Task 2

Contextual Information My classroom consists of twenty-five, fourth grade students. I have a homeroom class for the first half of the day, and I have a second class from after lunch to the end of the day. For my homeroom, I teach word study, grammar, writing, math, and science. For my second class I only teach math and science. I have no students with special needs. I have 4 ESOL students in my homeroom class, but only two are pulled for assistance. In my afternoon class, I have four students who are pulled for resource in math. I also have four GATAS (gifted and talented) students in my afternoon class. My classroom is a normal classroom in terms of physical environment. I have 2-3 students who are generally very quiet. I have one student in each of my classes that can be very disruptive. That is something that I have had to learn to deal with and make adjustments for. One of my homeroom students is in the testing process for special needs but there has been no real progress because we are waiting. This student struggles with math very much, so I have had to spend a lot of one-on-one time with this student during independent work time. All of my ESOL students are very fluent so there is no barrier there. There are many cultural differences. Several of my students are Hispanic and Indian but there are no problems in the classroom. I do my best to welcome the cultural differences in my classroom. However, there are several students who have little to no manners at all and do not know how to be polite. That has been an issue because I will not tolerate students being disrespectful to others. The school I am in has a wonderful environment and a wonderful principal. However, there are many at-risk students who come from very different situations and that sometimes cause issues. Some of these students do not have a solid foundation at home, which at times cause behavioral problems. These students also may not have as much exposure to technology or help at home with schoolwork. At my school, we do a lot to motivate and encourage all students, no matter their background. Step 1:1 Planning the assessment The standard I am using is Common Core mathematics for 4th grade: 4.NF.6 Use decimal notation for fractions with denominators 10 or 100. For example, rewrite 0.62 as 62/100; describe a length as 0.62 meters; locate 0.62 on a number line diagram. The learning goal for my lesson is the students will understand place value through tenths and hundredths and be able to write decimals. My assessment has six questions. The directions were to write each as a decimal. 1) two tenths 2) forty-nine hundredths 3) twenty-five hundredths 4) one out of ten 5) five out of ten 6) 57/100. I designed this assessment because it is very straight to the point and allows me to see what gains the students have made based on my instruction. In this lesson, students are introduced to decimals. This is the first time many of them have ever used decimals in a school setting. Students will learn place value of one, tenths, and hundredths. Students also learn how to speak the decimal by understanding place value. The assessment shows that students understand place value of decimals through hundredths. The scoring guide for the

assessment is 1) 0.2 2) 0.49 3) 0.25 4) 0.1 5) 0.5 6)0.57. I will communicate to my students that I am looking for understanding of how to write a decimal correctly. Based on this assessment, I will be able to see student learning on place value through tenths and hundredths. I am looking for evidence that students put the correct number in the correct place value and have decimals in the correct place. I will collect the data from each individual student assessment. Step 1:2 Preparing Learners for the Assessment One instructional strategy I will use for the assessment is students being able to convey processes they have learned. Students must understand place value in order to write each decimal correctly. This process is very important for students to understand and they can go no further into the chapter without this. I chose this strategy because it will give me clear results on what my students know. The second strategy I will use for the assessment is having students read and comprehend the directions and questions independently. This is important because it will show me what students need more instruction on place value for decimals. My first strategy is direct instruction to teach place value. I will draw a place value chart on chart paper to show the ones, tenths, and hundredths place. Students will copy this chart in their math notebooks. Then, each student will receive a handout of this chart. I will explain, using base ten blocks, that a flat is equal to a one in their place value chart, a long is equal to one-tenth, and a small cube is equal to one-hundredth. I am using this activity because it is the best way to communicate this information to my students and it is something they must know. My second activity is to use something they already know by equating the blocks to money. I will explain to my students that one small cube is like a penny and it takes 100 of the small cubes to make one flat. A long is like a dime because it takes 10 of the longs to make a flat, and a flat is like a dollar. I am using this activity because it uses the students prior knowledge to help them understand something new. My final activity is having each student use the base ten blocks, along with the place value mat, to build decimals that I write on the board. I chose this activity because it is hands-on and help students to see what is taking place and understand why they are doing what they do. Also, we will practice saying the decimal throughout the lesson (example: 0.2 = two tenths). Using these strategies and activities will prepare my students for the assessment because they become familiar with place value and how to write decimals. The only materials and resources I need to administer the assessment will be a typed test a have created and pencils. I chose to use this type of assessment so I can see what my students know without having the base ten manipulatives. Step 1:2 The Two Focus Students Focus student 1 is a Hispanic male student. This student is fluent in English, but there is still a language barrier. This student is pulled out of class for ESOL so he misses some math sometimes. He is a hard worker but struggles in math. I chose this student because he has the knowledge to complete the task, but I feel as if he spends too much time and energy trying to understand the directions of the task. His accommodations require that his tests are administered orally. Because of this, I

