After interviewing both students, I discovered that their interviews reflected their performance during math class. Amber, who is always at the top of her class, is usually on-task, but even if she is not, she always "gets it." She is comfortable asking questions and seems okay with needing extra help. She wants to figure things out. Amber is a good student in all subjects and just received several citizenship awards.
            Christin...I love her! Mrs. McKinney informed me that last year, when Christin was in fourth grade, she could not count to 100. She counted using her fingers and touching her face...so naturally, she ran out of fingers. She has made a great deal of improvement and is now able to multiply 3 digit numbers! She is starting to work on division now. Mrs. McKinney allows her to do the same work as the other fifth graders, but it is usually a little different. Several weeks ago, the fifth graders were working with the distributive property in multiplication using 3 digit numbers times single digit  numbers; seeing that the distributive property was really confusing, Christin continued by multiplying the same problems in the traditional way. Christin, as her interview reflects, is very willing to ask for help and is okay with the fact that  math is hard for her. Christin seems to be able to think about math in lots of different ways and use lots of different means to help her - she is comfortable asking a teacher and a friend for help, using rocks as manipulatives and eating during math class!

        Completing this math assessment was very interesting! I found myself learning quite a bit about both students and they did not even realize that I was trying to figure out all sorts of things regarding their attitudes towards math! I picked a "higher" student, Amber, and a "lower" student, Christin, to get an idea of both ends of the mathematical spectrum. As a teacher, it would be very important to take some time at the beginning of the year and ask students these questions. It really tells you a huge amount of information about a student in such a simple way. Drawing a mathematician is would be an excellent way of assessing your students in an open, creative way, but still allows their abilities and attitudes to stand out. Math is such a difficult subject for so many kids, and I think it would be a good idea to let kids know that what they think about math is important, whether it is positive or negative. Taking some time to really discuss math also shows students that math is important to you and to the way we live.
        I was surprised and humored by some of the answers I received during the interview. Christin was very honest regarding any question that I asked her - she was embarrassed to ask boys for help, she knew she had a difficult time with math, and she just "didn't want to do it" unless reward time was involved. For being behind, I thought Christin had some good ideas about math; she seemed to want to find new ways to do math if she needed help. Whenever she asks me for help in class, I always ask her, "Well...what do you think?" Most of the time, she has the correct answer. In some ways, I think Christin was more advanced in her ways of thinking about math that Amber may have been. Christin, through my observations during class and from the interview, seems to be aware that there is certainly more than one way to do math. Perhaps part of this is Mrs. McKinnney's differentiating the math lessons for Christin sometimes. Christin seems to be very accepting of the fact that she has trouble with math and seems to try her best. I am concerned with how a teacher would deal with a child that was not very accepting and acted out in frustration.
    Amber, as stated before, is a very good student. She could sleep through class and pass the test! Amber has very practical views of math - you need math to get through life. I would definitely use this way of assessing children again in my student teaching and during my teaching career. I think I would do it at the beginning of the year and make out a plan for each student and what I could do to help them with math. I also think it will be important for me to use this assessment during my student teaching since I will be entering the class in the middle of the year without any prior knowledge of each student.