Assessment

There are several ways I plan on assessing my students throughout my unit plan of place

value. I will teach my students how to identify place values when there is a decimal in the digit,

how to express the value in various forms (word, extended, numerical), and how to round

decimals. I will provide clear objectives for what is expected of my students so they will be able

to understand how they can apply themselves and get the most out of their learning.

My pre-assessment plan will review what my students already know about place value. I

will be able to use this content to evaluate my student’s capability levels and physically see as to

where they are in relation to the learning goals I have created for them. My pre-assessment is a

2-page worksheet about place value that is already in their Go Math books. The students already

have a basic knowledge of the most common place value digits (ones, tens, and hundreds), but

this worksheet will allow me to see if they are able to apply their knowledge of previously

learned place values and estimate where the next place values they have not learned are located.

The pre-assessment is located on pages 149-150 in their Go Math books. The pre-assessment

will also test the students on their knowledge of adding and subtracting decimals, relating

fractions and decimals, and understand mathematical vocabulary.

My formative (for learning) assessment of students place value occurs within the lessons

themselves as well as after it is done. Throughout the lessons, students will demonstrate the

various place values they already know, and the place values they have just learned. They will

work through the problems by using the place value charts and other manipulatives that have

been distributed to them. They will be able to look back at these resources at any time if they are

struggling to produce the next step. After the lessons, students will complete their homework for

the following day, so I am able to see how concrete their knowledge of place value is, and how
well it stuck with them. I will correct their homework not only for completion, but for

correctness so I can evaluate how much of the information they have retained and applied. In

addition, the students will be able to work in partners or groups on their homework. This assesses

their peer collaboration levels, and ability to ask each other questions that build off of the

material they have just learned. By asking questions and solving them in pairs, the students will

be able to create a deeper understanding. I think this will check their understanding, because I

can see how the higher-level ability students are able to assist the lower-level ability students in

explaining how to find the answers. If the higher-ability group is not able to understand and

explain their findings to others, then how will my lower-level learners follow along as well? This

will show me that I need to re-assess my teachings and be more explicit in my instruction.

During the lessons, I will walk around to look at their work and see if the students have been

following along with me and if they are able to complete the in class work on their own or if they

need extra help.

Formative (as learning) demonstrates how students are being assessed within the lessons.

I will test the students on how well they are retaining the information, how concrete their

connections are, and how much they are improving between problems. Students will be assessed

on their group/partner collaboration as we are going through the problems. Can they give me the

right answers in partners, groups, and as individuals? Can they show me which symbols to use in

lesson 3.3 or which place value we are rounding in lesson 3.4? They will also be instructed to

raise their hands to share what the teacher should do next and instruct the teacher on what to do,

which assesses if they understand how to explain the proper steps of place value and decimals or

not. I will constantly ask the students what to do next and have them raise their hands so that I

am not simply giving them the answers. Students are expected to be able to explain the various
place values, symbols, and use of decimals to their peers and the teacher. After the lessons, their

learning will be assessed on their comparing and contrasting of answers on the homework with

their partner, and ability to explain their thoughts to each other. Students will also be given a

rubric that allows them to evaluate their learning as a student and their comprehension. They can

look back at what is expected of them, and re-assess their learning in order to receive all the

points. Students will review their participation, ability to work with others, attitude, completion

of book work and assignments, preparedness, and confidence of the material as a whole. I think

this will help students check their progress and allow them to come to me when they are not

achieving their expected goals, whether is it not completing their homework or not having a

positive attitude. The rubric gives them time to change their negative actions into positives, so

they can work towards their goals. It allows me to assess them on their own self-progress as well.

The summative aspect of assessment shows me the total amount of information the

students have learned and retained. Students will complete their own self-evaluation and final

rubric, so they can see their progress and where they stand in the unit. In this summative

assessment, I will be able to see their feelings, thoughts, likes, and dislikes about the unit. I will

also be able to look at their rubrics and see how they rated themselves individually throughout

the unit in the designated categories. Students will finally be assessed on all unit material during

their post-test that I created. I thought about using the post-test offered in their Go Math books

but, Woolfolk (2017) asks the question, “What if the tests provided in your teachers’ manuals are

not appropriate for your students? Then it’s time for you to create your own tests”. After looking

at the text book post-test, I decided this did not properly assess my students on what they knew

or their knowledge of what I wanted them to demonstrate. Good forms of assessment need

objective testing, but they also need ways for students to show their learning in other ways
besides multiple choice, short answer, and fill in the blank (Woolfolk, 2017). Therefore, I

created my own test with several forms of objective testing, but also used the component of self-

evaluation so students can express their thoughts. My self-created test will demonstrate to me my

students’ knowledge of the unit, and how they have been expanding on their foundation of place

value throughout the lessons. Students will have to answer real world application problems, use

their knowledge to analyze and solve the problems, provide the correct answer, in addition to

explaining their reasoning.

I designed my final assessment so at least 3 groups of students can show me their

knowledge. They can write, draw, and/or use manipulatives to explain their answers. I wanted to

give all students several choices that worked best for their learning styles and demonstrating

what they know. I will also give students who struggle to read (my lower-level ability and

special needs students) the opportunity to take their tests out in the hall with Ms. Z, so she can

verbally read them the test, answer questions, or assist them in any way they need. The final way

I will assess each student is on my individual teacher rubric. This rubric evaluates my opinion of

how every student did in the unit. I will summatively assess them on their explanations behind

the problems, effort in class, participation in groups (including when playing games such as

decimal jeopardy), their ability to use proper symbols (e.g. <, >, =), their reading, writing, and

book work competency, their final assessment, and their ability to make real-world connections

within the unit lessons and on the final test.

 Resources

Go Math!: Florida. (2011). Orlando, Fla: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishers.

Woolfolk, A. (2017). Educational Psychology (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.