第五 (Fifth Blog Post)

Active Learning & In Class Formative Assessments

Active Learning

"Learning is an active process. We learn by doing… Only knowledge that is used sticks in your mind." Dale Carnegie

Active learning is more than just making sure that all students are paying attention during the lesson, it is about helping each student learn at their own pace and ability. Focusing on active learning benefits all students, especially students who are underrepresented and underprivileged. The gap between high income and low income students is decreased significantly with the use of active learning. These students begin to enjoy learning and grow their self confidence. This is especially important to me as I grew up in a low income community with many minority students. I want to learn more about active learning so I can help students who would otherwise be pushed to the side.

In Class Formative Assessments

"When teachers do formative assessment effectively, students learn at roughly double the rate it, than they do without it. " Dylan Wiliam

The best way to assess your students is to hear directly from them. We want to be able to know what they know, what they don't know, and what they need help with. When we assess our students during the lesson, we know can figure out how they feel right in the moment. Instead of having to take time to reteach parts of the lesson, we can go at the students' pace whether quick or slow. As we implement the students' input in the moment, they increase their learner autonomy and the classroom rapport is strengthened. Our students are less stressed about formal assessments and can understand the importance of evaluation.