rubric_shivee.jpg | |
File Size: | 107 kb |
File Type: | jpg |
Formative Assessment Assignment and Analysis
Directions:
1. Select four formative assessments from 75 Practical Strategies for Linking Assessment, Instruction and Learning.
· Describe the assessments that you selected.
· How did you choose the assessment technique and the content assessed?
· What standards did the assessments address?
- Popsicle stick questioning
- Think Pair Share
- Directed paraphrasing
- Informal student interviews
- Explanation analysis
- Juicy questions
I was having difficulty getting many of my quieter students to participate. And if I used cold calling they did not appreciate it and did not like it. Even if I did use cold call they would not have an answer. So I switched to using Popsicle sticks where I wrote their names on the sticks and on side I colored them green and the other end was colored red. So after placing them in a cup with the green end up, indicating that I had not called on that student yet. After I call on them I flipped them stick so that red side shows but their stick still stays in the cup indicating that they are not off the hook and I can call on them again. This way all students have to be ready for any questions I ask because they can be called upon through randomization. In addition, this removes the bias of calling on the same students, and allows me to hold all students accountable. Furthermore, this eliminates the faster students from calling out answers or quickly answering before any of the other students can even think about the question. (Ms. Brown gave me some great advice and told me to alert students before I would call on them and give them a heads up. This proved to work amazingly! I would tell a student that I was about to call on them for a certain question, and tell them to relax and just take some time to think about their answer and then answer!) This technique worked for almost all my standards since it is just a better way to question students.
I love juicy questions because it makes students think and not just recall information. Students have to draw conclusions make connections to figure out answers. They start off slow with easy recall questions which helps students gather and organize the knowledge they need for analyzing the rest of the more difficult, complex questions. I used these for my hominid evolution standard.
I tried directed paraphrasing with my students for some paragraphs from their textbooks. I had students read out loud in a chain and then had them explain what they just read out loud to the class while the class took notes on what was being read and said afterwards. It worked pretty well, but my students did not enjoy reading out loud. I chose this because students need practice reading and reading out loud improves reading speed, clarity and comprehension. The material for this chapter was not so difficult but I wanted to understand what students understood when they were reading their book so I had them do this. I used this for my latest standards, about carrying capacity and population ecology. (SC.912.L.17.5
Analyze how population size is determined by births, deaths, immigration, emigration, and limiting factors (biotic and abiotic) that determine carrying capacity. Level 3: Strategic Thinking & Complex Reasoning)
I have been doing informal student interviews since the day I started interning, where I ask students about their interests in math and science, feedback about my current lesson, their preferred learning styles, what they learned in class, and general discussions about science and why it is important. It helps build a bond with students and helps me create lesson plans better suited to their needs and wants. This goes along with any of my standards as it can be done at any time. I found out that many of my students zone out during videos I show them even if they are short. So I started pausing and asking questions every 1-2 minutes in videos. This keeps students alert and I also make them take notes on what we just discussed, or answer questions. I did this for my symbiotic relationships between organisms standard.
2. Administer the assessments and collect student artifacts.
· How many students and which grade level did you assess?
· What accommodations did you make for students with different learning styles and needs?
24 students from 5th period and 22 students from 6th period, all enrolled in 10th grade honors biology.
There are one or two students in my class who have trouble writing by hand so I allowed them to just type up the paragraph.
3. Select 1 of the assessments and develop a detailed rubric for scoring the assessment.
· Use the appropriate content rubric to help you develop the rubric for your assessment.
SEE ATTACHMENT!
4. Analyze student results using the rubric.
· Describe in detail how the students responded to the assessments and how they performed.
· Either describe student responses or cut-and-paste some actual samples of student work.
Most students ended up in the 0.25, 0.5 range. Few students got 0.75’s and there was a rare 1. Students answered the easy questions that led to the more difficult questions easily; however when it came to explaining the difficult higher ordered thinking questions students had trouble. First of all they did not use complete sentences, and if they did their answers were disconnected and did not grasp the big picture.
(I returned most of these back to the students)
These are the questions used for this assignment, where they had to read a scientific paper and answer the following.
The Transforming Leap, From Two Legs to Four Legs
1. Why would these creatures want to stand on two legs? Provide 2 reasons.
- Reach higher, run faster
2. What was probably the first major adaptation associated with the divergence of the human lineage from a common ancestor with the African apes? Why?
- Bipedality
3. How could have bipedality led to the creation of “family life”, “nurture”?
- Infants take longer time to grow
4. How could have bipedality lead to processes such as tool making? (Hint: what part of the body is now free for use?)
- Hands are free
5. How do studies of ancient climate and geology contribute to the study of hominid evolution?
- Hominids when standing upright have less sun exposure
The Transforming Leap, From Two Legs to Four Legs
6. Why would these creatures want to stand on two legs? Provide 2 reasons.
- Using hands for tool making, escape from predators easily
7. What was probably the first major adaptation associated with the divergence of the human lineage from a common ancestor with the African apes? Why?
