Cycle 2 Interview 2/17

I completed the first set of interviews with two students who volunteered to expand on the survey results from cycle 2’s focus of the multiple revision policy. I have a group of boys I will be interviewing on Thursday as well. I told the girls that I wanted to use the questions from the survey as a basis for our discussion but I wanted to expand on their answers asking “why” they answered as they did. The interview took place after school on February 17, 2009.

For question one “Has the ability to redo assignments multiple times been beneficial to you?” , the students responded that it was beneficial because they were able to redo mistakes they had made. One student also responded that it made her want to improve as a writer.

For question two, “Has the ability to redo assignments had a positive change to your thinking about learning and being a successful learner?” one student reacted that it made her look at assignments not as a have to as she had previously in classes, but she now looked at the assignments as a want to. She saw that she could do better each time she worked on an assignment. The other student commented that she was not as stressed about homework because she could redo the work and that she could learn about what to do and not do going forward on other assignments.

Question three, “On average, do you do an assignment correctly the first time the assignment is assigned?”. The students both commented that they try to do the assignment correctly the first time, but that they needed further direction or corrections and thus redid the work. Additionally, one student commented that there were times when she turned in the work just to get feedback to do better work the next time. She saw it as a chance to improve and that when she was stressed about homework, it gave her a break being able to redo an assignment. So sometimes she would not turn in the best work the first time in because of how stressed she was.
Question six, "Thinking about the feedback you receive on assignments, did it help you succeed as a learner?”. I added an additional question onto this question asking about the dual feedback they are receiving from Mr. Ruggles, the student teacher, and myself. One student remarked that the dual feedback was overwhelming. She felt like she was trying to please two teachers and do what two teachers wanted. With one set of feedback, it would be much easier. The other student responded that she did not mind the dual sets of feedback. She said she honestly liked all the feedback because she did not feel lost in her writing. The feedback gave her simple changes to improver her grade and the positive feedback was encouraging.

Question seven “Do you take the multiple redo policy for granted?" . One student reacted that she did take the policy for granted. Stress played a big role in this. She knew that she did not have to get the assignment done on time and that she would still receive credit. But then she would get stressed by the redos because it eventually had to be done. She commented that the multiple revision is a privilege and she took it for granted. It is a good as a back up or safety net when she can’t get the work done but you end up cheating yourself when you rely on it all the time. The other student agreed that it could be used as a backup and that sometimes she takes it for granted. If she is busy and has a lot of homework, then she uses it.

Question nine “Knowing that you have multiple opportunities to redo your work, has your effort declined on those assignments?”. Both students commented that their effort did not decline because they realized that the work just leads to more work when assignments are not done correctly. All of it just builds on another. And their answers for question 10, “Throughout the semester, do you try to perform harder at first so not to have to redo it” supported that with their responses echoing the same idea that if they didn’t do their best work the first time around, the work would compound with new assignments and then redos all at once.

Question eleven, “On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the greatest improvement, how have you improved as a student as a result of the multiple redo policy?”. At first one of the students wanted me to define what a student was to them. I put the question back on her asking her to tell me what a student was. Although she didn’t define what a student was, she did answer the question saying that she improved as a student by learning more from her mistakes. When she would mess up, she would learn not to repeat that mistake a second time. The other student commented that she improved as a writer with the feedback she was receiving. She learned techniques of getting work done. She learned a lot about the process of redoing work. She commented about how stressful it can be when there is so much to redo, but she learned skills that will help her throughout life. She even remarked that this privilege is not ever given to students. I asked her if she would want other teachers to give multiple redos and she said it should be a piece of advice given to all teachers at AHS. The other student then commented that some students would take the policy for granted, but a majority would use it. One solution is that it could be given to only some students especially students with ADD or that need more understanding.

From this question, they traversed into talking about grades and learning. One student commented that this class wasn’t as strict as others. The students in this class are not as stressed and they feel lucky to be in here. One of the students went on to talk about how this class focused not on a grade, but on writing. She continued that she felt she was benefitting more in this class and benefiting from learning from one another. She had trouble expressing exactly where she was going with this comment, and I did not want to lead her on, but I think the sentiment is there that she is feeling a change and inspired by that change.

