Caitlyn Przybysz

Post Assessment Analysis & Unit Reflection

Kindergarten Forces of Motion: Push and Pull
Overview of the Assignment:
The purpose of this post-assessment analysis is to identify patterns in your students’ learning (for individual students and for your entire class) and
to reflect on how these patterns might be related to aspects of your instructional approach and your teaching. This assignment is to help you be
analytical and evidence-based about your teaching – to help you start to see important aspects of student learning and performance and to use
that information to inform and improve your teaching. While everyday teaching practices don’t require the analysis you will do for this assessment,
recent initiatives related to teacher accountability and RTI (response to intervention) make the practices you will use in this assignment powerful
and useful. The goal is for you to use this assignment to help you in developing skills to address these issues.

Preparing for the Assignment:

You will need to gather data and student work samples you identified and collected in your post-assessment plan as you taught your science unit
during guided lead teaching. You will use this information to complete this analysis assignment.

Part 1: Analysis of Student Assessment Responses Charts (whole class and individual)
Your Assessment Plan identified tasks that you would use to assess the students’ learning with respect to the learning goals for your unit
and features that you would look for in the students’ responses as indicators of student learning with understanding. Do not hesitate to
make revisions to the features you are looking for in your student responses if necessary. Often after teaching a unit and working with
students around specific concepts, teachers will identify additional features or make changes to previously identified features based on
what they have taught, observed and learned while working with their students.
 a. Select three student responses for an assessment task and conduct an in-depth analysis of the responses. The three students should be
at different achievement levels such as high, medium, and struggling. Use the Individual Student Response Chart below to analyze the
students’ demonstrated features for the task. You will complete one of these charts for each of the three students.

Individual Student Response Chart

Student: AB
Learning Goal/standard:
P.FM.00.11 Describe the position of an object (for example: above,
below, in front of, behind, on) in relation to other objects around it.
P.FM.00.12 Describe the direction of a moving object (for example:
away from or closer to) from different observers’ views.
P.FM.00.21 Observe how objects fall toward the earth.
P.FM.00.31 Demonstrate pushes and pulls on objects that can move.
P.FM.00.32 Observe that objects initially at rest will move in the
direction of the push or pull.
Assessment task description and rationale:
Students were given a piece of paper with four different boxes on it. I
then gave them directions as a whole group on what to do in each box,
such as draw a green triangle next to the box. There were ten different
directions given in total of what they were supposed to draw in order to
demonstrate their learning and understanding from our forces of
motion unit. This assessment was given in a whole group setting in order
to not be assessing their reading ability and to make sure that each
student received the same directions.
Assessment features you are looking for in the student’s response:
1. Draw a green triangle next to the box, a blue circle inside the box
and a red square on top of the box.
2. Draw to make it so that Anna is driving the car away from a tree
and closer to a house.
3. Draw where Patrick’s ball will end up if he were to take his hands
off of it, and use an arrow to show the direction the ball moved.
 4. Draw a picture of something that is being pulled… use arrows to
show the direction that the object is being moved.
5. Student will be given one point for writing their name.
Evidence from work sample of weaknesses in student understanding: Evidence from work sample of strengths in student understanding:
Weakness: Student demonstrated understanding of going Strength: Understands that gravity makes objects fall to the
towards something but not away from something. She also was ground.
not able to show something being pulled. What this indicates: Student understands that when you let go of
What this indicates: Student was able to grasp most of the something that gravity will cause it to fall towards the ground.
concepts but is still struggling on what it means to move away
from an object or to pull an object towards you.

Student: MG
Learning Goal/standard:
P.FM.00.11 Describe the position of an object (for example: above,
below, in front of, behind, on) in relation to other objects around it.
P.FM.00.12 Describe the direction of a moving object (for example:
away from or closer to) from different observers’ views.
P.FM.00.21 Observe how objects fall toward the earth.
P.FM.00.31 Demonstrate pushes and pulls on objects that can move.
P.FM.00.32 Observe that objects initially at rest will move in the
direction of the push or pull.
Assessment task description and rationale:
Students were given a piece of paper with four different boxes on it. I
then gave them directions as a whole group on what to do in each box,
such as draw a green triangle next to the box. There were ten different
directions given in total of what they were supposed to draw in order to
demonstrate their learning and understanding from our forces of
motion unit. This assessment was given in a whole group setting in order
to not be assessing their reading ability and to make sure that each
student received the same directions.
Assessment features you are looking for in the student’s response:
1. Draw a green triangle next to the box, a blue circle inside the box
and a red square on top of the box.
2. Draw to make it so that Anna is driving the car away from a tree
and closer to a house.
3. Draw where Patrick’s ball will end up if he were to take his hands
off of it, and use an arrow to show the direction the ball moved.

