Checks for Understanding
Classroom Instruction | Level-1
In this course, you will explore simple and easy to implement strategies to check for students' understanding during a lesson. This will help you to address gaps in student learning without having to wait for end of term exams.
About This Course
Thank you for embarking on this journey. For an effective learning experience, please switch off any notifications, use a notebook to write down your learning and questions as you take the course. At a lesson level, teachers require an indicator to know how much the students have understood what was taught in a period. Checks for Understanding (CFUs) is a tool that helps teachers get that feedback at a lesson level. In this course we will learn more about what are CFUs, why do teachers need them and how can they be incorporated in a lesson plan.
Standards
This course meets the following standards:
Teaching As Leadership
E-3 Check for academic understanding frequently by questioning, listening and/or observing,and provide feedback (that affirms right answers and corrects wrong answers), in order to ensure student learning
1. Directs questions to a random variety of students and can identify individual responses
2. Crafts questions that would reliably discern whether students understand
3. Asks questions about the most important ideas occasionally
4. Upholds high expectations for successful responses and tells students whether they have met the
standard
CENTA
CC.4.1b Ability to make learning participatory, using techniques appropriate to the context of classroom setting.
Requirements:
In order to have the most meaningful learning experience while taking this course, we strongly recommend you take the course Lesson Planning I, Lesson Planning II and Introduction to Assessments before attempting this course.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Firki course?
Firki courses provide content for Teacher Development through a combination of text, images, videos, audio, and other multimedia resources. Each course takes the user through 4 stages of Design thinking - Feel (understanding the current knowledge, and the why behind the course), Imagine (shares best practices from across classrooms and Educators), Do (allows the user to practice what they have learned), and Share (course learning and resources that they can share with other Teachers in the school). We also have an Assessment section that allows Teachers to check and review what they have learned from the course.
What is the Blended Learning Cycle?
The Blended Learning Cycle is leveraging technology for self-learning, along with support for classroom practice. The Blended Learning Cycle essentially has 3 steps -
- Take the Firki course online
- Use the Reflection Journal (part of the course material) of each course to summarize and practice strategies from the course over the next 2 weeks
- Get peers and mentors to observe classroom practice, and hold a learning space after 2 weeks of practice using the Offline Learning Circle (part of the course material) on sharing learning and the next steps.
What do I do after completing the course?
Each course has a Reflection Journal which allows teachers to summarize their learning from the course, document their learning from practicing the new strategies or methodologies.
You also can pursue any of the three courses that are recommended at the end of this course.
How much time does it take to complete a course?
It takes around 2 hours to complete a course. Please keep a bottle of water by your side while taking the course :)
Can I pause a course in between?
Yes. You can pause a course in between, and also switch from the mobile app to the website or vice versa in between the course. Please ensure you have a working internet connection for backend data to sync between devices.
What if I can’t see the course?
Depending on your device, internet connectivity, and the course, some courses may take longer to be displayed on the screen. As a general practice, please allow each slide about 30 seconds to load.
How is a Firki course designed?
The Firki course is based on the well-researched Teacher Development Curricula that keeps the Educator and their relationship with the students at the center of the teaching and learning process. Each course design starts off with a Course Vision which lays out the objectives, assessments, and the key points of the course (all of which is drafted after understanding effective practices within Teach For India, and researching good practices across). Post the course vision, the course draft then goes through 3 to 4 rounds of peer review, followed by a design review, before it goes online. Once online, it is further tested with Educators before it is made live for all users.
What if I need greater assistance?
For further assistance, please write to contactfirki@teachforindia.org and furnish us with the subject line and a description of what you will need further assistance with. We will reach out to you within 72 hours via email on your registered email account.
The videos on the course are not playing, what should I do?
In order to play the videos on the course, you will need an active internet connection.
You can find a more detailed list of general Frequently Asked Questions here.
Course Staff
Minna Sarawat
Course Designer, Firki
Teach For India
About This Course
Thank you for embarking on this journey. For an effective learning experience, please switch off any notifications, use a notebook to write down your learning and questions as you take the course. At a lesson level, teachers require an indicator to know how much the students have understood what was taught in a period. Checks for Understanding (CFUs) is a tool that helps teachers get that feedback at a lesson level. In this course we will learn more about what are CFUs, why do teachers need them and how can they be incorporated in a lesson plan.
Standards
This course meets the following standards:
Teaching As Leadership
E-3 Check for academic understanding frequently by questioning, listening and/or observing,and provide feedback (that affirms right answers and corrects wrong answers), in order to ensure student learning
1. Directs questions to a random variety of students and can identify individual responses
2. Crafts questions that would reliably discern whether students understand
3. Asks questions about the most important ideas occasionally
4. Upholds high expectations for successful responses and tells students whether they have met the
standard
CENTA
CC.4.1b Ability to make learning participatory, using techniques appropriate to the context of classroom setting.
Requirements:
In order to have the most meaningful learning experience while taking this course, we strongly recommend you take the course Lesson Planning I, Lesson Planning II and Introduction to Assessments before attempting this course.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Firki course?
Firki courses provide content for Teacher Development through a combination of text, images, videos, audio, and other multimedia resources. Each course takes the user through 4 stages of Design thinking - Feel (understanding the current knowledge, and the why behind the course), Imagine (shares best practices from across classrooms and Educators), Do (allows the user to practice what they have learned), and Share (course learning and resources that they can share with other Teachers in the school). We also have an Assessment section that allows Teachers to check and review what they have learned from the course.
What is the Blended Learning Cycle?
The Blended Learning Cycle is leveraging technology for self-learning, along with support for classroom practice. The Blended Learning Cycle essentially has 3 steps -
- Take the Firki course online
- Use the Reflection Journal (part of the course material) of each course to summarize and practice strategies from the course over the next 2 weeks
- Get peers and mentors to observe classroom practice, and hold a learning space after 2 weeks of practice using the Offline Learning Circle (part of the course material) on sharing learning and the next steps.
What do I do after completing the course?
Each course has a Reflection Journal which allows teachers to summarize their learning from the course, document their learning from practicing the new strategies or methodologies.
You also can pursue any of the three courses that are recommended at the end of this course.
How much time does it take to complete a course?
It takes around 2 hours to complete a course. Please keep a bottle of water by your side while taking the course :)
Can I pause a course in between?
Yes. You can pause a course in between, and also switch from the mobile app to the website or vice versa in between the course. Please ensure you have a working internet connection for backend data to sync between devices.
What if I can’t see the course?
Depending on your device, internet connectivity, and the course, some courses may take longer to be displayed on the screen. As a general practice, please allow each slide about 30 seconds to load.
How is a Firki course designed?
The Firki course is based on the well-researched Teacher Development Curricula that keeps the Educator and their relationship with the students at the center of the teaching and learning process. Each course design starts off with a Course Vision which lays out the objectives, assessments, and the key points of the course (all of which is drafted after understanding effective practices within Teach For India, and researching good practices across). Post the course vision, the course draft then goes through 3 to 4 rounds of peer review, followed by a design review, before it goes online. Once online, it is further tested with Educators before it is made live for all users.
What if I need greater assistance?
For further assistance, please write to contactfirki@teachforindia.org and furnish us with the subject line and a description of what you will need further assistance with. We will reach out to you within 72 hours via email on your registered email account.
The videos on the course are not playing, what should I do?
In order to play the videos on the course, you will need an active internet connection.
You can find a more detailed list of general Frequently Asked Questions here.
Course Staff
Minna Sarawat
Course Designer, Firki
Teach For India