Student Learning Analysis Paper

Analysis of Student Learning
In order for a teacher to be truly effective in the classroom, that educator needs to have some indicator of how well the information is being assimilated into the cognitive processes of their students. Those that have participated in the lesson planning process know this to be the assessment portion of such plans, but rather than simply creating the assessment and looking at the percentage of points earned on it a teacher should be analyzing the consistent mistakes that each student is making with respect to each assessment. It is in this paper that I would like to address a concrete example of analyzing a student’s learning ability within the classroom by giving specific examples of student work to corroborate
my findings. The student that I have chosen to specifically analyze is Nathan. Nathan is a sixth grade student at Avalon Middle School. He shows up to tutoring on Tuesdays and Thursdays, participates in class, but is consistently struggling with individual assessments like homework, quizzes, and tests. After grading three of Nathan’s assignments and the diagnostic test that I had given him, it was clear to see that there was a disconnect between what was being portrayed in the classroom and what entered Nathan’s cognitive processes. This may be related to the fact that Nathan is on the autism spectrum and consequently has an Individualized Education Plan assigned to him by the Department of Education. Being that this is such as it is, it could be understood why Nathan’s grades were not quite as satisfactory as his classmates, but it may not be the biggest barrier to his learning of the information. There may have been a certain concept that Nathan misunderstood throughout his career as a student. Analysis of his work showed this quite clearly. When analyzing two quizzes and a test of Nathan’s (in addition to his Diagnostic Test), I noticed that he was consistently having trouble dealing with fractions and converting to equivalent fractions in order to reach a common denominator. Sometimes it was a slip such as Nathan multiplying the denominator of the fraction and neglecting the numerator, but often it was also an issue with multiplying the denominator by a certain number and then making an error with the numerator whether it be substituting the multiplicand for the number rather than the product or simply multiplying incorrectly. After seeing him receive a 50, 60, and 45 percent grade respectively on his two quizzes and test, the pattern became easy to see. Nathan does, however, have strengths in adding and subtracting fractions with mixed numbers. He does not make the usual mistake that students make by adding denominators together when summing fractions, he (for the most part) doesn’t convert to improper fractions incorrectly, and he even remembers to flip his divisor when he is dividing fractions and keep it the same when multiplying them. He has many strengths, but his weaknesses may outweigh them in his long-run career as a student. After further analysis of these details, I noticed that Nathan was having trouble with his fundamentals- that is to say that his use of the primary four operations (multiplication and division especially) may not have been emphasized in his prior tenure as a student.
This brings to point some possible instructional changes and improvements in order to meet his needs in the future, the first of which being a program known as Moby Math. Moby Math is an intensive program which deals with making sure that students are on the level that they are supposed to be mathematically by giving questions and assignments which test the students’ knowledge of the material at a certain level. If a student did not properly learn how to multiply double digit numbers correctly in third grade then the program will end up revealing that and assign problems accordingly. From the student’s perspective, the program is a bit monotonous, but it may be a necessary evil for students to relearn their basics. Not having access to the Individualized Education Plan of Nathan, I was unable to know what his accommodations were, but it seemed to me that if he were having a problem with his multiplication tables a four-function calculator could be allotted to him during stressful assessments. A final advantage that could be taken here would be to ensure that, during the tutoring time that Nathan appears before school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Nathan receives one-on-one time which not only allows Nathan to receive problems on the board which he can work out with the teacher, but also allows him to analyze the problem as he is going through it. It comes right down to understanding of concepts in the end and if students do not have a firm grasp of a certain concept, like multiplying and dividing fractions, then this one-on-one time will be paramount for the student’s
progress. After taking a look at diagnosing the problems that Nathan has had throughout these last few weeks of instruction, it is clear that taking a hard look at pre-tests and post-tests like the ones used at Avalon Middle School can be extremely worthwhile. By using these diagnostic tests it becomes much easier for teachers to assess exactly which part of their lectures got through to the children and which part did not. Using this along with the work assigned in class, quizzes, and tests will most certainly lead to eventually perfecting the effectiveness of teaching a certain lesson (ideally). Though it may take several years and several different ways of explaining and assessing each student’s work samples, it may be the only way to become a truly effective teacher.