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moodle
Mastery Teaching: FAQ’s:
These questions were asked by
my friends on the College Board AP Chemistry List-Serve. Though we believe that mastery teaching is much bigger than Chemistry
classes, it is they who helped us to think through many of the questions and
problems that we faced as we adopted this innovative and revolutionary new
teaching strategy.
Will this work with other subjects such as physics and
math? Is there staff development opportunities available for those
subjects as well?
Does this work in math? Can I see samples of the podcasts?
What will you do 2nd Semester with kids who are behind?
How big (in MB) are your files and how do you accomodate kids who don't have access to technology?
Lab Logistics and Cheating on Labs?
Grading of Papers
Mastery Chemistry in AP Chemistry
What is Mastery Teaching?
In reading a post of yours on the AP listserve, I was
intrigued with your reference to podcast/mastery teaching. This is not
something I am familiar with but would love to know more about it. We have
a successful chemistry program, but are always looking for new ideas for our
lowest students. Do you have any literature on how you run your
program? I see that you sell some of your podcasts, but I am just curious
about how the system works. Do kids have access at school? Do most
of your students have computers at home? How is your school day
structured? Who are your students? Etc.
Any info would be greatly appreciated
Thanks!
Betsy
1.
We don’t
lecture in class anymore. Students watch podcasts to receive the direct
instruction.
2.
Students work at
their own pace, though there are benchmarks that they must receive to get a
certain grade.
3.
Students work
through each unit (traditional units that all chem teachers
teach)
4.
So a student (We
have a check off sheet that they follow in each unit—see below an example from
our states of matter unit)
a.
Watches certain
podcasts
b.
Does certain demos
with their teacher
c.
Does certain
worksheets
d.
Does certain
labs
e.
Takes a unit
exam.
5.
They then take a
test and must score an 85% or better to move on. If they don’t
they go back and figure out what they didn’t understand. And
that doesn’t just include the test: If a student shows me a certain worksheet
and they are consistently writing NaCl2 instead of NaCl I make them
go back and fix it until they understand.
6.
This does create a
certain level of chaos: We have 4-5 labs set up at one time so that
students are possibly doing 4-5 different labs at the same time, kids taking a
test, kids watching a podcast on their i-Phone, working on worksheets,
etc. My role now changes: I am the expert that they get help
from—not the “sage on the stage.” I know this sounds crazy to manage but
actually it is easier than you imagine. My principal was in the other day
and he watched the class (my year to be observed) and he said: “I am
sold!.” He wants our math classes to do this, particularly Algebra because
our kids don’t understand Algebra even after being in an Algebra class all year
(as measured on the state exam). And how cool would it be for us Chem
teachers if students really UNDERSTOOD Algebra. It certainly would make
our job easier…
7.
It works!! More
kids are truly understanding Chemistry than ever before.
Below is an example outline
of a unit of study. Students use
this as a check-off and once they have “mastered the content” they move on.
Chemistry:
Unit 6 Outline: States of Matter
|
Assignment |
WB Page
Number |
Score |
Can be
Done at Home? |
Out
of |
|
Podcast
6.1 (CB 1-5) |
Online |
|
Yes |
ü
|
|
Worksheet
A |
Pg
15-16 |
|
Yes |
ü
|
|
Aluminum
Can Crush |
Pg
5 |
|
No |
100 |
|
Podcast
6.2 (CB 7-11) |
Online |
|
Yes |
ü
|
|
Demo: Boiling Water with Ice |
In
Class |
|
No |
ü
|
Worksheet
B |
Pg
17 |
|
Yes |
ü
|
|
Podcast
6.3 (CB 13-17) |
Online |
|
Yes |
ü
|
|
Lab: Heat Capacity of a
Metal |
Pg
6-7 |
|
No |
100 |
|
Worksheet
C |
Pg
18-19 |
|
Yes |
ü
|
|
Podcast
6.4 (CB 19-21) |
Online |
|
No |
ü
|
|
Worksheet
D |
Pg
20-22 |
|
Yes |
ü
|
|
Lab: Determining the Enthalpy
of a Chemical Reaction
|
Pg
8-11 |
|
No |
100 |
|
Podcast
6.5 (CB 23-25) |
Online |
|
Yes |
ü
|
|
Demo: Burning Paper with Steam |
In
Class |
|
No |
ü
|
|
Lab:
Heat of Fusion of Ice |
Pg
12-14 |
|
No |
100 |
|
Worksheet
E |
Pg
23-27 |
|
Yes |
ü |
|
Lab Test: Finding
?H |
Teacher Handout |
|
No |
ü |
|
Unit 6 Exam |
In Class |
|
No |
100 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(You must score 85/100 on all assignments with a
number to move to the next unit. For those assignments with a check, you
need to do it to the satisfaction of your teacher)
Where can I get trained?
