Thing #12

The google form survey is going to be a great way to get baseline data at the begining of a chapter or unit.  I should have no problems getting the kids to go on-line and take the survey.  I have created a sample one for the chapter I will be starting after Christmas break.  I am excited to try thiswith my students.  http://screencast.com/t/u5dWurLAmWv
I plan on making the survey longer and asking more questions.  I think the best way to get a general idea of my students prior knowledge will be with multiple choice questions.  That way I can get a statistical look at where the majority of the students are needing instruction quickly.  The "short answer" questions would be too time consuming to read all the varying responses.

I also think I will use this at the begining of the year to gather data about my new students and what their grade was in the previous math class.  I'm thinking with the results spreadsheet, I should be able to get a good idea of which students will be needing more assistance right away!

I am planning on using my rubric that I created to grade my students extra credit presentations.  I am going to give them the option of using any software that they would like.  I will share ideas and suggest that the kids use google, that way they can work on the project in any location.  I really do not like to grade student projects that is why I am a math teacher.  Most of the time their answers are either right or wrong, so I don't have to be subjective.  The rubric will make it very easy for me to get through the presentations and grade them fairly and quickly. Although I am looking forward to these! http://screencast.com/t/LVnVVUAXz

 Grandville is working on getting the staff to use the data warehouse that the ISD has.  We had inservice on this information in the fall and I wish I paid better attention.  I do know that we are working on getting more data input throughout the year.  I do think it will be helpful if we can see the trends of students from different tracks.  We have many kids that come in to our high school and are taking Algebra for the 2nd time as freshmen.  It will be interesting to see how they perform later in our math sequence.  Grandville has its own data warehouse that we will be using more due to regulations.  I look forward to begin able to compare my students with those of another math teacher...call it friendly competition.

The FERPA and HIPPA are important to protect our students from unfair exposure.  Because of the internet, everything is out there for all to see and we need to be sure to protect our students.  FERPA protects our student educational records while HIPPA protects our students health records.  I have a feeling that these two acts will have to be adjusted consistently with all that the internet makes available.  I only hope that the programmers of the world can stay one step ahead of the hackers of the world.