The teacher developed a series of four quarterly take-home exams for their Math 4R Pre-Calculus students over the course of the year through discussions with their peer coach. The exams are done in groups and aim to challenge students to think critically and solve problems requiring more than one class period. Students learn best by explaining topics to peers, and the exams have helped students become more proficient in independently learning new material and taking ownership over topics. As a result, students are now more organized, focused, and able to make coherent mathematical statements and arguments in class.

1. Peer Coaching Report
Name: A. Jorge García Date:6/13/2008
Peer Coaching
Students in Math 4R Pre Calculus very often are not challenged to
solve problems that require “thinking out of the box” or that require more
than one period to complete. I have developed a series of four Quarterly Take
Home Exams to address this problem. Over the course of the year,
discussions with my Peer Coach helped me to refine my focus and my
strategies as follows.
Peer Coaching Principle of Learning:
“Fair and Credible Assessments.”
Peer Coaching Focus:
“How can I incorporate group work on Take Home Exams in Math 4R?”
Peer Coaching Experience:
Students learn a topic best when they have to explain it to a peer. The
Take Home Exams are done in groups of the students’ choosing. They get
two school weeks to work on these extended projects. Typically, I assign a
Take Home Exam the Monday before a long break and collect it the Monday a
week after that break.
Peer Coaching Evidence:
Students learn new material on their own by completing each Take
Home Exam. Each exam extends topics from class and contains step­by­step
questions leading the student on a discovery. When the student is done with
the exam, he or she has, in essence, completed a research paper on the new
topic!
Peer Coaching Lesson:
The day I assign a new Take Home Exam, I give a short lesson on the
topics already covered in class that the student needs to know in order to
understand the Take Home Exam. Then I explain each question and what
the student should learn from this experience.
Peer Coaching Assessment:
I have found that, over the course of the year, the students have
become more and more proficient in learning new material on their own as
they gain ownership over each new topic. The experience they get from each
take home exam has also affected classroom work. Now my students tend to
be more organized and focused in class. These students also tend to take
pride in their work and are assets to class discussions. They are now
equipped with the skills necessary to make coherent mathematical
statements and arguments.
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