Diagrams and Whiteboards

While so much is made of technology and how all these fancy gadgets/programs/apps can help students, sometimes it is good to remember the what I like to think of as the Golden Rule of Teaching: "Don't reinvent the wheel"

Students using their laptops and whiteboards to
practice drawing monetary policy diagrams.

One of the best things I "borrowed" from another teacher was utilizing whiteboards to help students practice drawing of the various diagrams they are responsible for. Over the past two years I have implemented this policy I have seen an incredible amount of growth with many of students and their ability to draw diagrams. Again this seems pretty straight forward, but I thought I would share a couple of the strategies I use in my class.

1. Quick Formative Assessment - As the students are drawing their diagrams on their whiteboards I am able to go around the classroom checking/pointing out mistakes or misconceptions they may have. Even better I am able to point to students who have done it correctly to show a near by classmate what I am talking about. Sometimes I will even hold a student's in front of the class to show everyone. The first few times we do them I allow them to have their laptops out, but as we get closer to a quiz or test I have them do it by memory or at least as much as they know.
2. Practice Making Out - In my experience students often can be careless with their diagrams, not centering them or making them large enough. One of the ridiculous and helpful reminders I use with my students is to make their diagrams "make out worthy." Students should find their diagrams so 'attractive' that they want to 'make out with them'. Yes beauty is on the inside, but we know that someone else will be assessing their final exam. Therefore all labels, arrows, lines, etc. should clear and distinguished. I also remind them that all diagrams should be dynamic and be demonstrating change. One of the many jokes I have for my classroom is "Would you make out with that diagram?" It helps reinforce the point that their diagrams are important and should be draw with care.
3. Explain it to me - After the students have finished with their drawing I chose a few random students to explain what is happening in their diagram(s). This is especially useful as students might use different models or interpret a prompt differently.
4. Repetition is the key - You can't just pull the whiteboards out the day before the test and expect results. The students need to practice, practice, practice. Generally I start off each class with "Whiteboard Work". Students are informed to pick up a whiteboard as they enter class. After class announcements we will complete a few problems together. Out of the three days I see my students we generally use our whiteboards for at least two of those classes. Generally speaking four to five problems takes 15-20 minutes. All revision classes also typically are heavily composed of white board use. Below are some basic problems I pose to my students to have them draw their diagrams. These are some of my more general ones, but recently I have started incorporating examples from articles/videos that we have done in class.

Whiteboard Work

• Using both loanable funds and AD/AS diagram, demonstrate the crowding out effect.
• Using all three relevant diagrams, demonstrate contractionary monetary policy.
• Recently France has been attempting labor market reforms. What type of supply side policy is this and draw the diagram.

Again this practice is nothing new for many teachers, however it has been such a strong tool for my students and I. So if you are already using them in your class hopefully you picked up a new idea and for those that aren't using them, make sure you get them for next school year.

Feedback With Student Exemplars

As previously mentioned, one of my goals this year was to give more constructive and meaningful feedback. Although I comment regularly on my students work, one strategy that has really paid off is the use of student exemplars.

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Throughout the year my students regularly struggle with properly structuring their writing (paragraphs, topic sentences, etc.), explaining economic theory and finally, effectively incorporating real world examples we have used in class. In teaching 37- Year 1 students, there is a wide spectrum of learners, some of which, are stronger writers than others. When I give written assessments back to students, they are typically accompanied by student exemplars of those who scored well on the rubric. This allows me to direct students who are struggling towards an example of a well written response.  

In the past I would've had to go down to the copier and scan these documents in, while converting them to .pdf files. However, a colleague of mine showed me Scanner Pro (they are on version 7 as of this post) and it has really simplified the process of providing students with great exemplars. The process is pretty straightforward as you use the phone app to take a picture of the document which then converts the picture into a .pdf file. The app allows you to instantly upload the files to a variety of sources including GDrive, Evernote, and simple email. Typically I put the files on my GDrive and hyperlink them in my presentations that are shared with the students. Finally, I give my students anywhere from 10-20 minutes when assessments are passed back to ask questions and examine student exemplars.

I have been using this app for the past two years now and I believe at some point I bought the pro version for $3.99. Scan Pro has a free version which you can try before you buy, but I have definitely received the full value with my purchase.

One of the other strategies that I have found to increase student engagement is using as many students as possible when showing exemplars. Although it is always anonymous, handwriting is quite distinctive and they will quickly find out who's work at which they are looking. Speaking from my experience it is quite rewarding to watch the face of a student who might not expect their work to be shared. Even sharing a specific part or piece of a student's work, an intro paragraph for example, can be a powerful message to your students that you find their work meaningful.

Whether you are using the copier down the hall or a different app hopefully this idea will encourage you to share student work with your classes. It sends a strong message to your students and is one more way to provide effective feedback.

