Analysis of Student Learning

During the pre-assessment I noticed that students had roughly the same strengths and weaknesses. For example, Question two was a question that most students either got partially correct or fully correct. On the other hand, however, question six was a question that most students got completely wrong. Using this data I knew that I would have to focus instruction around word problems and applying decimal operations to real world problems.

The second lesson seemed to go very well. Students understood the topic of adding decimals which was expected. Students had a very high proficiency rate and it was clear to me that students needed more difficult problems for them to feel challenged by the topic of adding decimals. One thing however that showed to be an issue was a lack of focus after about 40 minutes of work. I believe that this was caused by the fact that students got bored of the material. Next time I think that I would have to plan out more difficult problems so students feel challenged. 

Lesson three went about the same as lesson two. Each student seemed to grasp the concept of subtracting decimals in two or three problems. The only issue was, again, each student was understanding the question I was doing on the board that they began to get off task. This time, however, I was able to reel them back on task in a matter of seconds. In addition to the first worksheet I made an extension activity for students that finished early. This was very helpful because I had a handful of students that finished with about 15 minutes to spare. 

Lesson four was an extension lesson of lesson two and three. This was an activity that was all about showing and using decimal addition and subtraction in a real life situation. Students were to make a combination of food, drink, and tickets and add them together. They then were to subtract that number from the budgeted number which was specified. This lesson was a bit shaky. Students were confused on what they were supposed to do and students also did not want to do four different combinations. At the end of the period, students were asked to turn in the papers. Five out of the 20 students completed the front page. This was an activity that was meant to be more challenging and most students got two correct combinations down. However, the workload seemed to be a bit too steep. If I was going to change this activity I would shorten the workload that students have to do. Students got the opportunity to work on this worksheet for the next couple of class periods. 

Lesson five went fairly well. Most of the students understood basic decimal multiplication after one or two problems. In addition to that however, some students had a hard time bringing over a number if it was more than 10 to the next place value. I think that this skill was something that should be addressed sooner so when I teach this lesson again I want to make sure that I touch upon bringing over a value that is greater than ten. 

Lesson six was a lesson surrounding dividing decimals. The lesson was difficult. Students were having a harder time learning the basic concepts of dividing decimals. In addition to these difficult circumstances, the students were not the most on task. This caused a lot of interruptions. As a result, not a lot of actual teaching was done. No one was able to finish early, which is a first for one of my lessons but it meant that we had to spend more time reviewing division. This lesson was stretched over a four day period where I chunked up each section of the worksheets. I focused the last two days specifically on word problems and recognizing division and other operations in a real life situation. 

Lesson seven was the post assessment. I gave out 16 assessments and every single one of them showed the goal of being 80% or higher with proficiency in decimal operations. This unit was a huge success overall because students were not only able to learn decimal operations but were able to apply what they learned to their own everyday lives.