matthews_09_journal_1

Emily Matthews EDC 452- Section 3 Assessment Journal #1

I am observing in a first grade classroom and during my classroom observation my cooperating teacher graded math assessments that she had handed out the day before. The worksheet had twenty-one problems on it. These problems only included the addition or subtraction of one. After grading the worksheets she recorded the grades and submitted them to another teacher who would look over the scores. The purpose of this assessment was to see how the students were doing with addition. My teacher explained to me that any student who answered more than five questions incorrectly would go through and intervention. This intervention would include another math teacher taking some extra time to go through similar problems with the student until they understand the material. There were only three students in the class who got five or more questions incorrect. I have yet to see the results of the interventions however I believe that one on one attention will help the students struggling with these math problems. These math assessments are done every month or so to make sure that the students are staying on top of the material. It is also to see which students may need some extra attention and instruction. The teacher explained that these forms of assessments are also given for reading and writing not just math. When I asked how the test was administered the teacher said that it was not timed and if so she figured that students would have done worse on the assessments. Many times a time limit puts pressure on the students and decreases performance on the assessment. I believe that because the students could take their time they performed to their fullest capacity on these assessments. I do believe that these assessments can be very informative for the teachers and allows them to stay on top of their students learning progress. Also because there is a second teacher who takes the students aside for the intervention it does not take time away from the main teacher helping the other students.

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