Cami Saenz Ruiz

Student Assessment Report

1. What Piaget level is the student at? How does this level effect the instruction that he/she
needs?
Skyler is in the Concrete Operational stage. We first started with the straws, where Skyler was able
to identify that they were both the same length even though one was farther than the other. Then
when working with the beats, Skyler was able to identify that despite the distance or organization
of the beats, they were the same amount. To prove he was right, he counted the different pieces
with his fingers and used direct modeling.
Since Skyler is in the Concrete Operational stage, he comprehends the instruction very well and is
able to solve the problems accurately. He still uses direct modeling (manipulatives) to double
check his answers, but it is evident that he comprehends the instruction. Finally, I perceived that
Skyler is able to do some mental math and knows some operations by memory, which help him,
answer the questions faster.

2. At the start of tutoring, what did the student know? What did they struggle with?
When we began tutoring, I noticed that Skyler was a very smart student, but gets distracted easily
and likes to be very independent. He was confident with addition operations and with the card
game we played where he had to take one card and then a second one to add them. When I asked
Skyler to solve word problems, he took time solving them but got accurate solution for all of them.
He likes to write down what he knows about the problem and then starts writing down the
operations he needs to solve the problems.
When we introduced the equal sign, things started to get complicated. When I tried to explain to
Skyler the meaning of this sign, he did not want to understand and kept repeating that it was the
same as the addition sign. I gave him several examples, but he did not want to see things in a
different way.

3. At the end of tutoring, what did they learn? What evidence do you have that they learned
it?
At the end of tutoring Skyler understood part of the meaning of the equal sign. Little by little, he
comprehended that the equal sign was not the same as an addition sign. Doing some true or false
exercise Skyler began understanding that first he needs to add each side and then see if both results
are the same. Even though he still gets a little confused, he showed progress and understanding on
this topic. I think it was hard for Skyler to absorb this new idea. He only added traditional number
sentences; therefore, the introduction of the equal sign might have been overwhelming and
confusing for him.
 4. Pick a work sample. What descriptive feedback would you give the student? Remember
that descriptive feedback includes: what they did well, what they need to work on, and
how to get there.

How we can see in Skyler’s work, he began drawing five boxes and wrote down the #7 on each
box, which shows understanding on the word problem. After that, he started by adding 7+7 and
then again 7+7. He got two 14, so he added 14+14. Once he got 28, he finalized by counting with
his hands until he got to 35, however, he started adding more numbers and kept doing operations
that had nothing to do with the problem.
According to what I see, Skyler understood the problem and was able to show it with a drawing.
Then he added the numbers accurately and crossed them out in order to keep track of the numbers
he was adding. As we can see, Skyler showed the answer but he did not stated as the final one,
instead, he did some extra operations that were not related to the word problem. Maybe if Skyler
had a more organized and systematic procedure, he would have realized that the answer was there
and that he did not have to keep adding numbers. I think Skyler is going to be able to achieve this
with the adequate modeling and explain to him step-by-step each procedure. He is a fast thinker
and pictures his solution before writing it down, so I think he has to take his time to solve the
problems and follow an order.

5. If this child was in your class, how would you have to change instruction to meet his/her
needs?
If Skyler was in my classroom, I would be very explicit and I would make sure he understand the
“big idea” I am teaching. There is a difference between knowing and understanding. Skyler shows
that he knows everything but in the moment of understanding an idea, he struggles. Besides this, I
know that choice is something that Skyler appreciates a lot. He likes being independent and he
enjoys explaining his thought process. Therefore, I would implement student choice in my
instruction with Skyler. This will motivate him and keep him engaged.