Question fourteen, “On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being greatest improvement, how would you rank the redo policy vs. a non-redo policy in terms of it actually improving writing”. One of the students reacted that her writing has improved a lot. That things that were once weaknesses (spelling, punctuation, grammar) now those are things she has improved on. She knows what to do, how to do it, and fix the mistakes. The other student remarked that she noticed a change right away. The redo policy allowed for her to complete her work where as before she would complete an assignment just to get through it, rushing her work, and didn’t put herself into her world. The redo helped her learn structure and that she could take her time so that she could express what she really thought.

At the end of the interview, I asked if they had any final thoughts. One of the students commented that the redo policy was one of the best things. She remarked that she has problems staying on task, and this policy helped her with that. She also commented that this policy was a privilege and that all teachers should have this. The students and teacher benefit by having the knowledge not the focus on the grade. The students are changing their focus from trying for a grade, to trying for the benefits of knowledge. The other student added that she didn’t care about her grade in this class as she did in her others, she was too busy learning. The also both echoed that this class is hard and challenging but with the multiple revision policy, they felt they could take risks with their writing instead of just shooting for a grade.

One students quote at the end: “Everyone deserves a second chance.”

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AR cycle 2 survey reflection

Hopefully I can remember to split this blog into two posts, but in case I forget, there is so much going on with cycle 2 and 3 of my AR. I am trying to “wrap-up” cycle 2 of my AR in order to concentrate on my cycle 3 which is quickly becoming overwhelming. Cycle two is focusing on the multiple revision policy of so that students can redo their work as many times as necessary in order to receive a passing grade. Cycle three, I am focusing on student feedback in order to increase student success with my students writing their position papers and are able to receive feedback from me, from my student teacher, and both written and oral feedback.

With cycle two wrapping up, I gave the students a poll online to complete using Google Spreadsheets. The poll was fabulous because it allowed for me to get some structure to follow regarding their responses. I focused the question on the multiple revision policy because this policy has been in place since the start of the school year in August and now going into its 24th week of use. I wanted to see with this amount of time devoted to helping my students succeed, is the multiple redo policy working towards that goal? Here is an attachment to the results.

As I was watching the poll populate into Google while the kids were taking it, I was amazed at the data I was receiving from them. 20 kids completed the survey out of a class of 23. Of the 20 who completed the survey, 16 said the multiple revision policy was “Always” beneficial to them. As far as the positive impact the multiple revision policy had on their learning, 10 said always and 6 said most of the time, and 4 sometimes. No one indicated that it had no impact on them. This is another affirmation of the change the kids are experiencing in this class with No D’s and with multiple opportunities to demonstrate their learning and understanding.

The class was more split about the question that dealt with doing an assignment correctly the first time: 1 (always), 10 (most of the time), 7 (sometimes) and 2 (not at all). In conjunction with that question, the next question asked the students to think about when they redo an assignment, how often does it take them to redo it correctly. Interestingly enough 19 of the 20 were in the 1-2 times range. This could be that students are not understanding the assignment the first time it was given, or needing further clarification in order to turn in their best work.
Kids responded to the questions about taking the policy for granted that 11 (sometimes) and 7 ( not at all). I will react more to this with the interviews that were conducted on this question as to the reasoning behind the students choosing “sometimes”.

To piggy back with this question, I asked the students if I did require homework to be turned in immediately, how often would they do it.? 10 said most of the time, 5 always and the other 5 sometimes. Even with the multiple revision policy, these numbers seem consistent with what work they turn in now with a chance to do redo.

Looking into the effort they are putting into their work with being able to revise assignments over and over again, students commented that 11 indicated the effort has not declined, 7 indicated sometimes, and 2 sometimes. The effort was something I worried about with having the policy in place for this long as well as them taking the policy for granted. I was concerned that they would slack off and not take the work as seriously knowing they had the opportunity to redo the assignment. One student commented about the work load in an interview that would entail as a result of having so many assignments to redo. The stress of having assignments to redo because she didn’t do her best work the first time compounded with new assignments so that she realized it was better to do her best work the first time around on all work.

