Tag Archives: Teacher Spotlight

Teacher Spotlight: Gardner Friedlander

by Annie McQuaid

WebAssign was created in order to make the teacher’s job more effective and increase student learning. Learning how different instructors use WebAssign in their classroom, or teaching techniques they use in general, is a great way to enhance your own classroom experience.  I hope you will gain some valuable knowledge by reading our latest teacher spotlight.

Gardner Friedlander currently teaches AP Physics  and Honors Chem & Physics at University School of Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI.  His classes range from as small as 8 to as large as 20 and he is heavily involved in the AP Physics community.

How long have you been using WebAssign?

Since 2003, so about 8 years.

Every teacher uses different methods to increase student learning, what are some of your teaching practices?

My students get nightly practice homework in all classes.  I also, especially for labs, have group assignments with uploaded files as answers.  Each individual also does a pre-lab assignment, but the final report is (usually) a group one.  I am still working on having them check the accuracy and precision of both their measurements and their calculations.

What are some of your “best practice” methods when it comes to teaching with WebAssign?

My students generally get a 10% penalty for each submission, to encourage them to think before answering, while still allowing them the chance of correcting a “stupid mistake.”  I encourage them to email me if they are stuck.  Usually, a one-line hint is enough for them to have success.

I use automatic extensions to put the responsibility on the individual to acknowledge their lateness.  If they think their reason for the lateness is one that I’ll accept, I ask them to take the automatic extension (and the accompanying deduction), then do the assignment, THEN email me with their reason for deserving a rebate of the penalty.  Most of the time they accept the deduction, unlike the whining I get when they are requesting manual extensions.

I have written (transcribed into WebAssign) almost all of the questions we have used in our honors chem-physics class.  As we use our self-written text, using WebAssign has made the annual revisions a breeze.  As well, students have access to the manual and PowerPoints that we have uploaded, so dealing with an absent student is almost taken care of as a matter of course.

Any other advice for fellow teachers?

Use the help features, including the “Customer Support” and “Contact Us” links!!  The customer service at WebAssign is excellent!

We thank Mr. Friedlander for sharing his experience with us and we would love to hear how WebAssign is working for you! Send us an email today

Feature Teacher – Jen Grady

by Annie McQuaid

This month’s spotlight is on a teacher who is engaged in top student learning potential in her AP Physics Class. Jen Grady is a teacher at Hononegah High School in Rockton, IL and is in her 20th year of teaching! After graduating from SUNY Geneso with a BS in Biology and a teaching certificate, Mrs. Grady went on to receive an MS ED in Curriculum and Instruction from Northern Illinois University. After teaching Biology, Botany/Zoology, Life Science, Chemistry, and Physical Science, she finally settled on Physics. Says Mrs. Grady, “I honestly can’t imagine teaching anything but Physics. Not only is the material incredibly challenging, but the variety of teaching materials is so vast, particularly internet based ones.”

Being an experienced teacher, Mrs. Grady offers some helpful advice for her colleagues in similar teaching fields, “I think that students that sign on for the challenge of AP Physics are generally self-motivated. However, keeping them trying while they are frustrated by the material is the bigger challenge. In all teaching, you need to walk a fine line with your audience. You need to challenge them to keep them interested, but you have to give them enough of a safety net so they feel comfortable making mistakes and not giving up. In AP Physics, I think certain material can sometimes seem unconnected to their everyday lives, so I work at making that connection.”

Using WebAssign in her classroom is one way that she is able to help students make that connection. “When used correctly, I think WebAssign can be a very helpful tool for students to become more aware of the depth of their understanding of problem solving,” Mrs. Grady indicated. “Being able to give students multiple attempts and instant feedback is an important step forward in homework. In using WebAssign, I have seen a large increase in the number of students coming in for help before school- and being able to answer small questions as soon as a student has one is a much more effective way to teach vs. a student who waits for days and has enormous misunderstandings.”

Of course in the high school setting variety is key. “I strive to strike a balance between individual and group work, independent and collaborative work, the internet and paper work, lab based vs. lecture oriented work, practice with multiple attempts and high(er) stakes assessment,” Mrs. Grady explained as a key teaching method.

“Overall, I still think that WebAssign is preferable to pen and paper homework. It streamlines our learning process. I can hone in on the questions the students are struggling with. It lets the students know immediately when they need help. I also think that the format engages the student more than traditional homework, my students work harder to get the green check!”

We would like to thank Jennifer Grady for sharing her teaching story with us, and if you would like to learn more about her classroom teaching techniques you can visit her website!