Mathews Elementary School CT: Holly Skipper

Gabrielle Gregorie ETS Task 2

Praxis Performance Assessment for Teachers: Task 2

Assessment and Data Collection to Measure and Inform Student Learning Contextual Information: A. I am in a first grade classroom of twenty-one students. There are eight girls and thirteen boys. The personalities and characteristics of each individual student bring entertainment, happiness, and comfort to the classroom. There are students with special needs in my classroom: two students receive speech intervention, three students receive reading recovery intervention, two students that speak English as a second language (ESOL), two students that take ADHD medication, and one student who receives behavior therapy and is medicated for his anger/behavior disorder. The content area of the lesson assessed in Task 2 is mathematics. The specific subject matter, fact families, was a trialing skill to teach, but mastery of the skill enables fluency for double-digit addition with numbers to twenty. B. There are social, behavioral and developmental factors that impact the instruction in our classroom. There is one student who is not socially developed for his age, and is unresponsive and lacking in verbal communication when he is asked questions. He also takes medicine for ADHD, which I feel also impacts his social skills. More often than not you have to provide him with the consequences of not communicating before you can get him to respond. He also lacks social skills among peers, and will soon begin the testing process to see if further instructional aid is needed in addition to reading recovery that he currently receives. Another student is medicated and counseled for anger and behavior due to situations he experienced at a young age and his current home life. For me it is very hard to understand what it must feel like to suffer bipolar and anger disorders at the age of seven, which allows me to not give up or burn out when he is having a rough day. Sometimes he does have to be removed from the classroom when it is disruptive to other students. I have learned ways of helping him keep it together and also ways to help him pull it back together, in order to make it through the day with hopes of starting over tomorrow. There are several other students that have behavior problems throughout the day. However, the classroom management plan allows me to solve our issues and allows the students to understand the system of consequences and resolutions used in managing our classroom. The fact that a lot of the students in the class are below grade level and have little to no help outside the school walls creates developmental factors that impact instruction. With the grading period just ending, there is now a list of students who are simply not ready for second grade. However, students that were on that list previously in the year have excelled in their reading and writing and have reached above and beyond where I thought they would be. If parents and teachers are working together, desired success can be achieved. However, there are many students in the classroom lacking basic structure, and needs that children their age demand and deserve. Therefore, these students do not have many resources at home. This is a big factor, because they are limited. This creates developmental factors not only in my classroom but school wide. The Mathews Elementary faculty
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Mathews Elementary School CT: Holly Skipper

Gabrielle Gregorie ETS Task 2

and staff work together as a community and with all public schools in the district and beyond that understand the foundation, life, and knowledge that a wonderful elementary school experience can bring to a child. The two ESOL students in the classroom are actually very verbal, social, confident and on grade level in their academics. I have gotten to know siblings of both students, and have learned the only impact they have on instruction is the language barrier when communicating with their parents. Both students parents, written and verbally, are challenging to communicate with. Luckily with some Spanish speaking knowledge, the help of the schools ESOL interventionist, and the connections and friendship I have formed with siblings, communication is successful. No real health considerations besides minor peanut allergies are an impact to teaching and learning in the classroom. Overall, the different characteristics, attributes and uniqueness each student offers to the classroom is used and portrayed in a positive light to provide a meaningful education to every student. C. As previously stated, the economic status of the zoned families and community that are a part of the Mathews Elementary family are very low. Not only impacting teaching but also impacting me personally are many conditions and situations that my students and others throughout the school experience. I have dealt with many heart wrenching days and stories hard to believe that you encounter teaching students raised in poverty. With poverty there is crime, illnesses, drug use, homeless and jobless families, and more. However, making the classroom the place of happiness, comfort, and security really is a rewarding feeling. I have learned a lot from my cooperating teacher, but something I am still working on is sometimes learning to leave it at school. There is only so much you can do in this profession, when it comes to terms of trying to improve their home life and living situation, and you have to remained focus on just trying to give them the best education you can for that school year. Overall, you do the best you can every day to deal with the many factors of twenty-one individual childrens lives that impact instruction and learning in the classroom. Selecting a Single Assessment: *Artifact #1 attached A. Common Core State Standards for Mathematics: Grade 1 Operations and Thinking (1.0A) Understand and apply properties of operations and the relationship between addition and subtraction. 3. Apply properties of operations as strategies to add and subtract. Objective: TSWBAT apply properties of operations as strategies to add and subtract. B. The selected assessment chosen to assess this standard/objective is a Fact Family Assessment. Every Friday, the students take two pencil-paper tests: spelling and math. After the week study and work on fact families, their Friday test will follow up on the subject matter. The assessment is eight questions: four on the front and four
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Mathews Elementary School CT: Holly Skipper

