“Chris Ward’s fifth graders have been practicing long division for most of the period. While some understand it well, others are still struggling. Tomorrow, Chris wants to offer appropriate choices to enable students to practice what they need, so today she’ll use a quick check-in—a simple formative assessment—to determine those choices.There’s a dilemma here, however. If she uses an assessment targeted at the middle of the group, she’ll miss key information. She already knows that some students can easily compute 453/7 and others will find it overwhelming. So she offers students a choice. She writes three problems on the board—453/7, 625/5, and 4,357/18—and says, “For today’s math exit ticket, you’re going to choose a division problem to help show where you’re at. There are three on the board for you to choose from, and you may also create your own. Solve a problem that feels just right for you—one that is challenging enough to give you a push and that you think you can solve successfully. This will help me plan for tomorrow.” Offering a variety of problems, she gains a broader understanding of how she can set up tomorrow’s math work to be appropriately challenging for everyone.”
Ideas for Implementation:
1."Create good choices. Choices should align with learning goals and success criteria. They should resonate with students—matching success their varied interests, needs, and abilities. These check-ins should involve light prep on your part and about the same amount of time for students to complete."
2. “Help students choose well. Give students some guidance about which choice might be best without overly directing them. A teacher might say, ‘Think about which of these choices will best help you highlight your understanding of the topic we are learning. For example, you might choose one that matches your interests.’ Another example of what a teacher might say is, ‘If one of these problems seems to match up with how you’re doing on the topic, you might pick that one. If you think making one up will best help show your level of understanding, that also might be a good choice for you.’”
Strategies for the Classroom:
1. “Key Idea, Question, or Challenge: Students write a key idea they’ve learned, a question they have, or something they’re finding challenging.”
Bridget and Brooke say:
Using the scenario above, a teacher could ask kids what was a key idea or way of solving this math problem. Kids could ask a question about the steps to solving this type of math problem. Or, students could explain how challenging solving the problem was.
Based on their choice of how they express their understanding you will find that it's a bit easier to inform your instruction for the next period. To help students choose well, you may have them try another way of expressing their understanding if they are using one of the three choices more than once or twice. For example, "I see you've been asking a lot of questions about what we've been learning. Have you considered writing down a key idea or something you find challenging?"
2. “T or V: Students can choose to summarize information using either a T-chart or a Venn diagram, whichever will best help them communicate their understanding.”
Bridget and Brooke say:
Using the classroom scenario, the teacher could use the Venn Diagram to have students compare the different fractions OR create a T chart that has the equation on one side and the steps to solving it on the other.
Since T-Charts and Venn Diagrams ask kids to do different thinking skills (categorizing and comparing respectively), you might find it interesting to see why and how they will categorize or compare. This gives kids a way to show you their perspective on the learning they have done. It can show you where kids may need support, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment