Post assessment: for me, for the students and for my TWS unit

I am going to first answer some specific questions that have been posed as well as give a short general analysis of how my TWS went and some of what I am taking away from it.... I say some because I am sure more will develop still!

1~ Based on your formative assessment, what results are you expecting to see
on this test?

The results that I am expecting to see from my post assessment have directly to do with my formative assessments as well as my pre-assessments and levels of improvement or lack there of. My formative assessments consisted of anecdotal notes, whole and small group discussion, calendar quiz, and discussion between Carole and I about the students throughout the unit. The results I hope to see are better understanding of place value in a variety of forms, and multiple subtraction strategies and appropriate use. I am expecting to see improvement for some students and I am expecting to also see where there will be a need for additional re-teaching with some students as well.

2~ How have you made sure this test will accurately measure all students' knowledge? Were there any adaptations you built in or used while students were taking their tests?

Ways in which my CT and I have made sure that this test will accurately measure all student' knowledge has been to incorporate what we are measuring on this test into the formative assessments throughout the unit. When conferring with students, we have kept our learning goals (place value/subtraction strategies) in the forefront. By this I mean that when conferring with students we, for example, emphasized and guided students toward thinking about place value when solving subtraction problems. We also used similar problems so that the format would be familiar and consistent. We also incorporated 'mini-quizzes' in order to assess if we were on the right track, toward conceptual understanding of place value/strategies as well as procedural efficiency. Sometimes we saw students who were getting this and sometimes we did not, and we needed to refocus. This occurred a lot during place value, where we eventually adapted the curriculum by using a new and different approach with both manipulatives(place value blocks). Adaptations such as this helped students to visually see place value in a new way.

Many adaptations during the test have been built into this classroom already and I utilized these for all the assessments. Adaptations included: sitting where you were most comfortable to take the test, using test taking strategies that have been explicitly taught and practiced, and having the directions clearly stated and written out.

3~ How will what you teach next be informed by this assessment?

What we teach next will be greatly informed by this assessment. For students who show strong understanding both conceptually and procedurally regarding place value and strategies will be strongly prepared for the next investigation which focuses on bigger numbers. Next steps for students who are not showing strong conceptual and procedural understanding will be more conferring and additional teaching of these two learning goals. Going back to using smaller numbers will could be an option until there is confidence that they are ready to move up to the larger numbers. It will vary with each student and depending on where there current skill level lies. This may take one small group lesson for some of the students or the whole next unit for others. This will be a bridge to cross when figured out.

4~ How will what you learn from this assessment change how you would teach this lesson next time?

Preliminary analysis of this assessment has left me feeling both proud of the students and a little disappointed with myself. A large, pretty darn large!, majority of the students did really well. A lot of 4's and 3's and only a few 2's and no 1's (there are many aspects of a grade for this assessment so I am generally talking about specific to place value and subtraction strategies only) BUT.... basically, the 3 students who are still struggling the most were the students I conferred with regularly. This can be looked at two ways and I am choosing to look at both of these ways. One way to look at it... I know these students fairly well from conferring so often throughout these lessons. Because of this, I am in a good spot to continue supporting them and to give them some good solid final pushes regarding this content area. A second way to look at this.... I need to really think about and mull over why my conferring with them did not help them to better succeed. What can I do during conferring to improve student learning. There was some improvement but not nearly enough.

Lesson specific, I would change numerous things the next time I taught this mini-unit. I would use place value blocks from day one (no 10,000 chart), I would dig deeper and look more in depth at the strategies they come up with on their own and then try to really highlight those examples that fit in with the desired strategies from lesson. I also would like to think up a better way, other than pencil and paper, to have given the pre- and post-assessments. I like the way we wrote the test and the format is very conducive to turning into data, but it still felt like such an archetypical assessment. Good, bad....still deciding! Other changes would be to have calendar time be even more intimately connected throughout the lessons instead of just at the very end (thanks to Carole for implementing that!) There is more I am sure and some that I would keep the same. This will all be detailed even further as I analyze my data further and complete the finishing write-ups for my TWS. My debriefing with Carole also gives me even more insight so I am sure that I will update this real soon with new thoughts.

In general:
This was a great experience. My personal math content knowledge is always challenged in such an interesting way when teaching math. It is really interesting to be learning math in a whole new way (the math sequence helped me to prepare for this but these experiences are more personal and thus impact me so much more) while also teaching a more conceptual approach to the students when I am still figuring it out myself. There was still a slight detachment since the TWS is not truly a whole investigation or unit. Things that went well: getting in front of the classroom so much that I began to feel more comfortable with dialogue between me and the students. I really want to work on asking more meaningful questions rather than yes or no questions. I also felt that we tried very hard to bring in other methods and visuals when what was happening was not working. I know that I felt really excited when bringing in place value blocks to replace the 10,000 chart. It felt exciting to problem solve and give more effort in finding a way to help them see it.

And lastly, there will be more to come about this.....my reflection has only just begun.... to live....{carpenter reference/joke.... :) }