Michael Gotte- edTPA Task #4

Analysis of Whole Class Understanding:

Objectives from first lesson:

Students will be able to compare two decimals to the thousandths place and correctly use

the >, <, and = symbols to record the results of the comparisons.
Students will be able to round decimals to any place value (up to the thousandths) using

their understanding of place value.

These two objectives focus on conceptual understanding (understanding of place value
and greater than/less than) and procedural fluency (ability to follow the steps of rounding
and comparing decimals)

Standards from first lesson:

Common Core- Standards for Mathematical Content- 5.NBT.A.3 and 5.NBT.A.4
5.NBT.A.3-Read, write, and compare decimals to thousandths.
a. Compare two decimals to thousandths based on meanings of the digits in each place,

using >, =, and < symbols to record the results of comparisons.

5.NBT.A.4- Use place value understanding to round decimals to any place.

Assessment- To assess student ability to compare two decimals to the thousandths place and to
round decimals to any place value (to the thousandths), I gave an exit ticket (please see attached
exit ticket for lesson plan #1) at the conclusion of the lesson.
Evaluative criteria for the exit ticket assessment:
Check-plus: All three words problems are correct and three or four of the four rounding problems
are correct. The word problems show that the student is using their understanding of place value
(student circles or makes marks on the decimals, draws the place value boxes, etc.)
Check: Two of the three word problems are correct and/or two of the four rounding problems are
correct. Some of the word problems show that the student is using their understanding of place
value (student circles or marks on the decimals, draws the place value boxes, etc.)

Check-minus: One or zero word problems are correct and/or one or zero of the rounding
problems are correct. The student does not show that they have an understanding of place value.

Learning Segment Overview: The first taught lesson was a review lesson of how to round
decimal numbers to the thousandths place and how to compare two decimal numbers using the
greater than, less than, or equal to symbols. The lesson began with a word problem that targeted
the concepts of rounding and comparing decimals. The content of the lesson included two
SmartBoard games that helped students practice and review the procedures and understanding
behind rounding and comparing decimals. Each student was required to participate in the games
and practice their competency of these two skills. Prior to the SmartBoard games, I explicitly
went through and reviewed the steps required to properly compare and round decimals by using
practice problems and the word problem that was presented in the anticipatory set. At the
conclusion of the lesson, students were provided with an exit ticket that asked them to
independently work through three word problems and exercises that required them to showcase
their ability to compare and round decimals. The exit tickets were collected and graded using the
check-plus, check, and check-minus evaluative criteria that was described above.

I used the check-plus, check, check-minus as my evaluative criteria because it allowed

me to separate student work based on the accuracy of student responses. As you read the
descriptors for each, you can see that my grading criteria focuses on both conceptual
understanding (how well was the student able to show their understanding of place value) and
procedural fluency (how well was the student able to correctly round the decimal or compare the
two decimals using specific steps to get to the answer). At the conclusion of the lesson, I sorted

through the individual exit tickets and looked for patterns of learning, as well as what each
student did right and what each student did wrong. Based on the descriptors of the evaluative
criteria, I rated each exit ticket with a check-plus, check, or check-minus.
There is a total of 16 students in the class and each student handed in an exit ticket. Out
of the 16 students, nine students got a check-plus, three students got a check, and four students
got a check-minus. Before I go any further, it is important to note that when I refer to a word
problem, students were being assessed on their ability to compare two decimals to the
thousandths place. Out of the nine students that got a check-plus, six students got all three word
problems correct and all four rounding exercises correct. The other two students who got a
check-plus got all three word problems correct, but got one of the four rounding exercises
incorrect. All three students that got a check got all three word problems correct, but got two of
the four rounding exercises incorrect. Out of the four students that got a check-minus, two
students got all four rounding exercises incorrect, but correctly answered all three word
problems. The other two students got three of the four rounding exercises incorrect, but correctly
answered all three word problems.
All 16 students got all three word problems correct, which assessed their ability to
compare two decimals to the thousandths place. Therefore, there is no need to examine the word
problems for patterns of inaccuracy and errors. This also shows that as a class, they understand
how to compare two decimals to the thousandths place. All 16 students correctly used their
conceptual understanding of place value and place value positions to the right of the decimal to
compare two decimals to the thousandths place. Students were also able to use their conceptual
understanding of the greater than, less than, and equal to symbols when comparing two decimals.

