FDN 5560 Classroom Assessment

Develop an Assessment Exercise

Kristina Parin

June 21, 2005

Background: The students I am assessing are Kindergarten students. My students are from low socioeconomic families and are 50% Latino and 50% African American. This unit is based on patterns and the assessment is to show their proficiency in learning patterns.

Assessment Component 1: Identifying Learning Targets

Patterns are all around us; we see them in nature, art, music, and even in math equations. In teaching my Kindergarten students patterns I want them to be able to focus on three elements of patterns.

  1. What do patterns do?
  2. What are different types of patterns?
  3. What patterns do you find in the real world?

Patterns are an important element of mathematics. According to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study: Kindergarten Math Component Goal 5: The learner will model simple patterns. Specifically goal 5.02: Create and extend patters with actions, words and objects.

After completing the unit the students will be able to complete the following tasks:

  • Recognize a pattern from colors, words, and actions.
  • Identify color patterns from visual examples.
  • Extend different patterns from teacher examples.
  • State different types of patterns using their body.
  • Illustrate patterns we see in the real world.
  • Construct patterns using a variety of materials.
  • Rearrange teacher patterns to create their own patterns.
  • Critique other children on the creation of their patterns.

Now I will organize the learning targets from lower, intermediate, and higher order learning targets according to the Marzano model.

Lower level learning targets:

  • Students will recognize patterns in colors, words, and actions.
  • Students will identify patterns from visual examples.
  • Students will extend patterns from teacher examples.

These are considered lower level learning targets because these are tasks that will be intertwined throughout the unit. These types of learning targets will be demonstrated visually and orally. When beginning to teach patterns students need to be given visual examples to understand the concept itself. It is very important for students to understand these concepts because this is the beginning of identifying numerical patterns later on in their schooling. According to Marzano these learning targets would be under the category of Knowledge and Organizing.

Intermediate level learning targets:

  • Students will state different patterns using body movements.
  • Students will illustrate patterns they see in the real world.
  • Students will construct patterns using a variety of materials.

These are considered intermediate learning targets because the students are now applying and analyzing different patterns in a variety of ways. The students will need to present their patterns in a demonstration. They are taking their prior knowledge of identifying and extending patterns into real world scenarios. They now will be able to demonstrate patterns on their own, and will be able to assess each other on different types patterns. According to the Marzano model these learning targets would be under Application and Analysis.

Higher level learning targets:

  • Students will rearrange teacher model patterns to create their own patterns.
  • Students will critique other children on the creation of their patterns

These are considered higher level learning targets because the students are now developing a sense of how form patterns from their own knowledge and starting to assess each other. In critiquing each other I will orally give a type of pattern (AB, AAB or AABB) then one student will create that pattern and the other student will have to see if they got it correct. By rearranging patterns the students are integrating their knowledge of patterns and making it their own learning. They are taking ownership of learning and by following these steps to learn patterns they will see in future mathematic scenarios.

Assessment Component 2: Specifications For A Test

Learning Target: Students will be able to identify patterns in many different forms visually and orally. They will then determine how to extend a pattern and develop an ability to differentiate patterns (Knowledge and Organizing)

Test Specifics: This will be a test that will be administered in a small group and read to the students orally. It will consist of five questions total and it will show how much a student has mastered in learning about patterns.

Assessment Type: This type of assessment is a Selected Response assessment that will be visual for the students so they will be able to comprehend the concept of patterns more easily.

Binary Response:

1. Is the pattern below an AB pattern?

YesNo

Multiple Choice:

  1. What will come next in the pattern below?
  1. dog
  2. cat
  3. pig
  4. none

Matching:

Draw a line to match the leaf pattern to the type of pattern.

AB

AAB

AABB

ABB

Assessment Component 3: Performance Assessment

Performance Assessment: Students will create and extend patterns using unifix cubes.

Importance: Students will be engaging their prior knowledge of patterns to extend patterns from a model and then move on to create a pattern of their own and give an explanation to the teacher.

Executing the Assessment: Students will be in small groups and given unifix cubes.

  1. A teacher will then model pattern AAB and the students will need to create and extend the pattern at least three times using the cubes. Afterwards they will need to translate their pattern onto paper by coloring in cubes.
  2. A teacher will tell the student to create a pattern using three colors. The student will then create the pattern using the cubes and after constructing their pattern and translating it onto paper, the student will then need to explain the pattern to the teacher.

Scoring the Assessment:

The assessment will be scored based on a four-point scale. To receive full credit the student must be able to execute all assessments correctly. Students will be scored how many times the student extended the pattern, correctly translating the pattern to paper, creation of an independent three-color pattern, and correct explanation of that pattern to a teacher.

Rubric For Performance Assessment

Extending the Pattern:

4 Points: extended pattern more than three times

3 Points: extended pattern three times

2 Points: extended pattern one or two times

1 Point: no extension of the pattern

Translating Pattern To Paper:

4 Points: correctly translated to paper no mistakes

3 Points: correctly translated to paper one mistakes

2 Points: correctly translated to paper two mistakes

1 Point: three or more mistakes or no translation of pattern

Creation of Independent Pattern:

4 Points: correctly created three color pattern

3 Points: three color pattern with one mistake

2 Points: correctly created two color pattern

1 Point: no creation of independent pattern

Explanation of Pattern to Teacher:

4 Points: correct explanation of pattern with extensions to cubes

3 Points: explains pattern, but no extension to cubes

2 Points: correctly explains two color pattern

1 Point: no explanation of pattern

Total ______/16 points

Scoring Guide

14-16 points = above grade level with extensive understanding

11-13 points = at grade level, with consistent understanding

8-10 points = working towards grade level, but with inconsistent understanding

7 or below = below grade level understanding