To Register
By phone:
719-686-2012
Kelley Havin
719-686-2012
Cost
$250 per
participant
$225 Earlybird
Special, Pay by December 20, 2009
Date
January 16-17,
2009 (Fri.- Sat.)
8:00 a.m. to 4:00
p.m.
Location
Woodland Park High
School
151 N Baldwin St.
Woodland Park, CO
80863
(15 miles West of
Colorado Springs at the base of Pikes Peak)
Credit
1.0 Credit available
from Adam’s State for $45/credit hour
Can I come and visit your
school?
You bet: we are always open to folks coming and seeing this
in action.
Will you come and
train our staff?
You bet..We
are poor teachers who always are willing to share what we learn. We don’t charge too
much.
I can’t come to Colorado—will you do a
webinar?
We are
presently setting this up.
Cheating on tests
Could you tell
me how you keep students from cheating on tests?
Thanks,
Susan
Susan: great
question.
Since students can take the test multiple times we
obviously had to work on this. This requires different versions of the
exam. We have
also set aside some corners of the room where students take the tests and there
is little chance of them cheating. We are right now working on doing many of our
tests on a computer using moodle. With moodle I can write questions such that
each kid gets a different question. For example a student might get a limiting
reactant problem but student A starts with 3.4 grams and student B starts with
4.6 g. that
way each student gets a unique exam, and in fact each time a student takes the
exam they get a unique exam. We are right now working out the bugs of the
system, but it is coming along nicely.
Where can I watch a sample podcast?
From: Warren, Ellen k
[mailto:WarrenE@fulton.k12.ga.us]
Do you have a smaple podcast that we can view?
Thanks
This is a
podcast from AP chemistry on buffers.
Incentive to progress and not just slack off.
Subject:
mastery teaching
what's the
incentive to advance through multiple units. Are there kids who "play" this system and
purposely advance as slowly as possible? If you don't advance until you're 85%
proficient--seems like you could just resubmit 80 times and make it only to gas
laws by the end of the year.
Julie
Mullane
Chemistry
Julie: Great
question:
The students
each week are given benchmarks: So for this coming week they must have
completed:
A = Pass Unit
5 Exam (85% or better)
B = Unit 5
Podcast 5.3
C = Pass Unit
4 Exam (85% or better)
F = anything
than less than above.
We thus change which assignment they need to "get to" each
week. So there
is a moving line.
And ultimately there is an assignment that they need to "get to" by the
end of the semester and the end of the year. We also limit them taking tests once per day.
So taking the exam multiple times costs them time that they could be progressing
through new content.
They are uncomfortable getting behind.
We also
celebrate every time a kid scores an 85% or better on an exam. I am looking for a
gong (on ebay) to celebrate each successful passing of each exam.
I hope this makes sense:
Where do I purchase Chemistry Podcasts
(Screencasts)?
Somebody Else doing
something similar
I teach Physical Science in addition to AP Chem and our
staff have spent the last 2+ years implementing a similar master process in
Physical Science (both the Chem and Physics sections). The process
Jonathon describes is INCREDIBLY similar to our process and I agree that the
results are exciting.