All 16 students were also able to correctly use the procedure to compare two decimals to the
thousandths place (see first taught lesson plan with the procedure written out).
However, out of the 16 students, nine students got at least one of the four rounding
exercises incorrect. Out of the nine students, four got the first exercise incorrect, seven got the
second exercise incorrect, seven got the third exercise incorrect, and four got the fourth exercise
incorrect. As a class, students are rather weak with their understand of rounding decimals since a
little over half of the class (56%) got at least one wrong. As we can see, the two most missed
rounding exercises are the second and the third. This means that as a class, students have the
most difficulty with rounding to the tenths place and to the hundredths place. As a class, students
have the least difficulty with rounding to the thousandths place, which was asked in the first and
fourth rounding exercises.
The second exercise asked students to round 24.8623 to the tenths place. Three of the
students provided 24.862 as the answer, which could mean that these three students think that the
outermost decimal place value is the tenths place rather than the thousandths place. This means
that these three students may have a misconception of the place values and their positions to the
right of the decimal (conceptual understanding). One student provided an answer of 24.7, which
could mean that this student doesnt understand that you dont round down in decimals, rather
you keep the decimal place the same if the place value to the right is four or lower (conceptual
understanding). This could also be a procedural fluency error because the student is rounding
decimal numbers down, which means that he is incorrectly following the procedural steps of
rounding decimals. Two students provided an answer of 25, which means that these students may
think that you look at the decimal value that you are rounding to and either increase or leave
alone the place value to the left of the place value that you are asked to round to (conceptual

understanding). This could also be a procedural fluency error because the students are looking at
the incorrect decimal place value, which means that they are incorrectly following the procedural
steps of rounding decimals.
The third exercise asked students to round 77.4832 to the hundredths place. Out of the
seven students that got this wrong, four students provided an answer of 77.483. In this example,
the number in the hundredths place is 8. These four students have an error in conceptual
understanding because they thought that the three was in the hundredths place, which means that
they have a misunderstanding of the place value positions to the right of the decimal. These
students also have an error in procedural fluency because they dont understand the proper
procedural steps that are used (identify the hundredths place, look at the number in the place
value to the right, which is the thousandths place. The thousandths place is lower than four, so
you leave the eight in the hundredths place the same and knock off the place values to the right
of the hundredths place). One student provided an answer of 77.49, which means that this student
has an error in conceptual understanding. This student drew an arrow from the four in the tenths
place to the eight in the hundredths place, which makes me believe that she thinks that when
rounding, we look at the number to the left of the identified place value rather than the number to
the right of the identified place value. In terms of procedural fluency, this student looks at the
number to the left of the identified place value rather than the number to the right, meaning that
she doesnt understand the necessary steps involved when rounding decimals.
The majority (75%) of the students got the first and the fourth rounding exercises correct,
which means that the bulk of the class is successfully able to round to the thousandths place,
since that was what was asked on these two rounding exercises. These students were able to
notice that in the first exercise, the number to the right of the thousandths place (1) is less than

four, so therefore you leave the number in the thousandths place the same (8) and knock off the
place values that are to the right of the thousandths place. For the fourth exercise, students were
able to notice that the number to the right of the thousandths place (5) is greater than four, so
therefore you increase the thousandths place value by one digit (5 to 6) and knock off the place
values that are to the right of the thousandths place.
Analysis of Individual Student Work Samples:
The three student work samples that I will be analyzing got either three or four of the four
rounding exercises incorrect. Two of the three students got all four rounding exercises incorrect.
Neither student provided place values to the right of the decimal, which makes me believe that
they may not understand the place value positions to the right of the decimal. One student
rounded each decimal up to the nearest whole number and did not attempt to write in the digits
that followed the decimal point, which means that she didnt understand how to round decimals
or the procedural steps that are involved. Furthermore, since each exercise asked the student to
round to different place values to the right of the decimal (tenths, hundredths, and thousandths),
she may not know the position of the given place value, therefore making it quite difficult to
round in the first place.
Much like the student above, another student only provided a whole number for each
rounding excise and did not attempt to write in the digits that followed the decimal point. Each
exercise asked the student to round to different place values to the right of the decimal (tenths,
hundredths and thousandths), so he may not know the position of the given place value, therefore
making it quite difficult to round in the first place. However, unlike the previous student, this
student never attempted to round the whole number and provided the answer of eight for each of
the four exercises. The answer of eight doesnt make sense for any of the exercises. By analyzing

