3. Focus on having an excellent first five days of school.įinally, Alan mentions the First Five Days of School. Teachers should become masters of metacognition. “to have a clear system for self-assessment for teachers.” “a process by which students 1) monitor and evaluate the quality of their thinking and behavior when learning and 2) identify strategies that improve their understanding and skills.”Īnn Oro took this comment further on the Every Classroom Matters Awesome Educator Network Facebook Group. What is self-assessment? McMillan and Hearn go on to define self-assessment as:

“In the current era of standards-based education, student self-assessment stands alone in its promise of improved student motivation and engagement, and learning.” (emphasis mine) We need to encourage student self-assessment.Īlan November says the most successful students have a clear means of self-assessment. In their 2008 report, James H.

McMillan and Jessica Hearn helps us understand self-assessment and student success. Every single math teacher should look at Wolfram Alpha Pro and what it can do for them! Read more the Wolfram Alpha teacher portal and the SEDL Calculators in Schools research summary. In fact, many teachers of young children still see calculators in this way. Many math teachers may view Wolfram Alpha as a threat. How do we give instant feedback on math problems? Should we expect teachers to do what a computer could do? Should we teach kids Wolfram Alpha? Alan says,įeedback time for math problems should be as close to zero as possible. The immediate feedback helped her teach herself.Ī students should be able to work a problem, then quickly get the answer. She ended the year at the top of the class. The step-by-step instructions helped her learn math. Instead, he taught his little girl to use Wolfram Alpha. We need to check how rapidly students get feedback, especially in math.Īlan tells the story of the student who was struggling in math.Īfter she failed the first test, the math teacher insisted that a man's daughter move to the lower level math class. What does this mean? Any school can improve with these three things. Research shows that students who self-assess their work become top students. Students who self-assess are the best? That’s what Alan November says.

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