Final Assignment

MAED 471B
Stacy Lee

1) Assessment plan description

a) Course Name: Principles of Mathematics 10

b) A list of the main curriculum units:

• Radicals
• Sequences & Exponents
• Polynomials
• Trigonometry
• Coordinate Geometry
• Functions & Relations
• Rational Expressions
• Rational Equations

c) Source of Assessment
NOTE: Since Pr. Math 10 is provincially examinable, school mark will count 80% and the
government exam will count 20%.
• Unit Test: 70% of the course. One at the end of each unit which takes
approximately 2 weeks.
• Quizzes: 10% of the course. On average, there will be 2-3 quizzes per unit.
• HW: 10% of the course. HW will be assigned every day out of the textbook or
worksheet.
• Project: 10% of the course. There will be 1 project per unit. Some will be done
individually and some will be done as a group. The difference between project and
homework will be the amount of time they put into the final product and project
might require certain level of their pre-requisite math skills e.g. Math 9 or
knowledge from previous units.

d) Relative importance attributed

I must say I put the highest importance/proportion to the unit tests (70%). This has a lot
to do with the provincial exam and certain level of expectations the administration puts onto
each teacher's shoulders. Students need to be prepared for the provincial exam and
students at grade 10 level learn the best from similar examples and numerous practice
through out the course. Also, unit test is an efficient way of testing students' overall
progress of the unit. Questions such as "Has the student been doing the homework?", "Has
the student learned from the mistakes made on the quizzes?", or "Did the project in this
unit help the student to better understand the concept?" can be answered quickly as a
result of unit tests.

e) Conversion Scheme
I don't think I have a choice of converting marks/performance into summative grades at
the school I am working for. This probably is the case for all the high school classes since
universities are need to look at the summative conversion in determining students'
admission. So as if other standard marking scheme, I would use the range of marks and
corresponding letter grades. For example, 86% - 100% is an 'A', 73% - 85% is a 'B', etc.
I think it is a human nature to react differently to an 'A' compared to a 'B' and I have
experienced students begging and arguing to achieve a better letter grade. That will be my
own judgment call; I would bump up marks within 1% range if that changes a letter grade
under the condition that students' work habits and effort were evident through out the
course.

f) An example of record-keeping sheet

In my practice, I record marks on-line (www. Checkmymark.com) and the following
shows an example from my last year’s class: Math 9 Honours. I plan to record marks on-
line next year as well.
 HW & Worksheets - Weight 20%

Joseph Padayattil
Mark
Total
Weight
Percent

Unit 1 HW package #1

5
1
90.0%

Unit 1 HW package #2

5
1
100.0%

Unit 1 HW package #3

5
1
100.0%

Unit 2 HW check #1: P.63, 95, 90

15
1
100.0%

Unit 2 HW check #2: P93, 98, 103

15
1
100.0%

Unit 3 Word prob extra sheet

10
1
100.0%

Unit 3 Review #1

25
1
90.0%
 Quizzes - Weight 20%

Joseph Padayattil
Mark
Total
Weight
Percent

Unit 1 Quiz #1 BEDMAS

12
1
83.3%

Unit 1 Quiz #2 (take-home) Number System

10
1
90.0%

Unit 1 Quiz #3 Exponent Rules

22
1
81.8%

Unit 2 Quiz #1

14
1
85.7%

Unit 2 Quiz #2

11
1
68.2%

Pascal Quiz #1 (take-home)

11
1
100.0%

Unit 3 Quiz #1 Tough word problems

16
1
90.6%
 Unit Tests - Weight 60%

Joseph Padayattil
Mark
Total
Weight
Percent

Unit Test #1 Real numbers & exponents

43
1
86.0%

Unit Test #2 Algebra

31
1
96.8%

Unit Test #3 Word Problems

56
1
71.4%

Mark in Bin

81.7%
Term 1 Mark: 83.2%

g) How to maximize learning from tests?

• Motivation to study for the test: No pop-tests or quizzes, give students clear
expectations on the quizzes/tests, provide students with enough materials to
practice on with answer keys (so that they can see if they are on the right track or
not), make sure you spend enough time on review package(s)
• Fairness: make the test fair and I will make sure the test covers what was covered
in class equally and fairly.
• Re-writes: allow students to re-rewrite under certain conditions. For example,
students should not take any advantage of my re-write policy. The purpose of re-
write really is to let students learn. Read more below in my answer h)

h) Revision scheme
• HW: I don't think I am going to have a specific revision scheme for homework. If
the homework is handed in incomplete, I will return it back to the student and ask
for more effort and completion.
• Quizzes: No re-write on quizzes. The % given is not as huge as unit tests, so
getting a few bad marks on quizzes won't be so detrimental. However, to
psychologically comfort them, I can omit two worst quizzes IF students correct
quizzes with me after school for instance.
• Tests: Re-write is allowed if students come back after school and analyze each
question they got wrong in a journal form. Students must write down their thoughts
and work step by step and I have to be convinced that the student is ready to re-do
the test for the second time. To be fair for the entire class, I won't replace the old
mark with the new one, but I will take 30% old + 70% new.

i) Rationale
• Practicality - I must say paper-and-pencil oriented testing methods are efficient and
less time consuming and it certainly is a way of testing large number of students in
a restricted time period.
• Conformity - I am not comfortable with doing something too radical way different
from the rest of the math department. I am sure I can be creative even if I stick to
conventional tests, quizzes, etc., but I don't see myself going against the norm too
much.
• I don't like portfolio type of assessment. This will create too much ambiguity and
confusion unless many other teachers adopt it in their practice as well. Last year's
nightmare in Planning 10 portfolio seems to have created kids' hatred towards
portfolios. Plus how would I know if the portfolio is done by the students themselves
or by their tutors or parents or siblings? This involves too much human bias and I
need more objective way of assessing students.