this, this student may not even understand what rounding means or what to do when asked to
round a number. Before this student is able to round numbers to the right of the decimal, he
needs review of how to round numbers to the left of the decimal (ones, tens, hundreds).
While the first two students had a lot in common, the third student did write in place
value digits to the right of the decimal and did attempt to round, but three of the four attempts
were incorrect. For the second exercise, the student provided 24.862 as the answer, which could
mean that this student thinks that the outermost decimal place value is the tenths place rather
than the thousandths place. This means that this student may have a misconception of the place
values and their positions to the right of the decimal (conceptual understanding). For the third
exercise, the student provided 77.483 as the answer. In this example, the number in the
hundredths place is 8. This student may have an error in conceptual understanding because she
thought that the three was in the hundredths place, which means that she may have a
misunderstanding of the place value positions to the right of the decimal. This student may also
have an error in procedural fluency because she doesnt understand the proper procedural steps
that are used (identify the hundredths place, look at the number in the place value to the right,
which is the thousandths place. The thousandths place is lower than four, so you leave the eight
in the hundredths place the same and knock off the place values to the right of the hundredths
place). For the fourth exercise, the student provided an answer of 45.96, but the correct answer is
45.196. In this instance, the student left out the digit in the tenths place, which could mean that
she doesnt know the position of the place values to the right of the decimal.
Overall, these three students had a common struggle of understanding the names and
positions of the place values to the right of the decimal (tenths, hundredths, thousandths). All of
the errors that were described above that were made by the three students can be attributed to

their lack of knowledge and understanding of the names and positions of the place values to the
right of the decimal. Once the students have a solid grasp on the names and positions of the place
values to the right of the decimal, the will be able to review the rounding process. However,
understanding the names and positions of the place values is a prerequisite skill that must be
mastered prior to introducing the rounding process.
Using Evidence to Reflect on Teaching (Re-engagement Lesson):
The common area of struggle that was identified for all three students was understanding
the names and positions of the place values to the right of the decimal (tenths, hundredths, and
thousandths). Therefore, it seemed plausible for my re-engagement lesson to focus specifically
on this issue. By taking this common struggle among the three students, I came up with the
following targeted learning objectives: Students will be able to correctly identify and label the
tenths, hundredths, and thousandths place values by using the base-ten block strategy; and when
given a decimal number, students will be able to place each digit into the correct place value on a
place value chart.
The Common Core State Standards that were the basis of the re-engagement lesson were
as follows:

5.NBT. A.3. Read, write, and compare decimals to thousandths.

a. Read and write decimals to thousandths using base-ten numerals,
number names, and expanded form, e.g., 347.392 = 3 100 + 4 10 + 7
1 + 3 (1/10) + 9 (1/100) + 2 (1/1000)

5.NBT.A.1- Recognize that in a multi-digit number, a digit in one place represents 10

times as much as it represents in the place to its right and 1/10 of what it represents to its
left.

I chose the above standards because they specifically review the knowledge and skill base of
reading and writing decimal place values to the thousandths place, as well as work towards the
understanding that the further away you get from the decimal, the smaller the number becomes,
which is a crucial understanding to have when learning about the positions of the place values.
The above objectives ask the students to use base-ten blocks as models to help them solidify and
visualize the place values to the right of the decimal and to be able to use this strategy to help
them place each digit in a decimal number on a place value chart.
The re-engagement lesson is based on the use of base-ten blocks to help the students
visualize the place values. The cube will represent one whole (or the ones place), the flats will
represent the tenths place, the rods will represent the hundredths place, and units will represent
the thousandths place. The instruction will go as follows:
1. I will ask the students if they have any ideas of how we can use the cube to represent a
decimal and its place values. I will tell them that the cube can be broken down into
smaller parts. I will tell them that the cube represents one whole number and that
everything inside of the cube represents smaller parts of a whole.
2. I will first pull out 10 flats. I will demonstrate that one cube can be broken down into 10
flats. I will tell them that the flats represent the first place value after the decimal, which
is the tenths place, because 10 flats fit into one cube.
3. I will then pull out 10 rods. I will demonstrate that there are 10 rods in one flat, and 100
rods in one cube. I will demonstrate that the rods represent the second place value after
the decimal, which is the hundredth place, because 100 rods fit into one cube. I will say
that we have seen that one cube can be broken down into 10 flats (with one flat equaling
one tenth) and the ten flats can be broken down into ten rods (or with one flat equaling

