How I Did It... I Think....

I've been reflecting on this past year and all the preparation for the AIMS. Yes, no question I taught to the test - was told to, had no choice. But I think I did some things that other teachers don't - and don't know how to do. It all comes down to study skills. When I put together a quiz of questions from the Galileo system, what also went along with all of that was a very close look at how questions were structured, as well as the type of answers presented.

Example - scientific notation. Questions were of only two types - go from standard notation to scientific notation, and then the reverse. There were enough hints within the question - and the answers - to help kids determine what the correct answer was. So we looked at everything within each of the questions. What I noticed was that kids would ask concept-type questions as we reviewed, so I felt they were getting some of the underlying understanding to the material.

We also drilled - something that has taken me a while to learn to do, after so many years of working with gifted students. Bright mathematics students do not need the practice that other math student do. I had to really amp that up for my kids.

Debriefing of all assessments, including how students did on each question, what was tricky about the questions, how the scores looked, and their own improvements, or lack thereof. I truly don't believe teachers use assessments as best they can - give it, record it, turn it back, maybe make a few comments. We did all the statistical analysis (mean, median, mode, etc), so the kids were reviewing those concepts in the light of their own work.

Last, but probably the most important - I constantly told my students they could do this test. And I was always throwing in tougher questions from the eighth grade AIMS that I knew they could do, so that helped their self-concept about doing well. If I were to do it again, I would include examples from the high school AIMS, since I just went through that. The kids know this stuff, but they need to believe they know it, and they need to know you believe for them.

Keep in mind, at no point was I just telling them they could do this test. It was always coupled with work they had done already and succeeded with. The praise was coupled with their hard work. Too often we just tell kids they can "do it," but we never show them their own proof.

Good teaching, plus a healthy dose of personal support, lots of practice, and never giving up - or letting the kids give up on themselves.