Gabrielle Gregorie ETS Task 2

on the back. The front side gives the students a domino. They must use the two given numbers and come up with two addition facts and two subtraction facts. The questions on the back have a fact family triangle with a missing number. The students must again take the two giving numbers, solve for the missing number in the fact family, and come up with two addition facts, and two subtraction facts. This means the students have twelve blanks/missing numbers to fill in for each question (total of 96). This assessment was chosen because it provides me with a formative assessment on the students overall learning of fact families and applying properties of operations as strategies to add and subtract. C. The students are familiar with the use of rubrics used to assess their overall learning: used for test and activities in the classroom. The rubric will maintain the first grade grading scale: 100/S+ 91 99/S 88 90/S78 87/P Below 78/ N Each question is worth twelve points (twelve blanks for each question). Students must be eighty percent accurate to obtain mastery of the skill (missing fewer than 16 of the 96 blanks). D. From the graded fact family assessments, I will be able to see the students learning throughout the week. With data collected throughout the week: student work, fact family activities, fact family final assessment, I can determine who has mastered the skill and who needs further review. It is hard to pull individual groups for math, but those who failed to meet requirements for mastery, went back to fluency and addition with numbers to ten on the following week, which allowed them to understand how to solve for the missing number when re-approaching fact families. During an observed lesson, student learning was recorded prior to the lesson, during, and post the assessment. I then submitted final grades and comments in to the grade book. Having a data-collection process that allows you to see who needs further instruction incorporated into planning allows me to accommodate all lessons and instruction for all students. Preparing Learners for the Assessment: A. Independent Indirect instruction will be used for the assessment. Students will work on their own to solve problems and reflect back on everything they leaned that week about fact families. This instructional strategy allows me to see the overall individual student learning and where problems occur for each student on the final assessment. B. A variety of learning activities and student groupings will be used in the classroom to prepare the students for the assessment. The students will have morning work, a
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Mathews Elementary School CT: Holly Skipper

Gabrielle Gregorie ETS Task 2

lesson, independent math time, and math homework daily regarding fact families and the standard being assessed for the week. The students will also have an art activity where they will create a fact family of their own and use it to make a kite. I chose these activities because I feel that they were a fun and meaningful way to help the students prepare for the assessment. C. The test will be a pencil and paper test. Every other student will move their seat to the opposite side of their desk, and every student is giving a folder called an office to put up around them to cover their work. Students are given directions before their test, and complete independently. When they are finished, they raise their hand for their paper to be collected and then wait quietly with their heads down until everyone is finished. One student who often has a hard time staying focused on his own paper moves to a table in the classroom to work independently. Also, two students who are late finishers move to my reading table during assessments. This is the way the entire first grade takes their weekly assessments on Friday for math and spelling. The Two Focus Students: A. Focus Student 1 and Focus Student 2 have different learning needs that require me to modify assessments. FS 1 was chosen because they had the lowest level of achievement in the classroom. Since studying FS 1 throughout my student teaching experience, FS 1 was diagnosed ADD and prescribe to medicine. The drastic improvement of understanding and connections seen in FS 1s learning is outstanding and creates an exciting study of student achievement. FS 2 is chosen because they have they highest level of achievement and knowledge out of the twenty-one students in the classroom. FS 2 is often searching for new and harder ways of solving and figuring things out. B. Based on FS 1 and FS 2 specific needs, accommodations may be modified to the assessment. FS 1 sits with his desk removed from the other students. This allows him to stay focused during the assessment. He is also able to use his counters during the assessment to help him solve for the missing number or use finger counting if needed. FS 2 will be an early finisher and waiting while others finish the assessment. Students are allowed other assignments for extra points or a treat from the surprise box towards their final assessment. The extra assignments and practice that FS 2 could complete ensures mastery of the standard being assessed and is rewarded for going above and beyond. Analysis of the Assessment Data and Student Learning for the Whole Class: *Artifacts #2 and #3 attached A. The rubric provided me with a grading scale for the final assessment of the learning goals for the lesson. The rubric aligned with the learning goal by providing a final determination of 80% mastery of the learning goals being assessed.
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Mathews Elementary School CT: Holly Skipper

