Beginning of Term 4 Inquiry Update

Being a 9 week term, end of year (summative) assessments begin for students from week 3, which is next week! I have been thinking a lot about how I can be preparing students for these upcoming assessments. In addition to the next steps, set out in my last inquiry blog post, it is going to be essential to prepare these students for the assessments. To do this, I am continuing to encourage students to demonstrate mathematical reasoning through screencasts and through collaborative problem solving. I will be encouraging students to practice their times tables with their classmates as much as possible throughout the next week. This will be through times tables flash cards, Salute, and through times tables grids (including a permanent one which is now on the class whiteboard). I am also going to spend this week before testing begins, giving students learning experiences which go back to place value (and into decimals for students who are ready for this). In groups, we will go through specific questions which students have, and we will go through some practice questions to discuss how best to approach them. 

It is important that students are feeling confident to share their reasoning as they go into testing, so that they have the best chance of demonstrating their developing knowledge which they have shown throughout the year. 

When assessing these students, it is going to be really important to triangulate data, rather than just make judgements from one or two assessments. This is clearly explained through this diagram by the Ministry of Education. I need to be using a range of data from throughout the year, rather than just through formal testing.

Possible assessment through observations:

- Group work

- Collaborative problem solving (presentations on blog)

- Screencasts

- Maths books

Formal assessments (other than EOY assessments):

- Maths-whizz data

- Xtramath data

Learning conversations are going to be really important too (MoE, 2011). This was really important in creating mid-year OTJs, when I felt that other assessments types were not giving me enough information. 

Student voice through google forms

I have found that student voice is a great way for me to learn what additional support a student requires, how they want to learn, as well as a way a student can give me feedback on the effectiveness of my teaching for them. I have used student voice in a number of ways through literacy and maths. In maths, I have used a google form so students can let me know when they need support on a particular area of maths. We can then conference 1 on 1, or in small focus groups to develop understanding and confidence in that area. I can keep track of this additional student support on a google sheet.

The maths form:



In writing, I have created a similar form. This form allows students to be metacognitive about what area of writing they need most support. As is suggested as a strategy in teaching of maths, from this, I can then create flexible focus groups to support multiple learners at once, in an area which is purposeful for them (Chapin, O'Connor, & Anderson, 2009).

The writing form:



More recently, at the end of term 3, I created a form for students to share their ideas about how they enjoy to learn.




Reference:
Chapin, S.H., O'Connor, C., & Anderson, N.C. (2009). Classroom discussions: Using math talk to help students learn. California, USA: Math Solutions