The last few questions on the poll were some of my favorite. I was interested in the change in their learning as a student and as a writer. As a result of the multiple redo, on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being greatest improvement, 14 were in the 7-10 range. With the question directed more towards their writing and improvement as a writer, 18 out of 20 were in the 7-10 range. And finally, when asked if they would hold themselves accountable to redo assignments even if there was no redo policy, 14 said yes.

The entire poll was anonymous with no names or gender submitted. After talking with my LC last night, I wish I would have asked for gender information especially to see the breakdown on some of the questions. They were really impressed by the feedback I received from my students. We talked even about the kids in my class thinking differently about grades and learning.

Taking these survey results forward, I asked for students to volunteer to be interviewed about the multiple revision policy so I could receive some “why” explanations to their answers on the poll. I interviewed two girls yesterday and have a group of boys tomorrow.

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665: Week 7

For your ARP, how did you select the technologies that you are utilizing? How have your learners responded thus far?

For my AR project, we have used Blogger, Google docs, Google spreadsheet, Google sites, Skype, and various Microsoft Word tools. I am also going to podcast the interviews I am conducting so that I can reference them later and the students can hear themselves as well. I already did one podcast with my student teacher as we were looking over cycle three AR feedback .

I selected each of these tools because I thought they were the most applicable to what I wanted the students to produce. For example, with Blogger, I wanted the students to be able to reflect about the No D policy and multiple redos. All of those responses as well as the work we are doing with Cycle two and three are posted here: http://sites.google.com/site/annesmithomet/ar-data . I also use Blogger to record and reflect on all of my learning http://learningandlaptops.blogspot.com/ . Additionally, I needed a place to store all of my writing and data collection as well as the work I am doing for my other classes. At first I was going to use Dreamweaver to create a website, but then MR had us use Google Sites for our LC’s (http://sites.google.com/site/actionresearchpepperdine/ ) and I found that to be a tremendous resource to combine all of my reflections and learning http://sites.google.com/site/annesmithomet/Home . I have also used Google Docs to create a survey for my cycle two report http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pJAz57RdAiee_QwkZw-tJSA&hl=en and have used it to plan work with my LC http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ah9rsddn9chb_130phdr4nqh&hl=en . Skype has been a great tool when discussing my AR with my LC. It is so nice to have the dialogue with my LC when I am showing them data, needing assistance reworking parts of my lit review or cycle reports. The verbal feedback has proven to be invaluable.

All of my learners, as well as myself, have responded positively to all the technology tools. They really enjoyed after our survey this past Friday, seeing the poll automatically fill and data appear instantaneously. I also think it was important for them on the reflective pieces to respond to one another’s comments. I am anxious to see their reactions to the podcasts and hearing one another reflect verbally about the multiple redo policy.

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Acer Aspire 6930G Laptop Review

The Aspire 6930G is Acer’s Second Generation of the new 16:9 aspect ratio laptops. The Laptop comes with a long list of very impressive features and all at a reasonable price of around $900-$1000.

For starters let’s talk about the new innovative 16:9 aspect ratio. The new aspect ratio allows users to watch their favorite movies in full 1080p without adding any bars or cutting of any of the picture. The only downfall of this right now is some older games do not support the laptops native resolution and the 16:9 aspect ratio tends to bring up the price a little bit because it’s a newer item. Overall though you should really look to get the new display ratio because it makes watching movies and tv shows on Hulu a lot better experience.

The Aspire 6930G is also one of the better performing laptops you can find in today’s laptops. Depending on the model you can usually expect anywhere from a 2.0-2.4GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 4GB of DDR2 Ram, and the best part is the 9600M GS Video Card. If you are looking for a laptop with a good dedicated Video Card you should really think about getting this one. The 9600M GS is not the greatest video card, but at this price you will be hard pressed to find a laptop with better graphics capabilities. The CPU and the RAM is nothing really new or impressive, but the fact is 4GB of RAM and a Dual Core CPU will be more than enough to run anything on your laptop.

The overall laptop design itself is very basic, but nice. Expect the normal fingerprints on the black glossy lid, also there have been complaints that the keyboard has to much flexing in it. Another really disappointing feature is the battery life on the Aspire 6930G with an average life of less than 2 hours. Overall this is a good laptop if you want to play any games on your laptop and it makes a good desktop replacement, but the short battery life will make you have to stay close to a power outlet.

