Post 7 – Effective Assessments
Most of you have already begun your classroom observation. The next few blog entries will be based upon what you see in the classroom in which you are observing. If you have not started your observation, answer the questions by observing the assessment practices of one or more of your Lindenwood professors. Please do not use names of teachers, professors or students.
How does the teacher assess the progression of the students’ learning? How does the teacher determine a need for further instruction? How does the teacher determine and document when a student reaches mastery of a learning objective?
I have posted a youtube presentation by Rick Stiggins about Assessment For Learning. Take 6 minutes and watch the youtube - it will help you know what to look for in your classroom.
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When I was in choir, my teacher would give us cds of music that we had to practice at home over the week. When we came back to class the next week, she would have the whole choir sing what was on the cd back to her with no help. Depending on if we sang it well or not, she could tell how much we had progressed in our learning of the music. We also had to tell her how many times we practiced our cd that week. If the number of cd repetitions was relatively high and we sang well, she knew we had mastered the part she desired for us to learn. But if the numbers were high and we did not sing well, then she knew that she needed to do some more explaining and/or reteaching seeing as completing our "homework assignment" did not help us to understand the material as well as she would have liked.
ReplyDeleteI am observing in a preschool classroom so they don't exactly have set homework assigments or tests. Basically, the teacher is just trying to prepare them for kindergarten and teach them things they need to know for that like fine motor skills, language development, social development, etc. She gives the students fun activities that incorporate one or more of those skills. The kids don't know that they are learning things needed for their future, they just think they are playing a fun game. The teacher reads stories aloud and helps them practice repeating some of the words back to her since they can't sit down and read a book by themselves yet. The teacher also does home visits and gives the parents hand outs and teaches them things they can do at home to continue teaching their child outside of the classroom. At the beginning and end of the year each student takes a few pre-tests and post-tests over things like rhyming and matching. At the end of the year, if the teacher sees that the child has improved she will know that the student is ready for kindergarten. If not, she may give the parents some acitivities to work on over the summer before starting kindergarten or suggest summer school.
ReplyDeleteThe teacher i'm observing, assess the students in a couple different ways. He is a PE teachers so his first assessment is on wheter they dress out or not. If they do they get the 10 points, if they don't they have to write a short report, sit out and not get the 10 points. He also assesses his students using a rating scale on a daily basis. The scale involves: participation, and knowledge of the subject when questions are asked.
ReplyDeleteHe determines the need for further instruction by asking simple responses from his students after he explains the subject matter. If the students don't understand and are not real clear on what do to he will show examples, or have me demonstrate the examples.
As I said earlier he documents the students progression by giving points based of dressing out, participation, and knowledge.
Laura I really think your teacher did a good job on assessing your class as a whole. The only question I had about it was, you said she had the whole choir sing as a whole. If she did that, wouldn't that cover up for the students who didn't do their homework because they might not be heard and blocked out by the other singers. I know you said she asked how many times you practiced, but if you didn't sing independently it seems people could get away with it.
ReplyDeleteI am observing in a first grade classroom. The teacher I am working with assesses her students in two different ways. (the things she looks at are like counting, spelling, alphabet, etc.) First she talks to the students one on one to see what they know. She also asks questions to the students as a group. She does both ways because some students get nervous one on one or sometimes get nervous in front of a group. She determines needs by why the students know, if one student doesn't understand something she tries to work with them individually or have the parents (private school, a lot of parent participation)try. If multiple kids aren't getting something, she usually goes back over it. I think the teacher determines whether or not her students are mastering something by comparing them with each other and other first grade classes. Granted some students will excel or being a little slower,but the majority of the students are usually on the same level. It seems like the way my teacher is doing thing thus far is effective.
ReplyDeleteSarah my classroom is ran kind of the same as yours, with the exception of the students usually knowing they are learning. But my teacher does the home visits and a lot of the parent involvment as well. This seems to be very useful. The parents know exactly where their child is and what is going on from day to day.
ReplyDeletegood thought andrew. some of the weeks, she did make each section sing their part individually... so even though she hardly ever heard us sing individually, she heard smaller portions of the choir and could tell how many of us knew our part. but good thought. :)
ReplyDeleteKylie I agree that parent involvment is important. I think parents should be actively involved in their students education so their child will continue to learn outside of the classroom. Home visits, like your teacher and my teacher do, are such a useful tool to help kids learn. I wish I would have had some home visits when i was in preschool, kindergarten because it would have helped me to continue learning even when I wasn't at school.
ReplyDeleteI'm completing my practicum in a third grade classroom. The other day when I went they were having a math lesson. All the students had mini whiteboards and she would give them a math problem, such as 99 plus 100, tell them to write it on their whiteboard and solve it. She would give them a few minutes to solve it while she walked around the room and observed their work. Then when she felt they were all done she say "let's see what you have" and they would all hold up their boards to show her their answers. If everybody didn't have the sam, correct answer she would write the problem on the big whiteboard in front of the classroom and solve it. But she would solve it in a way where she would ask them questions the wholde way through the problem and write down their responses that were correct. If it was three digit addition problem with 3 different numbers she would break it down to add two numbers first then add the third number after the others who were slower at getting it got it.
