Below I'm sharing the criteria we used to determine the level of questions and a rough blueprint. As we were blueprinting we realized we needed to beef up some questions to reach the desired ration of 35:45:20 for low, moderate and high level questions.
I've been fortunate this year as a new teacher to be selected for the District's Math Assessment Committee. We have been focused this year on creating strong blueprinted exams for grade 7, 8 and 9. In the beginning we worked on unit tests that had been shared district wide. We reviewed them analyzing each question for taxonomic level (low, moderate, high) and identified which specific outcome and achievement indicator the question was testing. It has been amazing to get to share ideas with a wide range of math teachers, with various experiences. Below I'm sharing the criteria we used to determine the level of questions and a rough blueprint. As we were blueprinting we realized we needed to beef up some questions to reach the desired ration of 35:45:20 for low, moderate and high level questions.
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A couple ways I am encouraging grit and growth mindset in my students is with this bulletin board. Its been great to hear some of the language change within the classroom, especially when it comes to the hardest subject...Math! THIS WAS A BIG DEAL! I could see from the shading in the background this student was frustrated by this question. I felt it was important to PRAISE that fact that they did attempt to answer the question. Now I am better able to see how I can help this student with this math concept.
Above you'll find one of my best written unit plans. It's a thorough look at the essential questions and understandings need the for problem solving with radicals in Math 20-2. Now that I'm in the real teaching game, it is much more difficult to spend the time to go this in-dept in my planning. For me, it's now a fine balance between planning to be aligned to the curriculum and achievement indicators and providing a variety of formative assessment opportunities for students before taking on a summative evaluation.
Still searching for a way of planning that works best for me? What do you use? I was surprised how much I enjoyed planning this Dance Unit for ED 3700: Physical Eduction for Non-Majors. Dance can be a difficult unit to get middle schoolers excited about but I tried bring in multiple types of dance to hold students interest along with the opportunity to build their own dance and showcase their creativity. In this unit plan I've also utilized checklists, rubrics and student goal setting. Physical Education is a great place for student to practice goals setting as students can see results quickly and transfer this skill into there young adult life. Teaching Math, I find that using a questioning technique with students gives me a great deal of formative feedback as to how the material is being understood. However, I teach an EXTREMELY quite group of Math 20-2's who are very reluctant to share their ideas. My first response to this was to randomly pick students to answer questions. This way everyone would have to pay attention because they could be called on next. About half way through my practicum, I asked my students for feedback, I asked them what I should start doing, stop doing, and continue doing for their learning. I received an overwhelming number of feedback cards that said, "stop picking on us for answers." I was at a loss of what to do, I didn't what to stop asking them questions all together but I needed a way that would be safer for them. So, I tried this: I ask the first question and throw the ball to a student; as I ask more questions the student throws the ball to another student. First, saying their name, then, making eye contact with the receiver before throwing the ball. If someone knows the answer and wants the ball, they signal to the thrower that they are open and typically the ball is thrown to them. If the student doesn’t know the answer, they simply pass the ball on. I found this technique was successful because students had some time to think before answering and had the opportunity to pass. This ball also lights up and that entertained these high school kids to no end :) What questioning strategies have worked for your classes? I learned a lot about my students from this simple quiz. I also let them ask something they wanted to know about me an responded to each questions with a personal note back the next day The very first thing I did in my PS1 placement was give my kids a quiz... a "get to know you" quiz.
I started out telling students what my answers to the questions would be. I have found that if you tell students about yourself first they feel more comfortable sharing information about themselves with you. It all helps to start to build positive relationships. Here is a sample of what I got back: |
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