Assessments...

Today was my first day back in the classroom after a nice and relaxing winter break. Break didn't slow our learning down though. My CT had me finishing math assessments today with some students that she hadn't caught up with. I was basically just giving students a sequence of numbers on paper, in front of them, and asking them to point to the number, say it aloud, and move on to the next. In the mean time, I was making a check mark above the number on the child's document if they got it right, writing the number that they said instead of the real number if they were guessing or confused, and drawing a dot if they gave me no answer at all. A majority of the students had really improved since the last time they were tested in September. The assessment itself had 3 sets of numbers (1-10, 10-20, 20+). In September, if a student got an entire section correct, I didn't have to re-test them. However, of the few students who got an entire section correct, it was the first section only. There were lots of dots on the rest of the page. Today, though, the students were zooming through the number sets. The most mistakes, in the class in general, were with the numbers 21, 31, and 33. Almost everytime I tested a student he/she replied "12, 13, 13-3" for these three numbers. This is very interesting to me after having watched these same students participate in the morning routine of counting the number of days of school they've had. I assume that this chart is fairly common in a lot of lower elementary classrooms because it was very familiar to me; using straws to make ones-tens-hundreds, all while counting the number of days of school they have had. Each morning, my CT adds a new strawand when there is a completed bundle of 10 straws they move the bundle from the ones to the tens and they count up to whatever number they are at. If they have 70 sticks, they count from 1 to 70. The students are saying these numbers aloud, but are they really seeing them enough to put the sound of the number with the shape of 2 numbers together (i.e., 21, 31, 33)? This is a concern to me because I am forced to question whether or not the students are able to recognize that a 3 and a 3 next to each other is the number 33, not 3-3. Which forces me to think about teaching the concept of twenty, thirty, etc... For most of these Kindergartners, the idea of counting double digit numbers is abstract. Most of them are 5 of 6 years old and they are using their fingers to count. Their age is usually the highest number they want to count to at any given time because they just haven't been introduced to other numbers--on average. Obviously some students have more prior knowledge when they walk through those classroom doors but what about those students who have never read books with Mom or Dad before they go to bed at night? Who've never counted on their fingers? Who've never played hide-and-seek and used numbers? It happens, and I believe that it happens more often than we really think. One thing about my CT's classroom that amazes me is the amoung of young mothers. I have seen several mothers come into the school since I've been coming and I'm amazed that they have children in school. They seem so young to me! I give them 100% credit for raising their child and taking responsibility, however it still blows my mind that these girls, some of them my age, are bringing their children to school when I'm finishing school. Something is to be said for the trend of younger parents and children with less and less prior knowledge when they walk through our classroom doors. Based on NO scientific evidence, my theory is that unplanned pregnancies are a financial burden and young mothers cannot afford to not work. They have to work, along with their significant other to support themselves and a child. When I was born, my mother took 3 years off work and raised me. I spent every day with her and I knew how to count, read, and tie my shoes before I started Kindergarten. She had the means to stay at home and take the extra time to teach me those things. However, when you're 20 years old with a small child and only a limited income, sometimes those things are luxuries that you cannot afford. Does that mean you're child should suffer? NO. As teachers, we need to be prepared to work with all children and all academic levels. It may be one of the most challenging tasks as a teacher, but it is also the most rewarding. Leading a child towards that "a-ha" moment is priceless.