Math Rocks!

Candidate evaluates student progress in learning, refines plans for instruction, and establishes alternative goals or environments for learning when necessary. 

 Evaluation is a tricky subject.  When I am given students with a math ability level of struggling to extremely proficient, there is no way that I can evaluate them using the same criteria.  I have started using a lot of performance-based assessments that allow every student to reach beyond prior knowledge.  For example, I have a zoo project that allows students to learn how to read a ruler but in a challenging way.  What this means is that I have modifications that are in centimeters, millimeters, and inches (down to the 16^thof an inch).  Zoo Directions  Modified Directions Scoring Guide  Another project that I do is the Integer Mini-Book Project  where the students are the authors of a book about integers.  Integers Mini Book directions This book includes everything from what is an integer to how to use integers in operations like adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing.  I have found that the students respond to doing this form of assessment a lot better than a paper pencil test.  I get really nice examples of what the students know without the stress and pressure of a test.

Tests and quizzes are important though.  I give the students an end of 6 weeks assessment on most 6 weeks, other times the projects take the place of these tests.  We do this as a 7^th grade math team so that we are able to compare what works and what does not work. State testing takes a lot of time so I count these tests as well.  I watch the students growth from best score in the 6^th grade compared to the variety of times the OAKS is taken.  There should be a 2 point gain average every time a student is given the chance to take the OAKS if a student is taking the OAKS 3 times in a year.  I have 4 folders that I keep the scores on sticky notes with the student’s name on it .  Each of the folders has a different classification: exceeds, meets, nearly meets, and does not meet.  I am able to track the students and focus on the ones that need the extra help.

 Pretests are important to me.  I feel that I need to find the level of the student before I teach a new concept.  Given this, I pretest at each unit. Pretesting at the beginning of the school year can lead to a lot of problems and to single out a student’s strong point it is difficult.  By pretesting the unit, I can see if the student is strong or developing in the subject.  After I have the results, I change my instruction as needed.  If the students are particularly strong in a unit I will have the opportunity to go more in-depth with the students whereas when the students are struggling I can take a step back and possibly go a little slower.  When I do this the goals of the unit sometimes changes.  This is to meet the needs of the students.  Pretest unit 4  Posttest unit 5 I have found an easier method of pretesting students that is there for me to see and the students do not realize that they are doing the assessment.  I have three bonus questions on each quiz that the students take.  These three questions cover information that is about to be taught in the next week but is closely related to the concepts that we were working on.  I then have questions compatible to these on the next quiz and compare the results of the pre- and post assessment and see if the student grew or if we need to recover the concepts.

An example would be when I was tracking the progress of all my students one year and I noticed that their was one student that was very quiet and did not ask questions.  As I looked over the data, I saw that this student routinely missed a certain type of problem.  I pulled the student aside and started asking questions and found that the student was only missing one key concept that was cleared up during that conversation and the rest of the unit fell into place for the student.  This particular student started making better graders on the assessments and ended up being successful in this particular unit.  I might have overlooked this student if it was not for the data that I collected in the assessments.

With in my units I incorporate assessments like tests and quizzes but also hands on projects that give students who are not good at taking paper/pencil tests a chance to show that they do know the topics and that they are as ’smart’ as the other students.  For these projects I use scoring guides as the method for evaluation. Scoring Guide