Friday Afternoon 2:30 – 4:45 1. “For”, “As” and “Of” 2. The Plan 1. “For”, “As” and “Of” 2. Big Ideas in (Math) Assessment 3. Establishing Success Criteria Break Time 4. Creating an Assessment Plan 5. Feedback – A4L 6. Typical AoL Questions 7. Exit Card Friday Afternoon 2:30 – 4:45

Find your next conversation triad: Each of you will have a coloured card with either the equation of a function; the graph of a function; or, a some characteristics of a function. To determine your conversation triad, find the other two people whose card represents the same function as your card does.

Have A Conversation About … … the difference between the terms Assessment for Learning and Assessment of Learning? … where you would encounter opportunities for Assessment as Learning and how would you use them? Use these questions to guide your conversation about the Growing Success Document and its impact on your classroom practice. The Growing Success Document contains some assessment “jargon”.

Growing Our Understanding of the Big Ideas in (Math) Assessment Growing Success Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting in Ontario Schools 2010 Reach Every Student Usually, when you begin to talk about assessment in a workshop, it’s like “opening a can of worms” … it is something that every teacher is passionate about … so everyone wants to get their opinions out there as quickly as possible, and the conversation ends up going off in many different directions. It’s our contention that with mathematics instruction undergoing significant change (as teachers think more deeply about classroom dynamics, the value of student discourse, the importance of differentiating instruction, involving students in the use of the mathematical processes, the use of rich problems or tasks, open questions, etc.), we need to be reflecting on how we assess student learning, and whether our current assessment practices are aligned with our instructional practices. The Growing Success document will definitely play a role in re-shaping the way many teachers think about assessment. Let’s take a brief look at some of the ideas that are expressed in that document:

Growing Our Understanding of the Big Ideas in (Math) Assessment Assessment can be used to: Find out what students already know, Inform instruction and guide next steps, Help students and teachers monitor progress, Improve students’ learning, and Let students, their parents, and others know how much they have learned over a set time period. There are a variety of purposes for which assessment should be used:

Growing Our Understanding of the Big Ideas in (Math) Assessment Assessment should involve: Sharing learning goals with students at the outset of instruction, Sharing or developing success criteria with students to ensure a common understanding of the learning goals, Students need to constantly be made aware of what the learning goals are (including what the “bigger ideas” are) and how success is going to be measured.

Growing Our Understanding of the Big Ideas in (Math) Assessment Assessment should involve: A variety and balance of tools and strategies, (presentations, conversations, observations, performance tasks, written work, other student products), Self and peer assessment opportunities, and Timely and specific feedback that tells students what they have done well and how they can improve prior to evaluation.

Growing Our Understanding of the Big Ideas in (Math) Assessment Assessment should reflect: Achievement Chart Categories, Math Processes, Learning Skills, and Curriculum expectations. Assessment should be aligned with: Current Instruction practices.

Growing Our Understanding of the Big Ideas in (Math) Assessment Organize the contents of your envelope on the table using the categories Assessment for Learning, Assessment as Learning, Assessment of Learning, and Evaluation. Then, paste each of the headings on a piece of chart paper. List one or more examples of each concept on your chart paper. Growing Our Understanding of the Big Ideas in (Math) Assessment On each of your tables is an envelope. In it you will find a series of headings: A4L, AaL, AoL, and Evaluation; as well as, a series of statements about each of these headings. Getting Comfortable with the Language

Growing Our Understanding of the Big Ideas in (Math) Assessment Surveying Our Skills Consider your classroom practices with respect to Assessment for, as, and of Learning. Rate yourself on each of the items, by selecting the number from 1 – 5 which best represents your current classroom practice. Enter your response to each item using the TI Nspire handheld.

Nspire Navigator Assessment Survey Once the hand held is on, you login by pressing “Home”, “5” and “5” Login using the ID and password on the handheld Open the survey by pressing “Home”, “2” , open the folder “OAME” and open the file “Survey” “Ctrl” then “->” is used to advance a page “Tab” is used to move to choices and “Enter” is used to make a selection. Nspire Navigator Assessment Survey Dwight Use the white quick reference sheets on your table for detailed instructions

Growing Our Understanding of the Big Ideas in (Math) Assessment Let’s look at what the results tell us. Growing Our Understanding of the Big Ideas in (Math) Assessment Display the results to individual questions, graphically using TI Navigator. Consider having participants calculate their average score on the eight questions … in order to compare with a scatterplot of the individual average scores.

If you don’t know where you want to go, the route you choose and the tools you use to get there won’t matter. if we’re planning effective instruction shouldn’t we be planning “with the end in mind”? This morning we examined how thinking about BI’s can change the way that we plan instruction … but, before we plan that instruction, shouldn’t we really be looking at how we’re going to assess student learning? Teachers need to have a plan other than what’s in a book so they can react to whatever happens in class. Having a conception of the big idea you want kids to get allows you to differentiate instruction and take useful side trips from the planned lesson.

Success Criteria For your chosen course: Identify a group of expectations, about functions, around which you could build a unit of study. Determine the success criteria for this unit. Share in your RGB groups. Identifying and communicating “success criteria” works best when teachers have the “big ideas” in mind. Not only does it help teachers determine which expectations are more important for students going forward; but also, it helps them decide what a student needs to demonstrate to be confident that the student has met the expectation(s). Success Criteria

Constructing an Assessment Plan For your chosen course, use the “fishbone” organizer, below, to help you develop an overall view of assessment. Dwight … some notes and maybe an example here?

Constructing an Assessment Plan Next, focus on a single unit that deals with functions, and construct a detailed assessment plan.

Gallery Walk Examine the other posters you see. Summarize your work on your poster paper. Hang your poster on the side wall. Examine the other posters you see.

Giving and Receiving Feedback Post your comments using the coloured sticky notes provided. Take the feedback your group received and revise your plan accordingly. Gather with your group in front of the designated poster. Provide appropriate feedback on the assessment plan, by writing comments on the sticky notes you were given. After the feedback cycle, bring your own poster back to your table and, based on the feedback you received, make any necessary changes to your assessment plan.s

What Questions Should I Ask? From the resources that you brought with you … choose a question that you would typically use to on an assessment task for the unit. What Questions Should I Ask? Ask each group to choose a question that they would typically use on one of the assessment tasks for their unit. The question could be taken directly from a text book, another print resource (i.e. Marian Small, Van de Walle, etc.), or perhaps from a test they have used in the past.

Content – Process Space Where does your question fit in our Content – Process Space? Have a discussion with your team, and then place a coloured dot in the position that represents approximately where you see your question residing on the chart. Content – Process Space

Exit Card Something I learned … Something confirmed … A question I have …