Guided Math Book Study: Chapter 8

I can't believe this book study is almost over!  Only 1 more chapter left after this week.  I'm excited to begin implementing Guided Math in my classroom in a few weeks.

Chapter 8 is all about assessment.  Laney discusses the difference between assessment and evaluation.  Assessment is for learning, rather than of learning.  Evaluation is the process of reviewing student learning to decided if students have learned what they needed to know and how well they know it.  At the end of the day, both are essential components for learning, and unfortunately, I haven't been using them effectively.

My biggest take away from this chapter was the reminder that I need to let my kids know the criteria for success before beginning tasks and units.  This can be done through rubrics and checklists.  I would definitely like to incorporate these into my instruction in the upcoming year, because they represent genuine feedback on how students are doing, as opposed to a single test score.  Scores don't show exact areas of strength or weakness; they simply show whether a problem was solved correctly.  Kids might be able to get the correct answer, however they might be lacking in their understanding of key aspects of understanding.  I feel like rubrics and checklists will get to the heart of student learning better.

Another area I need to make drastic improvements in concerns descriptive feedback.  I admit that a lot of my feedback has been "good job" and I know that kids need to know what they are doing well specifically and what they can do to improve.  My plan is to use math conferences to improve in this area.

I can't wait to link up to see how everyone uses assessment in their classroom.  How do you balance assessment and evaluation and formative vs. summative assessment?

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