Journal4_Doll

Before beginning the math lesson of the day, my cooperating teacher always begins with a math message. Sometimes the students work independently, sometimes they work in groups. This time students worked independently on the message. The class is working on fractions and was given the problem that Jamal has two quarters, Sam has five dimes, Hunter has ten nickels, and Elliot had fifty pennies. The students were asked to write the fraction to show what part of a dollar each had and answer who has the most money. Students wrote their answers on small individual white boards. The teacher walked around the room while students were independently answering them. She let the students answer the questions on their own and then collected as a class to answer them together.

As the students were independently answering the question, the teacher walked around the room to see how the students were answering the questions. She made a mental note as to who was not answering the questions correctly. Rather than commenting on their work then, she waited until the class was done and they discussed it together. She did not call them out for having the wrong answer, but she asked if anyone had anything different and asked them to explain why they had that answer. Most of the students had a solid understanding on how to write the fraction of money.

I feel that this type of assessment is very good when trying to understand how much the students understand thus far in a lesson. She did not use this assessment in order to assign grades to the students, but she used it for herself. Seeing how the students were doing on the assignment allowed her to see what she needed to go over again with the class or if she could move forward with new lessons. I also feel that by the teacher asking if there were any other answers students got, she could see where students were messing up. She was not calling out the students who got the answer wrong to make sure they understand how to correctly do it, but she was asking so she could see what mistakes were being made. If one student is making a simple error, most likely another student is doing the same. By walking around the class and seeing what each individual student is doing and then collecting as a group to discuss the answers, she is able to see what is being understood and what is not. This is a very informal assignment that I feel is important to do frequently because there is less pressure on the students, but the information can be very useful to the teacher.

Kaitlyn