testing...testing....

Well, I'd be lying if I said I was happy with the scores from our first test. Overall both classes right now are sitting at a C+ average, far lower than I was hoping for, although I hold out a little hope for that average to rise to a B- when the students who were absent on Friday take their tests later today. The results were very surprising for me, not just because the average was so low (I was aware that it was a difficult test) but because the range was so great. In one class I had seven F's, seven A's and all the rest in the B range. Naturally, I was feeling like a pretty lousy teacher while I was grading these things this weekend, but I was encouraged a bit when I noticed that most students were missing points not because they didn't know how to do the problem correctly, but because they had made some astonishingly careless errors. Among the more embarassing of these were incidents of failing to copy the problem correctly, omitting decimals in the process of solving the problem, adding instead of subtracting (even when the operation is clearly labelled and set up correctly), or the error I personally find the most exasperating to see: mistaking one number for another because of poor penmanship. There were also numerous examples of students missing points because of a failure to completely adhere to the directions of the test or the individual problem. Clearly, there are some areas of math (aside from the actual lessons) that I will be addressing in the coming weeks. One of my initial ideas is to give the students no less than one hour with their test in the hopes that if they are forced to look at their work even after they are finished, they may discover some of the careless errors they made (this didn't happen during this test because I allowed the students to turn in their test as soon as they were finished, prompting too many to turn it in without adequately reviewing). Another idea I will be introducing in the coming weeks is the concept of doing a "reality check" after each problem. This conicides with my own desire to have the students obtain a true understanding of math rather than an understanding of its processes and consists of a simple review of each problem and the supposed answer upon completing the problem (4.04 + 6.22 = 10.26? Reality Check: four and some plus six and some is ten and some. Ok, that answer is probably right. 3.58 - 1.02 = 4.6? Reality Check: three and some minus 1 and some is four and some. Ok, that answer is probably wrong, where did I screw up?). Hopefully with some proactive strategies and rigorous enforcement we will be able to minimize the careless errors occuring on exams and see a subsequent rise in scores. Time will tell, don't forget to check powerschool and make sure your student does their test corrections. Until Friday, -Mr. H