Alternative Assessment Ideas to Energize Your Math Students

As we embark into a new school year, it’s always important to think and reflect on what ideas worked well and which ones did not in past years. Personally, 2024 marked the end of my fifteen year of teaching and each year my goal, since I started teaching, has been to try and do a better job next year. These small consistent improvements have shaped my teaching practice today. I’m aware that there is always room for improvement, but with limited time and resources, it’s critical to set manageable goals that help us move forward as educators. Last school year, there were three ideas I believed worked well with my students: alternative assessment, using student feedback, and using students as tech support.

Assess Math Understanding and Alternative Assessment Ideas

Like many other educators, when it comes to summative assessment, I usually have a quiz somewhere around the middle of the unit/chapter and then a test at the end. I feel this is still a very common practice, especially among math teachers. A quiz in the middle and a test at the end was pretty much what I experienced as a student in most math classes I took in high school. I don’t think there is anything wrong with this practice, but I also think that our students today live in a different world than we, their teachers, did. As a classroom teacher, I’m responsible for providing grades for my students every quarter through their report card. Therefore, not giving some type of a summative assessment is not an option for me. I started to think about what alternatives I could use to assess students without having to give them a formal traditional quiz/test.

Examples of Alternative Assessments for Math

I decided to share my thoughts/worries with my students, so I shared with them that I wanted to find an alternative way to assess their learning that did not involve taking a quiz/test. Students were excited with the task and were immediately willing to share different alternatives. I believe this was a critical component of the process (e.g. student involvement) where my students were able to share their ideas on how they should be assessed. One recurring theme from students across different classes (Algebra 2, Precalculus, and Calculus) and different levels (Essential, Standard, and Advanced) was making a “Tik-Tok” where they would explain some mathematical idea they had learned during the current unit. Many of them felt this was a fantastic idea we should try.

I could tell that the idea of making a video was something that most of them were willing to try, however, I wasn’t sure about using a specific social media platform to do so. I shared this with students, and they helped me find a solution. Together, we decided that for the current unit of study, students wouldn’t take a quiz. Instead, they would make a video tutorial where they would explain in detail how to solve two questions from the lessons we had done so far. The videos were then to be submitted using our learning management system. We also decided that I would provide a list of potential questions they could choose from, but students could also choose/write their own question that I would approve or edit.

I decided to give students a class period to work on it but they did not need to be done by the end of the period. Normally, a quiz would have been given in a class period, so I felt that this made sense in terms of time within the scope and sequence. Together, we decided that students could record themselves or just their voice as they worked out the problem. Students used different vertical surfaces like whiteboards and chalkboards while some others used their iPads or notebooks. Students worked together solving the questions and they also supported each other with the recording, editing, and submission of the video. As the teacher, it was so interesting to see students’ personalities within each video submission. Some students had no problem recording themselves and speaking in cameras as though they were the host of a show while others made their videos more “serious” like a professional tutorial from an online textbook.

Since there were many students working on making videos simultaneously, I allowed some groups to work in the hallway right outside our classroom. I consider myself to be very comfortable with technology but during the assignment most of the needed tech support was provided by students for students. In fact, I learned that my students are very knowledgeable about video editing! In one instance, a student was recording their video without talking so I approached the student to remind him that they needed to explain the mathematical idea. He told me that he was recording the video first and then he would do a voice over which he shared was easier for him.

I would say that more than half of students finished and submitted the video during the class period they were given. The rest of the students submitted their videos later that day after making some edits. For the most part, the videos range from 5-10 minutes and it’s worth mentioning I did not limit students on the length. From a teacher perspective, it was nice to hear them talk about what they were learning. The math concepts explained on the videos were very accurate for the most part, I provided feedback regarding more accurate math language to some students. There were also a few conceptual mistakes that I was able to address.

Overall, making tutorial videos instead of giving a traditional quiz worked really well with all my students regardless of the class or level. Students were very engaged in the process and their work was very impressive. I believe that having students involved in the process made a difference in their commitment. Truth be told I was initially hesitant about trying something so new, but I learned that students are amazing resources for one another in terms of providing support both mathematical and technological. We ended up doing more video assignments in other units and towards the end of the school year. Ultimately, students had created a mini video library which they could reference to review for their final exam.

I really hope you find these ideas helpful and can use them with your students or children in the future. I would love to learn what other alternative math assessment ideas you are using with your students. What was your experience like? How did your students respond? What was the level of engagement like?

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