4. Draw a picture of something that is being pulled… use arrows to

show the direction that the object is being moved.
5. Student will be given one point for writing their name.
Evidence from work sample of weaknesses in student understanding:
Weakness: Did not show where the ball would end up (even
though he used the arrows) and also did not show the direction in
which the car was pulling the trailer.
What this indicates: Student may not know where exactly the ball
would end up and does not fully understand which direction the
trailer would be moving if it were being pulled.
Evidence from work sample of strengths in student understanding:
Strength: Drawing where things are located in correlation with
the box as well as with the car.
What this indicates: Student knows where things are directionally
(inside, on top of, next to) as well as how to represent something
moving towards one object and away from another object.

Student: LS
Learning Goal/standard:
P.FM.00.11 Describe the position of an object (for example: above,
below, in front of, behind, on) in relation to other objects around it.
P.FM.00.12 Describe the direction of a moving object (for example:
away from or closer to) from different observers’ views.
P.FM.00.21 Observe how objects fall toward the earth.
P.FM.00.31 Demonstrate pushes and pulls on objects that can move.
P.FM.00.32 Observe that objects initially at rest will move in the
direction of the push or pull.
Assessment task description and rationale:
Students were given a piece of paper with four different boxes on it. I
then gave them directions as a whole group on what to do in each box,
such as draw a green triangle next to the box. There were ten different
directions given in total of what they were supposed to draw in order to
demonstrate their learning and understanding from our forces of
motion unit. This assessment was given in a whole group setting in order
to not be assessing their reading ability and to make sure that each
student received the same directions.
Assessment features you are looking for in the student’s response:
1. Draw a green triangle next to the box, a blue circle inside the box
and a red square on top of the box.
2. Draw to make it so that Anna is driving the car away from a tree
and closer to a house.
3. Draw where Patrick’s ball will end up if he were to take his hands
off of it, and use an arrow to show the direction the ball moved.

4. Draw a picture of something that is being pulled… use arrows to

show the direction that the object is being moved.
5. Student will be given one point for writing their name.
Evidence from work sample of weaknesses in student understanding:
Weakness: Did not show where the ball would end up after it
went down.
What this indicates: Student may not know where the ball would
land but understood that it would go downward.
Evidence from work sample of strengths in student understanding:
Strength: Directional words and their meanings in order to place
objects in the proper locations as well as what it means when
something is being pulled and what direction it will move.
What this indicates: Student understands where objects are in
respect to other objects and the directions that the objects will
move when a force is applied.
 b. Review your students’ responses for each task, and identify which goal features are present. Use the Whole Class Student Response
Chart below to record your students’ demonstrated features for each task so you can see patterns across the whole class.

Whole Class Student Response Chart

Description of the assessment task including specific wording:
8. Use arrow to 9. Draw a picture 10. Use arrow to
Student 7. Draw where # of goal
2. Green triangle 3. Blue circle 4. Red square on 5. Driving the car 6. Driving the car show the of something show direction
First Name or 1. Name the ball will end features
next to the box inside the box top of the box away from a tree closer to a house direction the ball that is being the object is
Initial up accomplished
moved pulled being moved