Chinese and Economic Growth

One of the things I really enjoy about teaching economics is the application to everday life. While I make it a point to make these connections in class, I was becoming frustrated by the students' lack of application in quizzes and tests.

Back in the States when I was teaching World and US History, one of the large types of assessments were Document Based Questions or DBQ's. Obviously the purpose of these in a history class is to help the students evaluate historical events from different perspectives. It dawned on me that that is ultimately what we want our kids to do with topics such as the role of government in the economy or the impact on different stakeholders in our economics classes.

One of the most challenging parts of creating a DBQ is finding the articles or documents that will be used for the students. Back in April of this year my school hosted the European L2 Conference. Here I was reintroduced to Flipboard and the possible applications to the classroom. I plan on writing more about it in a further blog post, but in the end it is a great way for students and teachers alike to have a spot to aggregate news articles. Finding appropriate Internal Assessment (IA) articles always seems to a challenge for my students and this year I have decided to make a more focused effort on practicing this skill with my students.

The directions on the first slide were given to the students the class before we actually completed the China Economic Growth Case Study. This part of the process allowed me to examine what articles the students were 'flipping' into our magazine. The purpose of the assignment served a few main purposes:

1. Allowed my students to practice finding articles for their IA.
2. Provided me feedback on the appropriateness of articles my students were able to find.
3. Gave me a sample of articles in which I could choose from to add to our case study.

Once I had a few articles to select from, I chose a few relevant selections that would serve the purpose for my students evaluating the consequences of economic growth. While I had a couple of  articles that I found already, a few of my students were able to find very appropriate articles. Acknowledging these students in class hopefully further motivated them when doing this again in our sections of the syllabus.

In the end I thought the articles presented to the students not only reflect what the learning objectives were for evaluating economic growth, but presented the information in manageable chunks allowing the students to buy in. I'm not thrilled with the final piece where the students come up with a thesis statement, but for a Friday lesson it worked nicely for both the students and me.

I would love to hear what other people do for helping their kids practice not only finding relevant articles for their internal assessment, but also how you are practicing those higher level thinking skills.

Quizzes

This past year I have really been focusing on providing my students with as much quality feedback as possible. However the problem with feedback is often the quality. With 60+ students taking IB Economics at my school, I need to somehow balance helping them and leaving me with a vague semblance of a social life.

In the past I would give gives a quiz out of 15 marks or some other random number, then just divide their score by the total, times by 100 and there is your grade. While I will save much of my ranting against a 100 point scare for another post, as a teacher who must ensure a student is learning material over a two year period, I found these percentages in the grade book not very representative of my students' learning. More importantly I found them even less useful when reflecting on how I could better help my students.

One idea I have really embraced with my Year 1 students this year is the idea of standards based grading. The idea behind standards based grading is that you are assessing students on specific learning objectives. As an IB Economics teacher these are laid out quite clearly in the syllabus thus most of the work is already done for you.

Rather than give a kid a percentage grade on the whole quiz, they earn a 1, 2, 3, or 4 for each learning objective. Four means they have mastered the learning objective, three means they are proficient, two demonstrates they are still learning, and one signifies there is no evidence of learning. Each quiz might have six to eight learning objectives that students are assessed on. What I have really enjoyed is that this format allows me not only to target specific learning objectives and provided necessary feedback, but allows me as a teacher to see what didn't work or where there is some confusion in the class.

Below is a screen shot of a Google Spreadsheet where I keep track of all the learning objectives from each quiz. All the objectives are straight from the syllabus and I usually prioritize which ones make it on the written quiz. As you can see from the screenshot below there was still some confusion in regards to drawing the labor market diagram (2.3 Diagram Unemployment). My constant message over the two years with my students is: "Make your weaknesses, strengths." There is too much material to study everything as well as their other classes, they must prioritize. Students can now have a better understanding of where they are in class not only for upcoming summative assessments, but also when we begin reviewing next year for their IB test.

You can quickly format each cell to appear red or any other color to highlight
for the students and you where some gaps in the learning may be.

As for the grade book there is obviously some disconnect on the 100 point scale my school uses and the standards based approach I am employing for my students. Getting a two would be equivalent to a 50% and even a 3 is only a 75%. Thus each formative quiz is marked in the grade book as complete/not complete. The above spreadsheet is made public for both students and parents so everyone is clear on what is being assessed and marked.

As for the drawbacks the strongest one I believe is the focus on compartmentalization of the material and taking away from the big picture the students will ultimately be assessed on. Students might have difficulty making those connections on an IB type written assessment such as Paper 1. I am also struggling on how to assess those learning objectives which will be assessed as higher level thinking prompts. These are welcome challenges though as in the end the students need to know the material in order to form any type of response.

Utilizing standards based grading allows me to make quick time of getting quality feedback to my students. It is also helping better inform my lesson planning and future assessments. Now if I only knew what to do with all this time.