Student Resources… The Key to Success!
For each class that I teach, I create a full set of resources. These include written homework assignments, daily quizzes and guided notes. Additionally, for courses that I teach in flipped classroom format, I also create classwork assignments. Below is a description of each type of resource with samples for you to view.
Written Homework
They say practice makes perfect. While perfect is an ideal most of us cannot achieve, there is no doubt that working more problems leads students to a better understanding of mathematics. I strongly believe that students need frequent feedback from the instructor from the beginning of the course. Students need to know how the instructor grades and how much work they need to show on problems. Additionally, feedback on instructor-graded homework can draw attention to repeated errors such as dropping a negative sign or multiplying instead of adding - repeated mistakes that an online homework assignment will not point out. Because I believe so strongly in written homework, I assign students at least one written homework assignment for each section we cover in class. This is in addition to, not in lieu of, online homework. Online homework gives students immediate feedback on their work at any time of the day or night. Additionally, students tend to need more practice than I can reasonably grade. Therefore I assign both written and online homework for each section. After the written homework has been submitted, I post detailed written solutions in the Learning Management System (LMS) for students to use as a study tool.
Sample Written Homework on Solving Rational Equations from Intermediate Algebra
Quizzes
Quizzes give students the opportunity to assess their knowledge in a low-stakes environment. In my experience, quizzes can also help students overcome test anxiety by testing their knowledge in small doses, building their confidence before they get to a major exam. For flipped-classroom courses, I use quizzes to indirectly measure whether students watched the assigned videos and completed the guided notes. On such quizzes, students are allowed to use the notes they took on the videos. This also gives me a fairly clear picture of how well the topic was understood and where I should start my class examples. After the quiz has been given, I post detailed solutions to the quiz in the LMS for students to use as a study tool.
Guided Notes
I have found guided notes to be one of the most helpful instructional tools of my teaching career. Providing guided notes may seem like hand-holding to some, and there is an argument to be made that they are not appropriate in a college-level course. In fact, I tend to use them almost exclusively in developmental courses. The biggest benefit of guided notes is that students are able to keep up with my writing speed since the problems I am working are already on the paper for them. I project my iPad screen and complete the guided notes with students and then post the completed guided notes in the LMS after class. Since neither I nor the students has to copy the problem itself, I am able to work more problems in class. Additionally, I can ask students to work some of the problems on their own or in groups. Best of all, if a student asks for help after class, I ask them to get out their guided notes. It then becomes super obvious whether or not they took notes during lecture. Moreover, it is very easy for me to direct students to the information they need while this would sometimes prove to be difficult or impossible if students took notes on blank paper.
Sample Guided Notes - Operations on Rational Numbers
Classwork
In a flipped-classroom formatted course, students watch videos and complete guided notes at home. When they come to class, we work through a set of problems together (classwork). The problems in the classwork assignments closely align with those in the written homework. Therefore students should be able to use the worked examples in the classwork to complete the homework problems. I do not grade the classwork since I am helping students with most of the problems. After class, I post the completed classwork on the LMS.