Blog 2

The Marzano strategy I would like to blog about today is the homework and practice. In my clinical at Fairland High School, we are getting ready for the Ohio Graduation Test and this requires many class hours of working and even more hours outside of the classroom studying. The OGT is the test given to Ohio 10th grade students and is their last achievement test before the students graduate.
In the clinical, my observation teacher has opened my young, blue, educational eyes to a new realm of homework study for secondary students. The activity is called Study Island, and it is an online based program where the students get online and take quizzes and the quiz score are directly transported to the administrator of the course. This of course will prepare students for the online world of higher education. Even blue collar jobs are now requiring their workers to get certified on their time off by taking online classes and taking tests all on the same basis of online quizzing.
The students must complete this task before the 8:00 A.M. bell rings on the due date. The teachers all have computers in their rooms, as well as there is 2 computer labs in the building so the kids can come in early before school and do their Study Island work. So the argument that the students who do not have computer access at home is a farce. There are more than enough computers at the school so the students can get their work done.
Another practice that I am using in my clinical is a worksheet/study guide booklet with around 9 sheets of questions and information for the students to know. This booklet is to be done either at the end of class if there is extra time, or at home. The worksheets are sectioned so the students can keep up with the days lecture with a worksheet to follow. All of the test questions will be pulled from this booklet. Therefore, every piece of paper in the booklet is a reliable study source for the test at the end of the chapter. This is a practice that I have learned from my clinical teacher and from a former teacher of mine who also taught 10 grade social studies.