 |
| Number cards offer a great warm up and exercise for bridging fourth to fifth grade skills. |
As we know there are a large number of formal and informal ways to assess. Assessments may include observation, performance tasks, quizzes, tests, problem solving, and conversation. Assessments during a learning unit are formative while the final assessment in a teaching unit, module, or year is summative.
Today I woke early to tackle students' first math assessment of the year. The open-ended number card assessment took quite a while to review, but this assessment provided me with a lot of information related to students' number sense, precision, and the Operations and Algebraic Thinking standards for the unit. As I reviewed the pages, I found students fell into the following categories:
- Needs reteaching
- Needs lots of practice
- Needs some practice
- Ready for a challenge
I'll pass back the assessments today so students can make corrections and share with family members. I'll also use the information to make similar ability groups for tomorrow's collaborative work. During that time, I'll meet with those students who need more teaching to work.
I also noticed that there are a few who need greater organizational help which may require some seat changes for whole-class teaching times.
Regular review of student work is essential to teaching well. This review takes time, time that's best found by instituting a weekly feedback and review loop.
Developing mathematical thinking and proficiency depends on assessment, review, feedback, and response--essential elements for teaching well.
