Week Five C & I Tally
Monday, September 15: Picture Day. Subtract one hour. C & I = 4 hours
Tuesday, September 16: A full day = 5 hours
Wednesday, September 17: Minus specials = 3.5 hours
Thursday, September 18: Because Friday is cancelled, students have 1/2 specials totalling 1 hour. At the end of the day there is an assembly about the big Chocolate Sale fund-raiser, a kind of pep rally. Total C & I = 3.25 hours.
Friday, September 19: Assessment Day for Teacher’s to score Benchmarks. No students. No C & I… Continue reading
Benchmark Madness
September 19, 2008
Today there were no students attending DPS schools. It was a day set aside for teachers to score the Benchmark tests and (in the extra time, of course) to do other kinds of assessments. I invested about 10 evening hours this past week scoring the Benchmark tests of my students so that I could use this day to administer the DRA reading assessment that had been mandated for all students who were not “proficient” on the CSAP tests last spring and/or those who did not test in the proficient zone on the Benchmark tests administered… Continue reading
Benchmark Reading Test Results for six students
Melissa wrote a good summary of the first story, but her answers on comprehension questions were weak throughout the test. I notice that she hasn’t picked up a book in the week since we tested.
Jonas seemed to have a good understanding of the first story, but he left out key words in his summary, so it wasn’t possible to give him a good score. Most of his answers throughout the comprehension session were cursory, lacking any indication of deep understanding or interest in what he had read—or on doing well on the test. He didn’t appear… Continue reading
More about the DRAs
This morning Katy, the literacy consultant at the school, showed me how to administer the DRA reading assessment. It begins with the student reading a page or two of a small book while the administrator of the test reads the same test on a printed sheet and makes a “running record” of all the mistakes the child makes while reading aloud. It is also timed, of course. How fast can the child read?
I am not sure what the skill is that the test purports to measure. Having read many books aloud to students, I know that… Continue reading
Another Reading Assessment?
Monday I received the third directive to do the “DRA” assessment with all of my students who are not proficient on either the Spring CSAP tests or last week’s Benchmark Reading test. “Proficient” is the word that Denver Public Schools have decided upon for what we used to call “reading at grade level.” (Personally I think the word proficient is an unfortunate choice, suggesting mastery skills where they doubtfully exist). The directive was adamant that I cannot pass this job of the DRA assessments off to an assistant. I must do them myself. I have… Continue reading
A second tally of time to teach: third and fourth weeks
Labor Day on September 1 reduced Week Three to four days:
Tuesday, September 2: a full day at 5 hours for Curriculum and Instruction
Wednesday, September 3: another normal day with 3.5 hours after Specials
Thursday, September 4: a field trip to the Museum and Planetarium gave us a full 5 hours of C & I
Friday, September 5: another normal day with Specials at 3.5 hours
TOTAL for Week Three: 16 Hours for C & I
Week Four skewered by the first round of Benchmark Tests
Monday, September 8: No interruptions, and no… Continue reading
Scores for six students on the first math benchmark test
Sixth grader Melissa answered 10 of the 23 math questions correctly. She knew several answers that no other sixth graders knew, probably the result of her fifth grade in a public school where they used the Everyday Math textbooks upon which these tests are based.
Jonas answered 7 of 23, less than 1/3 of the questions correctly, despite the air of confidence he seemed to display throughout the math testing period. There were noticeable errors on math that had been directly addressed in last year’s instruction followed by apparent confidence in practice. Example: he whizzed through… Continue reading
Second Day of First Benchmarks
Two 45-minute sessions of the Writing Benchmarks were scheduled for today. The class returned from the two-hour specials that regularly hog their Wednesday mornings and took the first part of the writing test without too much fuss. They went to lunch and recess and returned without notable squabbles……….and then, suddenly there was chaos. Christopher was at my table telling me that he “had to go see Ms. Wendy” and then he was gone and across the room falling out of his chair and onto the floor with his desk on top of him while Alaina… Continue reading
First Benchmark Day
Tuesday. As I begin the day with the students, I warn them that it will be a short morning because we must begin the Benchmark tests. Before they can groan, I remind them about “no complaining.” We just “do it.” In my own mind, I backtime from lunch, having learned that the Reading section of the test we are going to take will require 70 minutes; and since this is our first session, it will require at least 30 minutes to rearrange bodies in the classroom (no 4th, 5th, or 6th graders sitting together!), get adequate… Continue reading
Benchmark tests consume personnel and paper
Three classroom assistants called paras work four and a half hours in each of the four Upper Elementary classrooms at Denison. None of us who act as lead teachers have figured out quite how this works, much less the assistants; but most of the time one of those helpers checks in with me sometime during the morning to see if I have clerical work and another spends two hours in my classroom during the afternoon. On Mondays I ask her to help organize the homework folders that go home on Monday afternoon. Today there was no help… Continue reading
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