Summarizers
I am currently working on a PD class from Creative Classical Curriculum called Using Do Nows and Summarizers Effectively. When I first signed up for the course I didn't really know what it was about, it just looked like something I needed. But, after putting a couple of hours into it Friday, I was pleased to find out that I do use "do nows" every day (I just call them daily quizzes, you may call them bell ringers or board work). Not only do I use them, but I am fairly pleased with how they work, the students' response to them, and how much it has brought up test grades in the past. Phew, that's a relief! However, I don't use summarizers. (And again, I'm relieved, because I spent the money on the class, it would be a real shame to have spent all that money for nothing). But I really struggle with effectively coming full circle in class. I either tend to teach to the bell, OR end early and let the students work on their homework so that they can ask me questions and completely leave out the review. This is something that has been a weakness of mine since the beginning, so I was glad to know that the PD class would deal with it.
Right now, I am waiting for feedback on my prereading answers. But I can't sit back and wait without at least trying to come up with some summarizers to implement in my classes this week. So I was thinking, I've recently been introduced to the concept of a Disputatio for evaluation, and I thought, why wouldn't it make a good summarizer? While I don't fully understand how it works, I have taken some notes from some teachers who have used a Disputatio for testing and reviewing in the past. Basically what it is (or what I believe it to be) is a student created assessment. Students write questions that cover the content of the course over a set period of time. Then, on the day or days of the Disputatio the students are paired up with a classmate/opponent and student A asks student B a question. Student B must then answer the question completely, without using any notes. Then student B asks student C a question and so on until student J (for example) asks student A a question, thus ending a round. While a full Disputatio may last several rounds, a summarizer Disputatio could be one fast paced round and on the next day students are paired up with someone else for another round. This may not work as a summarizer for larger classes, but I'm blessed with small classes this year (my largest is 14, while my smallest is 1, the next smallest being 4).
As far as how to get the students to come up with their questions, I haven't yet worked out all of the bugs. My original thought was to assign it as homework (go write one question that reviews material from today's lesson...) but that wouldn't work to summarize at the end of class (unless of course the summarizers are a review from the previous day). I then thought that I could just write the questions and ask the students at the appropriate time, but then the students don't get the opportunity to own it like they would if they wrote their own questions. This still definitely has some problems, but I am going to come up with effective summarizers, even if it doesn't include my Disputatio idea.