We handout folders on the first class with every assignment for the
entire semester listed and then use a date stamp to stamp off assignments as
they complete them.
We also place stars on each document at locations where students are
required to touch base with the instructor during the process. It is controlled
chaos but students truly do understand more science through the process. Listed below is the
link to our physical science website where you can download docs and see what we
call "video-based" instruction.
I am beginning to work toward a similar process for AP Chem
and look forward to similar results.
Michael
Do I get the “follow-along-Notes with the
DVD?
Dear Jonathan,
Thank you for
sharing your Mastery Teaching method. I'm very excited about trying it and have
just bought your DVD for 1st year chemistry today. I teach both public
school and homeschool students - what a difference. I've been wondering
this year how I could get my public school students to take more
responsibility for their education like my homeschool students do. I think your
program might be the way!
Does your DVD have files of your handouts to show me
how you "run" a unit? In other words, do you include a master plan to show the
order that the students should work on various activities and readings/videos
for each unit?
Thank
you!
Beth
Yes: the
dvd has our follow along notes for ap chem. And for our general program you get
our entire unit handouts. They are last year’s, but should work for
you. This is our first year of the Mastery Program so we are modifying
things so that they fit the mastery program
better.
Do Kids take responsibility for their own
learning?
Thanks a lot Jonathan. I took a good look at your site and
to be honest when I first read your post I was very skeptical. The more I
thought about it and talked with the other chem. teacher here the more and more
it made sense. Thanks for making your information open source, that is very
gracious of you. We’re going to take a good look at your program and give it try
here.
Thanks.
Tom
Tom:
Yea, it sounds kind of crazy, but we are seeing kids take responsibility for
their own learning and they are actually learning the stuff.
If you need
help in getting things set up we would be glad to help. It has taken us
quite a bit of time to make this work, but it really does…
Who Makes the Podcasts?
Mr. Bergmann,
Thanks for the information
on mastery chemistry. Maybe you have been asked this but my question is,
Do you make the podcasts yourself? Are they lectures that you have taped
of yourself giving the information? Are they long 40-50 minutes or shorter
10-20 minutes.
Thanks
Dave
Dave: good question: Yes we
(myself and another Chem teacher, Aaron Sams) made all of the podcasts
ourselves. However a number of teachers across the country have been using
our podcasts for implementing this model in their classrooms. We actually
sell them at http://chempodcasts for a minimal fee ($25 for Chem and $ 25 for AP
Chem).
Length:
The Chem podcasts tend to be 15-20 min each and the AP Chem podcasts tend to be
30-40 min.
Have a great
day
Jonathan Bergmann
Procrastinators and More on Grading
Jonathan,
I'm doing something similar starting this year and I'm in
the hectic crazy phase right now. I'm also the only chem teacher so I'm on
my own in this endeavor. One thing I'm struggling with is the
procrastinators. In my classroom, we work on units (4-5 weeks) and
students are at their own pace except that everyone takes the exam at the same
time. There are several "gate-keeper" quizzes in each unit to make sure
they're mastering topics as they go. Right now we're nearing the end of
the unit and now all the procrastinators are coming out of the woodwork and
trying to catch up--which means it makes my life miserable as I have kids in my
room before and after school furiously trying to meet the deadline. Not
optimal for their learning either. Any thoughts?
Even after less than a semester, I'm committed to this
classroom model as it's exciting to see the students taking responsibility for
their learning, but I need to tweak it some before I'm committed--to the looney
house.
Thanks,
Cathy
Cathy: You are right in that this creates a hectic
and crazy classroom—and yet I am loving it. It works like a
charm—controlled chaos.
The procrastinors are a problem: but since I input a
grade at the end of each week and that gets reported to their parents, if they
are behind then the parents get a notice that they are failing. They could
still turn everything in at the end of the semester, but with the notice going
home each week (via email and our grading software—infinite campus), the kids
get busy when parents start hasseling them about having an F. One thing we
did was to do away with the D grade. Students earn each week an A, B, C,
or F.