one hundredth). One cube (or one whole) can be broken down into 100 rods (or 10
hundredths) because one rod is one hundredth of one cube (or one whole).
4. I will then pull out 10 units. I will demonstrate that one rod can be broken down into 10
units, one flat can be broken down into 100 units, and one cube can be broken down into
1000 units. Since we are interested in how many units one cube can be broken into, we
can conclude that the units represent the third place value after the decimal, the
thousandths place, because one thousand units fit into one cube.
For each of the above steps of instruction, I will pose various decimal numbers for the
students to construct from the base-ten blocks (such as .481). I will also pose a series of baseten blocks (such as 3 cubes, 7 flats, 4 rods, and 6 units) and they will be required to write out
the decimal number on a place value chart by placing each digit into the correct box (see
attached place value chart). Towards the end of the lesson, students will be asked to create
their own decimal numbers using the base-ten blocks and write out their created decimal
number on a place value chart by placing each digit into the correct box. The practice allows
students to physically manipulate the base-ten blocks and begin to name and place each digit
into its correct spot on the place value chart. The repetition of having to use the base-ten
blocks and write the decimals on the place value chart ingrains the name and correct
positions of the place values to the right of the decimal, which is the purpose and learning
focus for the re-engagement lesson.
At the conclusion of the lesson, I will administer an exit ticket (see attached lesson #2
exit ticket) to each of the three students in order to see how well the re-engagement lesson
helped students learn the names and positions of the place values to the right of the decimal.
The exit ticket was broken up into three parts. For the first part, students were given three
decimal numbers, and for each decimal number they were instructed to draw-out the decimal

using the base-ten blocks (cubes as ones, flats as tenths, rods as hundredths, and units as
thousandths). Below each base-ten block, the students were instructed to label whether it
represented the ones place, the tenths place, the hundredths place, or the thousandths place.
These three problems provide me with information regarding whether or not the students are
able to use the base-ten blocks to identify and label the tenths, hundredths, and thousandths
place values (the first objective).
The second part of the exit ticket provided students with a series of base-ten blocks (such
as 3 cubes, 5 flats, 1 rod, and 6 units). Students were asked to write out the decimal number
that the base-ten blocks produced on a place value chart. Students were also asked to
label/name the corresponding place value in the place value chart (ones, tenths, hundredths,
and thousandths). This portion of the exit ticket provided me with information regarding
whether or not the students are able to use the base-ten blocks to identify and label the tenths,
hundredths, and thousandths place values (the first objective). I was also able to assess the
second objective because I was able to determine if students were able to place the correct
digit into the correct box on the place value chart.
The third part of the exit ticket provided students with a place value chart with a decimal
number written out. Students were instructed to label/name each digit of the decimal number
on the place value chart. I was able to assess the second objective with this portion of the exit
ticket because students were asked to label each digit on a place value chart.
To evaluate the exit tickets of the re-engagement lesson, I created the following rubric:
Drawing of blocks

Place values of blocks

Proficient (3)
Student correctly draws
all 3 decimal numbers
using base-ten blocks
Student correctly

Developing (2)
Student correctly draws
2 of the 3 decimal
numbers using base-ten
blocks
Student correctly

Not yet acceptable (1)

