Saturday, April 30, 2011
Gabriels Final Post
I wanted to focus my final post on the article that dealt with assessments. I thought it fit perfectly because assessments normally come at the end of units, and this being our final assessment on the blog post, I decided to end it with this. I really liked how the article actually included math problems/ assessments that they were describing. I was able to understand better the assessment because I was able to visually see the math. One main point that I thought was the most important was the fact that there are many different ways to solve a problem, which shows the different answers we could see as an instructor. There are many different methods in solving math problems, and that’s beneficial for students, espically when the teacher talks about the different methods. Allowing students to show their work and methods gives the teacher a better understand of how students are learning and understanding the material; and when the teacher better understands, they are better able to teach. I think the article was just trying to get across that students will have different ways of solving answers, and providing an assessment in which they can explain their methods and solutions is best. I have had math teachers that had math exams in scantron form; which was not beneficial for me as a student at all. This is clearly easier for the teacher, which is why they assess like this, but what does this say to the student. To me, it says that methods don’t matter, its only the solution that counts; which is 100% not true, and does not send students the right message. My CT does not spend a lot of time on math, which is a bit disappointing. She uses the calendar as math, which makes sense, but I don’t think its enough. I have yet to see students write down any math. Lauren and Gabe, do you see your CT providing assessments in math that allow students to explain and justify their answers and understanding? If you please explain,.
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Hey Rose! to answer your question, yes, i do see my CT providing assessments in math that allow students to justify and explain their answers. this is because her assessments are more informal. That way the students are discussing and defending their answers. I have not seen her do a lot of assessments in math, other than workbooks and worksheets, but when I do see them, they are very helpful. One time she simply had a group discussion in math, and this informal assessment was great because everyone was sharing, and we could listen to their explanations to see what they understood, and if they did get something wrong, the best way to help them since they explained where their incorrect answer was coming from. She had them all sitting around her on the podium, and she had several manipulatives. We were discussing different ways to make a number (addition.) Each student would take the cubes and make the number with a different combination of addition problems. It went really well, and we could help the student more than we would if we were just to look at a worksheet. Watching them solve the problem with the manipulatives helped them to prove to us they understood it, or show us what they didn't understand.
ReplyDeleteSo happy this is our final post, but so sad this class is over:(... I thought you brought up an important point when you said there are many ways to solve a problem, i.e. many ways/methods a student can get the correct answer. If a student solves a problem differently than you explained, but still came up with the correct answer, it is important to validate their work because people think of math problems in many different ways. Just because I may think a certain method is best for reaching an answer, does not mean my students will find the same method to be as helpful.
ReplyDeleteRose, to answer your question, no, I have not seen my CT provide the opportunity for students to justify and explain their answers for math assessments. She usually has them work on addition and subtraction problems the way in which she taught them how to do them. I think this is a disadvantage because there are different ways in which a student can arrive at the correct answer, and she does not let them know this, which I think turns some of the students away from math, which is too bad.