Assessment Article - Journals and Portfolios: Alternative Assessment for Preservice Teachers

Summary

This article expresses the importance of alternative assessment and benefits. The author emphasizes how she uses journals in her own classroom. Journals can be used as open-ended responses or as prompts. Open-ended responses are rewarding because they can have a varity of answers. Students can explain what they have learned, pose more questions, or even look to the future. This is great because students can feel comfortable about their grade without having to fear a test or quiz. Journal prompts can occur anytime or day. They are when the teacher gives students a topic or question about students write on that specifically. This type of journal can show where students are in their learning compared to others and what they understand.

Application

Journals can be beneficial in any classroom and are easy to do. Some pros are that they can be fun and help students not only reflect on their mathematics class but also work on writing skills. These journals will also be great to have to look back on in the future. I feel that some cons may be that students are not going to be assessed over everything they know; just a broad overview. This could leave some students to fall behind in mathematics. In general I think they have a great purpose and help students be more confident with assessment instead of dreading a test.

Liebars, C. S. (1999). Journals and Portfolios: Alternative Assessment for Preservice Teachers. Teaching Children Mathematics , 164-170.

Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School - Shrinking Your Class

Summary

This article explained a great way to introduce seventh grade students to the concept of ratios. Students walked into their classroom to see it taken over by little toys scattered all over. These toys became a math activity! Students learned ration by scaling toys down to a smaller size to model them like an architect would a business or home. Once students got the hang of scaling down these items they got to scale themselves down. Students used a 1:20 ratio to scale down arms, legs, and torsos and document the measurements in a data chart. Teachers discuss how the activity was beneficial because it gave students a creative way to understand ratios and size relationship. One of the big problems was the time management skills of the students; not getting their models done in time.

Application

This activity is a really great tool to use for the introduction of ratios. I like it because it gets students interested in the beginning and they get to look past worksheets and learn in a creative way. I feel that this activity can be used to “shrink” any object in the classroom and shrinking the students is great. I would also use this activity to make objects larger in the classroom so students see both ways ratios work. Overall, this activity is good for discovery and introduction of a new concept. I cannot wait to incorporate it into my own classroom someday.

Herron-Thorpe, F, Olson, J, & Davis, D. (2010). Shrinking your class. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, 15(7), Retrieved from http://www.nctm.org/eresources/view_media.asp?article_id=9175

Teaching Children Mathematics - Paint Bucket Polygons - March

Summary

This article focuses on using the paint software on computers to teach polygons to students. Teachers formed a teach/study group to determine how students see and interpret polygons. Together, they created a group of lessons that help students understand geometric shapes and their differences. Fifth graders are introduced to the lessons by being asked, “What is a polygon.” Surprisingly, this had many fifth graders stumped and they needed more background to answer the question accurately. Teachers discovered that students were confused because of the definitions for polygons given to them. They tend to be too simple or too complex. To help with confusion, teachers introduced the polygons to a different class using the paint photo editing software on most computers. They created polygons and non polygons and asked students what would happen if they filled in each shape. Students were more able to visualize this method and determined what a true polygon was. With this software students can gain more knowledge on geometric concepts.

Application

This is a great idea to adapt to any classroom. It is a well thought out hands on approach that would be beneficially teaching many mathematic concepts, not just polygons. This method could be used to teach angles and parallel lines as well. In my classroom, I would definitely use this as a method of teaching polygons. It is visually appealing to students and helps them get involved. By putting the paint “into” the polygon students can realistically see if the paint makes it a polygon or not. This could also be used as an assessment tool to see where student’s level of understanding is about polygons. Although the paint tool is a very old program, some schools may not be able to afford much more and it is convenient since it does not require the internet. Paint is a simple tool which will also be beneficially for students when learning how to navigate through it.

Edwards, M, & Harper, S. (2010). Paint bucket polygons. Teaching Children Mathematics, 16(7), Retrieved from http://www.nctm.org/eresources/view_media.asp?article_id=9163

Video #2 Grade 7 - Lesson on Graphs

Purpose of the Activity:

This activity is a way of getting students to take graphs and create equations to the nth number. With this pattern, students will have a better understanding of how a graph works and what it can represent. Students will create graphs on anything they want as long as it shows a relationship. This is helpful for students so they can relate the math to something physical rather than it being abstract; like a graph can be. By the end of the activity, students learn the importance of graphs and ways to turn their graphs into tables. Tables help the students see their data more clearly and show patterns their data may have. This can teach students how the nth term works and why it is important.

3 Questions:

1. How do you determine whether group work is appropriate and effective?

I personally believe group work is most effective when students stay on task and do not get caught up in other conversations. Group work can be very beneficial when getting others opinions and relying on others for help in solving problem situations. I feel that the example in the video is a great way of using group work and why it is so important. Group work is best when students are actively engaged in the learning rather than letting others do the hard work.

2. Describe the student-teacher interactions during the task debriefing discussions and assess the effectiveness of these interactions.

The student-teacher interactions were very casual. Students asked questions with a purpose and the teacher was quick to answer. Students were challenged further by the teacher asking more questions to their questions. I feel this is an extremely effective method of discussion with your students. The students felt comfortable coming to their teacher for help and the teacher was good at challenging students but helping them at the same time.

3. Describe how appropriate you think the primary task in this lesson is for developing an understanding of the mathematics being taught.

I feel that the primary task of this lesson is the best way this teacher could have taught her students this concept of graphs. With this lesson, students are able to visualize something they are familiar with in their graphs. This makes the lesson more valuable and beneficial to the students because they can relate to their learning. Students then have a solid understanding of the mathematics behind the graph and are given a good base for learning more skills in graphing.

Overall Views on the Video:

I really enjoyed this lesson how helpful the step by step video is at showing it. I think it is a great way to teach the nth term and also show the relationship between graphs and tables. I like that students get to relate their mathematics to something they enjoy rather than given a worksheet to fill out. I think this lesson is appealing and helps students discover more than an average lesson would. I would definitely use this lesson in my own classroom because the students seemed to enjoy it and have fun while learning graphing concepts at the same time.