Standards and Testing

In my service learning classroom, I usually go about the same time a couple of days a week. Because of this, I usually only see math being taught. So I can't tell you for sure if there are certain standards that have more emphasis put on them than others. However, I can assume that there is a big emphasis on math because it is taught every day and by looking at their schedule, I do not think some of the other subjects are taught every day. I think this is because math is one of the more important subjects. You will continue to build on what you learn in math for the rest of your life. What I can tell you is how the math being taught in this classroom relates to the core standards. The first grade math standards are a lot about problem solving, adding and subtracting numbers less than 20, and looking for patterns and structure. I see these standards happening all the time. The students do math worksheets every day that require them to add and take away by using different methods such as equations, math mountains, and pictures. Often on the math worksheets, there will be sections of patterns. For example, there could be six subtraction problems that all equal 0. The students can see the pattern that if you subtract a number by itself, you will get 0. 

I did not get the chance to ask my teacher how she feels about standardized testing, and now she is off track. But I assume she uses standardized testing more than other types of testing. I have seen a few examples of testing in my classroom and they have mostly been standardized. I think the teacher gives tests this way so she can see exactly where each student is struggling. Often during tests, she checks the test and tells the students which problems they did wrong so they can go back and fix them. I do not think standardized tests are the best way to go in every subject, but I think they can work sometimes. In this situation, I do not think it is terribly wrong, but there might be better ways to give a math test to first graders.