Tried It Tuesday: Easy Data Collection

Today I'm linking up with Fourth Grade Flipper for her weekly Tried it Tuesday linky party with a great way to review content and collect data all at the same time.

About a month ago I came across this blog on Pinterest. In the post, Tonya at Tonya's Treats for Teachers explained how she had her students create the data tracker while they reviewed a test.

I immediately fell in love with the idea so I tried it last week. I decided to try it while my class was playing a game to review for our geometry unit.

This is how it works.
1. I made and printed strips of paper numbered 1-24. Making the strips was simple. I just created a table in Microsoft Word then cut it into strips.

2. I passed out the strips to my students and asked them to write their initials in the first space.

3. We started our review. The questions were on the smartboard and students wrote their answers on small dry erase boards. I gave them a couple of minutes to write their answers and then they held up their boards to reveal their answers. Once answers were revealed, we discussed the question and I then gave the correct answer.

4. If students got the answer wrong, they were asked to color in the corresponding rectangle.

5. When we were finished, I collected the strips and glued them to a file folder. I can now see which questions we really need to go back and review. I can also very easily see which students are struggling most with geometry.

Here is the final product.

WHAT WORKED
I loved the fact that I could easily collect the data I needed to tell that they were not completely ready for the assessment. I also loved that it required very little effort from me because there is definitely a limited amount of time to get everything done.

Students were also very honest when filling out their chart. We had a discussion about that it was important to be honest so that when I looked at the data I knew exactly who needed help, so being honest would benefit them.

WHAT I WILL CHANGE
Next time I will make sure that all students are only writing in the appropriate spaces. (One of my scholars decided to write her initials in the space when she got the question correct. I didn't see it until we were almost done.) I will also make the spaces shorter. There were 3 students absent so they all fit. Next time I use it I will change the size so that all strips will fit. It would have also been better if students had done a better job at coloring in the boxes. I think I will require all students to us a crayon or marker next time.

I plan to use this idea again. Students were able to see their data immediately which I love.

I hope this is an idea that you can try in your classroom. Stop by Fourth Grade Flipper to see what other teachers are doing in their classrooms.

Data Wall

I can't believe that it is already the middle of February.  Where has the school year gone? 

I also can't believe that I haven't written a blog since November, but I'm finally back.  A lot has happened over the last few months in both my professional life as well as my personal life that has kept me extremely busy, but I am finally able to find some time to blog.  I have definitely missed it.

Well, now on to my post...

At the beginning of the year, I decided that I wanted to have a place in my classroom to show our classroom data.  All year this area has remained blank because I couldn't figure out exactly how to display it.
In December, my assistant principal completed my first evaluation and she told me that I needed to find a way to track data based on subgroups to see which groups are showing growth and which were not.  The easiest subgroups to begin tracking would be by gender; boys and girls.

Last school year, one of my colleagues, who is now the literacy facilitator for my school, had a data wall so I had a conversation with her.  She explained how she used her data wall and I decided to follow her lead.

This is how it works.  I created cards with each of my scholars names on them for each of our core subjects; reading, math, science, and social studies.  After they take a quiz or test, I pass out the cards and their graded assessment.  (We are currently working on fractions, so I have been recording their grades as a fraction and having them use a calculator to calculate their own percentage.) They record their percentage on the top of theory paper.  If they have a passing grade, 70 or higher, they place their name card face up.  If they have a failing grade, they place their card name down.

As a class we then calculate three percentages; whole class, girls, and boys. 
We then have a classroom discussion about the data.  After the third set of data collection, my students saw a trend that the girls always scored higher than the boys.  This led to a discussion about why this was a trend.  I love the fact that my students are analyzing their data. This is definitely requiring them to reflect on their work. I love it!!
Since I started using this data wall, I have noticed that my students have put more effort in their work, especially the boys, who desperately want to beat the girls, which hasn't happened yet.

I also like this idea because it will be a great addition to my data binder and it doesn't require me to do a whole lot of extra work.

I plan to continue to track data this way for the rest of the school year and look forward to using it starting at the beginning of the year next school year.

Here are some pictures of the current status of the data wall.  The boys and girls have different color cards so that it is easy for us to distinguish between them.

Here are the charts with my scholars' names. If the name is facing up, then the scholar passed the assessment. Girls are represented with either yellow or purple cards and boys have blue cards.

Here are the graphs of our data. Green=whole class, red=girls, blue=boys.