week+5

Please, read the power point: Your assignment for this week includes two parts: __**first part**__ Watch the lecture “schools kill creativity” by Ken Robison in the website: [|schools kill creativity] and write one response about it (in the discussion board). In your response you may include answering the following questions: 1. Do you agree/disagree with Ken’s main argument about schools and creativity? 2. Do you think that having interdisciplinary approach in teaching social studies will encourage students’ creativity? Would you give an example for that? 3. Did this clip gives you another perspective about students’ assessment, and may be a different perspective about the relationship between students and teachers? Explain? Explain one or two examples of assessment in social studies that encourage student’s imagination

__**second part**__ You need to interview a sociology teacher in the school, and to ask him about effective assessment methods that he uses in his classroom. Try to understand why the methods he describes are good, and pay attention to how the teacher considers students’ needs and the curriculum in his assessment. In addition, ask the sociology teacher to show you one example of the assessment tools that he used in his classroom try to understand why he used the specific method, and how he changed (or maybe not) his instruction based on the results of students’ evaluation. Post what you learned from this interview in the wiki.

For this half of the assignment, I interviewed my SOC 488 teacher, Dr. Ralph Pyle. Now, I have been in his class for almost an entire semester, so I know what kinds of assessment methods he used. But I asked him anyway and then asked him to elaborate on why he uses them. Dr. Pyle uses tests, quizzes, journals, and papers. Both the tests and quizzes are primary multiple choice with a few true and false questions thrown in. He uses these because they are the easiest to grade and because there is no variation in the answers. A question is either right, or it is wrong, there is no grey area. He says to remember as a future teacher that objective grading is both difficult and demanding. The journals are assigned both as take homes and are given as in-class journals. The reasoning behind giving the students in-class journals is because this way, they also double as an attendance check. Dr. Pyle teaches mostly large classes. Because of this essay and short answer tests are not an option and taking attendance can be tough. However, I happen to be in one of his smaller classes. Because our class size is manageable we also had a term paper assigned for the semester. This paper is graded by the professor himself, along with his TA. Additionally, we do small group work as a class almost daily. For example, last week we got into groups of four or five and were told to find an ad and analyze it. Again, not only does this count as class participation, but it can also serve as an attendance check. Added on to all of this, we have a class participation grade that is given at the end of the semester based on attendance and participation in class discussions and activities.
 * Student's name || your reflection upon the interview ||
 * Jon Budihas || __Effective Assessment Methods__

__How you have changed or haven’t changed based on student feedback and evaluation__ When asked what, if anything, he has changed about his teaching over the years, his response was simple; he hasn’t changed. He informed me that over the first couple of years, he would look at the SIRS given at the end of each semester, but that lately he doesn’t read them anymore. He attributes this to sensitivity on his part and the knowing that you cannot please everyone. Dr. Pyle said he puts so much into his teaching that he is not sure what else he could do. While I don’t necessarily agree with his take on accepting feedback, I have to say; he is a very good teacher. He will deviate from the lesson if it means that we are discussing something pertinent and are interested in it. Likewise, he has shown accommodations for having to miss class, or for students needing an extension on a paper, etc. Overall, I would say that he does a nice job. I do however believe that there is always room for improvement as a teacher; and as is so, I will make my best attempt to take constructive criticism from others and learn from it over my career. ||
 * Kailey Crowe || I interviewed my sociology professor, Dr. Pyle, for this assignment.

What are effective assessment methods? How are they effective? For assessment in the class that I am taking, he uses a combination of multiple choice tests and quizzes, in class and take home journals, papers, and small group work. He uses the multiple-choice tests in all of his classes because they are the easiest to grade, and there is a right or wrong answer for each. This is especially helpful in his large classes. In his larger 300 person seminars as well as his smaller classes, he uses in class Journals as a check on attendance and for understanding. He noted that in larger seminar classes of 300 people it is extremely hard to assign papers to assess, so he relies on short in class and take home journals to check for student understanding. The journals are effective because they are a fast way to check for understanding, as well as check that students are attending class. He also uses small group activities in all of his classes. In my class we do those small group activities at least once a week. We discuss a question in our groups, write down the answer and turn it in, and then we discuss each group’s answers as a whole class. It is effective because it makes students think about the topics deeply, as well as doubling as an attendance taker. Dr. Pyle said to remember that class size limits how you assess, and often times there are more options for smaller classes.

