Assessments are vital evidence of showing where my students stand and how well an instruction plan works. My classroom uses both formative and summative assessments. Formative assessments are conducted on a daily basis to improve instructional plans. For example, my MT uses class presentation to praise students’ good writing effort during the station (center) time. She collects their drawings and writings and puts them under the Elmo for the whole class to see which also models for and encourages the whole class to do the same. My MT and I get to see how well they are doing in their writing which guides our daily lesson plan. I have seen the first graders write enthusiastically knowing that their works will be on the show.
No wonder Regie Routman says that she always does whole-class sharing for kindergarteners and first graders (Writing Essentials, p. 207). I agree with Regie whole-heartedly because I really value the same assessment approach which is also to promote better teaching and learning. The whole-class presentation does a fine job to motivate the children to write more. The one disadvantage of this assessment site is the time issue to include every child.
My class also does formative assessments through anecdotal note-taking of students’ during learning periods or checking their homework assignments. From the students’ answers, my MT and I could estimate how much and how far the class has owned the materials taught. It also shows how well one teaching techniques works. All this information guides the following teaching plan immediately. It also helps me and my MT to plan the small group reading intervention for the noted students. These in-class formative assessments are very immediate, useful and real to me; they force me to reflect on my teaching, to reevaluate the teaching techniques used, and classroom management in a timely fashion. They provide on-going and more accurate information about the students’ learning as a whole (not just by tested areas on papers).
My class, as well as all the first graders in the building also completed formal standardized baseline tests at the end of first week of school. The results were then analyzed through both the Reading Street standards and Aimsweb benchmarks. Based on the resulting data, kids were grouped at their learning level for leveled instructions. For example, the tire 3 students receive critical intervention support from literacy interventionists in the school. These diagnostic tests not only give the district, the school, and the teachers’ a starting point of where their students stand, but also approximate the students’ strength and weakness in literacy learning and acquisition. They help to inform the districts and schools to zero in their goals and efforts for literacy learning. They help to group the critical students for further literacy intervention. But no baseline tests could fully tell where a student really stands in literacy learning. For example, one autistic child in the class had significant difficulties learning the materials in the class but she couldn’t get the special intervention due to her test scores which scored just a little higher than the rest.
There are many other assessment sites in my classroom such as the weekly tests or unit tests. The Reading Street website also has games for students to play with which also gives information of how well they learned the intended materials.
Finally, the summative MEAP is going to start on October 11th.in my school which is going to test the students' competency in certain areas after the last instructional phase with the old curriculum. The students' strength and weakness shown through this state-wide test will also shed insights for future literacy instruction.
As an intern, I could already feel the pressure of raising the standardized testing scores echoing from the nation, district, and schools. I could also sense the pain some teachers experience struggling to meet the national and state standards and to teach the students with integrity. How am I going to achieve “letting my students own the standards” (Book Club Plus, p 81)? This will seem to be one of my life goals for teaching.
Questions to Explore Together:
In Writing Essentials, Regie Routman insightfully stated “While assessment for learning is legitimate, it must be balanced with assessment for learning, …” (p. 239). Then in Book Club Plus!, the authors talk about “possible assessment sites” (p. 92) where teachers can gather formative and summative information about their students’ learning. Describe at least three assessment sites available in your classroom for learning about your students as literacy learners. What are the advantages and limitations of each site for providing information that is useful for deciding what the students need to learn next?
I like that your teacher does the sharing of the writing. So many of my students don't enjoy writing and I think if we did something where they got to share it, like your class, they would be more interested and excited about writing. Each time that we do writing, we look at every students' journal, so at least we are getting the formative assessment portion. I like how your teacher has such a variety of assessment. I feel that you can really learn about your students in every aspect with so many different ones. We also have some leveled instruction in our classroom, but it has mostly just been used for reading groups up to this point. Scores on standardized tests can definitely hinder some students. It's too bad that they can't be put in a lower group if the teacher really know that they should be.
ReplyDeleteOne assessment site in my classroom is "students can make meaning from a variety of texts". In our classroom we have many different opportunities for students to read throughout the day. In the morning, the teacher always reads at least one story or chapter to the students. We always have one center that is silent reading, so they get to go to that center once a week. We usually get through all of the reading groups at least once per week, so the students have the opportunity to read out loud during that. We also have DEAR time right after lunch recess, where the students get to read silently to themselves. During the silent reading times, we can walk around and tell when the students are actually reading their books and when they are just flipping through the pages. This can help us to know their reading level or their level of enjoyment when it comes to reading. Another assessment site is "students can use writing to communicate ideas". Sometimes during writer's workshop we give the students a topic or we let them choose what they want to write about. Either way, they have the freedom within that to write whatever they would like. As I said above, each time the students write, we check over their writing and have a short conference with them. A third assessment site in my classroom is "students can write for different purposes and audiences". Although much of our writing is narrative, the students have also made many cards. For every birthday we have in our classroom, the other students make a birthday card for that person. We also have made thank you cards for people who have given us items for the classroom. This really gets the students excited. They write a little bit in their cards and then they usually draw a nice picture to go along with that. Cards are something that the students really feel ownership for.
My classroom is similar to Ling's. The students took a baseline test for the Reading Street Program during the first week of school and were placed in groups based on how they scored. This is helpful information for my Mt and when we group the students for guided reading groups. My Mt also uses group discussion as a form of formative assessment to see if the students are comprehending the story. She makes sure the students are following along while she reads or she calls on them to read. After reading the story, the students usually do some form of activity that solidifies what the students take from the story and what skills need further instruction.
ReplyDeleteWe use both formative and summative assessments in my classroom. I grade or look over the students assignments to see if they understood the lesson or in what they still need more instruction. This is very useful for me as I am now planning my units because I am aware of what my students understand and what they struggle with so I can incorporate this into my plans.
Similarly, we give the students a spelling pretest every Monday and a post-test every Friday. This both a formative and summative assessment because it shows how much the students improved their spelling over the course of the week.
My classroom is very similar to Ling's and Ally's classroom because we both are using Reading Street. Like already stated we did baseline and Aimsweb testing in the first week of school. This helped us group our students into groups for Reading Street and "Team Time." When grouping students my MT and I discovered that some students who should be in the advanced group were scoring in the on-level group. We talked to the principal and he said to use you professional judgement and use other resources to decide what group to place them in. With that information we use DRA scores from last year and their personality to see if they would be able to handle a "academic push." After looking at these formative and summative assessments we decided to place 5 students into the advanced group.
ReplyDeleteOther formative and summative assessments that we do is whole-group sharing of work, collecting and grading homework, and anecdotal records. The Reading Street program also has many different assessments build into the program. Like weekly tests and a unit test after the 6 weeks.
Assessments can be very powerful for students and the teacher. Like Ling stated, it can be a great motivational tool. For teachers, it is key to understand what students have absorbed or not. For me, assessments are going to be helpful with planning my unit so I can understand what students already know and what they don't; it is a great "pacing" guide.