3., 4., & 5. Lesson Planning and Assessment 1

3., 4., & 5. Lesson Planning and Assessment 1

This we believe (NMSA, 2010).

* Curriculum is challenging, exploratory, integrative, and relevant. Challenging Curriculum

* Educators use multiple learning and teaching approaches. Multiple Learning Approaches

* Varied and ongoing assessments advance learning as well as measure it. Varied Assessments

This week I gave my first “real quiz”. (Quizzes are given every Wednesday.) We have been working on the following: evaluating expressions (If you have an expression “x + 3” and x is -4, in theory you would determine that -4 + 3 is equal to -1”); solving one and two-part equations (if the equations is 4 + y = 13, balance the equation by subtracting 4 from both sides of the equation to get y = 9; and if you had 21 = 3x + 9, you can subtract nine from both sides and then divide by 3; and finally we have been examining slope (positive, negative, zero, undefined and drawing the stairways to heaven of rise/run). So yesterday I gave the quiz. This is what I found….

	Need work on expressions	Need work on equations	Need work on slope	Need work on all three	Got it
Frequencies	7/46	7/46	25/46	15/46	18/46
Percent	15%	15%	54%	32%	39%

If you look at the numbers, hopefully what you see is that there is a large group of students (54%) who may have seen slope for the first time; or it may be the first time in a long time. It looks like about a third of the students “did not get it!” and almost 40% of the students did. Based on what we know about middle school students it is time to differentiate!! In every class there are those who were successful and those who were not.

When I was living in Gainesville, FL one of the math teachers shared a way to work with two groups, “Oh, I use groups for part of the week.” This means, that once she knew who needed what, she allowed those who “got it” to deepen their understanding, or move to the next level; and those who did not “get it” to return to the basics, or look at it again, differently. Initially, I was scared to death; but what I found (duh) is that when students are learning math on their level, they actually feel more successful, they have the chance to “get it,” and are able to move along the curriculum. Those who already get it are relieved that they do not have to drag through more of the same. The keys are to first, find out what they know. The second is to consider how to separate activities so both sets of students are engaged in meaningful work.

This week one group has been working with and extending their understanding of slope. After giving the quiz, we hit multiple ways to address slope.  Those who “got it” began working on a mathematical description of slope. All students had the opportunity to participate in some enrichment/art integration.

Advice

1)   All students learned a song “To the right, to the right is a positive….”.

2)   They also integrated an “art activity.” They folded paper into quadrants and were asked to determine the slope of the line for the following: our hallway, the flagpole, the steps up to the office, and the steps down to the soccer field. Once the slope was identified (no slope, vertical-undefined, positive, and negative) students were asked to draw/illustrate this information in the four quadrants. 

3)   Those who had difficulty with “slope” have been plotting points and drawing vertical changes and horizontal changes using colored pencils.

4)   Those who were successful with the earlier assessment were given an opportunity to compare their drawings to the mathematical formula: (change in y/ change in x).

A reflection of how it is going:

It all began with determining what they knew. A few said, “We are in the stupid group.” One of my students said, “Thank you for helping me understand this.” Those working in the higher group had some difficulty staying focused. When I worked with the higher group, some of the lower students would just sit and stare. But I believe they will learn how to work independently. I believe they will find success and be able to move along at their own pace. 

We shall see how they do on their next weekly quiz. Those who are able to determine the slope of a line based on two ordered pairs will move to exploring and analyzing equations of lines.