S17: Blog 14: Review and New

This past week, my students took their last end of the unit test for math! It makes my head spin to think about the 11 chapters worth of content that we’ve covered since August but here we are! This last unit was about dividing decimals and was definitely one of the tougher ones we’ve had to tackle.

With the test being done on Monday, we moved into review on Tuesday. This past week and this coming week we are reviewing concepts that we’ve learned throughout the year to prepare students for their FSA test during the last week of April. We’re choosing to focus on topics that we know from looking at our data that our students most need to review. We’re also using what we know, and what our school’s math coach has told us, about the test to hit the topics that are covered most heavily on the test.

After looking over the students’ tests on Monday afternoon, my CT and I decided that one focus of the next day needed to be going over a few of the most-missed test questions. We had also planned to review multi-digit multiplication and the Order of Operations on this day. This led to us making the decision to split our math block and the kids in half. During the first half, some students would meet with me to go over the test while the rest would review with her- and then we would switch for the second half hour.

Because we found out Tuesday morning that we may have some visitors walking into the room, we spent our before-school time together writing up a joint lesson plan detailing what we’d be doing in our groups. I detailed which questions I was going to review and how I was going to assess for student understanding after I had reviewed a few questions. My CT explained her review that students would be using Classflow to complete.

I also wanted to highlight some test-taking strategies in my review. Something we’re all a little worried about is students running out of time while they’re taking the FSA. I wanted to show my students how to save some time while still being completely successful on their test! A key strategy that I went over was looking at the answer choices carefully. One question from the test you didn’t even need to solve because information from the problem was needed in the answer and only one answer had that right information! Another strategy that I wanted to go over with students was estimation and reasonableness. One question asked students to estimate and I noticed that nearly every student had spent time thoroughly solving the problem. I was proud of my students for showing me that they’re comfortable dividing with decimals but they spent so much time doing it! By taking a look at the answer choices before, they may have been able to see that only one answer made sense! Others were far too big or too small.

On Wednesday, we reviewed whole number division by having the students solve problems in the format of a relay race. Students were placed into teams and then one team member at a time would go up and complete one step of the problem before handing off to their teammate. This was a process that my CT and I modeled for our students before having them attempt it, because we wanted them to understand what we meant by only doing one step of the problem. For example, one teammate would do the division, while the next would multiply back, and then a third teammate would do the subtraction. Students loved this relay game and my CT and I were really impressed with the comfort level students were showing with the traditional algorithm.

We differentiated during this time by having the students solve a problem independently before breaking into groups for the game. With this data, I was able to pull struggling students into a small group to practice with a little more guidance. We then played our own version of the relay race by passing around a small white board and solving problems step-by-step. The best part about this was that I was able to offer on-the-spot assistance to students if they got stuck at their particular part. However, their teammates were often the ones to jump in and help before I even had to!

On another note, sometimes teachers learn new things too! Tuesday afternoons at my school are the afternoons of the week where we always have some kind of after school meeting. Sometimes it’s a PLC, sometimes it’s a faculty meeting. One Tuesday a month is Professional Development and this afternoon is my favorite! I love how professional development is structured at my school because it is the teachers who are in charge of it. The teachers who are a part of the leadership class work in content-area teams to create professional development based on what the other teachers they work with need. I’ve been going to the math professional development all year, because my CT is one of the people running it. We spent the first semester learning more about Classflow and how we can use it for differentiation. This semester we’ve been focusing more on assessment within lessons.

We had really great discussions this time around about how we are keeping track of how students are doing during lessons. This is something my CT and I have struggled with all year because it never feels like there’s enough time and because we have four different classes to keep track of! We sometimes manage to pass sticky notes back and forth with names of kids we need to pull for a reteach group but that’s about it! Some of our peers had some great suggestions about we can turn it into something the students do, rather than adding another thing to our to-do list.

Another interesting conversation we had was about how we can build the assessment criteria for our lessons with our students using the EQ, rather than having it be something we give to them. I thought this was a really cool idea because I think it not only ensures that the students know exactly what they need to do, but it also helps to give them a purpose for why they are doing it. This is something my CT and I will definitely be trying over the next couple of weeks!

FEAPS: 1a - Aligns instruction with state-adopted standards at the appropriate level of rigor

1b - Sequences lessons and concepts to ensure coherence and required prior knowledge

1c - Designs instruction for students to achieve mastery

1d - Selects appropriate formative assessment to monitor learning

1e – Use diagnostic student data to plan lessons

1f - Develops learning experiences that require students to demonstrate a variety of applicable skills and competencies

2a - Organizes and manages the resources of time and space to support student learning

2b - Manages individual and class behaviors through a well-planned management system

2c - Conveys high expectations to all students

2i - Integrates current information and communication technologies

2j - Adapts the learning environment to accommodate the differing needs and diversity of students

2k – Utilizes current and emerging assistive technologies that enable students to participate in high-quality communication interactions and achieve their educational goals

3a - Delivers challenging and engaging lessons

3c - Identify gaps in students' subject matter knowledge

3d – Modifies instruction to respond to preconceptions or misconceptions

3g - Teaches for student understanding using varied and appropriate strategies

3h – Differentiate instruction based on assessment of differing needs and diversity of students

3i - Support, encourage, and provide immediate and specific feedback to promote student achievement

4a – Analyzes and applies data from multiple assessments and measures to diagnose students’ learning needs

4b – Analyzes and applies data from multiple assessments and measures to inform instruction based on those needs, and drives the learning process

4c - Analyzes and applies data from multiple assessments and measures to drive the learning process

4d - Designs and aligns formative assessments that match learning objectives

5b – Uses research to improve instruction and student achievement

5c - Reviews data with colleagues to evaluate learning outcomes and plan effective lessons