Student correctly draws
1 or 0 of the 3 decimal
numbers using base-ten
blocks
Student does not

identifies all place

value names for all 3
base-ten block drawing
examples
Decimal Number

Place Values of
Decimal Number

Student correctly
writes out decimal
number for all 3
examples
Student correctly labels
all place value names
for 4 or 3 of the 4
examples

identifies most place

value names for 2 of
the 3 base-ten block
drawing examples

correctly identify most

place values names for
2 or 3 of the base-ten
block drawing
examples
Student correctly
Student correctly
writes out decimal
writes out decimal
number for 2 of the 3
number for 1 or 0 of
examples
the examples
Student correctly labels Student correctly labels
most place value names some place value
for 3 or 2 of the 4
names for 1 or 0 of the
examples
4 examples

The exit ticket was worth a total of 12 points. There are four lines on the rubric and each
line was worth three points. If the student received proficient, they earned all three points. If the
student received developing, they earned two of the three points. If the student received not yet
acceptable, they earned one of the three points. The first two lines on the rubric (drawing of
blocks and place values of blocks) was based on the first part of the exit ticket. The third and
fourth lines of the rubric (decimal number and place values of decimal number) was based on the
second part of the exit ticket. The fourth line of the rubric (place values of decimal number)
included the third part of the exit ticket.
After applying the rubric to each of the three exit tickets, it can be concluded the reengagement lesson was successful in helping all three students understand the names and
positions of the place values to the right of the decimal (tenths, hundredths, and thousandths).
Two of the three students earned a proficient rating on all four lines on the rubric, meaning that
both students got 12/12. The other student earned a proficient rating for the first three lines on
the rubric, but got not yet acceptable for the fourth line (place values of decimal numbers), which
means that he got a final score of 10/12.

All three exit tickets provide evidence that the re-engagement lesson was successful
because they were all able to use the base-ten block strategy to understand the names and
positions of the place values to the right of the decimal. Specifically, the exit ticket asked the
students to draw-out the decimal 1.475 using the base-ten blocks (cubes as ones, flats as tenths,
rods as hundredths, and units as thousandths). All three students drew one cube, four flats, seven
rods, and five units to represent the decimal. Below each base-ten block, the students were
instructed to label whether it represented the ones place, the tenths place, the hundredths place,
or the thousandths place. All three students correctly identified the one cube as the ones place,
the four flats as the tenths place, the seven rods as the hundredths place, and the five units as the
thousandths place. All three students were successful with the other two identical exercises on
the first part of the exit ticket.
For the second part of the exit ticket, students were provided with a series of base-ten
blocks and were asked to write out the decimal number on the place value chart. All three
students correctly wrote out the decimal for each of the three exercises. For example, the first
exercise provided students with three cubes, five flats, one rod, and six units. All three students
correctly wrote the decimal as 3.516. However, only two of the three students were able to
label/name the corresponding place value in the place value chart for the three exercises (ones,
tenths, hundredths, and thousandths). For example, two of the three students correctly stated that
in the decimal 3.516, the three is in the ones place, the five is in the tenths place, the one is in the
hundredths place, and the six is in the thousandths place. The third student labeled the three as 1,
the five as 10, the 1 as 100, and the 6 as the 1000. This would have been correct if the digits were
to the left of the decimal.

However, on the third part of the exit ticket, all three students correctly identified that the
six is in the ones place, the four is in the tenths place, the one is in the hundredths place, and the
nine is in the thousandths place (6.419). Even though the third student was unable to label/name
each digits place value for the second part of the exit ticket, he was able to do so on the last part
of the exit ticket. This indicates that while this student received not yet acceptable for this
portion of the exit ticket, he did show that he was able to do it once on the exit ticket. I am
contributing this to a possible misunderstanding of the directions which hindered his ability to
correctly label each digits place value earlier on in the exit ticket. This student specifically asked
for clarification about the directions of this part (he thought he was supposed to write the
numerals, but I told him that he was actually supposed to write out the words). Had I clarified
this earlier, he may have been more successful with labeling/naming each digits place value on
earlier parts of the exit ticket. Overall, I would say that he does know how to label/name each
digits place value since he was able to do it on the final part of the exit ticket.
Overall, the use of the base-ten blocks and using these manipulatives was a successful
strategy because as described above, all three students were able to correctly name and label the
place value positions of the place values to the right of the decimal, which was the common
struggle that was identified among all three students from the exit ticket from the first taught
lesson.