Last Week; Test Today

Last week was a resounding success - I was able to keep the laptop cart in my classroom all week. My students truly had laptop access whenever they wished during class. An administrator did a walk-through, Thursday I think, and observed a class full of students engaged in meaningful work. Some retreated to safety of book and paper work, but even when focused on solving a problem on paper, most will also login to the laptop for a quick online quiz or PowerPoint show. I asked them Thursday if I needed to do anything different for them to help them prepare Friday. They answered that they needed more work with matched pair t-intervals and tests. (Nothing another class would not have also said.) Friday was the day before the test, and of all my classes, this one seemed the most confident that they were prepared.

Today, the day of the test - my third period class had more early finishers than other classes. I peeked at their work, and wonder if they finished early because they inadequately documented their work, not because they were better prepared. Time will tell. I hope my strugglers will have done better because of the way I allowed them to work in the weeks before the test.

I have been thinking about our review unit and what I will do with this class. I may turn them loose on data/have them seek out data to analyze, rather than have them do the review problems everyone else will do. If I can structure it so they will have adequate practice, I think this is a viable strategy, and would be a lot more fun for them. They have access to SAS JMP, so they can use that for analyses...