I have been out of school for about two weeks. Unfortunately (at least during the summer) I am a teacher at a year-round school, so I report back the second week in July. So I have a month left. I will take a two week vacation to the San Juan Islands, and the rest of the time is pretty much devoted to revamping my assessment plans. I teach math to 2-5th graders. I have a good system, and I like keeping track of each students progress on a one page scorecard. I revamped them last summer to match the common core standards. But I didn’t get a chance to change all the assessments.
At the beginning of the school year, my 3-5th grade students take a quick fluency test. From the results, each student sets math goals. They need to do two for each of the first three quarters. If you look at the picture above, you can see the scorecard that has seven goals passed off. Each goal has a procedure (tour books, task cards, worksheets, and games). Then they take a test and need to get eight out of ten correct. I need to update these tests. I also want to make some shorter tests (about five questions), so that students can “test out” of some of the goals if they feel they can pass it off without going through the complete procedure. Anyway I have a lot to do to fix up all four grades. I am a bit panicked thinking about it.
Luckily my school is a short bike ride away, so I am planning on spreading each grades materials out on a table and limit myself to two hours a day. And if I stay focused, I think I can do it! Whoever said that teaching is easy, especially because teachers have summers off, has no clue!
To see what other teachers are planning, click here.