Wilson 1

In my inquiry notebook on March 2nd I discussed the improvement I have noticed in my focus
students and their advancement.
I am amazed with Sophia, Ivy, David, and Selena. While were doing our whole group
instruction today, they were the first ones with their hands up and wanted to explain how
they figured out the problem to the class. They seem so much more confident in the class and
have been answering all their exit slips correctly for the past few weeks.
This entry is probably one that really opened my eyes to how they have been improving. Each
one had significantly shown more confidence in math because they understood it. They used to
struggle on the exit slips and would sometime leave them blank or have the incorrect answer.
Consistently they had been getting them correct or almost correct. When it would be incorrect
and I would go over it with them, they would explain their thinking to one another and me and
see where the misconception was. After that conversation, they would be able to clearly explain
why their original answer was flawed and what the correct answer is and why.
In their formative assessments, I noted in my observation notebook that they were
averaging 80% or above on their formative workbook sheets from February 2nd- March 18th.
These were sheets that were completed every other day after a lesson to gauge student
understanding. They were allowed to ask each other questions and math talk conversation was
encouraged to help complete the problems. In the fall semester, they were averaging about 50%
on those formative assessment worksheets. Their formative assessment scores for those
worksheets increased 30% over the span of five months.

Wilson 2

I was interested to see how their test scores looked over the span of those months in
comparison to the beginning of the year. On the graph each student is in a different color and his
or her topic test scores are graphed for each unit test. We have currently covered 12 topics so far
in the year and the growth is clearly seen for each focus student.
120%
100%

When first looking at the

80%
60%
40%
20%
0%

Sophia
David
Selena
Ivy

graph, the data points at the

beginning range from 30%
to 85%. From topic 1
through topic 7 tests,
students scores fall

between 30% and 85%. Selena seems to maintain lower scores with slight increases but
consistently remains below 80%. When centers were introduced during topic 6 tests, their scores
are between 60% and 80%. As the graph continues, all four of the students scored between 75%
and 85% on topic 7 test which is the first test after centers were introduced. On topic 8 test,
student test scores increased to ranging between 80% to 90%. By the time these four students
took topic 10 test, their scores fell between 90% and 100%. In comparison to the range of scores
on the beginning of the topic tests, it is clearly seen that students have improved significantly in
their topic scores. The centers allowed for more practice and familiarity with the topic students
were learning. This particular group of students benefitted greatly from that additional work and
manipulation.