| Story Problems |
| traditional teaching redefined |
| Students will be assessed by completing an understanding performance (Perkins, 1992). Students will be responsible for taking two story problems, deciding what operation should be used in each and writing the corresponding number sentence that illustrates the story. They will be assessed on their accuracy in answering these two questions, as well as on their effort and persistence. Supports Students will be able to use calculators, abaci, Storyboard, Mathematics Theater props, manipulatives from the modeling center, art supplies and the bulletin boards created during Part I of the lesson. The only support students will have had during the lesson that they will lack during the assessment is peer collaboration. Choices Students will make several choices during their assessment. First, they will choose the problems that they work with. Each student will be given a choice of four problems (to choose two). The teacher will design each child's options so that they are appropriate to the student's needs and level. Additionally, students who desire, will be given the option to write their own story problems to solve (these should be run by the teacher before the student sets to work). Second, they will choose their supports and method of solving the problem. As mentioned above, they will have access to all of varied representations from the lessons. They can use as many or as few, in any combination, that they need to solve the problem. |
| It is of prime importance that students are assessed only on the goal of the lesson and not on anything extraneous. For this reason, children are allowed all of the supports they used during the lesson. After all, the goal was for them to learn how to determine what operation to use and how to translate the problem into a number sentence, not to calculate the answer correctly or have memorized their 3's table (for instance). It is particularly important for dyscalculic students to be allowed to use the classroom bulletin boards made during Part I for the assessment. The goal was for them to be able to recognize the patterns within a story problem that illustrate the necessary operation, not to memorize these patterns. Eventually the teacher should strive towards this latter goal, but it would be unfair to assess the children on something that wasn't the goal of the lesson. It is also important for all students (and particularly dyscalculic students) to be allowed to choose their own resources for solving the problem. By limiting their resources we would effectively be focusing the assessment on something different than the lesson. Finally, offering students choice in the content of their problem greatly increases affective engagement. For dyscalculic students who may have severe math related anxiety, the power to choose the problems that they are assessed on may prove to be sufficiently motivational for overcoming the anxiety. |
| Lindsay Thompson Goldsmith T-560, Harvard Graduate School of Education |
| Assessment |