back in the classroom

This week I was sick and unfortunately didn't make it to class. That's okay though I was able to have a great math experience at my placement with my students. They are on the unit which involves the boundary of the circle, better know as the circumference. The class had learned about circumference through conferences and using physical manipulatives and had moved on to mid point in the chapter. This was a test to see what knowledge they had gained. Before the test I was able to see how they studied which I found quite interesting. They used conferencing! The same way they had been taught. During the lunch hour some of the children stayed in order to keep the math fresh in their head and prepare for the test. they worked together to review their homework and work through some more practice problems, often asking each other questions and trying to understand each others thought processes. I thought this was awesome, and showed what kind of relationship the students had with each other.

I had the opportunity of taking the test as well, which I think I did well on. It was structured very simply, and was easy to follow along. The questions tested the skills and knowledge of the students and were straightforward and easy to follow along. Many of the questions were able to be completed or at least started by all the students in class, they were very wide based. I liked how the test incorporated multiple choice and short answer questions which involved communication and thinking. When I completed the test I was able to observe the students who were still writing.

It was really interesting to see how some people managed their time on the test. Some students could not and would not skip a question with out writing something down while others skipped the multiple choice completely. Everyone used a different strategy, showing the differentiation amongst the learners of the class.

Here is my test :) I hope I did well.