After over a quarter of school completed, I wanted to get the students' opinions on what they thought about these quick formative assessments. After a final assessment, I had students complete a short answer questionnaire. The following questions were asked.
How do you feel the quick check quizzes have helped you?
What is something you would change about the quick check quizzes?
When do you typically complete your practice problems?
The day they are assigned
Before the quick check quiz
After the quick check quiz but before the test
After the test because I need to do a retake
I never do practice problems outside of class
Other, explain:
If you have had to come in for a conference explain if/how it benefits you.
Explain any part of the process you would feel could be changed to help you be successful in Algebra 2.
The two most common answers for question 1 were either it did not help at all, or that it showed which sections they needed to do the practice problems. I found that the ones that said it did not help also chose that they never did their practice problems. These students are students I am brainstorming to reach in new ways as this process is not going to be helpful as they are not attempting to learn the material. Those that answered that it showed them what practice problems to do, was enlightening to me. I was curious if any students were doing their homework in a timely manner or just waiting until they were forced to do it.
Question 2 had a lot of different answers. The one that stuck out the most was several of my higher grade students wanted to “get out” of the final assessment if they scored a perfect on the quick check quiz. I see both sides of this argument. They have shown their mastery of the topic, but they are also taking this quiz shortly after learning it. Is this just them being good with short term memory? I plan to dive into this more in my next blog post looking at the scores and if they had improved, remained the same, or even scored lower on the final assessments.
Question 3 the answers were fairly even across the board. Many students admitted to only doing practice problems if done together in class, or only if they had to complete them for the retake process. Students that answered question 1 with that it helped them know what to study did answer this question with option c. Homework completion is the toughest hurdle to manage in a standard based classroom. I have tried multiple things over the course of the last few years. The fact of the matter is if it won't affect their grade many students will not do it. I see most of my students completing homework right after the summative assessment if they know they did poorly because they know they are going to do retake. This makes more work for them in the process and generally I see a switch throughout the year as they learn how to study for tests and find more value in their practice problems.
Question 4 was the best question I asked the students. I gained a lot of insight. Students loved the 1 on 1 time to ask questions without feeling “stupid” in front of their classmates. They also mentioned the benefits of seeing what exactly I am looking for as well as what mistakes will receive what scores. They felt they actually knew WHAT to ask after the formative quiz to learn it, where before they felt they were stuck at the beginning. After giving this questionnaire, I tried to touch base with each student more frequently. I looked for more ways to make it more anonymous for students to feel more comfortable to tell me they needed help.
Question 5 students asked to not have the summative if they passed the quick check. Some wanted me to assign them times for their conference with me if they scored low instead of leaving it up to them to schedule. Others wanted to skip the quiz all together since it wasn't graded. Others voiced how much they liked the process all for many different reasons.
Overall, it was a lot of insight from just 5 questions. I used these to make adjustments throughout the 2nd and 3rd quarters. I made tweaks about needing to have completed their practice problems before the summative assessment to be allowed to take a retake. I also would give students a few days to schedule a conference with me, but if they did not I scheduled it for them. This helped to get more students to show up for those 1 on 1 meetings. I felt this would have started to show the improvements in the process in the 4th quarter had we had the opportunity to complete the 4th quarter this year. Any process has its positives and negatives, I was nervous when giving them this questionnaire but for the most part my students did a great job giving me realistic, honest feedback that I was able to reflect on.
No comments:
Post a Comment