How do you change based on student evaluation? Dr. Pyle said that the first couple of years teaching he took the SIRS student evaluation forms in mind quite a bit because he was new at it, and he had not yet established what worked both for he and his students. Now that he has been teaching for a while, he said that doesn’t look at them anymore because he is too sensitive to negative comments from students. He said that he feels that he puts so much into his teaching that he his not sure that there is anything else that he could do. While he is a good teacher, I want to make sure that while I am teaching I am always able to take feedback from students, no matter if it is negative or not.

How do you consider student’s needs in the assessment? Dr. Pyle uses a variety of ways to assess students, as I have mentioned above. One of the ways that he addresses students’ needs in assessment is allowing students to rewrite papers. In my class, we were to write a five-page sociology theory application paper. We turned it in a couple of weeks ago. When we got the paper back with a grade on it, he said that you could re write your paper if you want, and he will average the two grades. I think that this speaks to his consideration of students’ needs in assessment. Some students may not be strong writers, and need that first round of feedback in order to create a good product. Having flexibility with assignments like this benefits students greatly. Even though it is more work for him, he seems to be more concerned with his students’ learning. || I also interviewed Dr. Pyle for this assignment. Dr. Pyle uses tests, quizzes, journals, and essays for assessments. The quizzes and tests are both a combination of multiple choice and true/false questions. He said he uses these because not only are they the easiest to grade, but they make it clear what the right answer is. He says that the students either gets the right answer or they do not, there is no room for wondering. He also said this is helpful in teaching when he has large lecture classes. The take home journals are given as a way of knowing our opinion and whether or not we understand a topic. Often times he will ask us what we think about a particular topic, and sometimes he just asks us to talk about a particular topic. The in-class journals are the same format, but are also used as a way of taking attendance. It takes a lot of time to take attendance in medium sized class everyday, so he takes the opportunity to give us journals that will double as an assignment and as attendance points. The last form of assessment he uses is an essay. We are able to pick the topic we are interested in. That way people will really enjoy writing the paper because they are writing about something that they really care about. He also gives a couple extra credit assignments. These assignments are usually journals that are relevant to what we are learning and help in case we are missing some attendance points.
 * Alexandria Sullens || What are effective assessment methods? How are they effective?

Student feedback Dr. Pyle said that in the beginning of his teaching career he used to read evaluations because he wanted to make sure every thing was working for everyone. On the other hand, he said that he no longer reads them. He said one reason is because he is sensitive and the other is because he knows that you can't please everyone. He feels like his way of teaching has been working. I completely agree that his way of teaching is great but I feel that there is always room for improvement. I think it may be important for him to read some of the evaluations. It may not be things he is doing bad, but students may make suggestions as to think he is doing well, but could potentially do better.

Student's Needs Dr. Pyle seems to care a lot about students needs. For example, we are allowed to re write our paper with the suggestions he gives us, and can improve our grade. He also gives opportunities for extra credit, and I think extra credit is very helpful for those students who are struggling in a particular area of the class. After every exam he says, if you feel you didn't do well, please come and see me and we can talk about. He is very considerate of student's needs and really wants students to succeed. ||
 * David Boling || I thankfully enough was able to talk to my current sociology professor which is not Dr. Pyle, even though I have had him for two different sociology classes and think that he is an outstanding teacher. I was able to interview my sociology of work professor. When I asked what her effective assessment methods I was already aware of what they were and how she may use them for her class but I still wanted to hear what she had to say. First, she uses quizzes, tests, a final paper, and weekly response papers. The quizzes are used so that she can tell that we are doing our weekly readings for class and that we are able to locate and identify the information within our readings. The response papers, are related to a video, discussion, presentation, guest speaker, etc. and to then related one of those forms of information that we received in class to the readings that we did for that week in the response paper. She said that it is effective to see that students are able to relate information given outside of the text book to a slightly different medium of information. She also likes to see the progress in our writing skills throughout the year. The tests are given in the year to be able to see that we are doing our complete reading for the semester and the ideas in the books and classes. The final paper is something that is left very open to the class giving the class an opportunity to take which ever way we would like with it. The final paper is to all of the writing skills that she has attempted in giving us. She has given us numerous opportunities and ways to sharpen our writing skills for the class and the final paper is a way to assess it. When I asked if she has changed anything throughout the years, I only really came across that this works best for her because she is so busy that these types of assessment are efficient and conducive to her work schedule. ||