Author Archives: Jacqui
Curriculum-based Assessments–A Powerful Diagnostic Tool
Curriculum-Based Assessment (CBA), often equated with Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM), is any form of assessment that measures progress toward fulfillment of a stated curriculum. More succinctly:
“…repeated, direct assessment of targeted skills in basic areas using materials taken directly from the teaching curriculum”
While CBA is assessment based on the curriculum, it isn’t chapter tests from a text. The latter measures student achievement of a particular set of lesson knowledge while the former measures student achievement of the broader class goals. CBAs are useful not only to measure student learning within a unit but over time toward larger goals.
How does it work
There is no setup required to start using CBA — no website signup or software download. What you will have to do — and may already do — is identify the criterion you are committed to accomplishing with students. These will be beyond what is required of the State or National standards and may or may not align perfectly with the textbooks you use. They are developed by you, likely in conjunction with grade-level teammates and your school administration. They help you identify your goals and the resources required to achieve them and then measure progress toward their completion.
Once these are in place, you devise the assessments — formative and summative — that will provide the evidence of achievement. This is done exactly as you would normally develop assessments during a unit of inquiry to evaluate progress and — at the end of the unit — to evaluate success with one big difference: Curriculum based assessments evaluate progress toward broad learning goals rather than textbook chapters or lesson plans.
You continue to teach classes as you normally would, with lesson plans, projects, and resources aimed to teach critical standards laid out by the school, the State, or the nation. These may be augmented with a scope of criterion — sometimes replaced with a Scope and Sequence or Curriculum Map — to be used as references in measuring learning. Here you will carefully identify the criterion CBA will use to provide and measure evidence of learning. These can be 1) measured against what is expected (called “benchmarks”), or 2) measured against prior assessments.
Tech Tip #76–13 Tips for using an iPad
In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.
Today’s tip: 13 Tips for Using an iPad
Category: iPads
Here’s a poster with thirteen basics tips to share with students new to iPads:
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Here’s How to Get Started with Ask a Tech Teacher
Hello! Ask a Tech Teacher is a group of tech ed professionals who work together to offer you tech tips, advice, pedagogic discussion, lesson plans, and anything else we can think of to help you integrate tech into your classroom. Our primary focus is to provide technology-in-education-related information for educators–teachers, administrators, homeschoolers, and parents.
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- Dear Otto–questions from educators on tech questions
- Pedagogy that impacts tech in ed
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Tech Ed Resources for your Class–K-12 Tech Curriculum
I get a lot of questions from readers about what tech ed resources I use in my classroom so I’m going to take a few days this summer to review them with you. Some are edited and/or written by members of the Ask a Tech Teacher crew. Others, by tech teachers who work with the same publisher I do. All of them, I’ve found, are well-suited to the task of scaling and differentiating tech skills for age groups, scaffolding learning year-to-year, taking into account the perspectives and norms of all stakeholders, with appropriate metrics to know learning is organic and granular.
Today: K-12 Technology Curriculum
Overview
The K-12 Technology Curriculum is Common Core and ISTE aligned, and outlines what should be taught when so students have the necessary scaffolding to use tech in the pursuit of grade level state standards and school curriculum.
Each book is between 212 and 252 pages and includes lesson plans, assessments, domain-specific vocabulary, problem-solving tips, Big Idea, Essential Question, options if primary tech tools not available, posters, reproducibles, samples, tips, enrichments, entry and exit tickets, and teacher preparation. Lessons build on each other kindergarten through 5th grade. Middle School and High School are designed for the grading period time frame typical of those grade levels with topics like programming, robotics, writing an ebook, and community service with tech.
Most (all?) grade levels include base topics of keyboarding, digital citizenship, problem solving, digital tools for the classroom, and coding.
Included are optional student workbooks (sold separately) that allow students to be self-paced, responsible for their own learning. They include required rubrics, exemplars, weekly lessons, full-color images, and more.
The curriculum is used worldwide by public and private schools and homeschoolers.
Who needs this
Tech teachers, tech coordinators, library media specialists, curriculum specialists
Classroom grade level teachers if your tech teacher doesn’t cover basic tech skills.
169 Tech Tip #84 Browser Problem? Switch Browsers
In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.
Today’s tip: Browser Problem? Switch Browsers
Category: Internet
Q: My browser doesn’t bring up stuff? What do I do?
A: The quick answer is: Switch browsers. Sometimes you load programs or system/operating files on your computer that conflict with your current browser. Or, the browser updated conflicts with your older computer set-up. Everything that had been working fine suddenly doesn’t.