1 X X X X X X X 7

2 X X X X X X X X 8

3 X X X X X X X X X X 10

4 X X X X X X X X X 9

5 X X X X X X X 7

6 X X X X X X X X X 9

7 X X X X X X X X 8

8 X X X X X X X X X X 10

9 X X X X X X X X X X 10

10 X X X X X X X X X 9

11 X X X X X X X X X X 10

12 X X X X X X X X 8

13 X X X X X X X X X 9

14 X X X X X X X X 8

15 X X X X X X X X X X 10
 16 X X X X X X X X X 9

17 X X X X X X X X X 9

18 X X X X X X X X X X 10

19 X X X X X X X X X X 10

20 X X X X X X X X X 9

21 X X X X X X X X X 9

22 X X X X X X X X X X 10

23 X X X X X X X X 8

# of
students
23 22 20 22 20 23 13 22 22 19 21
meeting
the goal

% of
students
100% 95% 86% 95% 86% 100% 56% 95% 95% 82% 91%
meeting
the goal

Part 2: Identifying Patterns in Student Learning and Responses

There are many factors that influence students’ learning. However, patterns of learning across students can often give us important insights
into where our unit planning/instructional approach might need revision. Now examine the charts you have created to identify patterns in
your results and write about your findings.
• Did different students understand different aspects of the learning goal as reflected in the response features? Were certain
features more problematic than others?
o The vast majority of my students seemed to understand my overall objectives. This is evident in the fact that 91% of my
students passed or met the goals that I had set for them. The one standard that was really lacking in overall achieving was
drawing where the ball would end up, considering nearly half of my students did not meet this standard I know that there
was either a misconception about where the ball would end up when dropped or a misunderstanding/confusion on the
 instructions that I was giving. I feel that it may have been more of a misunderstanding of directions because in the next
standard 95% of my students were accurately able to tell the direction that the ball would move when dropped.
• What ideas and practices were generally understood and what more preliminary (or naïve) ideas and practices remain?
o The idea of moving towards and away from something was generally understood by the majority of the class as you can
see in standards 5 which 86% of the kids mastered and standard 6 above where 100% of my students mastered it. Gravity
is the concept that I would revisit with my students because although 95% were able to show the direction the ball would
go in standard 8 the concept of where the ball would actually end up seemed to confuse my students.
• Try to account for the patterns of student learning in terms of your classroom teaching. Why did the students succeed and
struggle where they did? Look at the specific examples from the individual student response chart above. How might your
teaching need to change to help all sample students?
o I think that one of the main reasons that my students were able to succeed in the areas that they did was because the
lessons that focused on those standards were all very hands on lessons where each student was able to individual
partake in the activity and experience it on their own. When it came to gravity each child was able to participate and
experiment with dropping objects, but as a whole the beginning of the lesson was more teacher focused than student
focused. I think that had I let the students work together more to come up with what happens when they drop something
and allowed them to come up with their own conclusion of where something ends up when dropped.

Part 3: Effectiveness of Assessment Strategies

In addition to analyzing student responses to your assessment opportunities for clear evidence of student understanding, you will also need
to reflect upon the effectiveness and validity of your assessment strategies.
• What were the strengths and limitations of the types of assessment tasks you chose?
o Students were spread out during the assessment and instructed to keep their eyes on their own paper. In order to make
sure that all students received the same instructions I read the directions out-loud to the group as a whole. I would then
walk around the room as I was reading the questions to make sure that eyes were on their own papers.
• What changes would you make for your next class in order to get more information and/or a clearer picture of your students’
progress in mastering your content and practices standards/learning goals?
o One of the changes that I would make to this assessment would be to have the different aspects of the assessment (ball,
triangle, circle, square, tree, house, and arrows) available for the students to cut out and glue into their respective places
so that I could focus on the location of the object rather than deciphering what the students drew.

Part 4: Lessons Learned

In this section, you should pull together ideas from the previous two sections to reflect upon the science learning that occurred as a result
of your unit. Based upon your analysis and reflection above, answer the following questions:
• Overall, how did your teaching go? Did your students meet the learning goals and learn the related practices?
 a. Overall, I was pleased with how my teaching went. I felt like my students were able to grasp the learning goals based on
the combination of hands-on activities as well as teacher directed. I also fell that my students were able to engage in the
practices in order to experience forces of motion on their own. Forces of motion is a concept and topic that I feel can only
truly be learned by doing and observing rather than reading and listening. Students need to be engaged in their learning
of forces and I feel that the combination of lessons in my unit allowed for that. I also feel that it is extremely important
that the students are eager, engaged and interested in what they are about to learn in order for the students to take
responsibility for their own learning! One of the lessons that I did involved a balloon attached to a straw that was on a
string, the students were so curious about what I was going to do with the balloon and straw that they were all eager to
participate and engage in the lesson. This made for an extremely effective lesson. Based on the involvement that lessons
like this encouraged, I think that it made it so that the information stuck better in my student’s brains since they were
eagerly participating!
• What might you keep, modify or extend in your unit planning next time? Why?
a. One of the things that was hardest to do with the unit plan was timing of each lesson. For instance, when I did an
interactive read aloud of the book “I Fall Down” I ended up splitting the story into three different lessons/days. I really
wanted to be able to do back to back days but when it fit into my original weekly plans it turned out to be taught on a
Friday, Monday, Wednesday. Not exactly the ideal situation, but then I ended up having to teach the students the first
part of the lesson on Wednesday instead of Friday making the unit schedule even more tricky because now it had to be
Wednesday, Monday, Wednesday, which gave the kids more time between the lessons, making them more likely to not
remember or harder for them to build upon their prior knowledge on the topic.
• What have you learned from this experience that will influence your future science teaching?
a. No matter how much you plan or want to try something, it doesn’t always go according to plan! I have learned that it is
important to always have some sort of backup plan that allows me to improvise what needs to happen next. I also
learned that there is never enough time in the schedule to regularly implement science and that I have to work to make
sure that I fit it in.