1

Running head: STUDENT CASE STUDY

Analysis of Student Work: NBPTS Component 2

Rebecca Etnyre
EDSC 591
November 22, 2015

ANALYSIS OF STUDENT WORK

Analysis of Student Work

1. Instructional Context
a) What are the number, ages, and grades of the students in the class featured in this entry and
the title and subject matter of the class?
The math class is a homogeneous group Algebra One high school students that includes thirty-six
students: 28 Freshmen, 4 Sophomores, 2 Juniors and 2 Seniors. The students range in age
between fourteen and eighteen.
b) What are the relevant characteristics of the class that influenced your planning for this
instructional sequence: ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity; the range of the abilities of the
students; the personality of the class?
This Algebra One class is 96% Hispanic, many of which are from Mexico. I have 28 students
that are on a traditional Algebra One roster and 8 students that are on a sheltered roster; all of
which are Spanish speaking. This class is period one so the overall class is very quiet due to first
period beginning at 7am. Seventy-five percent of my students are either bilingual or English
Language Learners. I have a Bilingual Language Tutor in this class period to assist with
translation to my Sheltered students. Overall, this is my lowest class (out of my three periods of
Algebra One) and only a few like to participate.
c) What are the relevant characteristics of the students with exceptional needs and abilities that
influenced your planning for this instructional sequence (for example, the range of abilities and

ANALYSIS OF STUDENT WORK

the cognitive, social/behavioral, attentional, sensory, and/or physical challenges of your

students)?
In this class period, I have six students that are on IEPs due to autism and ADHD. Besides those
that need accommodations due to special needs, many of my
d) What are the relevant features of your teaching context that influenced the selection of this
instructional sequence?
Many students in class require accommodations, not including the English Language Learners.
Since many of the students are Freshman and are very comfortable with the use of both
technology and visual learning tools, I felt this sequence would be best for the group of students.
e) What particular instructional challenges are represented by the class chosen for this entry?
Many of the students in this class period are freshmen so theyre knowledge base stems from
eighth grade. The class that I focused on was first period, my lowest class, because of the
different strategies I can incorporate. However, the knowledge of basic mathematical facts hurts
this group of students due to the fact that they arent sure of the basic properties for positive and
negative numbers. I will need to use this while planning and facilitating instruction.
2. Instructional Activities
a) What was the substantive mathematical idea of this instructional sequence or unit?
This particular lesson was on systems of linear inequalities. Students will learn these by graphing both on
paper and using an online tool. They will have previous knowledge of systems of linear equations prior to
this lesson.

ANALYSIS OF STUDENT WORK

b) What were your learning goals for the entire instructional sequence or unit?
Students will be able to:
1. Use prior knowledge of systems of equations to graph a system of linear inequalities
and check solutions for viability.
2. Apply tools for systems of linear inequalities to solve real-world problems.
c) How do these goals support and facilitate your students understanding of the mathematical idea under
study?
These goals support student understanding by both having them learn the material by hand as
well as apply the knowledge to be able to use it outside of school. These goals will not only prepare
students to be successful on the summative assessment, but they will use this knowledge in future math
classes, college classes and career opportunities. They will see how systems of inequalities can be used to
set boundaries for certain situations.
d) What were the major activities you and your students engaged in during the entire unit or instructional
sequence? How were the activities in the unit sequenced and organized to build on students interests and
prior knowledge, and to develop mathematical understandings, as the entire sequence unfolded?
To begin this lesson, I had students watch an interactive lesson on money and how it must be spent buying
two types of meat in a grocery store: Tina wants to have a party and she must purchase both deli turkey
and deli ham to make sandwiches for her party. A pound of turkey costs $5.99/lb and must be purchased
by the pound (parts of a pound are not sold). A pound of ham costs $6.99/lb but can be purchased in parts.
She needs at least four pounds of each type of meat. How much meat can she buy if she only has $45 to
spend?

