Mad Minute

At the end of the lesson, when it comes time to practice, my students find themselves at varying levels of success with the material. Some of my students have mastered material, while others need more guidance. I teach my students how to use Robert Marzano's scale of self-assessment, which allows them to rate their level of need. In our class, each level of the scale corresponds to a mode of practice, including teacher guidance, peer tutoring, online practice, and enrichment. 

Remedial small group instruction is a strategy used to address the needs of students who are behind. In order to support students in mastering foundational skills, I pull small groups of students who all require practice with a same skill. We go through a mini-lesson, sometimes using added supports like technology or manipulatives, working to master the skill and allow the student to fully access content taught to the whole group. This strategy is really important for my blended classroom, as I can thus deliver personalized lessons based on the skillsets that students have. 

Plickers are an online check for understanding procedure where students can answer multiple choice questions. Students are each assigned a "plicker" or paper clicker that enables them to respond based on how they are holding it. The training for it's use is quick, and we can use a tablet to instantly record the results. The results can be uploaded and tracked for even more data! This ability to stop instruction to see how students are doing is essential to having a flexible and student-need based classroom. Plickers allows me to get real time data and make decisions that make me a better time manager and allows me to potentially see misconceptions.