Assessing Students Learning

Assessing Student Learning - Rex Video Transcript Rex had thirteen cookies. He ate six of them. How many cookies does Rex have left? [Quietly counting back six from thirteen, putting up a finger with each count] Seven. And how did you figure that out, Rex? I counted down with my fingers. OK, tell me how you did that. I went like, umm, thirteen, and then I went, twelve, eleven, ten, nine, eight, seven [demonstrating how he counted back six from thirteen, putting up a finger with each count]. Good. Now, is that how old you are? Are you seven? No. Well, how old are you? Five. You’re five? And when is your birthday? June 19. It’s coming up pretty soon, isn’t it? And then I’m going to be six. And how many days away is your birthday? If today is June 5,how many days away is your birthday? [Quietly counting on his fingers, beyond ten, but after some counting (and re-counting), stopping] I can’t figure that one out. Well, let’s see. Today is June 5 and your birthday is June 19, so what do you think we could do to figure that out? Use our fingers or something. OK, how could we use our fingers? What should we do? Like this: June 5, June 6 —No [raising one finger for June 6 and then hesitating]. OK, June 6. June 7 [continuing to count, raising a second finger for June 7]. OK, June 6, June 7 [mirroring what Rex has done, putting up two fingers—one for June 6 and one for June 7 ]. June 8, June 9, June 10, June 11, June 12, June 13, June 14, June 15 [continuing to count up, putting up a finger with each count and stopping when all ten fingers are raised. The teacher continues to mirror what Rex has done by putting up her fingers with each of his counts]. That’s ten. Uh huh. June 16, June 17, June 18, June 19 [continuing to count up, putting up a finger with each count until four fingers are raised]. It must be [pausing and quietly recounting the fingers above ten by counting on: eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen] fourteen days away. Wow! Now, Rex, do you know what guppies are? No. Do you know what goldfish are? Yes. Or would you rather do tadpoles? Tadpoles! OK. Rex had fifteen tadpoles. He put three tadpoles in each jar. How many jars did Rex put tadpoles in? I don’t even know that one; that’s hard. www.nctm.org teaching children mathematics•September 2010