Analysis of Student Work
The very first activity of this unit "The Miracle Fish?" included an opportunity to provide a formative assessment for students. After reading about and discussing an introduced species, the students were asked to answer a series of questions. One of the questions asked them to make a decision supported by evidence, and describing trade-offs. Providing evidence is something that my students have been struggling with all year. In order to scaffold this question, I provided the students with a worksheet that gave them specific places to describe the issue, write down their decision, list three pieces of evidence, and write down a trade-off. By using this worksheet, it was made clear to the students exactly what was expected, and as the year progresses, i should be able to have them perform this task without the worksheet.
In grading the worksheet, I graded students using a rubric with scores from 1-4. Students would receive a 3 for meeting expectations, and a 4 for exceeding. I went through all of the student worksheets and sorted them by their scores. This allowed me to see the students who were understanding the concept, and identify those who had misconceptions. Through this process I found that the main misconceptions had to due with a lack of understanding about the ecology and biology of the Nile perch, as well as lack of understanding for what constitutes evidence (which they could have gotten right out of the short story). In the attached analysis of work and student examples, the complete analysis can be reviewed, as well as examples of differing levels of student work. In the student examples, the first two are a 2, the next three are a 3, and the rest are a 4
After analyzing all of the student papers, I wrote a score out of 4 in the upper corner of the paper, and returned them to students. These were not entered as grades, but I told the students that it was a chance for them to judge where they were in their understanding.
In grading the worksheet, I graded students using a rubric with scores from 1-4. Students would receive a 3 for meeting expectations, and a 4 for exceeding. I went through all of the student worksheets and sorted them by their scores. This allowed me to see the students who were understanding the concept, and identify those who had misconceptions. Through this process I found that the main misconceptions had to due with a lack of understanding about the ecology and biology of the Nile perch, as well as lack of understanding for what constitutes evidence (which they could have gotten right out of the short story). In the attached analysis of work and student examples, the complete analysis can be reviewed, as well as examples of differing levels of student work. In the student examples, the first two are a 2, the next three are a 3, and the rest are a 4
After analyzing all of the student papers, I wrote a score out of 4 in the upper corner of the paper, and returned them to students. These were not entered as grades, but I told the students that it was a chance for them to judge where they were in their understanding.
analysis_of_student_work.pdf | |
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student_examples.pdf | |
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End of Semester Reflection
At the end of the semester, right before the SEPUP Ecology unit began, I took the opportunity to discuss the previous semester's scores. Report cards had already gone home to parents, but I wanted students to have an opportunity to reflect on their progress. I wanted more from the students then to say "I need to study harder," so I provided a more constructed reflection opportunity. All students were given a copy of their progress report and a reflection sheet. Students listed their grades for journals throughout the semester, as well as test scores throughout the semester, and identified whether their scores went up, down, or stayed the same. They were then given a set of options for how to succeed in class, and asked to identify which ones they were already doing, and which ones they needed to work on. Finally, students were asked what else they could do to improve their learning, and what else I could do to help them succeed.
The following day I had an activity scheduled in the computer lab, which allowed me to review each student's reflection. While working my way around the room, I looked at everybody's reflections to see if they had been taken seriously. The part that I looked the most at were the last two questions. I was able to learn quite a bit about student needs and preferences in the classroom including:
The following day I had an activity scheduled in the computer lab, which allowed me to review each student's reflection. While working my way around the room, I looked at everybody's reflections to see if they had been taken seriously. The part that I looked the most at were the last two questions. I was able to learn quite a bit about student needs and preferences in the classroom including:
- preferred seating arrangements
- students that they knew were distractions and should not be near
- who wanted to be invited personally to lunch help
- who needed to learn study strategies
- who wanted help getting motivated to learn.
student_reflections.pdf | |
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