- Bipedality
8. How could have bipedality led to the creation of “family life”, “nurture”?
- Infant size is now limited so longer post natal nurturing is required
9. How could have bipedality lead to processes such as tool making? (Hint: what part of the body is now free for use?)
- Hands are free so they can be used for tool making
10. How do studies of ancient climate and geology contribute to the study of hominid evolution?
5. Reflect on student understanding based on results obtained using the rubric.
· Were you surprised at how the students performed on your assessments?
· What do you know about the thinking patterns of the students in your class after having performed the assessment that you didn't know beforehand?
Yes. I really believed that my students would be able to explain themselves with clarity and show me the deep connections through writing. It was disappointing to read and grade these assessments. I think my students are always in a rush to just get it done and be over with, because they have never received feedback on their work from their current teacher. They are usually just graded on completion, so the work that they do is just enough to complete. They fail to think about the questions deeply and take some time answering them. I think they just need examples of how to do this, and clear guidelines and rubrics to show them exactly what I expect of them when it comes to writing responses to higher-order questions. They may make deep connections however they fail to demonstrate them. I realized very quickly that my students are so used to just looking for the answers in the reading and copying them into their answers. They basically hunt for the answers rather than reading and comprehending to come up with their own answers. This gravely disappoints me.
The response are short and choppy, they barely answer the questions at hand and do not address the questions thoroughly. Deep understanding is not demonstrated, the student is not demonstrating that he/she is making the important connections between these concepts of bipeds, geology…etc.
6. Address how the assessment will inform your instruction and address student needs.
· Discuss the instructional implications stemming from the assessment (i.e., how will the results alter the way that you teach the class now that you have more information about how they think)?
I definitely need to provide the students with clear cut objectives and rubrics showing them exactly what I expect and want from them in terms of assignments and responses. This is the only way they will know what to hand in.
I also thought about taking these old assignments and revisiting them quickly with students and coming up with complete answers together as a class - Directly modeling how to approach these questions, and how to answer them thoroughly with clarity and understanding. I could also just use a new assignment and answer one or two questions with them and show them exactly the methodology use to answer these questions.
Directions:
1. Select four formative assessments from 75 Practical Strategies for Linking Assessment, Instruction and Learning.
· Describe the assessments that you selected.
· How did you choose the assessment technique and the content assessed?
· What standards did the assessments address?
- Popsicle stick questioning
- Think Pair Share
- Directed paraphrasing
- Informal student interviews
- Explanation analysis
- Juicy questions
I was having difficulty getting many of my quieter students to participate. And if I used cold calling they did not appreciate it and did not like it. Even if I did use cold call they would not have an answer. So I switched to using Popsicle sticks where I wrote their names on the sticks and on side I colored them green and the other end was colored red. So after placing them in a cup with the green end up, indicating that I had not called on that student yet. After I call on them I flipped them stick so that red side shows but their stick still stays in the cup indicating that they are not off the hook and I can call on them again. This way all students have to be ready for any questions I ask because they can be called upon through randomization. In addition, this removes the bias of calling on the same students, and allows me to hold all students accountable. Furthermore, this eliminates the faster students from calling out answers or quickly answering before any of the other students can even think about the question. (Ms. Brown gave me some great advice and told me to alert students before I would call on them and give them a heads up. This proved to work amazingly! I would tell a student that I was about to call on them for a certain question, and tell them to relax and just take some time to think about their answer and then answer!) This technique worked for almost all my standards since it is just a better way to question students.
I love juicy questions because it makes students think and not just recall information. Students have to draw conclusions make connections to figure out answers. They start off slow with easy recall questions which helps students gather and organize the knowledge they need for analyzing the rest of the more difficult, complex questions. I used these for my hominid evolution standard.
I tried directed paraphrasing with my students for some paragraphs from their textbooks. I had students read out loud in a chain and then had them explain what they just read out loud to the class while the class took notes on what was being read and said afterwards. It worked pretty well, but my students did not enjoy reading out loud. I chose this because students need practice reading and reading out loud improves reading speed, clarity and comprehension. The material for this chapter was not so difficult but I wanted to understand what students understood when they were reading their book so I had them do this. I used this for my latest standards, about carrying capacity and population ecology. (SC.912.L.17.5
Analyze how population size is determined by births, deaths, immigration, emigration, and limiting factors (biotic and abiotic) that determine carrying capacity. Level 3: Strategic Thinking & Complex Reasoning)
I have been doing informal student interviews since the day I started interning, where I ask students about their interests in math and science, feedback about my current lesson, their preferred learning styles, what they learned in class, and general discussions about science and why it is important. It helps build a bond with students and helps me create lesson plans better suited to their needs and wants. This goes along with any of my standards as it can be done at any time. I found out that many of my students zone out during videos I show them even if they are short. So I started pausing and asking questions every 1-2 minutes in videos. This keeps students alert and I also make them take notes on what we just discussed, or answer questions. I did this for my symbiotic relationships between organisms standard.