will read this student?s assessment to him as he goes and explain the directions. This assessment modification will help focus student 1 because the language barrier will not be a problem and he can fully understand the directions before beginning. Focus student 2 is an at-risk African American female. This student struggles in math and reading but has shown much effort and hard work over the months. Previously, focus student 2 was at danger of repeating the grade. I chose this student because I believe that she can do what we have learned in math, but it requires someone to pull the answers out. For this students assessment, I will prompt the student as she is testing (example: Write two tenths as a decimal. Remember the place value chart? Where was the tenths place? What should you write in the tenths place?). This student is capable of doing the work but sometimes needs more of a push so this assessment modification will benefit her. Step 2:1 administering the assessment and analyzing the data The scoring guide aligns with my learning goals because it requires students to write the correct answer. The learning goals for the lesson were for students to show understanding of place value through hundredths. If students do not understand the question or do not know the correct answer, then I will be able to see that. Based on the graphic representation of the data, all students made gains towards the learning goal. There was no student who missed every question and only six students missed one of more questions. Only three students missed more than one question. The graphic representation I used divides the six questions into questions that were about the tenths place value and questions that were about the hundredths place value. I did this so that I could see what my students struggled with. Eighteen out of twenty-four student show understanding of place value though hundredths. There are six students that I will provide more direct instruction to be sure that they are progressing. The data-collection process I selected was very efficient for the information I needed. I simply wanted to see that my students understood place value through hundredths. The assessment allowed students to show that understand, and if someone did not understand, it would show on the assessment. The graphic representation of the data I used allowed me to see if a student struggled with just tenths or hundredths, or if they struggled with everything. The instructional strategies I used proved to be very effective. The most important strategy, in my opinion, was having the student use the base ten blocks and place value mat to build the decimal number I presented. This allowed student to hear, see, and do. Each student had his or her own materials but they did work within a group setting. I believe this was effective because they could ask questions to group members and correct any misunderstanding just be looking around to see what other students were doings. The base ten block were the best choice to use in this type of introductory lesson. The assessment results prove that 75% of my students showed mastery in understanding place value of tenths and hundredths. In order the engaged my students to analyze their assessment data, I used the base ten blocks as an incentive. Each student had to identify one thing they could improve on (even if they scored 100 on the assessment) and use the base ten blocks

