Trialing a change in assessment

One of the issues I've struggled with for a while is assessment. How do I assess 120 students in a way that's fair, consistent and useful? Several times I have gotten to the end of marking a test and thought 'Well that was a waste of time'.
So I decided to start researching some better methods. A blog that I love is that of Dan Meyer and he has some great concepts surrounding assessment. A blog entry I found of his (http://blog.mrmeyer.com/?p=5597) along with reading from clicking links in comments lead me to trial a new style of assessment in my current unit.
The traditional assessment for the chemistry unit I am taking is to have an end of unit test with perhaps a mid-way test. The issues I see with this method are forcing students to perform in a tiny pressure filled window, it usually tests for naming skills, and it doesn't allow for students to demonstrate progress.
The method I'm using is that of a series of 'mini tests'.
Mini test 1 was a surprise so you can imagine how popular that was! But this allowed me to have a discussion about the purpose of these tests. Students were given around 10 minutes to complete the test to the best of their abilities. The then had to self mark their test in a different colour and grade their performance on the back of the sheet. These test sheets are to remain in student's books as a reference and I collect a copy of their results.
Students then have a chance to reflect on their progress and review work. They get a chance to learn based on what they struggled with. This means they can focus on areas that are specific to them, it's not a one size fits all lesson, it's designed to be functional with all levels of ability and progress.
Mini test 2 is designed to follow a few lessons later and give a chance to show development. The students can improve their scores, showing me that they understand concepts now that earlier they struggled with. This means that the pressure to perform instantly is removed and effort/progress is rewarded. It also gives me instant feedback on how my lessons are progressing.

Having only done one test so far it is a bit too early to tell if it's going to be a keeper in the long run, but it is looking promising.

Chemistry and Food

So I discovered that the way to my student's hearts is often through food. A one off snack for a lesson one day will provide a week of engagement for some reason.
As a quick example during a lesson on atoms the students were given a marshmallow to pull apart to the smallest part possible. The same could have been achieved through paper, leaves, anything really, but marshmallows seemed to get a level of engagement I wasn't expecting.
Similarly having a lesson on the structure of DNA being taught with jelly babies and toothpicks had the kids laughing, talking and asking questions about what represented what without prompting.
I wonder if this trend works with other classes?

Tackling the dry topics

So today I had to cover balancing equations with my year 9/10 Science classes. Now I understand that it's important for them to understand this concept but I also know that it's difficult and a bit dry. I don't know quite how to make it engaging enough for the types of students I have.

The way I approached it today was a very traditional technique of giving them the information, doing a couple of examples on the board and then the students worked with the people around them to do practice examples. The ways I tried to make it more engaging were:
- Allowing them to collaborate with the people around them
- Getting them to draw pictures to help with their comprehension
- Having 3 levels of difficulty so students could progress and feel accomplishment

The difficulty was that it required a huge amount of teacher instruction and wasn't as self directed as I would want it to be.
I often have this issue when approaching topics that are a bit more dull but are still important for later understanding. Is there a way to have both?

Action Research 2013

As part of my job at my current school each teacher is required to complete what is known as 'action research'. My first two years at doing this research had mixed results. In 2011 I looked into the use of practical reports in my Science classes and how to make them more accessible for students and more useful for me. I worked with another staff member and we did well, although both being first year teachers it was a low priority. 2012 was a difficult year in a number of areas of my teaching. My action research topic was not precisely of my choosing and so I did not have much of an interest in the topic. Coupled with depression which took me out of many tasks during the key part of the project my end result was less than acceptable and honestly I feel I did not succeed.

This year however is different. I finally understand what I want to gain from participating in action research, rather than feeling like it is a chore that I must complete to get my pay (a horrible feeling in teaching). I also have a committed person to work with who is willing to have discussions that help push both of our ideas beyond those that may be comfortable or easy. Finally I have a topic I'm passionate about, so I want to put in the effort to make it work. The topic actually came first, then we decided to make it our action research project. I feel that having made the choice in this order I was far more engaged in the idea.

Our topic for 2013 is based around engaging students in Science. We reviewed our results from the previous year and in one semester 33 year 9 and 10 students received a failing grade, a far higher number than the students who fail due to lack of attendance. To me this spoke of a lack of engagement and possibly a lack of understanding of the requirements of the course. I feel the solutions to the second issue are more obvious and more transferable to other subjects, so I won't go into them now. The first however is a major concern.

I have grown up loving Science so to me finding students who have absolutely no interest in the subject was a bit of a blow (clearly I had some unrealistic expectations to overcome) while also fortunately creating a way for me to improve my teaching. My teaching originally was based on the way I was taught. Lecture, questions, test. While this model is fine for engaged students in some respects I have since found it is not useful for my classes, nor even fair for the majority of my students. So my challenge for this year is to create lessons that are engaging to the widest range of students possible while also meeting curriculum requirements. The statement I use to help me achieve this is 'There is so much to Science, it should never be boring'.

The tools we are using I'll discuss in later posts, this was intended to be a brief introduction and is already a bit too long.

Getting started in blogging

Well, I thought it was time I had a go at this myself.
Blogging has never been a huge passion, nor writing in general to be honest, but it may help me start to organise some learning I'm doing, provide a base to reflect upon and maybe even open up some connections with others.
Being a Science trained teacher my main focus for this blog will be on how to make Science teaching a real success in my life. In doing this I want to look at how to make Science engaging for the widest range of students possible, how to use assessment as a tool rather than a threat, and generally reflect on traditional practice. I also want it to be a spot where I can link to other blogs, websites and articles that I feel support me in making my job not only enjoyable but meaningful.
I will try to keep this updated fairly regularly  but obviously when report time rolls around I might be finding myself otherwise engaged.
Let's see how it goes!