MIAA 330 MATHEMATIC ASSESSMENTS

COURSE REFLECTION SUMMARY

CONNIE S. COSTA

DECEMBER 17, 2013

CAM WONG, M.Ed.




Four weeks ago, when I began this course, I had no real understanding of the
significant change the California Public education system is undergoing with the
commencement of Common Core State Standards. In fact, I really didnt know much at
all about the components of a well-written assessment question.

During this course I have been exposed to the various types of assessments, the
difference between open and closed questions, and the six different types of questions our
students will see on the Smarter Balanced Assessment. Ive also come to realize how
important it is to have a good grasp on the types of students we have in our classrooms
and their varying learning issues and styles. Assessment tools and strategies, including
rubrics, have also become relevant to the classroom teacher, as he or she will be
designing many assessments and rubrics in the upcoming months. It is also important to
acknowledge that with CCSS there is a shift towards a more focused and narrowed
content area at all grade levels. Included in this shift will be an all-important need for
vertical articulation between grade levels and spans. This shift, along with the new types
of assessments, gives the classroom teacher, the parent, and the district personnel a better
understanding of our students depth of knowledge and understanding.

To begin with, the types of assessments that we have looked at and discussed in
this course are the following: formative, summative, through course, benchmark, and
performance based. It is vital that all of these assessments are preformed. For me, the
formative assessment is one of the most important as it helps me, the teacher, plan my
instruction and address any issues my students may have regarding misconceptions
regarding the concept being taught.

Smarter Balance has six types of questions that our students will see. As an
educator it is important that I become more familiar with the types of questions SBAC
uses so I may better serve my students and prepare them for the SBAC assessment. The
six types of questions are: Selected Response, Constructed Response, Extended
Response, Performance Task/Assessment, Technology-Enhanced, and Technology
Enabled. During this course, I became better equipped to prepare and create Selected
Response, Constructed Response, and Extended Response. In addition, in my classroom
this past week, I was able to offer my students a Performance Task assessment in which
they worked in small groups of four students. This task was a culmination of our fraction
unit. My students were engaged and the task was meaningful and allowed the students to
apply their knowledge of operations with fractions to complete the multistep task.

I have also been exposed to learning more about turning a closed question in to an
open question. This can be done with some simple tweaks, such as: giving the answer to
the student and asking him or her for the possible question. Other strategies for asking
open questions would be to ask for similarities and differences, and to replace a number
with a blank, letting the student choose the numbers they will use.




To create mathematical assessments that are fair and unbiased, it is important that
a teacher knows his or hers students. A teacher should look at data, such as parent
education, socioeconomic status, CST scores (for the time being), ELs, ethnicity, and any
other pertinent information that would help. After reviewing the data I gathered for my
classroom, school, and district, I was surprised to find that my classroom of thirty-three
students reflects very closely the make up of all the students at my school and my district.
Therefore, when it comes time for me to create assessments in the SBAC technique, I
will need to consider the make up of my class.

In addition to creating assessments, the classroom teacher will need to create
rubrics to go along with the assessments. After visiting several websites during this
course, I have been able to better understand the thought process needed for a well-
written and meaningful rubric. During the first assignment for this class, I was able to
create a rubric to go along with my questions. I was also able to find a rubric to use for
assessment during the performance task my students undertook this past week.

There are various assessment tools and strategies the classroom teacher can
employ. For instance, observation, journal writing, learning logs, portfolios, peer
evaluations, quizzes, debriefing, and performance tasks. Of these, I have been using
journals, observations, peer evaluations, debriefing, quizzes, and recently, performance
tasks. Prior to this class, it was pretty much district assessments, chapter tests, and lesson
quizzes provided by the publisher of our math textbook. I feel I have become much better
at assessing my students depth of knowledge.

One of the shifts we will see as classroom math teachers is the narrowing or the
focusing on standards. No longer will teachers be required to teach a plethora of
concepts. Instead CCSS will allow us to focus more deeply on fewer standards. This shift
will hopefully increase our students understanding of the concepts being taught. Due to
this shift, it is imperative that grade levels and grade spans articulate vertically and that
teachers be aware not only of their required standards, but also be aware of the standards
our students are being taught below us and above us. Classroom teachers should be aware
of the learning trajectory of the concepts our students are being taught and how to address
any errors they may have. It is also important that when planning lessons, teachers
anticipate any errors and/or misconceptions their students may encounter during the
lesson. By doing so, the teacher will be better prepared to correct these and help move the
student forward in his or her learning. I was able to get a glimpse of this while preparing
my Error Analysis and Learning Trajectory assignment. During my lesson on dividing
numbers with decimals, I had to anticipate possible problems my students would
encounter, which they did. However, because I was prepared, I was able to guide them
and help them correct their misconceptions.








Due to the shifts in the CCSS and the shifts in our mathematical practices, and
mathematics assessments, we as classroom teachers can create assessments that are tied
directly to the Depth of Knowledge (DOK) charts, which are such a huge part of CCSS.
By knowing and understanding the four DOK levels and which type of products (or
assessments) go with each level, a teacher will be better prepared to lesson plan and
assess. Currently, I feel Im probably still stuck in levels 1 and 2, however, Im definitely
working towards moving into level 3, as seen in my Somethings Fishy task. And of
course, fingers crossed, Ill be moving into more level 4 type DOK assignments and
assessments in the very near future. In order to do so, Ill need to prepare more
meaningful lessons because the lessons provided in the current sixth grade math
curriculum are lacking when it comes to deeper thinking skills, performance tasks and
assessments. I am also going to start using the DOK question stems more often in my
classroom, during math lessons. I feel these will help push my students into becoming
more critical thinkers, which in turn will make them better at understanding the math.

Overall, what Ive come away with from this course is that assessing is not a one-
time event. Assessing is a cycle that continues throughout the lesson, throughout the
chapter, and throughout the year. It is going to be up to me to make sure that I am
preparing lessons that will allow my students to be successful during the assessment
phases. My assessments must include various types of questions from selected response
to expanded response, with constructed response type questions thrown in too. During my
daily lessons, I must use DOK question stems to spark my students into thinking for
themselves and problem solve. Learning to ask more open questions of my students will
help guide them and prepare them for the SBAC assessments as well. Assessments drive
instruction, therefore, I need to make sure Im assessing correctly and continuously
throughout the day, week, month, and school year, to ensure that my students will move
ahead and be successful while in school and beyond, whether or not their careers have
anything to do with math or not.