Interested in an Acer laptop? Then visit our Acer Laptop Rental page.

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AR and LC working together

I am just plain confused on what to do. Although I began my cycle three focusing on Randon and helping him become a more successful learner/student/student teacher, I am not feeling that it is as aligned with my over all AR as it should be. I feel as though I am almost forcing it into the overarching focus of making my students more successful learners. I can see a flow and a possibility to the idea that through helping him become more successful I in turn am helping my students become more successful, but I am wondering if it is from him, or through him that I am making the changes.

To clarify, tonight in our LC meeting, I was asking my group about my problem. I see myself doing a number of things to improve student success and learning. I had the No D policy, the multiple redos, and now with randon there, I am able to focus on more one on one instruction with writing. Randon and I first took a set of essays and I gave feedback on them initially with his comments following and we discussed the presence and absences we saw between our comments. I blogged about that previously. Then over this past weekend, we took the intro and first body paragraphs to comment on. We did this as a blind set where I had one set of papers and he had another. When we met today, we discussed 5 of the papers specifically looking for absence and presence of comments as well as any changes we were making in giving feedback.
We noticed that we commented the same in regards to mechanics, grammar, citations, lead-ins, and structural elements. What was interesting were the differences we had looking directly at their quotation analysis. I focused on kids explaining the quotes in three parts: what the quote says, what it has to do to prove the point of the paragraph, and finally relating the quote to the overall point of the thesis. In other words, making sure the kids are explaining the big picture. Randon and I talked about this as an absence in his comments and focused on adding that to his feedback.

Additionally, we noticed some stylistic changes with our feedback. I made sure to add more positive feedback as I saw Randon had done the first time we did this, and he approached the feedback offering more in text comments as well as lists of things to correct and change. Another interesting point of change is that I tend to ask questions of the writer when giving feedback, and this is a technique Randon added this time as well.

Although this is all good analysis, at least good in my opinion, I am not sure how this is helping my students become more successful learners. I know that by helping him, I am helping them, but it feels very far out in left field in terms of the approach.

I wonder how the kids are feeling about getting dual sets of feedback. I think I need to have them reflect on it since this is the second time they have received feedback. Is it helping their writing? Do they feel like they have a better sense of what changes to make? Do they feel more successful and understand the writing process better? Or does having two sets become more confusing? Is it too much to consider?

So, this all got me thinking, to bring this back to my LC conversation, of my true action in helping my students be more successful learners. Randon and I are trying a strategy in our English 9 class where on editing days, if the kids do not have the work ready to edit, they come into the hallway with me, to receive 1-1 instruction and help them get caught up. I love this because I get to stay in contact with kids, especially my struggling students, and help them along. We created a feedback form for these sessions so that the kids have to think about what they want to accomplish in their time with me, and then rate the effectiveness of the session. I am not sure if the feedback form is accurately capturing what I want from them, but it is at least giving me some details on things I need to be thinking about. It is a start to say the least. And so far, most of the kids have rated it at a minimum of 3/5. The kids that are ranking it at that level are saying so because I wasn’t able to give them more time. The kids that I am able to move further along are usually rating it at 4/5 to 5/5.

The other thing is that some of the kids reflect that they are just lazy and not getting anything done. They lack the motivation to accomplish anything. It is almost like it really needs to be one to one writing instruction out in the hallway instead of 1-8 which is still more instruction time than in a classroom.

So, I am not sure where to go from here. Matt discussed in our LC that my focus should be on the kids. It is not really about Randon at all, because my AR is about me. What changes I am making and results I am seeing. Maybe that is part of my confusion and my need to feel like I am back in track on this AR work. I feel so separated from my kids and almost like the project isn’t mine because I have been trying to complete it through randon when it is still about me and the kids. I feel like it is about me and the kids when I am giving my feedback and having the instruction time in the hallway. Matt even alluded to me still being able to do what I am doing if I had a sub in the classroom so that I could meet with the kids in the hallway. I am not sure I totally agree with that because having Randon in the classroom has given me time to reflect and think about engaging my students. But, I see what he is alluding to. Also, he really urged me to focus on getting my students reflections about this change with dual feedback and 1-1 instruction time.
As always, more to think about, more to reflect on, and more to change. I just wish I could have some of my own 1-1 time with MR to think all this out. I am such a talker of ideas, that it helps just hearing her pose the questions back to me. I need to figure out where I am going with this cycle before it gets too unmanageable and possibly loses focus.

