Hinge points part 3

Earlier in the month I wrote a post on hinge points. Turns out Popham actually calls them Choice Points. Mi malo. The feedback I got from it was good, but I often got, "I already do something like that." In talking with my fellow teachers, I realized I didn't make something clear.  Choice points are not times when you stare out at your students and see glazed looks and try to fix them. Choice points are designed in and you have designated a threshold ahead of time.

That's the real power. We have a tendency to just go along with our assessment (especially, informal assessment) results. We think accept and move on. Choice points force you to address the issue. I have often done a quick assessment and thought, "This is more confusing than I thought," and then just moved on. I accepted. Not only that, but I hadn't planned ahead of time for how to teach the same concept in a different way.  So design them in. Set a threshold. Stick with it.

Again, with Keynote/Powerpoint it's really easy.

1. Me talking and showing stuff.
2. Multiple choice slide.
3. Quick mental math.
4. Move on to the next slide or skip ahead.