ReplyDeleteAndrew I think that's good that you get to help the teacher demonstrate examples.
ReplyDeleteIn a writing course at my high school, my teacher used the peer review tool on Microsoft Word 2009 to assess how well students were writing and critiquing one another's papers. This showed her what the students were writing were having trouble with and what the students who were critiquing were focusing on. If most of the students struggled with the same concept, she would focus on that area verses others. Most concepts, I believe, are a constantly learning process, not only because everything is changing but also, there are always certain situations that require certain attention. That is what this writing teacher always focused on, constant improvement and broadening of skills verses complete mastery. She would find this improvement within the critiques of the paper, if the focus changed and the reoccurring problems disappeared.
ReplyDeleteTraneika-I think that is an awesome exersize to assess the students work, but I almost wonder if it is embarrassing to the students if they get the wrong answer when they have to show the whole class.
ReplyDeletekylie, i liked how you said that the teacher you are observing assesses her students one on one and as a group. this shows that the teacher has each students learning and testing stlye in mind.
ReplyDeletei am observing a high school speech class and the assessments are done in two different ways. One way is through pop quizes and occasional tests. The other way is through giving speeches that meet all the criteria stated on the syllabus. the students seem to react well to both. the way the class works is that for a day or two, the teacher will lecture about a certain type of speech then the students have a week to prepare it to perform in front of the class. the students are required to make an outline of the speech including their introduction, thesis, research, and conclusion. this not only helps the student during the speech, but also gives the teacher an idea whether or not the student grasped the point of the lesson. the teacher also assesse the student after they are finished giving their speech by telling them what they did well and giving them consructive criticism. i am really enjoying observing this class and i have learned a lot for my future teaching career!
ReplyDeleteI like the way that your teacher assesses the students speech progress, Nicole. However, I think that having the other students give their comments on one student's speech is another great way of assessing the students. I was in a speech class once, and our teacher would first have us comment on the students speech and then he would know what we were thinking and whether we were looking for the things he talked about and discussed with us. They were always friendly comments and were never unkind in any way and that really helped me to stay focused in class for one thing and then to pay more attention to what our teacher was looking for in a speech.
ReplyDeletei haven't started my practicum yet, but i remember the way that my Math teacher in high school taught us. after we all took the placement test in their, she divided the stronger students to sit near the weaker ones to help them to learn the lesson. she encouraged us to talk while she was teaching if the weaker student was not understanding the work. we would always get 10 or 15 mins to start our homework so that if we still had any questions we could ask them.
ReplyDeleteI started my classroom observation on Friday of this week. I watched three classes: jazz band, beginning band, and music theory. The music theory class that I watched was especially interesting as far as assessment. The teacher assigns a daily lesson, and uses that to assess where the students are at that point in time. It is a small class of five people, so he can teach students individually in order to help them to understand the subject matter. He also assesses his students using discussion. He holds open discussions on the subject matter with his students, and by doing so, he knows what they know and what they don't know. Also he has the students apply the knowledge by writing their own songs that include the new musical idea that they covered in the lesson.
ReplyDeleteIn my french class my teacher always hands out small exercises to practice what we learned in past classes. She gives us time to work on it and then we do it all together. In that way we can see exactly what we did wrong and why it was wrong and it helps her see if the topic needs to be reviewed or we can move on to something else.
ReplyDeleteAlso, at the beginning of each class she starts off asking us questions about what we did for the weekend or what plans we have, always asking in a way that makes us use new words or verb tenses we are learning, that way she sees how we are progressing and what we need to work on.
I was observing a high school english teacher he was making his students read Edgar Allen Poe. the students were really struggling with it so he re wrote the lesson plan a little so he could spend more time working through the story with them and changing up some of the assignments to help the students out a little.
ReplyDeleteMy Spanish teacher here at LU does a great job of assessing our class every day. Every morning when she walks in to class, she starts a conversation in Spanish with our class. She asks many different questions, most including vocabulary from the chapter we're currently on, so she can tell who is studying and who's not based on our answers to her questions and how easily or well we can reply to them. We also take quizes or tests nearly every week to assess how much we have grasped the new information in the chapter. If people struggle on the quizes, we spend an extra day working on that material.
ReplyDeleteI am observing a band director, and he assesses his students in several ways. The first is during classes. He has them play through the music they are learning to see what they know. If something doesn't sound correct he has the section or individual play that part and helps those in question to play it correctly. The other way he assesses the students is through Smart Music playing tests. The students use the program to record themselves playing the assignments and submit it. The teacher then listens to what they recorded and is able to see the actual music they played. Then, he gives them a score out of 10 based on how well they completed the assignment, taking into account their previous work and their current level of skill. I like it, because it helps the director to know on an individual level what his students can do. It's very useful, considering otherwise it can be difficult to grade students. Also, these tests can't be faked or falsified, as so many of the previous written practice logs were.
