Why goal setting and tracking works

One of things I've become a fan of this year is student goal-setting and tracking because it works.

In a junior secondary context, I have used this to help students improve spelling by having them set targets each week and I then track their progress against those targets each week using a spreadsheet.

Using this blog post by +Kev Lister on colour coding goal attainment as inspiration, I was off.

While it took a little setting up to begin with, I now have a spreadsheet that enables me to enter student goals one day and their result following the test. The spreadhseet automatically generates a coloured square to let students know if they've achieved above or below their target.

And it's working.

The mean score has risen from just below 7 in week 1 to above 8 in week 6 and the splatterings of purple, indicating students achieving below their goal, is on the decline.

Initially I thought students may have been getting smarter at goal setting but a rise in the mean score and an effect size of 0.6 suggests to me we're on the right track.

It also gives me an excuse to get students out of their seat when they start tuning out and I ask them to drop their goal slip into the box.

I know +Kev Lister used it for goal setting in Maths and I've now used it English. I see no reason why it can't be used across other subject areas.

Classroom changes for 2014

Australian students and teachers will start a new school year in a few weeks and I have a feeling it's going to be a good year.

Since returning from a six year hiatus from education in 2012, it's been a steep learning curve.

Things like collecting data and tracking student performance were things I always did but new technologies are now empowering teachers to be able to do this even better.

Two of my favourites are Quick Key and Socrative.

I will be using both of them heavily throughout the academic year.

Quick Key is designed by US teacher Walter Duncan, a truly passionate educator. The app provides a quick (as the name suggests) way to check for student understanding. Using an iPhone or iPad, you can mark a whole class in a few minutes.

On top of the speed of the marking is the power of the data. Once a test is marked, teachers can download detailed spreadsheets letting them know which students got which questions right and wrong so remedial or extension work can be easily targeted.


The big advantage is the only technology students need is a pencil so there's no laptop malfunction issues or students looking at the wrong website when they should be doing a test.

Another useful tool is Socrative. When I first saw the name, I was expecting something to do with Socratic questioning but it's not. It's an online platform for student assessment using multiple choice or short answer format. The teacher controls when students complete the questions and you can see the results in real-time. There are also detailed spreadsheets of student results available, though, in my opinion they're not as powerful as the spreadsheets from Quick Key. 

I have used both in the classroom and the feedback from students has been great. They enjoy using the technology and appreciate the speed at which I can give them feedback. Colleagues who have seen me using Quick Key and Socrative have also started using them.

Technology gives us another way that we can become better teachers. Let's use it.

Getting that classroom organised

In Australia, it's the start of the school year and for many teachers Down Under, that means getting to know new student cohorts and a burst of enthusiasm to create an effective learning environment. Experience has taught me that a well-organised classroom can give students a place where they not only feel comfortable learning but it actually becomes a place where students want to be.

I remember my principal in the UK telling me to get my classroom organised and while I knew it was important, I didn't realise how important. It wasn't until last year that I ventured into another teacher's classroom that was so drab it made khaki colouring look positively pink. This made me realise how a boring, disorganised or irrelevant classroom display could make students feel and, accordingly, act, when it came to learning.

The school I am currently at has undergone transformation in several classrooms in preparation for younger students joining high school over the next few years. I am lucky enough to teach in two of these classrooms and have blank canvasses to work with.

One of the most useful websites I have found to assist in this is Learning Unlimited and their 12 days, 12 tools archive in particular.

It's a useful source of information with tips and infographics on creating wordwalls, how to use Pintrest in education, a classroom library checklist and "how to" guide on building said library when financial resources are tight.

It's worth a read and it's worth enacting the tips.

Enjoy and feel free to add your thoughts below or catch me on Twitter @KerrynManifold

Technology in education

It'd been a long time since I delved into the world of technology in education and after a six year break I found lots of change. One of the many tools that caught my eye was LiveBinders.

LiveBinders markets itself as online ring binder and is a useful tool to collaborate information. While I'm still learning to use it and discovering its features, it's quite easy to get off to a flying start.

All you need to do is copy and paste a URL into a tab and it shows the content. You can also upload your own content. I have started collating links to short stories for an upcoming Year 10 unit but also collating professional resources which I have embedded below. If you have any great sites I can add to this list, leave me a comment below.
  

Welcome

Welcome to Education Mirror.

I created this blog because I want to create an online space where it's easy for teachers to discuss what is working in their classrooms and keep my own passion for effective pedagogy alive.

In part, this is because I have recently returned to teaching after a six-year hiatus. So much has changed. For most of 2012, I felt like a first year teacher in a fifth year teacher's body. If nothing else, it was a stark reminder that part of our job as teachers is continue to learn "how to teach", strive for improvement in what we are doing and be open to changes in our pedagogy. If we don't change our practices, how are we ever going to get the best results, not only out of our students, but also for them when the world they live in is changing at such a rapid pace?

Changes in technology have not only meant changes to what content is taught, how it is delivered, the processes used and how students demonstrate their understanding. These changes also mean access to information about our students, their histories, their strengths, their weaknesses and their needs is greater than ever before. In my opinion, the sheer availability of data available means we are stupid not to find new ways to use it to our advantage.

What are your thoughts? Leave a comment below or send me a tweet to @KerrynManifold.