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Tech Tip #21 How to Make a Small Window Big
In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.
Today’s tip: How to Make a Small Window Big
Category: Internet
Sub-category: Problem-solving
Q: When I open the internet (or a document), the window barely fills half the screen. What’s the quickest way to make it bigger?
A: There are three easy solutions, each faster than the other:
- Click the maximize box in the upper right corner of the document.
- If you have youngers whose fine motor skills aren’t quite there and aiming/clicking that tiny box is a challenge, here’s a better way: Double click the blue title bar at the top of the document.
- Click-hold the bar at the top of the window and ‘throw’ it to the top of the screen. This automatically maximizes the window.
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Tech Tip #111 Quick Browser Fix
In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.
Today’s tip: Quick Browser Fixes
Category: Internet
Sub-category: Problem-solving
Q: The browser I’m using is quirky. Sites I know should work don’t. Is there a quick way to fix that without a reboot?
A: Here are four ideas you can try before rebooting your computer:
- Refresh the webpage with the ‘reload current page’ tool. About half the time, that works.
- Try a different browser.
- Next, close the internet down and re-open.
- Unplug the modem (or router–or both), wait ten seconds, and replug
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Tech Ed Resources–Certificate/College Credit Classes
I get a lot of questions from readers about what tech ed resources I use in my classroom so I’m going to take a few days this summer to review them with you. Some are edited and/or written by members of the Ask a Tech Teacher crew. Others, by tech teachers who work with the same publisher I do. All of them, I’ve found well-suited to the task of scaling and differentiating tech skills for age groups, scaffolding learning year-to-year, taking into account the perspectives and norms of all stakeholders, with appropriate metrics to know learning is organic and granular.
Today: Classes
Ask a Tech Teacher offers a variety of classes throughout the year. All are online, hands-on, with an authentic use of tools you’ll want for your classroom.
To find out more, email askatechteacher@gmail.com
The Tech-infused Teacher
Certificate
By request; delivered digitally to your school or District
The 21st Century lesson blends technology with teaching to build a collaborative, differentiated, and shared learning environment. In this course, you will use a suite of digital tools to make that possible while addressing overarching concepts like digital citizenship, internet search and research, authentic assessment, digital publishing, and immersive keyboarding. You will actively collaborate, share knowledge, provide constructive feedback to classmates, publish digitally, and differentiate for unique needs. Classmates will become the core of your ongoing Personal Learning Network.
Assessment is project-based so be prepared to be fully-involved and an eager risk-taker.
Price includes course registration and all necessary materials
169 Tech Tip #95 Open a Program Maximized
In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.
Today’s tip: How to Open a Program Maximized
Category: Internet
Sub-category: MS Office, Keyboarding
Q: How do I open the internet maximized on my screen. For younger students, clicking that tiny square in the upper right corner is often one step too many. Anything I can do to make this easier is good.
A: Here’s how you program a browser, internet site, or many programs to open maximized rather than as that annoying small size that makes it difficult to maneuver:
- Right click on the program icon.
- Select Properties>Shortcuts.
- Select the dropdown menu by Run and choose Maximized.
That’s it. It doesn’t work with every shortcut but most. I like this one a lot not only because it fixes this problem but because it introduces me to a lot more settings to personalize my computing experience (in the Properties dialogue boxes).
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#techtips
Tech Ed Resources–K-8 Keyboard Curriculum
I get a lot of questions from readers about what tech ed resources I use in my classroom so I’m going to take a few days this summer to review them with you. Some are edited and/or written by members of the Ask a Tech Teacher crew. Others, by tech teachers who work with the same publisher I do. All of them, I’ve found well-suited to the task of scaling and differentiating tech skills for age groups, scaffolding learning year-to-year, taking into account the perspectives and norms of all stakeholders, with appropriate metrics to know learning is organic and granular.
Today: K-8 Keyboard Curriculum
Overview
K-8 Keyboard Curriculum (four options plus one)–teacher handbook, student workbooks, companion videos, and help for homeschoolers
2-Volume Ultimate Guide to Keyboarding
K-5 (237 pages) and Middle School (80 pages), 100 images, 7 assessments
K-5–print/digital; Middle School–digital delivery only
Aligned with Student workbooks and student videos (free with licensed set of student workbooks)
Student workbooks and videos sold separately
__________________________________________________________________________
1-Volume Essential Guide to K-8 Keyboarding
120 pages, dozens of images, 6 assessments
Great value!
Delivered print or digital
Doesn’t include: Student workbooks or videos
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