You are likely in week 1 to week 5 of this new era of teaching remotely, depending on when your school made this shift. As you start to settle into routines, we know that many of you start to ask the question, "how can I assess my students when we are all working from home?" I can't imagine two better people to answer this question than Amanda and Brian who came back to the NGPF podcast to share innovative ideas about assessing student performance. These ideas emerged from their standing Saturday morning meetings with NGPF Fellows. You won't think about assessments the same way after reviewing their Choice Board.  Enjoy!

Details:

• 0:00~1:26 Introduction
• 1:26~3:49 Conversation regarding online assessments among the fellows
• 3:49~5:30 Letting students choose their assessment
• 5:30~6:34 Tech tools for making infographics
• 6:34~7:47 Brian’s recommendation for an assessment alternative
• 7:47~8:54 Creating a TED talk 
• 8:54~10:19 Amanda’s teacher tips
• 10:37~10:56 A word from NGPF
• 10:56~13:46 Grading policy at Amanda and Brian’s school districts
• 13:46~17:25 The importance of clear instructions
• 17:25~18:36 Conclusion

Resources:

• Teaching Remotely Series: A Ready Made Alternative to a Traditional Test
• PROJECT: Simplifying Student Loans Infographic

Quotes:

• “If you think about all of the FinCamps that have occurred across the country in the past four or five years, folks have gotten to get to know each other. If you have a group of people that you know from a past FinCamp, I have to stress that it’s a welcoming opportunity if you can find ways to connect like we have and just share ideas with each other.” -Brian

• “It’s different teaching online than it is in person. So giving them clear instructions on everything is really important… The clear instructions of where to log-in, where to post things, what time to do it, a lot of that direction is really important.” -Amanda

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.