Assessment serves different purposes at different times.
Assessment FOR learning (formative & diagnostic assessments)
- used to determine student progress
- teachers can adjust learning to meet the needs of the student and provide descriptive feedback
- includes anecdotal notes, practice assignments
- ongoing and tied to learning outcomes
Assessment OF learning (summative)
- is the use of a task or an activity to measure, the teacher records and reports on a student's level of achievement
- occurs at the end of a unit or the year
- quizzes, end of unit tests, and portfolios are a few examples.
Assessment AS learning (self-assessment)
- allows students to use assessment to further their own learning
- students can reflect on their own learning and set personal goals
- can include journals, self-assessment checklists and rubrics
- ongoing and tied to learning outcomes
Miss Bunz provided a variety of rubrics and shared some great tips for creating these guidelines. The main idea is to use qualifiers to help determine the level of work and divide the work into the categories; knowledge, thinking, communication, and application. When creating a rubric, the teacher just alters the achievement chart. An example of a rubric for a Grade 8 Geometry and Spatial Sense lesson was provided as a resource. In addition to this resource, we explored others to further develop our understanding of assessment. Have a look here.
We started the class activities with a Mental Math Relay game. I found it engaging, fun and it involves team work and speed. These types of activities are a great way for students to practice mental math and math facts. Again, the theme is how to make math meaningful and this strategy would work in the classroom. Solving questions mentally helps to force a student to focus on the relationships between numbers and the effect of number operations. Mental math strategies are useful in everyday life too. (Small, 2013 p. 31).
The Egg Hunt activity is a good way for students to problem solve, add, collaborate and communicate with a partner. It is introduced at Easter time and I think that students love themed games and activities. For mathematical Easter Egg Hunt, my partner and I had to figure out the best route from St. Catharines to collect the most eggs while we travelled throughout Ontario towns. Each city has a different number of eggs hidden. Our trip could only be a total distance of 4000 km or less and we had to end our hunt in St. Catharines. That was the challenging part. We were given a map and a list of the cities with their corresponding number of eggs as a visual and a route planner sheet for our calculations. We found 52 eggs, but it took us many times to reach this. The highest score was 58 eggs out of 75. Although this game is competitive, it is interactive enough to use in my classroom. The Egg Hunt activity can be extended in a few ways to promote critical thinking. I like that it provides opportunities for students to practice math without realizing that is the underlying goal.
This week’s class about assessment and its activities are important for me. It is evident that I must ensure that assessment benefits all students and my assessment practices should be efficient and effective. As a pre-service teacher, this is a tall order, but I will try. Entertaining, stimulating activities deepen student engagement and this represents another goal of mine.
Thanks for reading!
References:
Small, M. (2013). Third Edition Making Math Meaningful to Canadian Students, K-8. United States: Nelson Education
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