Article!
The reason that I was drawn to this article so much is because it addresses formative assessments. When most students hear assessment, they get stressed out. This usually means that something is going to be graded and students often get test anxiety, hindering their performance. This article discusses the use of formative assessments that are not graded, and simply allows the teacher to see where the students are at with the material. To begin, teachers need to emphasize to their students that it is okay to be wrong, it is all a learning process. It is ideal to get to the point where students feel comfortable sharing their answers in class and sharing with one another their thought processes. While this may not be easy to adapt to, and may take some time for students to get used to, it is crucial and will improve their overall understanding.
I think that this article is important to read as a math teacher because there are often many different methods to solving math problems. If you give your students formative assessments, you can analyze their thinking process and figure out where they are making a mistake and how it is affecting their answer. While group work and class activities aid in learning, it is important to see a students whole thought process while working through a problem. If students are given the opportunity to show their thinking and even confusion before a graded test, I think that they will be more confident when the graded test comes around because they will understand what they did wrong and have an explanation for it.
Formative assessments are beneficial in every classroom, no matter the subject. Even if you aren't teaching math, this is an excellent article to read and I think will be helpful in all cases.
Word Count: 303
I believe that students do well on tests only if the been studying as well as making mistakes along the way.This will help you and your teacher in assessing your progress.I believe the best way for this is just like the video in Dr. White class where the teacher work on a wrong problem to see what mistakes a student made without anyone knowing which student paper it was. So that student seen his/her own mistake and now can correct them along the way before they take a test.
ReplyDeleteWords:91
Hey Lisa!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on addressing assessments for all students. I think students and teachers get freaked out when they hear the word assessment, but as you pointed out, assessments are truly to help students grow, not to push them down. I believe in math it is easy for teachers to constantly give formative assessments because without them then we can not see where each student lies and if they are truly understanding the process and what they should be doing. I think in other content areas teachers either do too many formative assessments or too little which does the opposite of helping the student grow. I think it is also important to mention that it doesn't only help the student grow, but the teacher as well because he/she can realize where they need to change how they teach a certain step or process.
Word Count: 146