Article One: Getting Started with Open-Ended Assessment
Open-ended problems are those with multiple strategies to solve and there can even be multiple solutions. This allows students to show their understanding on the topics. Instead of the student providing a simple answer the student has opportunity to explain their thinking and justify their answers. Open ended questions can be time consuming but they are worth it. As the teacher gets more use to the material coming up with questions will be easier and is beneficial to the students. Starting at a younger age, students can learn to justify their answers and reasoning. The article mentions teachers should not grade these right away, this could make the students uncomfortable for future open ended work. The teacher also used examples on the overhead and talked about the pros and cons of each sample. This helps the students get ideas about strategies they might not have used and work on communicating what they know with their classmates.
I really liked this article because I think open-ended work is important. I do think as we teach longer it will become easier to develop these problems because we know what to expect from the students. For example, a student might come up with a solution we did not think of. I like that the teacher shows examples, the verbal communication of the samples provides the students time to hear and work on using the right language for future problems. I also like that the teacher does not grade them right away. I know that open ended questions are intimidating, especially wanting to teach younger students, so we want them to feel comfortable and confident.
Article Two: A Smorgasbord of Assessment Options
This article discusses the importance and the benefits of student centered assessments. Student centered assessments help students, acting as tools for learning. Then it helps teachers provide scaffolding for students. Student-centered assessments therefore provide opportunity for students to set goals for where they should be at the end of the lesson/unit and help the teacher plan the next phase of the lesson/unit. The example provided in the article is about a class working with geometry. The students have to show their knowledge and reasoning to answer the questions. The students have reached mastery when the students can communicate their thinking and reasoning to their peers. The article does note that student-centered assessments should be both formative and summative to be effective.
Student-centered assessment provides a lot to the classroom. I like how the article mentions how it benefits the students and the teachers. I do believe the article was a little confusing on exactly what they are asking for, for a student-centered assessments. It makes sense the article can't give a cookie cutter explanation of what to do for student-centered assessments because it will vary class to class. Again, like the open ended questions from article one, student-centered assessments will be easier as the teacher because more familiar with the work and curriculum.
Article Three: Understanding Student to Open-Ended Tasks
This article is similar to article one on open ended questions. When teachers use open-ended tasks the students are provided with an opportunity to answer a question and communicate why they did what they did. The students get to provide justification. The article shows four students' work, explaining the various ways students can answer these questions. Students can draw, write, label, etc to answer. The teacher can then gauge the students' level of understanding through their work. Again, the article discussed how students might be intimidated by this process. The teacher was strict/hard on the students about feedback. She also expected students to perform well who did not and vice versa.
I really liked the emphasis on the open-ended tasks through these articles. I think it is important we give the students time to answer the questions and provide their reasoning. Giving the students the ability to draw/write/explain how they want to provides experience for them to be able to work on their communication. To build off the prior article of communication of their thinking showing mastery of the skill. We have to teach students how to communicate and open ended tasks and questions provides an awesome opportunity for the students to work on that.
Article Four: Assessing Students' Understanding through Conversations
Conversation is often overlooked when thinking about assessment tools but in reality it is the one most used. Teachers can have a conversation with a student, formally or informally, and see where a student is at and how they are thinking. A teacher can quickly see if the student understands the material being worked with. The article provides three examples that demonstrate the power of communication. One teacher used communication to see where the student was in the understanding. Next a teacher talks to students about mistakes made in work over a quiz. Finally, a teacher uses conversation on measurement to see where the students are misunderstanding the material. This helped her see where she needs to back up and help the students understand more.
I love the idea of having these conversations to see where students are lost, what they have mastered , and just creating a dialogue using the information the class is working with. When students can explain the work, they are taking the skill to the top level and will be able to apply their knowledge of the material anywhere. I love the examples provided because at first I thought we would just read about conversation as observation assessment basically. The teachers using it to create a dialogue on mistakes or just to gauge where he class was was awesome! I really liked it.
Article Five: An Experiment in Using Portfolios in the Middle School
The last article discusses implementing portfolios instead of using the traditional quizzes and tests. The teacher collects the students' work over the course of several weeks and has the students discuss their attitudes, growth, writing, and connections. The students have work that goes with each of these. The students are given time to reflect and justify their reasoning. The teacher mentions writing her lesson plans to provide opportunity to add to the portfolio.
I love the idea of portfolios! It was something I was planning for when starting my second year as a teacher...before I decided to come back to school. I think it is an awesome opportunity to document students' growth and for the older students to be able to reflect on the work is awesome! I think it really ties in the process standards and helps the students grow as mathematicians. Portfolios are also just great for conferences because all the information is right there, the teachers can use it to come up with grade and to have proof of where the student is at for that unit/topic/material.
