This November we are spotlighting Ms. Kama Smith, a teacher at Tupelo High School in Tupelo, Mississippi. The school is a two-time National Blue Ribbon School and offers a whopping 24 AP® courses. They recently upgraded from a single teacher Albert license to a school-wide license in order to take advantage of all that Albert has to offer.
Ms. Smith has also become an Albert Certified Teacher, which means she can use all of Albert’s advanced features and helps other teachers in her school use the program effectively. We chatted with Kama to learn more about how becoming Albert Certified has deepened her understanding of the platform and helped her maximize student engagement.
Q: When did you start using Albert?
I started using Albert in the 15-16 school year. I stumbled upon it and began using it with my AP® English Language students. At that time, with the free version, we could only see easy and medium questions. I mentioned it to my principal, he did some research, and he ended up getting a school license just for AP® teachers. The following year, a new principal wanted it for the entire school. So now I’m able to take advantage of Albert courses outside of the AP® content. In my general education classes I use Elements of a Sentence for grammar review and Common Core Literature courses like the Great Gatsby for reading quizzes and checks for understanding.
I also use Elements of a Sentence specifically for ACT® English preparation. The test is about 20% commas, so all of the questions about subordinating conjunctions, independent clauses, and other uses for commas have been really helpful. I plan to use the ACT® English resources and Confused and Misused as we gear up for the tests.
Q: That’s great that you’ve found so many uses for Albert! What do you like about using it?
It definitely saves me time. For example, with the Great Gatsby, I needed to make sure the quizzes were rigorous and not just questions like, “What color was the car?” which is what you see on on so many other online resources. The comprehension questions on Albert are really good, and it grades it for you! Even if it a quiz is just A-B-C-D, that’s at least an hour to go through those by hand. In my AP® class, I feel like the questions are as, if not more, rigorous than the questions on the actual exam. When the students get to the test, they’re more prepared. And I think the students have really enjoyed it! They like the immediate feedback, especially for grammar. Grammar is a hard thing to teach because every kid is in a different place and this lets them know where they are.
Q: I love that you’re using Albert to differentiate instruction in your classroom. I know that you’re an Albert-Certified teacher, can you tell me a little bit about that process?
Honestly, the certification quiz was hard! I talk about this in my class, but when students take a test, I want them see it as a learning opportunity. During a test you might learn a new word or concept. This was the case for me — I learned a lot about Albert while I was taking the quiz, everything from details on the Insights Reports to how to break data down into different segments like theme/ topic/ subtopic, so you can see where our students are.
Q: I’m so glad you had that attitude and learned so much in the process! How has the certification process helped you implement Albert more effectively in your school?
I actually had a 10th grade teacher come in; she teaches a pre-AP® course that feeds into AP® English Language, which is what I teach. She gets the kids ready and also tries to challenge them. She came over the other day and wanted to do something with her students for review, and I was able to show her a few different ways she could use the site. I showed her how to hide the answers, how to make the due date for Saturday afternoon so that they students could have Saturday through Sunday evening to look over their answers. I was able to coach her through the best way to set that up.
Q: That is great! How else have you improved your use of Albert over the years?
I feel like the professional development sessions with Katherine (she’s on our School Success team) have been very beneficial. I had been using it, and last year I was one of the teachers who used it the most, but I still learned a lot going through the training with her. I kept thinking “Oh i didn’t know I could do that!” And the support team at Albert is so great. It’s easy for me to instant message someone if I’m having a problem and they can immediately fix it.
Q: It’s great that you’re challenging yourself to learn more. What is your favorite part about Albert?
My favorite part is the rigor of the questions. I feel like it really challenges the students and I don’t have a kid on there who says, “Oh, this is easy.” Also, the explanations help them understand what they missed. I also love that with a school-wide license I have access to so many courses. We have Teacher Advisory, which is like our homeroom, and during that time we focus on ACT® prep. So the students use the Albert ACT® resources during that time. I like data, so I’m able to track my kids and see if they’re improving. I use Albert in so many different ways — as a bell ringer, sometimes for a longer period of time in class, or at home. There are a lot of ways to mix it up.
Q: How about something you think we could improve on?
It’s hard because I feel like the most effective use of the platform is when it’s the least restrictive, so when the students can see the answers/ explanations right away. However, sometimes that leads to cheating, so I wish there was a way to reconcile those two.
Q: Yea, I definitely understand that. Thank you so much for using Albert! We’re so happy to have Albert-Certified teachers to help us spread the word.
Thank you!
