Signed Numbers

Sam  recently blogged looking for feedback on an Algebra 2 assessment he gave, but mainly to start a conversation about assessment creation, etc.  My classroom assessments have changed drastically in my short 2 years of experience. Here's a chronology of my growth: 1st year teaching (Algebra 1 - full year course) Classroom instruction followed the sequence (and pacing to some extent) of the textbook we were using (McDougall Littel Algebra 1). Assessments were largely based on Chapter Tests from the end of whatever chapter we were in, re-typed/formatted but using the same problems with little thought to balance what was actually being tested. Points were assigned to each problem to award partial credit for being on the right track (this often ended up meaning the more difficult problems were worth more points than the basic problems - more steps = more points) Here's an example of one such test: Chapter 9 Test .  Point distribution is as follows (side note: wh...

My school has had many more snow days this year than last year...we're already up to 4...and more are predicted. My colleague and I took advantage of the recent ones, since teachers are still required to work, and re-vamped our Algebra One curriculum and assessment scheme. After a discussion prompted by Sean 's blogpost about failure, and a discussion about homework and assessments in general, I gave her a list of required reading (basically, things I have read over the past year to give her the same background knowledge that I have coming into any conversation about these topics). After she read through the blogs (and did some exploring on her own, too, I think), we sat down and talked about Standards Based Grading. I also brought to the table these Algebra 1 concept list s (courtesy of Dan Greene ). By the end of two days, we decided to implement the concept/skill based assessment program, while still continuing cumulative testing. We will call the cumulative tes...

I'd forgotten how humbling it is to make something and then send it to another person for feedback. As I was making my derivatives test yesterday, Sam mentioned that he would like to see it to compare with his. As I was writing the test, I was adding specific questions to target certain skills, but I also became highly aware that someone whose teaching I highly respect would be looking at this test very soon. It made me nervous! I'm in the very early stage of my career so I feel like I don't have anything to offer these teachers who have been at it for years. I become self-conscious.  But I sent it anyway, despite my insecurities, and hopefully he'll have some feedback on how it could be better. *smile* Thanks for making me strive to be a better teacher.