I'm feeling like a proud teacher today as my students took their second series of MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) tests this school year and showed me that they really are learning things when they come to school; who knew?! The test is really progressive in terms of computerized tests as the questions the students get are determined on how they answer the previous question. So, some students are answering questions about probability while others are finding the patterns in shapes. Its a little frustrating as sometimes students cannot relate to the content or simply cannot read the directions because the English is confusing, not because the content is too difficult. Students are given a RIT score that finds the average of how they did in all the sections of the test and the teachers can see which areas the students struggled in the most. A lot of the content on the test we simply have not covered yet so it gives me hope that they will do even better in the spring. The range of the RIT scores are 150-300 (ish), 150 is what a first grader might score, 300 being what seniors in high school aspire to reach.
In the fall the class average on the Math test was: 190.
Today it was: 199!
In the fall the class average on the Reading test was: 183.
Today it was: 188.
In the fall the class average on the Language Usage test was: 188.
Today is was: 192.
From what I can see all but 2 of my students progressed in all subject areas. Phew!
Anyway, the real reason I wanted to blog was to share with you some of the questions the students actually had. As I walked around the room, I took note of the questions that were either a. ridiculous, b. my students answered completely wrong, or c. my students would have no idea how to answer them because, well, they don't live in the U.S.
1. Which sentence is a fact
A. The lake is the most beautiful place on earth
B. Jenny and Katie are the nicest girls in school
C. Oregon is bigger than New Jersey
D. Basketball is the most interesting sport.
*Okay, clearly options A, B, and D are incorrect but how on earth are my students to know what "Oregon" is let alone whether it is bigger than "New Jersey"? Yes, the other answers were stated as opinions, but to my students, it was NOT a fact that Oregon was bigger than New Jersey. In fact, they probably had no idea these were states that they were referring too. For all they knew, Oregon was a professional wrestler and New Jersey was one of the munchkins from the Wizard of Oz.
2. Which word is correctly capitalized
A. sincerely
B. Sincerely
C. sinCerely
D. sincerelY
*My students answer? D. sincerelY. gooD thinG hE tooK hiS timE witH thaT onE!
This same student who enjoys capitalizinG the last letteR in words, had a lot of trouble staying focused during the test. He kept pressing the space bar to watch the highlighter move from answer choice to answer choice. I reminded him that he was taking a test and that we all want to see how much he is learning and if he is playing it might look like he isn't learning as much. He nodded in agreement and continued taking the test. A few minutes later when I had returned to his side of the room, he was clicking the mouse with his chin and then trying it with his nose. Perfect. It pained me to lecture him because it really was a funny sight but I had to put on my teacher face for that one. Needless to say, this student did improve his score from the fall, though he went from a low score to a not-quite-as-low score.
Tomorrow we have a half day (well, the students do) so we can have parent-teacher conferences at school. I have ELEVEN conferences tomorrow and then five more next week. I am actually really looking forward to them though because not only are the parents very trusting and supportive, but they are also just plain fun! I actually really enjoy bumping into most of my students' parents and think tomorrow will be a positive experience in general. We'll see. No real plans for the weekend though I know for certain I will blog... there may be something super exciting happening that I cannot share just yet but will have a lot to say about come Sunday. How's that for making you want to read more? :)
No comments:
Post a Comment