Drowning in My Own Progress

I have not written in a couple of days. I did not plan it this way, but I have been overwhelmed with paperwork and outside schedules to dedicate time to write. I am back, however, and excited to report on the progress of our classes.

The 8th grade has been plowing through our unit on Linear Equations. They were given a formative assessment today (FA) in both classes. I would like to report I am please with the morning class' average (85%), but concerned with the afternoon (60%). I am obviously going to have to analyze the FAs to see where the errors were. Then, I can pinpoint where the instruction needs to adjust. I am happy, overall, with the work ethic of both groups starting off this unit. I am also pleased that I have been able to provide extension activities to a few students who want to push themselves further into Algebra.

The 7th grade is working hard on simplifying algebraic expressions. We introduced Distributive Property over the last couple of days. We are still getting stuck on our integer rules from chapter 1. We would do better if we continued to review these concepts on our free time.
Also, we took a look at factoring expressions as well. We will be solving linear equation next week.

The 6th grade is writing algebraic expressions and simplifying them when give values for the variables. We did a group activity today where the students were asked to create two order of operations problems using only numbers 0-9 once to create the largest number and smallest numbers possible. This went so well that we decided to extend this over the weekend. I am interested to see what answers we get.

I am considering changing my corrections policy. Currently, I allow students to correct homework assignments for a higher grade. In addition, I allow them to retake tests and quizzes. I am considering asking them to conference with me to show how their learning has improved in the areas they feel they are not doing well in. This is still in the planning stages, but I really like the possibilities of meeting with them. Does this sound like feasible idea?

Have a great weekend.