Open-ended problems are those with multiple strategies to solve and there can even be multiple solutions. This allows students to show their understanding on the topics. Instead of the student providing a simple answer the student has opportunity to explain their thinking and justify their answers. Open ended questions can be time consuming but they are worth it. As the teacher gets more use to the material coming up with questions will be easier and is beneficial to the students. Starting at a younger age, students can learn to justify their answers and reasoning. The article mentions teachers should not grade these right away, this could make the students uncomfortable for future open ended work. The teacher also used examples on the overhead and talked about the pros and cons of each sample. This helps the students get ideas about strategies they might not have used and work on communicating what they know with their classmates.
I really liked this article because I think open-ended work is important. I do think as we teach longer it will become easier to develop these problems because we know what to expect from the students. For example, a student might come up with a solution we did not think of. I like that the teacher shows examples, the verbal communication of the samples provides the students time to hear and work on using the right language for future problems. I also like that the teacher does not grade them right away. I know that open ended questions are intimidating, especially wanting to teach younger students, so we want them to feel comfortable and confident.
Article Two: A Smorgasbord of Assessment Options
This article discusses the importance and the benefits of student centered assessments. Student centered assessments help students, acting as tools for learning. Then it helps teachers provide scaffolding for students. Student-centered assessments therefore provide opportunity for students to set goals for where they should be at the end of the lesson/unit and help the teacher plan the next phase of the lesson/unit. The example provided in the article is about a class working with geometry. The students have to show their knowledge and reasoning to answer the questions. The students have reached mastery when the students can communicate their thinking and reasoning to their peers. The article does note that student-centered assessments should be both formative and summative to be effective.
Student-centered assessment provides a lot to the classroom. I like how the article mentions how it benefits the students and the teachers. I do believe the article was a little confusing on exactly what they are asking for, for a student-centered assessments. It makes sense the article can't give a cookie cutter explanation of what to do for student-centered assessments because it will vary class to class. Again, like the open ended questions from article one, student-centered assessments will be easier as the teacher because more familiar with the work and curriculum.
Article Three: Understanding Student to Open-Ended Tasks
This article is similar to article one on open ended questions. When teachers use open-ended tasks the students are provided with an opportunity to answer a question and communicate why they did what they did. The students get to provide justification. The article shows four students' work, explaining the various ways students can answer these questions. Students can draw, write, label, etc to answer. The teacher can then gauge the students' level of understanding through their work. Again, the article discussed how students might be intimidated by this process. The teacher was strict/hard on the students about feedback. She also expected students to perform well who did not and vice versa.
I really liked the emphasis on the open-ended tasks through these articles. I think it is important we give the students time to answer the questions and provide their reasoning. Giving the students the ability to draw/write/explain how they want to provides experience for them to be able to work on their communication. To build off the prior article of communication of their thinking showing mastery of the skill. We have to teach students how to communicate and open ended tasks and questions provides an awesome opportunity for the students to work on that.
Article Four: Assessing Students' Understanding through Conversations
Conversation is often overlooked when thinking about assessment tools but in reality it is the one most used. Teachers can have a conversation with a student, formally or informally, and see where a student is at and how they are thinking. A teacher can quickly see if the student understands the material being worked with. The article provides three examples that demonstrate the power of communication. One teacher used communication to see where the student was in the understanding. Next a teacher talks to students about mistakes made in work over a quiz. Finally, a teacher uses conversation on measurement to see where the students are misunderstanding the material. This helped her see where she needs to back up and help the students understand more.
I love the idea of having these conversations to see where students are lost, what they have mastered , and just creating a dialogue using the information the class is working with. When students can explain the work, they are taking the skill to the top level and will be able to apply their knowledge of the material anywhere. I love the examples provided because at first I thought we would just read about conversation as observation assessment basically. The teachers using it to create a dialogue on mistakes or just to gauge where he class was was awesome! I really liked it.
Article Five: An Experiment in Using Portfolios in the Middle School
The last article discusses implementing portfolios instead of using the traditional quizzes and tests. The teacher collects the students' work over the course of several weeks and has the students discuss their attitudes, growth, writing, and connections. The students have work that goes with each of these. The students are given time to reflect and justify their reasoning. The teacher mentions writing her lesson plans to provide opportunity to add to the portfolio.
I love the idea of portfolios! It was something I was planning for when starting my second year as a teacher...before I decided to come back to school. I think it is an awesome opportunity to document students' growth and for the older students to be able to reflect on the work is awesome! I think it really ties in the process standards and helps the students grow as mathematicians. Portfolios are also just great for conferences because all the information is right there, the teachers can use it to come up with grade and to have proof of where the student is at for that unit/topic/material.
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