ReplyDeleteSarah and Kylie, I think that is really great that your teacher does home visits and gets the parents involved in their childs learning. I think its really beneficial for students at that age to have their parents help them with their schoolwork. If their parents are involved, they will probably be more willing to learn because they will get to spend time with their parents, not just do homework. I like the idea of teachers keeping their students' parents clued in on how their children are doing at school and what they need to work on. I think that would make it easier for the teacher to keep her students all learning at the same pace.
ReplyDeleteNicole made a comment on pop quizzes. I do not believe that those are necessarily a good thing. Students learn at different paces, and a pop quiz can really discourage a student who learns at a slow pace, and it can negatively effect his or her grade. Personally I think that assessments should be announced because a lot of times, students who are struggling are scared to approach the teacher, but if they know that judgment day is coming, they will be motivated to approach the teacher to ask questions. I've been in the situation many times. I am an introvert, and I used to be terrified of asking questions and approaching the teacher for extra help. Many students are like this, and because of it, their learning suffers.
ReplyDeleteAlly mentions a teacher using peer review and the tool to do it. I really like this sort of activities because both students and teachers get to see first hand what the strengths and weaknesses of the group and each individual have.
ReplyDeleteI have worked in a pre-school classroom where the teacher did random one-on-one assessments. After a few weeks of school starting, she would start. Her assessments were small and included things like pattern building, identifying and/or tracing shapes, numbers, letters, colors. She also would assess their fine motor skills by having them cut on a line, pick up raisons, etc. Each assessment was dated, charted, and added to a portfolio. If the student had difficulty with the assessment, more focus was made and assistance given. Once the student had accomplished the assessment correctly without prompts, they were considered to have mastered the skill. They then obviously had more confidense in themselves. They no longer needed the assessment in that particular area. It was great watching how this classroom was run. Not only the assessment portion. This teacher actually sent her preschoolers home with homework at the beginning of each week. If it was accomplished by the end of the week, they got extra bonus points to go towards their treasure box points (major incentive!).
ReplyDeleteSarah, I think it is awsome that your teacher does home visits. This is one area that the teacher I worked for did not do. She did involve the students parents as much as possible. They were encouraged to accompany the class whenever possible, they were always welcome, and the homework was sent to have parents get involved in their students learning. Kylie and Emily, I also agree that it is important for parents to get involved in their childrens education.
ReplyDeleteI notice in one of my music classes that the professor asks the class if we understand the concept being discussed. I think that since the course builds on itself to where the student would not understand the next lesson if he or she did not understand the previous one, that it is easier for the instructor to be sure the class understands and stays together. His tacticks in the line of knowing when the class is ready to be tested or needs more time is served mainly on a schedule that he has predtermined, and he offers time to student outside of class to get extra help if they so desire.
ReplyDeletewell, i remember when i was in choir, our teacher would have us sing through songs as a choir and then he would divide us into groups to sing. this would show him how well we are coming along and how much we need to improve. he would take notes on how we did to remember and document how we did.
ReplyDeletekenny, i think that that is a good idea because i know a lot of times, i need help outside of the classroom.
ReplyDeleteThe teacher I'm observing uses a lot of worksheets and excersises to assess the students learning. He always lets the students know, if they need help to ask him. He teaches both advanced and regular classes of history, but uses his tactics with both classes the same. The grade book is the key to determining if the student has mastered a subject or material. If the student is getting A's on the worksheets and the ace the assessment at the end of the chapter, then they've obviously mastered the subject.
ReplyDeletei remeber when i was in class the other day and my teacher would check with us and would ask us if she was going to fast and we responded positivly because we were glad to see that she cared about how fast we where learning because alot of teachers teach way to fast and many students fall behind. When the teacher sees that we are answering the questions corectly she then moves on.
ReplyDeletei wish my teacher would have had a teacher like Alley had in any of my English i would be better in my writing ability.
ReplyDeletejustin i like what u have to say .. how he uses the same tactics for both classes
ReplyDeleteI haven't started mine, but I will be starting this week.
ReplyDeleteI didn't read the prompt very well, so please ignore the previous post. My French teacher likes to call on every student at least once so that they can all get involved in whatever's going on. She's made up a syllabus that tells us what we will be doing during each class. On the first day of class she asked everyone how much French they've taken during previous years.
ReplyDeleteAndrew, I think what that teacher is doing is appropriate. My PE teachers did some of the same things. Or at least for the dressing out part of it.
ReplyDeleteOne of my lindenwood professors in my classes gets really into his jokes an hopes to grab other attention which it sometimes works and sometimes doesnt. but its that kind of class where some of his bad jokes work
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite teachers at lindenwood that i have a class with now has a good way a catching us off guard and knowing when we are not paying attention. The teacher might write something on the board and not say anything about it and give points for who ever does it. But also for catching our attention the teacher may raise his voice really loud. In class i think keeping students attention is one of the most important things to do. These last few teachers just help me out and its what i mainly look for in the classes i like.
ReplyDeletethe class im in the teacher had checklists for each activity. this lets her know what kid finished their work in center and the teachers doing the different things write comments on what needs to be worked on and what they are doing really good in. like we did this number game and some of the kids had a hard time identifying some of the numbers so that tells us they need so work in that area. its a pretty good system that keeps everything organized and in writing.
ReplyDelete