Graph 1. Decimals and percentages pre-test results
Graph 2. Decimals and percentages post-test results
5. Evaluating the effectiveness of practice.
5A- Assessing the learning of students
The above graphs are displaying results from each student within my year 7 mathematics class. A pretest was conducted before teaching the unit of decimals and percentage to assess and evaluate my students prior knowledge, prior to teaching the content. This assessment also helped to facilitate how and what I would teach in order to ensure my students could achieve their best.
Graph 1 shows that one student received a test result below 19%. The graph also shows that no student received a result above 79%. In comparison to graph 1, graph 2 shows that there was a significant increase in each students knowledge of decimals and percentage when the post-test was conducted. There was a shift of lower achieving students to a more middle range of results, as well as middle range achievers, achieving a higher result. While the data was initially positively skewed, the post test shows a symmetric spread indicating an improvement across the class.
The graph above is the results of the three individual students for which, I recorded their individual results.
Student 1
- Achieved 100% on the Algebra test
- Consistantly achieved 70%+ on Common Assessment Tasks and Tests
- Worked well as a peer teacher throughout the entire year
- Was able to answer worded questions to a satisfactory level
Student 2
- Averaged 50-80% on most topic tests
- Better understood some topics more than others
- Was quite competent at year 7 concepts
- Gradually showed improvement throughout the year
Student 3
- Demonstrated low knowledge on all topic areas throughout the year
- Showed initiative in trying to better their knowledge as demonstrated in test results
- Struggled to answer literacy questions
- Was unable to achieve results in level 8 sections for most tests
*Students work samples are provided in Standard 5.2
5B- Evaluating effectiveness of professional practice
4. Implementing your action plan
Mentor/experienced colleague visits: Classroom Observations with SL
Answering the question for inquiry: How do I cater for the diverse learning needs of my students
I have demonstrated effective professional practice in the following ways:
- Classroom discussion- giving all students opportunities to answer.
- Classroom participation- being mindful of students' abilities and confidence levels when asking students to participate.
- Checking for comprehension regularly.
- Making clear the purpose of each lesson.
- Differentiating assessment criteria according to students ability groups.
- Providing extension work for high-level students that are designed with higher-order thinking skills in mind.
- Working with individual students who require some more assistance.
- Matching students who work well with another to enhance learning with both pupils in mind.
- Activities that challenge students of all abilities.
4A- Providing feedback on the action plan
Final reflection
My reason for choosing the inquiry question I did was to ensure I was addressing each of my year 7 core maths students learning needs. As a graduate teacher, it is of great importance to develop skills in differentiation and to be able to successfully apply activities and teach students of all abilities. One of the things I first noticed about my class was the range of learning abilities and I knew this would be a challenge that I needed to overcome. Every student has the right to equal opportunities in their education, and it is my responsibility to ensure this happens.
Throughout this experience, one really important thing that I learned that just because one student is weak or strong in one area of maths it does not mean they will have the same ability in another. Teaching to the mid level of students was consequential to both the lower and higher achieving students as both were missing out on learning opportunities. The higher achieving students were missing out on being extended and the lower achieving students were missing out on even grasping basic skills. Each topic began with a pre-test which, provided results of students abilities in each topic. This helped to guide my teaching practices.
I implemented a variety of strategies, approaches and activities to ensure the diverse needs of my students were being met. Providing worksheets of a variety of abilities, working one-on-one with weaker students, pairing students to encourage peer teaching and collaborating with colleagues were amongst some things that I tried.
Pairing students of lower achieving abilities with students of higher achieving abilities was a strategy that worked very well. The lower achieving students gained a lot of confidence with asking questions and their test results also demonstrate an improvement. The students all worked well no matter who they worked with and their behaviour was always exceptional. This allowed for the students to feel that they belonged to a supportive learning environment. Providing students with activities and worksheets with ranging abilities also worked well. This gave each student an opportunity to participate in the activities, whilst ensuring they were learning.
I began to find it difficult towards the end of the year to pair students accordingly. I had more students in the higher achieving group in comparison to the lower. To overcome this issue, I paired students of similar abilities together as they were able to work consistently on a task.
To evaluate the effectiveness of my teaching whilst addressing my inquiry question I used topic pre and post-test to analyse any result improvements. Their test results showed that they had developed a great understanding after the content had been taught. The students also demonstrated more confidence towards the end of the year when asking questions and working with others. They were actively engaged in any classroom discussions and participated in writing their answers on the board.