Assessment & Lesson Planning

So much of our journey thus far in Math class has been focused on improving our own self-efficacy as Math learners and teachers. Week after week we have learned the importance of creating lessons that are challenging but not anxiety inducing! And now we have moved into the realm of assessing our students. I don't know about you, but assessment is still something that I find challenging. How do you assess students but also continue to build them up? How can you help them to look past the grades and focus on strategies for continual learning and improvement? 

We started class this week with a clapping exercise, which I volunteered to participate in. This was a great way to kick off our discussion. I was so thankful that I got to perform my clapping rhythm second! I think we can all relate to a time where we participated in a learning activity or took a quiz that we were not properly prepared for and how frustrating that experience was! 

What not to do

Gone are the days of teachers saying "wow you're smart" or "wow that was so quick!" Um how much do I struggle to get past this myself?? Even in this class when someone has completed a question quicker than I have or they have some mind blowing method of solving it, I feel that they are superior at Math! Praise and encouragement are valuable tools, don't stop encouraging your students. But do find a way to encourage students for being hard working and persistent with a problem. 

Also, if a student just isn't getting something, don't just give them the answer! Help them in their inquiry, teach them the value of asking good questions!

Lastly, don't teach with the language that one method is "BEST." Give students the freedom to explore and practice to improve and build a relational understanding of different strands of Math.

What to do

1. find the strength/assets of a student's solution

2. use soft language when inquiring why and how a student came to a solution 

"wonder" is a great word, "I wonder why you did this," or "can you help me understand how you did this"

3. If there is a fragile understanding of a concept, how can this be improved

Knowing the Student

We have often heard how important it is to know your students. We need to create valuable assessment tools and problem solving activities that help us to understand our students' thinking! How much can you really know from an evidence-based objective test? The real learning happens when we observe students and engage in dialogue with them to really understand how they learn

Resource

The HWDSB has term by term grade based planning tools that I found this week. Great for the big picture! Each unit has suggested textbook resources to refer to when planning instruction. Not an assessment resource, but hopefully a useful one to bookmark for the future! 

Grade 6 Mathematics Plan