Taking the Pulse… 6 Quick and Easy Informal Assessments Wendi Cyford – Teacher Specialist, Mathematics 6-12 Laura Gray – Teacher Specialist, Mathematics 6-12 Patrick Morgan – Teacher Specialist, Professional Development

Visit the Wiki All information is on the Math Wiki at: Templates / Activities / Examples Evaluations will be completed on the Wiki.

Objectives Actively practice utilizing the methods Work with colleagues to apply strategies throughout your day to day teaching.

Guiding Thoughts… +It’s all about student engagement +Do what is intuitive to you +Built into lessons (part of what we do) +“Close the Loop” of the feedback cycle +Everyone participates (saves time in the long run…find out now… not 90 minutes later… then totally reteach)

Process… Planned lesson chunks Checkpoints (apply strategies) Got it? Move On! “Don’t Got It?” √Question √Explain √Follow Up Problems (pull from your resources… formatives… Exam View for text books)

6 Strategies to “Take the Pulse” Doctor! We got a pulse! Uh, this ain’t good…

Strategy #1 - Pinch Strips “Poor Man’s CPS” Good for… Functions SRs Steps in a process

Pinch Strips – Example 1 8th Grade A newly discovered star is approximately 1,576,000,000 miles from earth. What is this distance written in scientific notation? a) x 106b) 1576 x 106c) x 109d) 1576

Pinch Strips – Example 2 Algebra 1 Look at the function that is graphed below. Which of these equations represents this function? a.c. b.d.

Pinch Strips – Application and Uses Brainstorm with Colleagues (besides SRs or functions, how else can they be used?) Share and Record

Strategy #2 – “Grid Ins” Similar to pinch strips… but can be open ended for any numerical answer Think alternative to white boards Same rules apply to rules of “grid in” for MSA or HSA/SAT (no negatives, no mixed numbers, five spaces)

“Grid Ins” – Example 1 6 th Grade Determine 25% of 318

“Grid Ins” – Example 2 Probability and Statistics What is the person’s raw score on a normally distributed test, if the mean and standard deviation are 98 and 8 respectively, and 70% of the students scored below this student?

“Grid Ins” - Application and Uses Anyone used these differently / how have you used them? Share and Record

Strategy #3 - Post It Notes

Strategy #3 – Post It Notes Here is a problem… write your answer on a post it, then place it on the wall indicated. 7th Grade Evaluate:

Strategy #3 – Post It Notes May be posted anywhere such the board, door, walls, desks, etc. Usually not a lengthy problem or multi answer… you are looking for an answer Gets students out of seats, changes the pace, gives us a quick idea if they understand the concept. May be used anywhere in a lesson… warm up, closure, guided practice, etc.

Post It Notes - Application and Uses Brainstorm with Colleagues Share and Record

Strategy #4 – Matching Activities Will take preplanning Should be items in which students do not need to do a lot of “heavy” calculation Manipulatives… Kinesthetic learners Matching items such as: fractions to decimals equations to graphs geometric terms with pictures/definitions

Matching Activities – Example

Matching Activities – Application and Uses Brainstorm with Colleagues Share and Record

Strategy #5 - Raffle Gets students up and moving… Everyone starts with green sheet (lower level) Brings to teacher – right or wrong? Right answers to raffle box; wrong redo Move up to yellow then red levels (increasing difficulty) Use time limits… Draw raffle winner/s Have a “prize” for students completing all levels.

Strategy #5 – Raffle Example

Raffle - Application and Uses Brainstorm with Colleagues Share and Record

Strategy #6 – Understanding Meter Green / Yellow / Red Cards… Like the matching… should be relatively quick solutions / processes Green = Yes, Red = No, Yellow = Not Sure… Red = False, Green = True… Is this a function / not a function Is this a proportion / not a proportion You just solved this problem…based on your homework… Red = Didn’t Understand, Yellow = Kind of Understand, Green = Got it!

Understanding Meter – Example 1 Green – Always Yellow – Sometimes Red – Never oA square is a rhombus oA parallelogram is a rectangle oA rectangle is a square oA parallelogram is a quadrilateral oA back to back stem and leaf plot has two sets of data oA basic stem and leaf plot has two keys Middle School

Understanding Meter – Example 2 Geometry Green = Proportion Red = Not a Proportion 1. and 2. and

Understanding Meter - Application and Uses Brainstorm with Colleagues Share and Record

Reflection What strategy do you find the most useful? Why? Homework… As the new semester starts, share one, some, or all of these strategies with a colleague… challenge them to do the same!