Last Minute Lesson: Assessment for Learning

I was lying in bed not sleeping at 2AM or so (as one does), and had one of those ideas that I just had to use in class today (again, as one does: why is this getting more and more normal for me?). It worked so well I had to blog about it.

When I introduced the 0-4 "Levels of Understanding" to my students, some of them asked me to show some examples of the difference between the levels, and of course I didn't have any handy. I told the students we'd come up with them as we went along, and tried to forget about it. That obviously didn't work...
So this morning I threw together my best stab at an example of 1-4 for a Geometry construction  by working one out in four different ways. Take a look and see what you think.

I ​put 'em up on 4 walls, and had the kids circulate and "grade" each. I didn't tell them that there was one of each score, and I didn't give them any more pointers than to use the posters in the room (4 claims and levels of understanding).

​Cool:
-kids were referring to the posters, going up and reading more closely; signs they were thinking about it
-kids were discussing what proficient meant
-I think we started to get to the difference between a drawing and a construction.
-Could've done electronically, but it was worth 4 sheets of paper to see the kids moving around the room, discussing, walking up to check the posters.

What the numbers say:
I collected their post-it votes and (why the hell not?) recorded their responses and made a chart.

Take-aways:

• Except for the 1 guy that didn't like my best effort, everyone who disagreed with my assessment was nicer than me. (millennials? OMG I'm old enough to say that!)
• A 4 is pretty obvious.
• The inability to see what makes a 1 vs a 2 led to a great discussion of focusing on the learning target and the difference between drawing and construction.
• 3 vs 4 was also helpful, especially leading to the idea that trying an alternate method to confirm results might be a good way to make that difference.
• Having the discussion really focused our attention on the learning target: were we doing what it said? Just checking that out often settled any differences of opinion. 

I didn't have time to prepare something like this for my two sections of precal later in the day, but we got a little discussion in, and I had them start to try to formulate 1-4 responses for a question. Definitely doing this next week with them.

Man, this feels good. I had the energy today that comes with going into a 5 day weekend, and I got to translate that into something that felt really productive. The students' notions of what a math class is and how it is supposed to work are being challenged, and they are challenging me about how I assess, and ultimately grade. Conversation started! Let's keep it going.