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:

http://fcpsjanuarymathpd.wikispaces.com/

• 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) 1.576 x 106 b) 1576 x 106 c) 1.576 x 109 d) 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

6th 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:

3

11

5

14

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 – AlwaysYellow – SometimesRed – Never

o A square is a rhombuso A parallelogram is a rectangleo A rectangle is a squareo A parallelogram is a quadrilateralo A back to back stem and leaf plot has two sets of datao A basic stem and leaf plot has two keys

Middle School

Understanding Meter – Example 2

Geometry

Green = ProportionRed = Not a Proportion

1. and

2. and

2

3

16

24

9

5

10

18

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!