Applying Technology to Learning
among adult learners served by the
Unlimited Learning Center (ULC)
Volume 2, Issue 1
September 2011
Unlimited Learning, Inc.
640 East Second Street
PO Box1273
Cortez, CO 81321
970-565-1601
SELF CHECKS
Inspired by some of your reports on student progress, I've ferreted out a few checklists that might help your students become more efficient in evaluating their own work.
Unlike rubrics, checklists don't provide criteria to evaluate quality of performance at different levels. Checklists simply show completion. They don't evaluate quality. However, lists can provide students with valuable information, and they can be referred to in rubrics as, "I met all required items on the checklist." Use or abuse as you see fit!
Writing Checks
How often do you sense that students are not sure about what to check in their writing? Following are a few checklists that might help.
- http://cuip.uchicago.edu/~mmanning/2001/chklist.htm - Nice and simple.
- http://4teachers.org/projectbased/24wrt.shtml - Customize your own checklist and print it.
- http://pblchecklist.4teachers.org/checklist.shtml - Select the grade level and topic. Use the pull-down options and make your own.
- http://www.mcasmentor.com/rubricscheck.htm - rubrics sample
Google "writing checklist" and enjoy the dozens of good resources.
SCANS
SCANS provides one of the most useful sets of lists around. Want students to feel like they are progressing? Match their "classroom" activities to SCANS, and they'll find great incentives to continue to get ready for work!
- http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/assment/as7scans.htm
- http://phred.dcccd.edu/~ttg/syllabi/scans.htm
- http://www.academicinnovations.com/report.html
- Teaching SCANS skills- (Downloads as a PDF file) Excellent content for teaching SCANS competencies.
Other Checks
- http://jc-schools.net/curr/skills.html - This site lists skills at different grade levels for language arts, math, science and social studies. Click on any of those topics under Grade 8. Each item is very specific.
- Check Out the Checklists -This site provides topics for checklists. You enter the items under each topic. When you are done, open the printable form and you are done.
- New-Student Template - (downloads as a Word file) An adaptable sheet in Word showing steps in recording info for new students
TESTING
http://www.ctb.com/ctb.com/control/ctbProductViewAction?productFamilyId=608&productId=882&p=products&cid=TABE_
0211_GA91001 - Before a student takes the TABE each time to show progress, consider giving him practice on taking standardized tests at this site.http://www.flashcardsecrets.com/ - The TABE Flashcard Study System is a compilation of the hundreds of critical concepts students must understand to progress on areas covered on TABE. This site doesn't have samples, but it does have a 100% refund guarantee. The cost for a set is $39.99. If the flash cars and test items appeal, consider ordering a set and trying them out. At any rate, the list below from the site makes a nice little checklist for students to grasp the whole picture. Add your own items and pass them out.
As students progress, let them check off the items!
Mathematics Review:
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English Review:
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MATH TASK BANK
If you are reaching for ideas on how to make math relevant to students, check out http://www.rda.aps.edu/mathtaskbank/start.htm - Math Performance Bank. Click on the topic of your choice, and then select an activity that appeals. Click on Task, and a PDF file will download with specific instructions and great activities. Not designed for adults, but several of the ideas appealed to me, and I'm getting to be an adult!
Please share with the rest of us any list you develop ! Send me a URL or attachment, and I'll pass it along!
ESL-EARLY LITERACY
http://www.learningchocolate.com/ - This early vocabulary-development site opens a page with lots of images that represent categories. Click on one. The category opens with images attached to pronunciation clips. Let students put on their earphones and interact on their own. Writing what they hear is an additional sensory reinforcement. In fact, two students can work together once they've learned the vocabulary. One clicks on the sound, and the other, looking away, writes the term(s) and draws pictures. Lots of fun for beginning language learners.
BRAIN WORK
Unless exercised, our brains can get into many predictable routines. Learning requires an openness to perceiving or experiencing the world in new ways. Want to help students exercise their brains and have fun in the process? Visit http://brainden.com/.The resources on the site are free.
There is also a box on the home page, called "Brain Training Games." That link takes you to lumosity.com, a paid site with many great options. Sign up for the free trial and experience the resources. If you like them, approach Leader Miller with a proposal. She might like it!
HAND IT OUT
Yes, it is true that students learn not from content, but from interacting with content. On the other hand, once they learn a skill or concept, they will need to reinforce it or integrate it into their experience with practice. The following site gives teachers access to over 2,000 printable, practice worksheets on a wide number of topics. Worksheets can also provide good visuals to help students connect with concepts. Click away to explore the free resources at http://worksheetplace.com/. For example, when students undergo the process of setting long or short-term goals, worksheets can help them visualize the process. This site has a goals worksheet page with lots of options at http://worksheetplace.com/index.php?function=DisplayCategory&showCategory=Y&links=2&id=279&link1=31&link2=279.
QUICK TIPS
You have several windows open and want to find something on your desktop without having to minimize everything to get there. Want to find your desktop quickly? Go to the lower right-hand corner of your screen and click on the little gray square that shows up in your Windows 7 Operating System, right next to the time info, unless you have the time feature disabled, of course. When you find what you want, you can then return to your open windows from the taskbar at the bottom of your screen.
BRAIN CHALLENGE
What term(s) do the images below represent?
1.
2.
PROGRESS REPORT
You will be receiving monthly Excel sheets with student progress data that you submit twice a month on your report site. Remember to include evidence when you report observation or other types of progress. For example, instead of "Student showed progress in dividing long numbers," enter "Student correctly divided long numbers on ten problems that I gave her." (Include work in portfolio.)
Progress reports provide needed data for the program, but, even of far more value, progress reports reinforce a student's confidence as she sees that she is reaching her academic and workplace goals. Along that line, whenever possible, at the end of an activity or project, why not let students know how the activity relates to school and workplace expectations? Take a SCAN-competencies checklist (list above), for example, and have students "go to town," checking off all that they showed that they could do!
TEACHING ACROSS THE MILES!
Congratulations to you brave folks, Kathy Ragland, Diana Haun, and Bill White, who are successfully pioneering teaching Chevak students through live-video instruction! Hats off to Brian Weber, too, for keeping the waves vibrating among students and instructors, and to fearless Ann Miller for making it all happen. Way to go!
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Send us your ideas, contributions, and requests! We want to meet your "tech-knowledgy" needs! Use the Contact information below.
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