How many times have we, as teachers, stayed up late at night to develop engaging lessons? We're so sure that they're the best lessons ever, but when we get the tests back, the grades range for so-so to oh-no. If you're anything like me, this has happened more than once.
Teacher reflection is the key to finding where the breakdown in learning begins. I sat down with a teacher recently to look at her tests. There were a variety of questions--matching, multiple choice, document-based, and essay. And the grades ranged from As to Fs. After pouring so much time into making the lessons engaging and hands-on, it was more than a little frustrating to see such an obvious breakdown in comprehension. So what caused it?
We sat down together to do an item-analysis of the tests and found where the biggest weakness was (besides student aversion to studying once in a while). Basically students were struggling with the bar graphs. This didn't show up in the lessons, but was glaringly obvious on the tests. All it took was a little time and even less effort and we were able to see one of the biggest barriers to student success.
Teacher reflection is key. We often blame the students for everything and sometimes we assume they know things that they, in fact, do not. I'm headed into that teacher's classroom today to do a little mini-lesson of graph reading. And the students will have a chance to look at their tests again.
Our next challenge--content area vocabulary.
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