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New Asus G50Vt-X5

I just recently bought my first laptop yesterday. I didn't have a big budget and I wanted to keep it under $700. To get to the point I ended up with an Asus. Probably not one of the best known brands out there Asus still delivers good quality for an affordable price.

While browsing the internet and Best Buy displays I came across a new Asus Laptop whose look captured my attention first. The Asus G50Vt-X5 comes with a wide range of features at a price that doesn't burn a huge whole in your wallet.

The G50Vt-X5 comes with Intel Centrino 2 processor technology with interrelated Intel Core 2 Duo Processor P7450 Intel PM45 chipset, 802.11a/b/g/n network connection and extended battery life capability to let you work better, faster, and longer. If you need to multi-task then the G50Vt-X5 is perfect for you. It comes with 4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 memory with a 1066MHz frontside bus, a 3MB L2 cache and 2.13 GHz processor speed giving you blazing fast speed to handel multiple projetcs simultaneously, the Asus also comes with a 320MB SATA hardrive(7200 rpm) for more than enough storage with faster read/write times.

If you like recording movies and what not then you will be pleased to know that the Asus G50Vt-X5 comes with a Multiformat DVD RW /CD-RW drive with double layer support that records up to 8.5GB of data or 4 hours of video using compatible media, it also supports LightScribe direct disc labels using compatible LightScribe media. All that is made even better by the 15.6" WXGA widescreen display with a 1366x768 resolution that brings your games and movies to life! It also features a secondary OLED display that gives you notifications of instant messages or e-mails while playing a game.

Speaking of games, the Asus is definatley equipped for some gaming. Now while it isn't an Alienware, the G50Vt-X5 comes with the NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GS graphics card with 512MB of dedicated GDDR 3 graphics memory for a powerful graphics performance and an Azalia audio chip with built-in Altec Lansing stereo speakers and an HDMI output for an intense gaming experience.

Some other features include a built-in 1.3 megapixle webcam, facial recognition software, an 8-in-1 media reader, 1 IEEE 1394 port and 4 high-speed USB 2.0 ports, built-in 10Base-T/100Base-TX Ethernet LAN with RJ-45 connector, built-in gaming sidelights with color-coded keys for gaming, and Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition 64-bit operating system.

You get all this and more for the modest price of $999. Overall this computer is great for basically anything you would need. Coming from someone who now has an Asus and loves it, this laptop is definatley worth looking into.

Special thanks to our sponsor for supporting this laptop blog and making it possible. Please support them by visiting their Laptop Rental website.

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ED 665: Week 6 blog

Blog: As learners, we are often focused on completing assessment activities successfully as opposed to acquiring the outcomes indicated by the course- why is this? Describe a learning experience where either you have combated this learner tendency or you felt a teacher handled this well.

For me, this was the first few years of teaching. Never did my education classes focus on outcomes or essential learnings. It was all about creative and interesting assignments that didn’t parallel on another or lead to one common understanding. I think as educators it is much easier to plan activity based lessons versus UbD style lessons because it is all about the activity and not really focused on transferrable ideas or learnings. UbD holds the teacher accountable that everything relates back to one major focus and that that focus is extended throughout the learning avoiding the pitfalls of a one time only piece of knowledge- regurgitation. Instead with UbD, the learning becomes transferrable and is more meaningful.

Now, with the help of a very intelligent colleague, Lauren Gaffney, I spend more time focusing first on the big questions I want my kids to pursue, and then select texts that would fit within that idea, often giving up texts that I have taught for years. That is no fun. Next, I spend the time, figuring out ideas that would work to help my students grasp the ideas. Then comes the activity portion that will support all of their investigations of the big ideas. Some big idea questions we have pursued in my class are “What matters” “What’s the point” “What does literature say about human beings” “What is a hero”. I feel like following this format, having a colleague or two to discuss these concepts and planning with, makes for a interesting and engaging learning experience creating flow throughout the semester and texts. Ideally, I would love to see a whole school approach one question where all the learning links back to one question every teacher and student explores.

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