reading stories they’ve written and adding some intro music to go with the theme of their story.  Another thought is to record students reading from their reading text at different times of the year to see if there is any growth in their reading fluency.    Interview�

     Click on the link below to see the full presentation of the products my students created as a result of our recent R.A.F.T. (see The R.A.F.T. Floats!).  I allowed students to demonstrate their learning in a format of their choice.  Some produced handwritten documents while others chose to act out.  The link takes you to my classroom website.  Students and parents will be able to view and learn from what others have done.  I think I will create a short scavenger hunt for students to go on as they search the products.
View all student products

          I visited www.everythingdi.net recently and found a wealth of information about differentiated instruction.  The site is designed for educators.  I found resources, reference tools, examples, and so much more.  Under the Affect  tab there are certificates that you can print and give out to recognize student achievement.  Look under the Interest tab to find how to’s and examples of RAFTs, I-Searches, Jigsaws, and Webquests for each grade level.  The Learner Profile section has several interest inventories and rubrics that can be used as is or as a springboard for creating your own.  On the Resource page I found a virtual tour of the Sutter’s Fort Museum which is perfect for my 4^th grade curriculum.  There is even a teacher’s guide full of activities.  On that same page there are some reference tools like e-encyclopedia, Fact Monster, and Mirriam Webster Word Central.  These would be good tools to link on my website.  I have bookmarked that page for future reference and you should too!

           It was Compacting Curriculum that caught my attention in Chapter 5 of Differentiating Instruction with Technology by Grace Smith and Stephanie Throne.  This “strategy for streamlining curriculum allows more able students to work at a faster pace so that they can pursue an alternate topic or investigate an area of study in greater depth.”   I had remembered reading about this strategy in our previous course on differentiating instruction and thought that it made a lot of sense.  What is the point of teaching students what they already know?  Is that really teaching? I appreciated the thorough description of compacting curriculum these authors gave as well as steps on how to compact your own curriculum.  I have used this strategy recently with my students.  About half of my class quickly mastered long division while the other half of my class was going to need quite a bit more time to gain confidence. Most of the students who needed more time have now mastered the concept.  Meanwhile, those who had quickly mastered long division were excited about taking on the challenge of dividing by two-digit divisors.

                Howard Gardiner measures intelligence as the ability to solve problems or to create something that is of value in a culture.  In his view, intelligence goes beyond the short answer measure of intelligence given by an IQ test.  He understands intelligence as the interaction between the abilities a person has and the opportunities in our culture to use them, and where the person decides to put his energy.  Gardiner recognizes nine intelligences which all people possess in uniquely varying degrees.

While Gardiner acknowledges nine intelligences, schools value only two; linguistic and logical mathematical.  Students whose strengths are in these areas typically enjoy school and are motivated to learn more.  For students whose strengths are elsewhere school can become a place where they get the message that they are not smart. 

I liked what Gardiner said in the interview that students need to connect to something that is important to them before the “romance of learning” can begin.  When students are interested in something, they become motivated to learn, and thus become better learners.  Gardiner also referred to some research that shows that students do best when there are fewer topics covered but they are covered in greater depths.  I agree with his statement that in the US we are sacrificing understanding by trying to cover too much.  Students are not given the time to fully explore and internalize before being whisked on to the next topic.