for more practice. This worked great because the students love using math manipulatives. I stressed the importance of understanding place value as they continue into higher levels of math. I feel that both of these tactics worked to help them want to learn more. Step 2:2 Analysis of the Assessment Data and Student Learning for Focus Students Overall, I have learned that both of my focus students progressed very well toward achieving the learning goal. Both students show understanding of place value through hundredths. On the assessment, both students answer each question correctly. Based on this data, I am able to conclude that both students understand basic place value of decimals through hundredths. There are several things I noticed about focus student 1. Firstly, this student can sometimes have the tendency to rush through his assignments. I gave instructions aloud for students to begin working on the assessment. This student began answering questions before I was able to get to him so I could read the questions. I asked him to start over and let me read the question. Right away, I noticed that he had to do some erasing. He understood much better by just having me read the questions to him. With focus student 2, I read each question and explained what it was asking for and tried to refer back to what we had previously done in class. By doing this, the student was able to pull relate the assessment questions to the lesson in class. Several times the student looked confused from a question I read, but as soon as I clarified or related the question back to an activity, the student was able to answer with ease. The assessment modifications positively affected both focus students and the assessment data proves it. The instructional strategies, learning activities, and student grouping proved to be effective to student learning. Focus student 2 is a child who is easily distracted. This student has to be kept busy and actively involved in the lesson and she tends to get herself in trouble. In this lesson, she was able to work with base ten blocks to create visuals for decimal numbers. Because of this activity, this student stayed focused and engaged throughout the lesson. Focus student 1 does not generally have a problem with attention, but he often has trouble with truly understanding things. He can appear and act as if he is keeping up and following along, but assessments often prove that he does not truly understand. The strategies and activities in this lesson were effective for him because he was able to see the actual decimals and not just a number projected on the wall. Another strategy that immensely helped him was relating the place value of decimals to money. That is something he was already familiar with so it made it more understandable. I was able to engage both of these students in caring about their assessment data by giving them the choice to use the base ten blocks for more practice. Even though both students scored 100 on the assessment, they were still eager to use the base ten blocks for more practice. Step 3:1 Reflecting on Whole Class

The data analysis is very useful for planning future instruction. If I am able to conclude that most of the class has showed understanding of decimal place value, then I feel comfortable moving onto the next lesson. While the whole class will move on, I am able to use the data analysis to decide whom I need to re-teach in small groups or individually. There are certainly modifications I would make to the assessment for future use. I would include 2-3 questions with multiple choice answer choices. I would do this so that the student has to think more about the answer they believe is correct. Secondly, I would include several questions that required the student to do something more in-depth to show their understanding of place value, such as writing a decimal with a 4 in the tenths place or a 2 in the hundredths place. I would include a total of at least 10 questions. I think by doing these three things in the future, I would get a better understanding of who truly understands and what each student still needs instruction in. For instructional strategies, the best way to teach something like decimals is using manipulatives that show the students the reasoning and math behind the numbers. I would keep that the same. However, I would have student pair up and work with a partner so that they could discuss and help teach each other. I think this would prevent any student from slipping through the cracks, so to say, without showing up on my teacher radar. In the future, I could also show some base ten manipulatives on the SMART board and that would possibly engage the students who were not completely engaged by the use of the blocks. A different assessment could have allowed students to further demonstrate their understanding of place value. I could have used a test-like format instead of an exit slip quiz assessment. A test-like assessment would have possibly included questions and answer choices that were more tricky. This would require students to use more critical thinking skills, which would demonstrate a greater understanding. Another assessment I could have used is a task assessment. I could have had my students do something with the base-ten blocks that I formally assessed. I believe that this would show moderate understanding, but it does not show me if a student can take the information learned to paper format without using manipulatives. Step 3:2 Reflecting on Focus Students The data analysis gives me a lot of insight about how to instruct the two focus students in the future. Both students performed well on the assessment. This data tells me that they are both ready to move onto the next lesson in decimals. However, these students were chosen as focus students because they need extra help or an extra push to be successful. Because of this, I will closely monitor both students as I move onto further, more complex instruction on decimals. In the future, I would try to gradually lessen the modifications I make to their assessment. I want these students to eventually become independent and capable of completing an assessment without extra guidance and prompting from the instructor, unless the whole class is receiving the same guidance and prompting. As long as these students show the need the modifications, I will continue providing it, but it is important that all students become independent thinkers. Focus student 1,

being an ESOL student, is an exception, but gradually this student will become completely fluent. Both of the focus students did a great job during instruction and their data proves that. I would, in the future, use a different grouping strategy to be certain that they are both getting the most they can from instruction. When grouping students for partner or group work, I would focus on including these students in groups with higher thinking students. This grouping strategy could be effective because the focus students are influenced by the students in their group who help them gain understanding.