October 6, 2014 ACAS 1 1. I am currently placed in a fourth grade classroom at Waipahu Elementary School. There are 24 students in our classroom. Between the 13 boys and 11 girls, we have 6 ESL and 3 SPED students. On a regular day schedule, there is one teacher in the classroom. For certain subjects, the ESL and SPED students have tutors that they go to for help. 2. For my assessment, I will be covering CCSM 4.NBT.3: "Use place value understanding to round multi-digit whole numbers to any place." In other words, the child should be able to perform the following tasks: Define that rounding is a process that changes a number into a simpler number through estimation. Identify place values from the ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands and millions place. Round up when the place value digit is 5 or higher. Round down when the place value digit is 4 or lower. As an assessment tool, I will be using a pre-test to gauge where the students are as far as rounding. After a week or two of practice problems, I will present them with a post-exam of similar questions to monitor their improvement. STUDENT A pre-test assessment:
STUDENT B pre-test assessment:
3. In the pre-test, we gave the students a number to work with. In this case, it was 708,593. We asked them to round the number in four different place values: tens, ten thousands, hundreds and hundred thousands. Then we asked them to define the term "round". Both, students A and B, received a WB grade for their assessment, as was expected. Since the students were learning a new concept, we didn't anticipate any ME grades. Based off of what the students wrote, it seems like they understood place value. When we had asked them to round to the nearest tens place, although their answer was incorrect, they still managed to refer to the 9 in 708,593. 4. Since rounding is a new concept to them, we had to start from the very basics, building off their prior knowledge of place values. We have to teach them that rounding is taking a number and making it simpler based off of a particular place value. They have to know that rounding is a process of estimation. Aside from giving them single number examples, we can give them exercises through word problem format ("About how many..."). 5. In our Elementary & Middle School Mathematics textbook, they gave an activity that I would find useful. On page 230, Van de Walle explains an activity using money. They gave multiple values and asked for an estimated total. In the example, they used $.65, $.79 and $.39, asking for a total amount of money. To help the student, Van de Walle left answers in multiple choice form. I like this activity
because it not only gets them to practice their rounding skills, but it is applicable to real life. 6. STUDENT A post assessment:
STUDENT B post assessment:
7. Looking at the post assessment, I found some interesting results. For student B, he showed immense improvement since the pre test. It's been about two weeks from each test and we did a number of activities and assignments to help them practice. Initially, he received a WB. By the time he took he post test, he improved all the way to an ME. Within the two week span, his participation in class showed his understanding of the content. He would contribute answers and help his peers. Student A, on the other hand, received a consistent WB on his exam. This one I found surprising because he is a very bright student. He would turn in all his homework and it'd be correct. He'd participate in class and show his work during the problem of the day. Despite his understanding of the content, he still received a WB on his post exam. A number of questions came to mind. Is student A a bad test taker? Did something happen to him that day? Was he distracted during the test? I wonder why his test result came up the way it did. What is the problem in the situation? Although student A is a bright student with knowledge of rounding, his test showed otherwise. He received a WB on his post test regardless of his improvement since the pre exam. So what does this imply about my teaching? This shows that I need to spend more time understanding the strengths and weaknesses about my students. Seeing student A's exam caught me off guard. I assumed that he was going to get an ME but ended up getting a WB. Maybe he was distracted during the exam. Maybe he's a bad test taker. Now what do I need to do to improve my situation? I need to pay more attention to the students in my class. I need to get a feel for their tendencies in what they're good at and what they struggle in. That way, I can accommodate them the best I can.
Works Cited: A., Van De Walle John, Karen Karp, and Jennifer M. Bay-Williams. Elementary and Middle School Mathematics: Teaching Developmentally. Boston: Pearson, 2013. 230-31. Print. Self Reflection: I feel like I did accomplish most of the tasks that were being asked. I started off by describing the classroom. Then from there, I went straight into the assessment. I chose two students to study and included their pre and post assessments of the same common core standard. I think I did a good job analyzing their results, leaving room for future questions and considerations. I definitely have a better understanding of what to look out for when teaching and grading students. The only thing I didn't really meet were the expectations in activity choosing. Rather than selecting three, I chose one that I felt best connected with what my mentor teacher was doing in class.
Peer Revision (Lindsey Seu):
Everything is there! This paper was easy to follow and understand. John assessed the students and analyzed the data well. He answered all the questions and fulfilled the requirements.