2) Comparison to IRP

Overall, I noticed that my assessment plan does not fully match to the objectives and
guidelines. I would say about 25% of the guidelines include my assessment plan. But at the
same time, I am covering all the components as part of my class but they are just not for
marks. For example, I do observe my students on on-going basis but I don't give marks for
such observation. Similar argument goes to oral and written reports. I do see if students
can verbally express their answers but I don't necessarily attach marks to that. Portfolio
assessment is something I am completely not doing in my class, not because I am against it
but because I am still not sure how I can effectively implement it in my class. Maybe in the
long run, if I observe more successful cases with portfolios, I might have more courage to
try portfolio approach for my own practice.
Mathematical Processes

Students are expected to

• communicate in order to learn and express their understanding - yes
• connect mathematical ideas to other concepts in mathematics, to everyday experiences,
and to other disciplines - somewhat yes
• demonstrate fluency with mental mathematics and estimation - somewhat yes
• develop and apply new mathematical knowledge through problem solving - yes
• develop mathematical reasoning - yes
• select and use technologies as tools for learning and solving problems - yes
• develop visualization skills to assist in processing information, making connections, &
solving problems - yes

3) My Response to Hypothetical Scenarios

• My general guideline for promoting students to Principles 11 from Pr. Math 10 is

67% (C+). It is easy to not promote the student if he/she gets below 67% (way
below 67%) and if the student has poor work habits and often with such mark and
attitude those students do not complain much about the streaming that was
recommended for them. For some students, in fact, they know their future won't
require abstract pure math, so some are glad there are streams such as essentials
of math so that they can graduate from high school without much nightmare. It is a
different story if a student is highly motivated and if a student has good work
ethics, like Thom. It is a real dilemma since I know Thom will struggle and may not
pass Pr. Math 11. But what I would look at his motivation and he may have to
repeat math 11 in case he fails but looking at his passion and determination, I am
sure he can repeat the course and eventually get through Principles of Math. I don't
want to be the one who closes the gate for him at such a young age of 14 or 15.

• Maria's case: There are two issues here; Maria is not challenged enough and Maria
lacks the sense of respect. To solve the first problem, ideally she needs to be put
into honours class or AP/IB class. Her attitude problem can possibly be solved
simultaneously hoping that she learns how to be humble by observing smarter
students around her and by having more challenging materials given to her. If
above is not feasible and if Maria has to stay with me then I would sit down with
her one on one after school and talk to her genuinely about the issues. I will specify
what bothers me and tell her the purpose of this conference one on one. I hope to
see some changes in her attitude but if not, it is time to contact her parents. 99%
of the time, parents do not support their children's negative rude behavior so
hopefully Maria's conversation with parents will change her attitude.

• Class dynamics vary so drastically from one class to another. It is not fair to
compare just the average figures to judge other teachers' teaching or our own
teaching. I would first gather the data on this class's previous marks from last year.
Calculate the average on their final exam or provincial exam and see if that
matches to the current class average. If they do match, then you have less to
"blame" for myself. If there is any discrepancy, however, that is when I need to do
more investigation. For example, "Am I using different method to factor compared
 to the rest of the math teachers in school?", "Are my instructions not clear enough
on the test?", "Are the review packages made in a way to prepare students for the
test?", "How is the difficulty level of my test compared to other teachers?", etc.
How do I find out the answers for these investigative questions? I think
conversation with students and colleagues will be the best way to go. If I have
multiple blocks of the same course, the investigation process will even be easier.

4) Analytic Rubric by NCTM

• Assessment for each student's response

- Student A: 2, 1, 1, 2, 2 ==> 8 out of 10
- Student B: 2, 0, 0, 1, 1 ==> 4 out of 10
- Student C: 2, 2, 2, 1, 2 ==> 9 out of 10
- Student D: 2, 2, 2, 1, 2 ==> 9 out of 10

• Do they accurately reflect each student's performance?

- Somewhat yes, somewhat no. In this case I think Student B's performance is
under-represented.

• Am I pleased with the rubric?

- No. This rubric should not be applied to any type of math performance assessment.
I don't think the overall figure represented above accurately explains each student's
understanding of the problem. If I was to make changes, I would get rid of
'CHOOSING A STRATEGY' & 'IMPLEMENTING A STRATEGY' criteria. Instead, I would
replace them with 'LOGICAL ANALYSIS'.

• Conversion to a letter grade

- Student A: A-
- Student B: B (40% doesn't explain what he put out as his performance)
- Student C: A
- Student D: A

5) Two books from www. criticalthinking.com

• Algebra Magic Tricks Book 2: If I can get my students interested in the subject,
it's already winning half the battle. There is no doubt students will enjoy doing the
activities and it will be a good introduction to equation solving units. I like the
reflection questions after the activities.

• Dr. Funster's Quick Thinks Math C1: Some of the questions can be good for 5-
10 minutes left over at the end of the class or I could use it as a "lesson breaker" to
take a quick break if the lesson is long. Questions are easy to follow and students
can work fairly independently without getting much help from their teachers.
Questions appear fun and they cover lots of different topics in math.

6) Self-assessment

• My own mark: 95%.

- I enjoyed coming to class
 - I enjoyed every single topic discussed in class: I listened carefully and I
contributed my thoughts
- The course was meaningful to me and I felt like I was internalizing what was
discussed in class
- It was positive to experience practice and theory in many ways
- I did the assignments not for marks but for my own sake
*Why not 100%? I put off the reading sometimes and crammed a bit in the last
minute.

• Will I use self-assessment? Yes and No. It depends on the overall maturity of
the class and the type of assignments/projects I am doing for the unit.