Harlem Renaissance Unit Assessment Data

Pre-Assessment Data: Number of students who answered true 27 97 66 66 12 97 76 65 44 96 Number of students who answered false 80 10 41 41 94 9 30 42 62 12 Correct Answer False True False True False False True True False True

1.) 2.) 3.) 4.) 5.) 6.) 7.) 8.) 9.) 10.)

Summative Assessment Data:

This is a chart of the individual grades for each class from highest to lowest. /110 108 (98) 102 (93) 102 (93) 100 (91) 96 (87) 94 (85) 92 (84) 90 (82) 90 (82) 90 (82) 90 (82) 88 (80) 86 (78) 84 (76) 84 (76) 84 (76) 82 (75) 76 (69) 72 (65) 72 (65) 68 (62) 64 (58) 64 (58) 60 (55) 58 (53) 54 (49) 38 (35) 30 (27) 26 (24) Reflection on data: The pre-assessment confirmed what I already suspected about my students. Many of the students already had a good foundation of general knowledge about the Harlem Renaissance. They recognized musicians and writers they had previously studied and knew that they were related to the Harlem Renaissance. The students did struggle on the questions that focused on specific details such as what themes a person wrote or sang about. This information showed me that my unit would be a review of old material. I knew that many of my students would have a foundational knowledge of the Harlem Renaissance which is why I chose to focus on the themes used in theater, music, art, and literature and how these themes related to the identity of the New Negro. The pre-assessment let me know that the content I planned to cover would review /110 102 (93) 102 (93) 98 (89) 96 (87) 96 (87) 96 (87) 96 (87) 94 (85) 94 (85) 92 (84) 90 (82) 88 (80) 88 (80) 86 (78) 86 (78) 84 (76) 82 (75) 78 (71) 78 (71) 76 (69) 76 (69) 66 (60) 64 (58) 60 (55) 60 (55) 48 (44) 26 (24) /110 104 (95) 104 (95) 102 (93) 100 (91) 96 (87) 94 (85) 94 (85) 92 (84) 86 (78) 84 (76) 84 (76) 82 (75) 82 (75) 78 (71) 76 (69) 76 (69) 72 (65) 72 (65) 66 (60) 64 (58) 64 (58) 62 (56) 62 (56) 60 (55) 58 (53) 56 (51) 50 (45) 44 (40) 34 (31) /110 106 (96) 102 (93) 96 (87) 94 (85) 94 (85) 90 (82) 88 (80) 88 (80) 86 (78) 86 (78) 86 (78) 85 (77) 84 (76) 84 (76) 84 (76) 84 (76) 82 (75) 80 (73) 80 (73) 72 (65) 68 (62) 68 (62) 65 (59) 63 (57) 56 (51) 55 (50) 54 (49) 48 (44) 44 (40)

the material the students already knew, introduce them to new content, and make them think deeply about the connection between the old content and the new content. My summative assessment data shows me that eleven percent of students made As, twenty-five percent of students made Bs, twenty-five percent of students made Cs, thirteen percent of students made Ds, and twenty-six percent of students made Fs. The school at which I taught this unit considers a C and above as passing. With this criterion, sixty-one percent of students passed my summative test. I am pleased with this number, but I would have liked for this number to be higher. Also, I would have like for the number of Fs to be lower. I had helped to give another test early in my placement at this school. I knew that many of the students struggled to give complete, clear answers to essay tests. I also knew that the teacher wanted to help students improve this skill because their social studies tests in seventh grade will be all essay questions. With this in mind, I did not make my whole test essay questions, but I did make the majority of the test open-ended, written responses. Even with the knowledge that some students were struggling to respond to this type of question, I still expected more students to perform better on this test. I spent a large portion of the teaching each day discussing the themes and how these themes related to the identity of the New Negro. I had the students review the definition of the New Negro throughout the week. I viewed my data from the daily assessments and tried to review and adjust my instruction based on this information. On the review day, I spent a large portion of time reviewing the definition of the New Negro and showing how it related to the themes we had discussed in class. I also emphasized to the students that they needed to know the definition of New Negro to be successful on the test. I also explained the format of the test and how I expected them to respond to each type of test question. The content on this test should not have been a surprise to the students if they paid attention in class on the review day. On the first day of instruction, I began to tell the students that they would have a test over the information we covered in class. The students were given an appropriate amount of time to study for the test. I think that some of the students struggled on the test because the instruction was hurried. If I were going to teach this unit again, I would spend two days on each lesson. The extra time would help spread out the instruction and slow down the pace at which the students have to absorb the information. I would spend more time reviewing the themes and concepts each day and give the students more time to write responses and reflect on their learning. I did not implement any of my re-teaching or extension activities. Spending two weeks on this unit might allow me to implement some of these activities to help students grasp the information on a deeper level. I recognize that there were many areas where I could have made my instruction more effective. But I also recognize that by sixth grade, students have to begin to take ownership of their learning. Part of teaching students at this age is teaching them how to organize their notes and study their notes. As I have mentioned, I gave the students warning about the test at the

beginning of the unit. I also reviewed the material thoroughly and told them what to study. On the day of the test, my cooperating teacher asked each class who had studied. The number of students who studied was very low. In one class of twenty-eight students, only seven students studied for the test. There is only so much I can do as a teacher. If the students chose not to study, that was a poor decision on their part that I cannot change. Sometimes, a teacher has to teach students life lessons in a hard way. There were students who made poor grades on this test who I know could have done better if they had studied. I did not like giving them the poor grade but that was the grade they had earned. In the future, I will do my best to emphasize to my students the importance of studying the information they learn in class. I will reflect on my own shortcomings and try to correct them. I will also ask my students to do the same thing. For my first unit, I am pleased that over fifty percent of the students passed the test. I hope that for my next unit, I will be able to help a higher percentage of students pass my test.