Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.
This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.
Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.
This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

Based on my research and discussion with my peers, I will keep formative assessment 2 and 3 as is but modify assessment 1 by:
Receiving peer feedback made me go deeper into how this formative assessment could be extended. My original proposal was to just write the sentence on the board, give them a minute to think about it and then call on one student to say the right answer. But I am now realizing that doing it this way doesn’t really tell me anything about students existing knowledge or ability to spot the error. Furthermore, it doesn’t really force everyone to think about the error. By asking students how many think it is correct, and asking those who think it is incorrect to write down the correct version, I am requiring students to actively participate by raising their hands and writing which in turn requires them to think about the sentence more closely versus just relying on that one student in the class to do the work for everyone.
The second formative assessment is given after I have explained the difference between four different conditionals. I will have a question pop up on the projector and expect students to use their response clicker to identify which conditional the sentence corresponds to. Brian suggested I use Socrative to do this as it would have the students more engaged. I don’t really see the difference between the response clicker and Socrative, but I will certainly look into it to see if I can enhance student’s engagement to get a quick check for understanding. Finally, as an exit ticket, I will have my students match four different sentences to the different conditional to gauge how many students need to review the content. This is a quick check prior to them leaving the class. I will collect their papers and since this is a matching exercise, it will be quick to correct. If they made mistakes, I have them go back to their seat and try again. Special ed students can work with a partner to complete this exit ticket.
For the next class, I could have students not only identify the correct conditional as I did in the previous class, but now I could have them write their own sentences. For example: I could ask them to use the 3rd conditional to write a sentence. I could then have them read their sentences and turn it into a game by having students guess which conditional it is. This would be an extension of the previous lesson and at the same time serve as formative assessment.
This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.
You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.
Why do this?
The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.
To help you get started, here are a few questions:
You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.
Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.
When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.