Today was our first assessment (pdf) over something I've taught (the Math Skills Assessment was over stuff they've theoretically already learned) - Proportions and Percents. Overall, the students did very well, although I was still surprised by how long it took a few students to complete it.
We then talked about different measurements systems and the process of dimensional analysis (including calculating how much Steven Spielberg makes per second), but again it took much longer than I anticipated (lesson, pdf). We didn't get to the last set of examples, including figuring out today's price of gas in Australia - I still hope to share that sometime with them. (I did ask them to do the two problems above that for homework - we'll see how they do on that.)
For homework, they need to check to see how they did on the assessment and, if they need to re-assess, to start studying and then schedule an appointment to re-assess. On our online portal system they can see their grade on the assessment, and in the comments I included which problems they missed (if any) and sometimes some additional notes. With the key (pdf) posted as well, they should have a good start toward figuring out what they need to work on and then re-assessing.
They also have those two problems we didn't get to that I mentioned above, and a short survey on graphing calculators so that I can get a better feel for how many students have - or soon will have - those. I then reminded them that Back to School Night was tonight (I only had about 8 or 9 families show up out of 30 students) and they should invite their parents, and that they'll need graph paper tomorrow.
So, I'm still struggling with how long activities are going to take, but I'm pleased with the results of the assessment. Now if I could just get them to be a little more lively at 7:21 in the morning . . .
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