Patrick Mara
From TeacherWiki
Ideas for involving Fellows in "teaching" the Lesson
Allowing the Fellow to present to the class about his/her career aspirations and/or current educational situation is very valuable. My students were very motivated and impressed with some of my Fellows goals. Some even now want to persue computer science career oppurtunities. Allowing the Fellow to get involved in the class early and often in the experience always helps, the more you dive in head first the more the students accept the Fellows presence within the classroom. Most of my students even anticipated and looked forward to our computer lab days due to the strong report and comfort then developed with the Fellow. having the students be involved in their own little experiement using the fellow was fun as well. Seeing the kids react to their answers being used was a welcomed sight, also letting them know how much information we do recieve from the program (to hang over their heads). Giving the fellow confidence in helping students one on one and allowing him/her to prepare for the computer activity makes everyone much more comforatble within the setting, including the students.
My plans for ASSISTment in 2010-11
I am excited about the oppurtunity to further develop my Assistment routine in the coming year. I plan on continuing the program within all of my classes, a change from this year, especially to further the spirialing nature in which I like to teach. I am excited to use the mastery learning tool as well as pre and post testing my students on a frequent basis. Allowing the students to use the Assistment program to do a wide variety of items, ranging from refreshing basic skills to reviewing for quizzes and tests will signifigantly improve my students scores, especially on the MCAS. I look forward to developing a more structured routine for completion as well as a more comprehensive way of evaluating student progress.
Success Story
There were many success stories throughout the year using the Assistment system. One of the biggest ones for me was the development of my Fellow. His growth through the process really inspiried me to continue growing and improving even if you are out of your comfort zone. Also the overall desire and excitment of my students was a great thing to see. Students overall improved their grades using the review strategy we set up with Assistment.
