Nicole+_Journal_Three



On Monday, February 24th I visited my fourth grade classroom at LaPerche Elementary in Smithfield. The assessment I observed during my time spent in the classroom was a follow-up assessment. The assessment took place directly after students arrived in the classroom. They were given ten math problems that were written on the board and were asked to complete them within the next ten to fifteen minutes. These math problems covered variety of different content areas that the class had worked on over the past few months. The problems included long division, fraction equivalency, measurement, long multiplication, and even long subtraction. This assessment mostly took place during and directly after the mad rush of getting everyone settled in their seats, getting their agendas signed by the teacher, and the principle speaking on the loudspeaker. During this assessment the only materials required by the students were their math notebooks and the only materials required by the teacher were a marker and a whiteboard. After the students completed the problems individually, they were asked to raise their hand and the teacher and I went around correcting problems and asking them to rethink any incorrect answers. If students were really struggling with a problem they were allowed to ask a teacher for guidance. After all students had been checked, the teacher went over each individual problem with the class as a whole. She called on some struggling students to help her along with certain more recent content, while on other problems asked the class to shout out steps to solve the problem. The students completing these problems every day directly when they came into school is called “Morning Work.” The students were assessed for their morning work through its completion and their participation in the group discussion which overall resulted in the entire group receiving full credit. The teacher uses math as a morning work subject since it is usually the last subject focused on at the end of every day. I think this is a great refresher for students to be able to revisit old problems and practice on the new. From my observations, I do think it focuses the class on an engaging, but not draining, task to get the day started and remind them it is time for school. Students have a purpose to get seated at their desks right away instead of walking around the class and talking to their peers. I also like how it is a routine assessment since the students are completely aware of what they have to do right when they arrive at school everyday. I do agree with the teacher that the assessment should take place individually since it allows the teacher to observe which students still may be struggling with past content or need extra help on the content being practiced recently. I also thought the whole group practice was useful since visiting each student and explaining to them how each problem was solved would have been too time consuming. Though, this did not take away from the special attention the teacher and I paid to those who really needed some extra help. While it may be helpful for some students to be able to complete the assignment over a longer period of time and in a quieter atmosphere, I think overall completing this assessment benefited students. 