Day 11: The Weekly Quiz Party

6th Grade Math Standards: 6.NS.4 Find the greatest common factor of two whole numbers less than or equal to 100 and the least common multiple of two whole numbers less than or equal to 12. Use the distributive property to express a sum of two whole numbers 1-100 with a common factor as a multiple of a sum of two whole numbers with no common factor. For example express 36 + 8 as 4(9 + 2).
MA.4.a Apply number theory concepts, including prime factorization and relatively prime numbers, to the solutions of problems.

The Learning Objective: Find the factors of numbers from 1 to 100.

Quote of the Day: Today was a half day so I did not bother to do a quote with 20 minute classes.

Agenda:

1. I checked homework as students read over the permission slip that was sent home for the weekly quiz.
2. We reviewed the factors homework. 
3. I went over the expectations for the weekly quiz with the class.
4. The students learned about how they can "Dominate" the weekly quiz. 
5. The students had the opportunity to start the weekly quiz in class. 

The Assessment: I checked the homework and noticed that many students left the number itself out of the list of factors. I also noticed that students were not including 7 and 14 as factors of 98 since we never discussed a divisibility rule for 7.

Homework: Students are going to turn in their weekly quiz tomorrow for a 5 point bonus.

My Glass Half-Full Take: This was the third straight year that our sixth grade math teachers have utilized a half-day to celebrate the first weekly quiz. The weekly quiz is for me the single greatest assessment that we can do in mathematics. Here's how it works:

• Every question is review.
• It is a take home quiz, but if the students are responsible they can see teachers after school for help. I tell them I don't mind if they get help from someone at home either (I trust that people at home want their child to learn just like I do). 
• As the year gets rolling, we will typically spiral back questions that students struggled with the month before. If they struggle on this again on a weekly quiz we continue to pound that topic on the weekly quiz. We make it so that some standards just can't hide. 
• It is a monster when it comes to making corrections. The teachers correct them daily to give the students an opportunity to fix their mistakes before they are truly due on Friday. 

The hardest part is of course getting the students to buy in. That's what today is for. Here's what we do to motivate the students:

• Weekly quizzes are worth 20% of their grade.
• For students that download it online a week in advance and turn the whole assignment in on Monday, we give a 5 point bonus. 
• There is a 100 Club for students once they receive five perfect scores. They also design a card that hangs from our ceiling that we call "The Hall of Fame."
• We have inter-team and inter-teacher competitions for who can get the most 100s. 
• We recognize all students that do the assignment the first opportunity they have with a "Grit Board" in the back of the room.  
• Today we had seven teachers wearing "light up a dark room orange" shirts that said WQ on the front and "When is it due?" on the back. I even wore orange pants and an orange top hat (I was Lloyd Christmas for Halloween once upon a time). 

Before it's all said and done it is an exhausting undertaking, but the goal is student learning and in my five years I don't think any assessment does it better.

One Thing to Do Differently: I wish I put out a video on the topic of Multiples ahead of time in caes students wanted to sneak a peak at the topic.

Link of the Day: Dan Meyer says we need to focus more on student question development if we want students to be engaged in what they are learning - not simply including problems from the real world. Oddly enough he writes about this the day after my cell phone problem.