ECS 401 Blogs

  "Any fool can know. The point is to understand." -Albert Einstein What we learned this week:      Our second learning circle discussion was rewarding, and I learned many things from my fellow staff. We were still missing two members, but we welcomed Angela to the circle! I was truly impressed with her enthusiasm and courage to join in the conversation despite it being her first class with us. I imagine that it could be pretty intimidating, especially with catching up on reading. This week, we were able to discuss the following from chapters 3 and 4: Beginning with the end in mind : knowing where you are headed before you even start. What do I want my students to learn? Learning outcomes are opportunities and challenges. They are guides for teaching and student learning.  Having the outcomes without added expectations is useless. How to properly assess if students are meeting those outcomes? Students are not learning at the same place. Learning is not sequentia...

  When you lose track of time, you are either living your best life or wasting it. - James Clear What we learned this week: From my own reading of Chapters 1 and 2 of Making Classroom Assessment Work and our first learning circle discussion, I was able to gather the following information: Assessment ( gathering information on student learning to inform our teaching and help students learn more) vs. evaluation (deciding whether or not students have learned and how well). Assessment for learning is to collect information for the next teaching steps and learning steps. Students will receive lots of descriptive feedback (necessary information from many sources in order to adjust and improve). It also means accepting mistakes when learning, understanding feedback, taking time to learn, and recognizing success looks different. Evaluative feedback is when the student’s work is compared to other students’ works or to a standard. Often seen as grades and other symbols.  More ass...

 Welcome to my first post! My name is Justine, and I'm a third-year student at the University of Regina studying BEd in Middle Years. This blog and future blog posts on this page are specifically designed as weekly reflections for ECS 401.  Our first week was an interesting experience. I had a blast meeting a new group of colleagues and settling into a new class environment. Throughout this Wednesday's class, I felt that we explored our individual beliefs and pedagogies. Our Poll Guru time was mostly answering questions directed at us individually (e.g. "How do you feel coming into this class?" or "How do you feel about Mathematics?"). Understanding that this is the first class, it's no surprise that we are sharing information about ourselves and our feelings. Like Chris said, we were getting to know our staff . We also completed Multiple Intelligence assessments and Growth Mindset surveys that also pushed forward the idea of understanding ourselves. I...