So I've dived in pretty deeply in the SBG borg this school year. I've created math skills lists (along with the KUDs I have always used) and have shared these with students, talking in depth about why I have them and how I am going to assess the students on them. I also talked about the process of learning and how it isn't something that happens for everyone at 8:30 AM on Tuesday and thus how students will have the chance to reassess on skills they haven't shown proficiency in. Dealing with 6th graders who up until this point have never received any sort of grade, I'm not sure this has sunk in. I've used a Google Form to have students sign up for extra practice and reassessment but only a handful of students have done so, a couple of whom were taken aback that I would suggest they need some more practice prior to reassessing. I think this is a culture thing and something that will work its way out as the year progresses. In fact, I think progress reports will help with it. So....
I sent home my first progress report on Friday. It was exciting as I entered the grades into GradeQuick (our online gradebook software) and the only heading I had was "Skills." In the past, I have used a "tests and projects" heading and a homework heading. Truthfully, this didn't tell me, the students or their parents much of anything. The new heading of skills and the breakdown I've done of specific skills I want kids to know and understand when they are done with 6th grade gives so much more information in my mind. Students can now see that based on two or three assessments of each skill they either have a good grasp of divisibility rules, factors, prime & composite numbers or they don't. I'm hoping the progress report will get them to really look at what they don't know and come to me (with some prodding of course) to re-examine those skills they are lacking in and then allow me to reassess them. I'm excited to see if (again with some prodding) I'm going to get kids asking about skills not particular letter or % grades on Monday when they come into school.
Thoughts?
It is always interesting to see who signs up for retakes in my room. One thing I do, which does take time, is have the students go over their assessments together. I pair them up in small groups of students who have strengths/weaknesses in each skill. They go over their quizzes together instead of me writing long notes on their papers or standing in front of the room going over problems for the whole class. It seems to me that more students sign up for a retake than would if I just handed the quizzes back. I dunno though, maybe it's just my imagination?
ReplyDeleteBecky,
ReplyDeleteI like that idea. I think as the quizzes get a little more difficult for everyone (the first ones were some review at times for some) I will start incorporating that idea. Thanks!