Tuesday, January 10, 2006

This morning I attended a 5th grade class that was working on analyzing their own NWEA MAP data. The class was led by a technology TOSA in our district and the students were instructed how to look up their scores, plot these on a graph, and set a goal for the Spring testing session. The students were engaged and excited. Here is a great film loop of the trainer (Dave Tarwater--my colleague) working with the students.

The students hand plotted a bar graph, which included estimating approximately where to draw lines. They acquired their data from a table of data that is in sticker form on the front of their personal folder (the sticker report is really cool--see example in film loop). The students set an overall goal within a subject area for Spring testing.

film loop of activity (download the freeware if you haven't already)

What I really want to see teachers and students do next is to look at the Learning Continuum from NWEA and start to talk about the individual skills they are developing. What does the assessment mean for their development of necessary skills. In this way students would own their learning all the way down to the skills. The goals would be focused on developing the skills, not just targeting a test score.

That said, I thought this activity was motivating for students and me. It is a giant step in the right direction

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