Modifying Assessment Items What is the concept/skill being assessed? How could a test item writer ask this in a TEI format? What types of classroom activities or assessments could I use to prepare students? 2

Modifying Assessments 3

4

5

6

7

8

ESS Sample Lesson Plans – now available K- 12 9

ESS Sample Lesson Plans 10

Instructional Videos 11

Practice SOL Items It is essential that students have experiences with the Practice SOL Items prior to testing. Use of the Practice Item Guides is STRONGLY recommended. Practice Item Guides provide: – Guided practice with tools – Information specific to TEI functionality – Information on item format 12

No Pain, No Gain If you are more tired than the kids, it’s not because you are old Make kids estimate/predict and think before calculating Don’t ask questions that solicit one word answers Let kids struggle to make sense of the mathematics 13

WESTERN VIRGINIA PUBLIC EDUCATION CONSORTIUM Dr. Betti C. Kreye School of Education Virginia Tech

You can’t fatten a pig by weighing it!

Famous Quotes: But I covered that last week (last year, in the third grade, etc), and they just didn’t get it! The students can’t remember from week to week what I have been teaching!

Engaging Students in the Learning Process Conceptual Understanding Success on Tests And MORE

Conceptual Knowledge Research has solidly established the importance of conceptual understanding in becoming proficient in a subject. When students understand concepts that frame a subject, they are able to use their knowledge flexibly. They combine factual knowledge, procedural knowledge, and conceptual knowledge in powerful ways. Standards in Classroom Practice, McREL, 2002 Research has solidly established the importance of conceptual understanding in becoming proficient in a subject. When students understand concepts that frame a subject, they are able to use their knowledge flexibly. They combine factual knowledge, procedural knowledge, and conceptual knowledge in powerful ways. Standards in Classroom Practice, McREL, 2002

Working with a partner, write a word problem that could be solved using multiplication. Share your word problem with others around your table – do all of the problems appear to be of the same type (similar wording and requirements to solve)?

Take the word problem you have written and rewrite it so that it could be solved using a division strategy. Share this word problem with your table mates – do all of your problems seem to be of the same type (similar in wording and requirements to solve)?

Final Thoughts:  Teach for understanding of concepts, not merely memorizing procedures.  Choose activities and tasks that will engage students in the development of their understanding of the mathematical concepts.  Enable students to make connections between mathematical concepts.

Ms. Brown’s class will raise rabbits for their spring science fair. They have 24 feet of fencing with which to build a rectangular rabbit pen to keep the rabbits. a)If Ms. Brown’s students want their rabbits to have as much room as possible, how long would each of the sides of the pen be? b) How long would each of the sides of the pen be if they had only 16 feet of fencing? c) How would you go about determining the pen with the most room for any amount of fencing? Organize your works so that someone else who reads it will understand it.

Martha’s Carpeting Task Martha was recarpeting her bedroom which was 15 feet long and 10 feet wide. How many square feet of carpeting will she need to purchase?

As you enter a classroom ask yourself this question: "If there were no students in the room, could I do what I am planning to do?" If your answer to the question is yes, don't do it. Gen. Ruben Cubero, Dean of The Faculty, United States Air Force Academy

“If an educator keeps using the same strategies over and over and the student keeps failing, who really is the slow learner?”