So for this week:
A = Pass the Unit 5 Exam with at least an 85%
B = Complete the Unit 5 Worksheet C
C = Pass the Unit 4 exam with at least an 85%
F= less than above
So we have weekly benchmarks (as per above) and students
have to “cross the line” each week. This “line” moves each week with a new
set of benchmarks.
It isn’t perfect, but it is working.
If you have further ideas, we are always open to
suggestions. Collaboration with like minds really helps. You say that you
are the only Chem teacher. Feel free to bounce ideas off of aaron and I
and we welcome your ideas as well. More minds thinking about the same
things makes for better learning for all of our kids.
Have a great day
Jonathan Bergmann
I have copied aaron so that you could copy him to any
subsequent emails.
More on Grades…
I too have a
question about the mastery concept
How are final
grades assessed if one person finishes half the units that another student
completes?
Cheryl
Cheryl: good question: Grades....
the further you get in the content the higher the student's
grade. So for our first semester, to earn an A students must master half
way through our unit 6. This includes taking, and mastering our final exam
from last year and doing a project. Last year we finished the
semester at the end of unit 5 (stoichiometry) so we set the bar for an A past
that point. We have students now who are starting unit 6 and I anticipate
that they will finish unit 6 and go above and beyond the "A" grade.
For student to earn a B they have to have completed unit 5,
done last year's final (with mastery) and do a project. for a student to
earn a C they must finish unit 5 and then master the final. So we have it
scaffolded that way.
Right now we are thinking of actually delineating this even
more. In the future we think that we could have all students who are
taking a first year course in the same classroom at the same time. At our
school we only have 2 levels of first year Chemistry: Principles of
Chemistry (1 section) and Chemistry (7 sections): {We also have 2 sections
of AP}. So what we are thinking is that students who just learn slower
will have the option of getting Principles of Chemistry credit: Students
who work at an average pace can get Chemistry credit, and for those students who
excel and learn faster, they can earn Honors Chemistry credit (a class we don't
currently offer). Students would all work through the same content, but
their grade would be determined by how much material they master.
I think I have said this before: But this is working
out VERY well. Students are being "forced" to learn. They can't just
attend class, do some assignments, and then hope for the best on the exam.
They are discovering that they really can learn. An interesting
anecdote: We had a couple of students who were doing well on all of the
assignments and then when they go to take the exam they don't even have a clue
as to what to do. At first we thought of this as test anxiety, etc.
Well, come to find out, they essentially were copying all of the other kid's
work and it just looked like they were learning. After a hard
conversation with these students, they acknowledged what they were doing and are
now going back learning the material that they never really learned in the first
place. So this system doesn't allow the kids to not learn. And for
those students who are fully invested in the program, I am seeing them truly
take ownership for their own learning.
you can probably feel my enthusiasm for the program.
It has been a truly remarkable year.
Have a great day.
Jonathan
Bergmann
And yet more on grading…
Jeremy: This was something we discussed at length and
for what it is worth: here was our "solution."
We also have to give grades each week for athletics'.
So we have set up weekly benchmarks. If a student doesn't make it to that
benchmark then they have that grade. We do have a sliding
scale.
For this coming Friday:
A = Complete and pass the Unit 1-5 Exam
B = Complete and pass the unit 5 exam
C = Complete Unit 4 WS C
F = anything less than above.
We have in our grade book (infinite campus) all of the
assignments and students either get a 1 or a blank. On exams they must get
the 85%. And then we set up one category that counts for their entire
grade. If a student has an A we enter 95%, a B, 85,%, a C 75%, and less
than that a 55%. We decided to do away with D's and so far nobody has
questioned it.
There have been some interesting discussions with
parents. In fact I have an email from a parent right now who wants to know
why their student has all 100%'s (1 out of 1) on all assignments and still has
an F. I need to explain to her that her son has not completed enough
assignments to get the passing |
