That Testing Time of Year

 The sun is finally out in Washington State and the rain is subsiding for a bit.  As I walk to and from my portable, I notice the smiles on students faces, kids digging in the garden, and the excitement of spring ramping up.  It is the best time of year, but also stressful for students and teachers.  The SBAC is approaching fast and teachers and students alike are studying, planning, creating "boot camps" for review and mapping out the days and weeks ahead.

"What does that mean for SAGE and PEP?" the class I teach, you ask. Well, it means that we are also trying to ferociously wrap up units and review content before the tests hit.

When my students are testing, there are sometimes weeks where they miss instruction.  The tests matter when looking at class placement, as they are advised to take specific math or science courses depending on results.  They also can affect whether or not a student is allowed to sit for the CogAT test and appeal a result the following year.  The SBAC is used as a screener, and if students are not in the top 5% of the district scores, then they are not invited to test in October when referral season comes around.

Additionally, in the past, if a student showed that they were behind or struggling with content on a standardized test, then that individual was invited to attend summer school.  I do not believe that is the current practice within the district, but it was offered once upon a time.

The tests are long and tedious.  I remember watching my little eight and nine year old third graders writing five paragraph essays, typing away on the computer, honing their ideas, and trying to elaborate to the best of their ability.   They were tired and I was tired and everyone was exhausted at the end of the tests.  The days kept going and going and these little people had to be silent for so long.

Today not much has changed in that regard.  The kids get through it, and generally do fine.  

Differentiating: Knowing Your Student and Knowing the Standard

 There is no right or wrong way to differentiate.  

Today I threw a problem on the board for my first and third graders to attempt to solve and sat back and watched.  Some dived into it.  Some copied it. Others sat there with a deep frown contemplating where to start. 

There are many philosophies and ideas on the subject, but when it comes down to it, all it means to differentiate is meeting students where they are at. 

 Every person is unique and interesting and different and thus, they will need different things in math or any subject for that matter.  Just because someone is the same age as another individual, does not mean that they know the same content or need to work on the same logical reasoning process, thus comes the idea of differentiating.

If you really break it down, in order to differentiate you need to know two things.  A teacher needs to know his or her student and also the standards you are teaching.  

There are many ways in which a student can know a student.  She can get to know their interests through conversations, letters, surveys, get to know you activities and observation.  

A teacher can also get to know a student's constantly changing knowledge base through consistent use of pre-assessments and daily checks in through exit tickets and observation.   

Once a teacher knows the student, they can figure out what comes next.  If a student can only approach a problem and solve a subtraction or addition problem in one way, maybe a teacher move would be to dig deeper into the math practices and have the child make a model or draw a visual representation of the problem.  

If the child struggles with explaining his or her thinking, maybe as a teacher, you cut down the practice volume and ask the student to really show their work in depth and in multiple ways within one problem.  

If a child has difficulty working with peers, and this is a goal area, maybe that child has a partner for math daily and in conferences you are working on sharing the workload, listening, making eye contact and teaching the student to ask leading questions.

Additionally, if a student knows the grade level content, works well with others, can explain their thinking and show their work in multiple ways, then it is time to accelerate.  The student can then be exposed to above grade level problems.  The teacher might pull the student aside and give them a problem that is a little bit challenging and the student does not know how to solve.   The teacher can then ask what do you know about this problem?  What is a possible way to approach it?

The teacher does not show the student how to solve the problem and then ask the student to solve it exactly the same way, as that does not engage the learner in deeper thinking or problem solving but rather asks a student to merely mimic a solution strategy.   

Students need to engage in productive struggle and be pushed in order for learning to occur.   If a student does not engage in productive struggle then they will suffer as an adult or older student when a problem comes along.  Panic will set in.  Productive struggles helps students self regulate and adhere to challenges in the face of complexity.