Gabrielle Gregorie ETS Task 2

B. The graphic representation of my collected data show students progress with fact families throughout the week. The table shows students responses prior to a lesson on fact families that allows me to obtain their previous knowledge on the learning goal. It also shows their responses after a few lessons on fact families. After grading the final assessment, I recorded students individual scores from the fact family assessment. The collected data provides me with formative assessment of overall student learning. After analyzing the assessment data, I determined my students have obtained a class average: 89% mastery of the learning goal. C. This data collection process was very efficient. Keeping a checklist is a way I can refer back to student learning for future planning. The data I collected allowed me to see that four students did not master the skill, the students who are on the bubble and areas where they were not understanding throughout the week of instruction. D. The various instructional strategies, learning activities, student groupings, technology and materials and resources used were all effective for student learning. The variety of activities, assignments, and accommodations provided throughout the week to aid student learning of the objective allowed me to reach out to the different learning styles and needs of all students in my classroom. An example that accommodated struggling learners was fluency manipulatives and practice activities that supported understanding of the learning goals. E. Students weekly independent work is collected and graded daily so it can be returned to students on the following day. This allows students to analyze where they make errors, and understand their progress towards the learning goals. Analysis of the Assessment Data and Student Learning for Each of the Two Focus Students: *Artifacts #4 and #5 attached A. The focus students work and final assessment allowed me to reflect on overall student progress towards achieving the learning goals. Focus Student 1s work sample was not all the way correct and completed. However, understanding of the skill was evident. Documented comments regarding FS 1 being removed from the class for excused reasons allows me to understand why they may not have reached maximum potential. I can also see that FS 2 did not complete independent work that day, and can help to encourage the students to analyze their progress towards the learning goals. B. Modifications of the assessment impacted the learning of the two focus students. FS 1 was able to receive 92% mastery of the learning goal because he was allowed to use their fingers when solving for answers on the assessment. FS 2 did not take advantage of the extra assignments for extra points or a treat towards the assessment, so their score remained unchanged without additional points for going above and beyond.
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Mathews Elementary School CT: Holly Skipper

Gabrielle Gregorie ETS Task 2

C. The various instructional strategies, learning activities, student groupings, technology, and materials and resources used were effective for the learning of Focus Students 1 and 2. Focus Student 1s desk is removed from the student table groupings in order for optimal success throughout the day. FS 1 encourages this as a strategy to help him succeed, and appreciates the difference that the accommodation makes. Focus Student 2 is an early finisher, and takes advantage of extra assignments and activities given to for additional points or a treat. Students have time after their seatwork is completed when they can work on the computers, read, go to a center, or some other form of assigned classroom activity. This is the time when some students work on additional practice tools for extra learning activities to prepare them for the assessment. D. By collecting work and grading/making revisions daily, I am able to encourage all students in the class to analyze their progress and assessment results. When papers are returned I can comment on their daily progress, and areas I feel they need to focus on towards the assessment. Reflecting on the Assessment for the Whole Class: A. My data analysis of student learning informs me of improvements and content needed in future instruction and planning. I am able to focus on the main four students that did not meet expectations on the assessment, and also those that are just barely grasping the skill and need further review. I can plan for modifications and alterations in instruction to aid those students that still need further instruction and guidance. B. For future use I would use an assessment that had fewer amount of blanks. Many students thought they had completed when they finished the front, and were let down to see they were only half way complete. I feel that you are able to assess the learning goals with less content than the assessment provided. C. In the future, I would modify the materials used for assessment. I feel that a more accurate representation of student learning could be achieved from an assessment of the learning goals. D. A different type of assessment than the one used could allow students to further demonstrate their achievement of the learning goals. Students could be asked to create their own fact family with numbers zero to twenty, and give the four facts they can create from the three numbers (two addition facts and two subtraction facts). Reflecting on the Assessment for Each of the Two Focus Students:

PPAT Task 2

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Mathews Elementary School CT: Holly Skipper

Gabrielle Gregorie ETS Task 2

A. My data analysis of student learning allows me to guide future instruction for each of my Focus Students. I am able to determine where confusion and error occurs for FS 1 by reviewing student work and their final assessment. Then I am able to plan a form of future instructional activity or review practice to help them close the gap to accuracy. For FS 2, I am able to plan ways to take their learning and understanding to the next level with future instruction. B. Modifications to the assessment would be made for each of the two Focus Students. I feel that they both had a higher understanding of the skill than other students, and could have used a more difficult variety of the assessment that challenged them to showcase their overall learning of the objective. C. Modifications would be made to the material and resources used for student learning. Technology could be more evident with interactive lessons on the Smart Board as direct instruction. This would allow FS 1 to work through problems along with his peers to understand the content. FS 2 could have modified materials that are more challenging than the rest of the students. This would allow her to test her knowledge of the learning goal.

PPAT Task 2

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