What have I learned about assessment that will help me to improve student learning?

Within the six-week assessment course, I have learned valuable information within the following categories discussed through weeks one to six;

(Westwood, 2018)

Reporting:

·      I have learned how to use the Growing Success manual, in order to explain the expectations of students during the reporting period

o  In addition, how to use this manual to explain the reporting process, and how to teach students the learning skills and work habits prior to the reporting period

·      I have learned the importance of constantly taking anecdotal notes, in order to always have proof if your grades are questioned, in addition, how important taking anecdotal notes is to keeping track of student progress in a course

·     The steps and guidelines for reporting are within this class LMS

(McDaniel, 2012)

Grading:

·      I learned that there are pilot schools that instead of using grades, they are solely engaging students in learning just to learn rather than causing them to strive for certain percentages or grade levels

·      I have learned that I can make judgments based on what I have seen students perform 

·      I have learned that learning skills and work habits are graded within the reporting period, and should be built into planning

(Malatesta, 2018)

Curriculum:

·      I have learned how to properly use curriculum documents, in order to make lesson plans, and unit plans 

·      I have learned that it is important to be creative with your lessons while using the curriculum expectations 

·      I have learned how to modify using curriculum expectations, and how all overall expectations are similar, and the specific expectations get increasingly harder as the year's increase (building off of one another)

(DLB Consulting, 2015)

Professional Judgement:

·      I have learned that there are PD days for teachers and that they have the choice to go to as many of these professional learning days, tying into numerous strands and topics

·     As an educator, I follow the OCT standards and use my professional judgment in order to answer difficult situations

(Fresh Grade, n.d.)

Assessment:

·      I have learned how to use triangulation (Conversations, Observations, Products) within assessment to attend to the principle 765 (in Growing Success)

·      I have learned how to communicate what is happening within the classroom to parents, both prior to and during the reporting periods

·      I have learned the difference between assessment for, as, and of learning, and when each should be used to assess learning 

(PMTC, 2018)

Evaluation:

·      I have learned that evaluation is always summative, we are using culminating or performance tasks at the end of a unit, and how to best evaluate student learning, by providing choice

·      I have learned about the time line used in teaching, where majority of evaluations take place (for reporting purposes)

AER Form

Maria Malatesta's Pinterest Board URL

(Malatesta, 2018)

What is Assessment?

Hello everyone, welcome to my assessment page! Assessment is one of the most important areas of teaching, and thus, I hope my blog will help you learn some more about the topic.

(Rural Health Information Hub, 2018)

Listed below, are some questions I have based on assessment: 

1.   What is the best form of assessment to use for junior/ intermediate students? 

I know that there are different ways to assess students and am currently beginning to learn more about the various methods and how to use them. Yet, as I am working with junior intermediate students, I am wondering if there is a form of assessment that seems to work best with this grade level of students. 

2.   There is differentiated learning, and along with that must come differentiated assessment. How as a future teacher will I differentiate my assessments?

This is a loaded question, but what I am most interested in is learning about differentiation and how to use differentiation within my classroom for students that need it. Differentiation is a topic that I have learned a lot about in my cohort course, therefore, I know lessons for differentiated students must be modified. Yet, I am interested in knowing how I will also differentiate the assessment I am using for these students, and if there is one assessment that works better than others in differentiated learning. Does this type of assessment vary based on the student’s exceptionality or differentiation? 

3.   How do you properly assess a student reading level? 

I know there are PM benchmarks, students reading levelled books to you, while you assess them. Yet, does this benchmarked reading level really provide you the students reading level? Is there a better way to assess their reading level or an assessment that can be combined with this method to improve it?