MPM1D1 - Day 62 Group Test

Today was our group test. I let students choose their own groups. I'm not sure whether this was a good idea or not. It seemed that some students weren't really sure who to work with. Others had a good sense but I had said that the group must be three people. This meant that those hoping to be a group of four had to decide who was going to leave. Not doing random groups today made me really appreciate doing random groups.

Each group received the test and started working on their whiteboards. I had each group start at a different question. Some groups were very efficient and others really seemed to have a hard time making headway. I went around and did lots of listening and asked if students could clarify their thinking for me.

It was pretty obvious that many students had not studied for the test. There were lots of incorrect assumptions being made along with lots of simple errors. I really like the group test because of all the discussion and learning that is taking place. I also like the fact that I have some conversations (which I recorded today) that I can use to supplement (one way or the other) a student's test results. What I don't like about this extra information is that I don't have a clean way to count it.

I struggle with how to assess the group test (and maybe it just needs to be formative). I don't want to penalize a student who learned a ton between the group test and the individual test. I also don't want students to feel like they did well on the group test so they don't need to prepare for the individual test. In any case, I do have a record of the conversations along with photos of all the work that I can use to help in making an overall judgement.

The plan for tomorrow was to do the individual test but I don't think my students are ready for that yet.