2. Administer the assessments and collect student artifacts.
· How many students and which grade level did you assess?
· What accommodations did you make for students with different learning styles and needs?
24 students from 5th period and 22 students from 6th period, all enrolled in 10th grade honors biology.
There are one or two students in my class who have trouble writing by hand so I allowed them to just type up the paragraph.
3. Select 1 of the assessments and develop a detailed rubric for scoring the assessment.
· Use the appropriate content rubric to help you develop the rubric for your assessment.
SEE ATTACHMENT!
4. Analyze student results using the rubric.
· Describe in detail how the students responded to the assessments and how they performed.
· Either describe student responses or cut-and-paste some actual samples of student work.
Most students ended up in the 0.25, 0.5 range. Few students got 0.75’s and there was a rare 1. Students answered the easy questions that led to the more difficult questions easily; however when it came to explaining the difficult higher ordered thinking questions students had trouble. First of all they did not use complete sentences, and if they did their answers were disconnected and did not grasp the big picture.
(I returned most of these back to the students)
These are the questions used for this assignment, where they had to read a scientific paper and answer the following.
The Transforming Leap, From Two Legs to Four Legs
1. Why would these creatures want to stand on two legs? Provide 2 reasons.
- Reach higher, run faster
2. What was probably the first major adaptation associated with the divergence of the human lineage from a common ancestor with the African apes? Why?
- Bipedality
3. How could have bipedality led to the creation of “family life”, “nurture”?
- Infants take longer time to grow
4. How could have bipedality lead to processes such as tool making? (Hint: what part of the body is now free for use?)
- Hands are free
5. How do studies of ancient climate and geology contribute to the study of hominid evolution?
- Hominids when standing upright have less sun exposure
The Transforming Leap, From Two Legs to Four Legs
6. Why would these creatures want to stand on two legs? Provide 2 reasons.
- Using hands for tool making, escape from predators easily
7. What was probably the first major adaptation associated with the divergence of the human lineage from a common ancestor with the African apes? Why?
- Bipedality
8. How could have bipedality led to the creation of “family life”, “nurture”?
- Infant size is now limited so longer post natal nurturing is required
9. How could have bipedality lead to processes such as tool making? (Hint: what part of the body is now free for use?)
- Hands are free so they can be used for tool making
10. How do studies of ancient climate and geology contribute to the study of hominid evolution?
5. Reflect on student understanding based on results obtained using the rubric.
· Were you surprised at how the students performed on your assessments?
· What do you know about the thinking patterns of the students in your class after having performed the assessment that you didn't know beforehand?
Yes. I really believed that my students would be able to explain themselves with clarity and show me the deep connections through writing. It was disappointing to read and grade these assessments. I think my students are always in a rush to just get it done and be over with, because they have never received feedback on their work from their current teacher. They are usually just graded on completion, so the work that they do is just enough to complete. They fail to think about the questions deeply and take some time answering them. I think they just need examples of how to do this, and clear guidelines and rubrics to show them exactly what I expect of them when it comes to writing responses to higher-order questions. They may make deep connections however they fail to demonstrate them. I realized very quickly that my students are so used to just looking for the answers in the reading and copying them into their answers. They basically hunt for the answers rather than reading and comprehending to come up with their own answers. This gravely disappoints me.
The response are short and choppy, they barely answer the questions at hand and do not address the questions thoroughly. Deep understanding is not demonstrated, the student is not demonstrating that he/she is making the important connections between these concepts of bipeds, geology…etc.
6. Address how the assessment will inform your instruction and address student needs.
· Discuss the instructional implications stemming from the assessment (i.e., how will the results alter the way that you teach the class now that you have more information about how they think)?
I definitely need to provide the students with clear cut objectives and rubrics showing them exactly what I expect and want from them in terms of assignments and responses. This is the only way they will know what to hand in.
I also thought about taking these old assignments and revisiting them quickly with students and coming up with complete answers together as a class - Directly modeling how to approach these questions, and how to answer them thoroughly with clarity and understanding. I could also just use a new assignment and answer one or two questions with them and show them exactly the methodology use to answer these questions.