WPP Final Project- CEP 812

Hello All!

I am proud to present my final WPP results video! I hope you enjoy it. You can find it located here.

You will find a few portions from my video below. The text from the problem, the text from the solution, and the TPACK questions and answers are listed in this section. Please feel free to ask me any questions in the comments!

Text of the Problem:

Assessment is a major function of all classrooms and my classroom is no different. The curriculum in my school is intense and asks students to have a huge set of content knowledge. Not only must students know the content, but they must have skills that allow them to showcase their knowledge and use it to solve multiple types of problems.

Throughout my classes I constantly assess my student’s understanding of the material being presented. This formative assessment is mostly done orally, but is sometimes done using pen and paper. When completing the assessments by word of mouth I am able to instantaneously alter my instruction. If I notice that I have failed to clarify a certain point I will change the course of the lesson. The problem, however, is that I only receive information from a small sample of my students. When using pen and paper, the feedback is not instantaneous, and I fail to alter my lesson within the desired timeframe.

In order to provide better instruction that is moldable to my students needs, I wanted to find a technology that allows me to poll results from all of my students instantaneously.

Text of the Solution:

My goal was to address this issue with the use of CPS clickers. The clickers themselves integrate well with the SmartBoard that is installed in my room. I planned to use the clickers to formatively assess student understanding throughout my lessons. I gave students clickers at the beginning of each lesson and had them answer questions throughout. I had planned on quickly adding questions when necessary. Depending on the results, I had planned to change my instruction in a manner that would help students key in on topics that they were struggling with. I wanted to improve student understanding of my content by using the clickers.

I used this approach with one of my 9th grade World Studies classes. I teach two sections of this course and one class used the clickers while the other did not. The class that did not was my control. I ran the project for a total of five classes in my World Religion unit. The second class used predefined questions throughout the lesson to gauge how well my students understood the content.  I also used some instant questions for immediate feedback.

TPACK Questions and Answers:

TP- What is the TP knowledge for the solution?  (i.e., how does the technology you have chosen support the teaching strategies and methods you have chosen?)

As a teacher in an IB history classroom I strive to use inquiry throughout my lessons. I try to guide my students towards a better understanding of the content. When designing activities I often look to create lessons that provide frameworks for students and that push them to uncover the content. The clickers that I used for this project helped me to gain a better understanding of my students understanding of the material. Inquiry is not just giving a student a worksheet and letting them “research” the answer. In order to create great learning environments I must monitor my student’s success, and help guide them throughout the process. Clickers allow me to do this better and help me to provide only the necessary scaffolding for students. My understanding of their knowledge allows me to implement supports and remove them as necessary. I believe that students should be pushed to succeed and that they cannot do so without the right supports.

TC- What is the TC knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how specifically does this technology make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible?  Be sure to think about representation.)

The clickers that I used made content knowledge more accessible by allowing me as a teacher to alter my teaching based upon my findings. When students struggle with a particular topic I am not always aware of the problem. My teaching will never be perfect and I need to be aware of content gaps when then occur. No two students learn the same, and while I try to differentiate, there are times when I struggle. Using the clickers provided me with instant feedback of my teaching effectiveness. With this data in hand I was able to cover gaps of content knowledge in new ways. When teaching lessons without clickers I am sometimes unaware of my pitfalls until I assess my students in a more traditional manner. The clickers allowed me to see student understanding instantaneously.

PC- What is the PC knowledge for the solution? (i.e., how specifically do your pedagogical choices make the content in your problem more intellectually accessible? Be sure to think about how the student will experience the content given these instructional strategies.

My teaching often asks students to analyze, interpret, and synthesize information. Doing so with inquiry can be a challenge for students and myself. Improperly scaffolding lessons can lead to misunderstandings and content knowledge gaps. Using the clickers allowed me to assess my own teaching on the fly and alter it to meet the needs of my students. Strong content knowledge cannot be accurately constructed without a solid knowledge base. Any misunderstandings need to be addressed. When giving students documents to analyze or problems to solve it is necessary for me to check for understanding. While doing checks it is possible for me to miss problems that my students may be having.

The clickers allowed me to make more accurate decisions. Using the clickers with my inquiry teaching method helps students to uncover the content in a more efficient manner. Using predefined questions, as well as instant questions, helped inform my teaching style or pedagogy instantaneously. Providing information to students without helping them decipher its intricacies can lead to poor understanding of the content. Inquiry is not useful when students are provided with skills and content that they do not really understand. The use of clickers in my classroom allowed me to become a better teacher of content through a more effective pedagogical teaching style.