6 Comments

  1. aalkhanany

    Nicole,
    Your research paper gave a clear understanding of using formative and summative assessments as a way to improve the students’ score. Also, the collaborative meeting is a great strategy. I liked the idea of a weekly meeting for teachers from the same grade level. However, the use of manipulatives is a good strategy but, do think it can work with all grade levels?

  2. mlopez100

    Nicole, I found your paper shared great strategies for improving Math scores. My sister is a Math teacher at a middle school and finds it challenging to get kids to stay excited about learning math. Her goal is to make Math fun and engaging and at the same time assessing their knowledge. Your PLC plan hits on both formative and summative assessments, which is important for teachers to work collaboratively in creating and discussing.

  3. cclewett

    Nicole, I agree with the idea of using more formative assessments to help teachers better understand when to slow down and reteach a concept or when to press on to the next concept. Simple “spot checks” like exit tickets and white board activities are helpful in discovering which students still don’t get it, rather than waiting until those students fail the unit test to discover their misconceptions. I also agree with the increased use of manipulatives in order to allow for struggling students to practice seeing mathematical concepts modeled visually in a tangible way. Most of my 5th grade students (big kids) still enjoy seeing a concept modeled first with manipulatives, then transitioning to drawing a representation of the real model, then eventually using the standard algorithm to connect the ideas that strengthen their number sense. I also like the idea of PLCs to help implement all of the strategies, but I’m curious as to how you would organize them for an elementary school like De Zavala. Noting “all math teachers” and a “math department head” may not work since typically every K-5 teacher is math teacher. Also, elementary schools don’t usually have a separate math department, so maybe consider a vertical team for your PLC so that a teacher from each grade level would have input.

  4. jphillips17

    Nicole,
    I love that you talked about math manipulatives. The school district I came from before here issued a whole set to all classrooms. The problem came after that a vast majority of teachers hadn’t been given PD on how to actually use them, so they just sat in the closets of most classrooms. I love using them in my classrooms because kids like to get their hands on things and make sense out of what they are hearing.

  5. sfernandez

    Math is sometimes a difficult subject to learn. Also, formative and summative assessments are a useful way of tracking student performance and does prepare students for SATs and other high stakes exams. It’s interesting that research shows experimental testing computer program that tested various levels of proficiency as an intervention showed overall improvement in the math scores of low-performing students. With these assessments, interventions, and your PLC action plan the De Zavala teachers should see results.

  6. ataramona

    Nicole,
    Upon reflection of my schooling (elementary, high school, and college), one thought that came to mind was with respect to the recruiting process for math teachers. Something I’ve personally been fortunate of is having math teachers that are passionate about math rather than those that could care less. I feel like a teacher, despite the subject, could mold a student’s mind based on their approach to the subject. I do completely agree with you regarding manipulatives! I think that students of all ages need to be able to work through a problem in different ways in order to master a concept. It allows the student to utilize more than one learning style which sets students up for better success. Great job, Nicole!

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