Journal+2

February 27, 2009

This week, my teacher was absent, so we did a lot of review work. Every morning when I come in, the children work on centers, so this was a major part of the day. My favorite center was a math activity called “Measuring Fish.” Mrs. Moniz had about 12-15 cutouts of fish at varying lengths, and she gave the children math manipulatives (1” square tiles) to line up in order to measure each fish. They each had a worksheet with a table on it, organized by length (less than 6 inches, 6 inches exactly, and greater than 6 inches). The students were to measure the fish and then organize the fish (denoted by letters A-M) on the table by length. Since the children have just begun measuring, I think this is a wonderful activity. They may not quite be able to use rulers yet, but they know that the value of each tile is 1”, so when they line up the tiles side by side, they can get an exact measurement (the length of each fish was an exact whole number). Each child is to put the completed chart in his/her work folder to be reviewed by Mrs. Moniz at a later time.

I feel that this is an excellent method of assessment because it shows that not only do the students know how to measure, but they also know what the values actually mean (this is expressed by their ability to organize the lengths as less than, equal to, or greater than 6 inches). When I was observing two of the students working on this activity, J., one of the more advanced students, was doing everything exactly right. He knew what the values meant and knew exactly how to organize them. A., another student, was measuring correctly but not quite understanding the chart. His values were all over the place and they were not matched up with the letters. This made me realize that although the students may have understood the concept of measuring, the concept of tables and organizing data is a whole different skill that must be learned in order to complete this task. I helped A. through by recruiting J. to share his table with A. and me. A. lit up when he realized when he had done wrong and immediately began re-organizing his table. I then asked A. to teach me how to do the activity (just as I had asked J. to teach A. and myself) and he knew exactly what the values meant and how they fit in the data table. This task meets Wiggins’ criteria for assessing understanding. Not only did both boys participate in an interactive activity that left a lot of freedom to them, but they also performed a reiterative task. They reviewed tables and organizing data while practicing more with measurement. Further, they performing a task that was able to challenge them and force them to test and prove their answers. This was no “gotcha!” assignment. I was really impressed by this center, and better yet, the students really proved to me that they understood the concept and actually enjoyed doing it.

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