ANALYSIS OF STUDENT WORK

Students will have no prior knowledge on solving systems of inequalities. I will have them draw a
picture and try to work through possible options. Some students may choose to use a table or count it out
one by one. I will go over the solution with them one a few minutes have passed. After a few examples on
the mathematical numbers and variables version of graphing lines, I will have students take out one
blue highlighter and one yellow highlighter. We will use pencils to graph the lines and once the concept of
test points has been explained, we will shade the side that works with one color. The same process will be
repeated for the other line. They will see that the overlapping area makes a green color and that those are
all viable options.
To expand on this the following day, I will have students go to the computer lab to complete a
partner activity on MathXLforschool that I created to help them practice. They will have the option to
watch tutorials on the procedures as well as videos on our textbook website for real world applications.
This will aid to all technology driven individuals as well as my Spanish speaking students who have the
option to watch tutorials spoke in Spanish but viewed in English.
e) How does each of the two featured instructional activities contribute to the students development of
conceptual understanding of the mathematical idea?
The use of the color wheel to teach viability of a system of linear inequalities incorporates art as well as a
visual to see the graphical side. The introductory activity will be brought back again at the end to show
relatedness to the real world as well as many of the online activities that they participate in. They will
build conceptual understanding by relating graphs to application.
f) What challenges are inherent in teaching this mathematical idea? What specific challenges are
presented by this class as you teach this mathematical idea? How is your instruction designed to meet
these challenges? Explain

ANALYSIS OF STUDENT WORK

This idea is very difficult for students to understand the difference between an equation and an
inequality. They often will forget that when dividing by a negative that they must change the inequality
symbol. If this arises, I will stop and have students plug in trial points to see if the shaded area is viable or
not. Once the decision has been made, we will discuss how the shading relates to test points, and the
inequality symbol. Other challenges might be the mathematical vocabulary presented. The English
language learners may have trouble understanding: systems, linear, inequality, viable, solution, test point.
These words will have to be defined, translated or visually presented to them, depending on each
individuals needs.

3. Analysis of Student Responses

a) Why did you choose this student? What particular instructional challenges does this student represent?
What is important to know about this student to understand and interpret her or his responses?
Stephanie is a Beginning level English Language Learner who is a senior. Unfortunately, prior to
my assessment of Stephanie she moved to Los Angeles to be with family so I was unable to assess her
understanding of the material. As stated in my prior work, Stephanie lived with five brothers and sisters in
a very small apartment where they recently got evicted and were forced to live in the shelter. She wore the
same outfit everyday to school and struggled to stay focused on her work. She often struggled
understanding the different mathematical operations and the terminology. She was never exposed to
technology outside of school so this lesson was a great opportunity for her to see additional avenues.
b) What does this students work tell you about the achievement of your learning goals and her
understanding of the material that you presented?

ANALYSIS OF STUDENT WORK

Since I was unable to assess Stephanies work in regard to this particular lesson, I will recall prior
work where I was able to make an accommodation for her. When I first introduced the new unit on
systems of equations, Stephanie was in awe of the technology integration and performed better on the
quiz. She was able to graph one line without knowing the intersection point. When given an application
problem, she did perform better than average due to the integration of technology during this time. If she
were able to be present during this activity, I think her knowledge and additional practice on
MathXLforschool and her love for color would have helped her better comprehend the material.
4. Reflection
a) What does the work of the student suggest about next steps for your instructionincluding
mathematical instruction? What is the evidence for that judgment?
Based on a summary of Stephanies work I believe a further additional accommodation would be
to give her access to a Chromebook to explore additional online tools that help her bridge the gap
between English and Spanish. Since she is so interested in technology and how math can be incorporated
into it, she would benefit from the tools available online. She doesnt trust her own paper and pencil
work, but if she had these resources she could use a different way to communicate her practice and
understanding.
b) After reviewing student responses to the activities, what would you do differently, if anything, in these
activities or in advance of these activities if you were to use it again? What would you repeat? Why?
If I were to review Stephanies work from this lesson I would need to evaluate it based on what is
discussed in Warrens article about evaluating student work. It is imperative that I am reminded to
refrain from making judgments and to concentrate on describing what I saw in student work and posing
questions (Warren, p.189) I cannot look at student work as a reflection on their level of knowledge in

ANALYSIS OF STUDENT WORK

comparison to a large group but compare it to what they are capable of. If I were to look at Stephanies
work and saw that she received a 58% on a test, compared to the rest of the class it is poor but for her that
wouldve been a 30% improvement. These types of discussions can also be held in learning communities
built by those teachers that share common students or common challenges.
In the future, I would repeat my technology integration but advance it even further with
additional online applications that are real-world relevant. The color technique was beneficial but was
hard to relate to the real world other than be useful as an analogy. Overall, the lesson went well and I will
use similar ideas in the future.

References

Judith Warren Little, Maryl Gearhart, Marnie Curry, and Judith Kafka, "Looking at Student Work
for Teacher Learning, Teacher Community, and School Reform," Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 85, No.
3, November 2003, pp. 184-192.