Saturday, October 16, 2010

Reflections

The weeks between September 11 and October 9

I incorporated 2 new assessment tools in my class.  The first was a test similar to the "Fun with Functions" test.  I used the "matching" method to assess my students' understanding of scientific notation.  Each test had a unique sent of cards, so it was very important that the students kept all the cards together and did not swap cards. (Mistake #1). Also, there were about 16 cards per student with only about 10 question on the test. (Mistake #2) For my first class, the assessment worked REALLY well.  However, for the remaining classes, it was a disaster.  Despite specific instructions, several students dropped pieces on the floor, swapped pieces with a neighbor, and took pieces with them when they left the class.  By the end of the day, I was seeing pieces of my test down the hall. And because the pieces were mixed up, several students did in fact have the correct answer, but because they had a card from a different test, their answers didn't always match the answer key for their test number.

It seemed the students were excited about the idea of  the new assessment style, but there were too many cards per student and too much room for error.  In the future, I will do a better job of color coding the cards, creating fewer cards, and requiring the students to write the letter AND the number/answer on their test.  For the first 2 classes, I only required that they write the letter.  For the remaining classes, I required that they write the letter AND answer.  That's how I came to the realization that the pieces were allll mixed up! :(








4 comments:

  1. The idea is definitely a good one to get the kids into it! Great job identifying the problem, and I hope you try it again sometime!

    ReplyDelete
  2. It seems like you are continuing to find a way to spark excitement and keep the kids interested. It takes a lot of effort to try new things, and I applaud your efforts. Just about everything we'll try during this first year will be trial-and-error. Nevertheless, we can't let that stop us from trying them. Moreover, it shows that you have optimism about teaching, learning, and achievement in your class. Keep it up, it'll pay off; for you, and your kids!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Haha, I know what its like to give clear directions that still aren't followed (Don't write on the class set of worksheets, pass them back to the front, write your name and date on the top of the page). I mean, some things you can only learn from trial error. Maybe with some slight tweaking (since you seem to have identified the problems) you can make it work the next time around. Keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Carmelle, I am always inspired by the new creative things you try in your classroom. I applaud you for keeping up the energy and faith in your kids to try new things. I have similar experiences with things going really well in first period, and as my materials disappear, dwindle, and find their way to the floor as the day goes on, my last two periods can get pretty strained. This happens even if I've prepared enough materials for one and a half class sets! I think it's important for us to realize, just as you did, that we should try new methods more than once, and the kids will probably catch on after awhile. Keep doing what you're doing!

    ReplyDelete