Chapter 7

Assessing & Reporting Student Achievement:

IMPORTANT VOCABULARY:

• Assessment / Evaluation
• High-stakes / Value-added Assessments
• Measurement
• Validity / Reliability
• Authentic / Performance Assessment
• Diagnostic, Formative & Summative Assessment
• Criterion referenced / Norm-Referenced Assessment
• Checklist / Rubric
• Formal / Non-formal Tests
• Alternative Assessment
• Portfolios

The section of this chapter that I have taken careful note of is the formative assessments. The need for careful planning to assess throughout units to gage the depth of understanding. This allows for the teacher to stop, remediate, or provide activities that appeal to the learner on another level. It provides checks and balances for students and teachers. In the beginning it will be more work for the teacher, but in the end it will become second nature. It will also cut down on the need to redo, reteach, and fix what was not learned the first time through. 

Alternative assessments are fun. It gives everyone in the class the chance to be creative and show what they KNOW.

I think you get less negative responses, the kids do not see them as "tests" and they can truly engage the concepts and understand them.

Often, creating alternative assessments are easier than sitting down and hammering out the traditional  pen to paper test.

Another aspect of the chapter that caught my eye was parent interaction. I have seen interactive teachers that have great working relationships with parents. I have also seen disconnected teachers. Although grade reports go home (weekly in our school), many parent do not see them. Relying on paper communication only (especially when there are grade issues is not always a good idea).

I walked into a meeting a week before school was out and the principal and 3 teachers were discussing failing a 7th grade girl (I have her on behavior check in/out). The week passed and I asked how the discussion went with her mom. The educator I spoke with said, "We are waiting until the last day, last bell to give her the report card (non promotion) because we don't want to deal with the mom." I wondered how crushed the girl was going to be and how angry the mom was going to be. I thought .... I would be rude too if my daughters school acted like that....it is a vicious circle. Parents need to be part of the team, whether they are black, white, poor, rich, cranky, excited....

Chapter 6

Preparing an Instructional Plan...

 

Lesson Planning is not the simple task of scribbling down notes about the days planned events. It is a thoughtfully, prepared outline of a teacher's strategies to bring a class to individual goals as well as class goals. The plan is vital to keeping the teacher and students on track and gathering data. The components to a successful unit are:

• Selecting the topic/theme
• Deciding on a goal
• Creating an overview
• Selecting educational objectives
• Detailed instructional procedure
• introductory activities
• developmental activities
• culminating activities
• Plan PRE-assessments/POST-assessments
• Gather materials

In addition, time is a crucial factor to plan. Although the unit itself can be any duration, the daily time planning is important. Teacher needs to have anchor activities to fill in down time and make the best use of all teachable moments.


     The mode of delivery is another decision to be made. Direct and indirect instruction really aren't choices. They are both viable and necessary instruction techniques that when utilized appropriately act as compliments to one another. It is true, direct instruction should never be the bulk of teaching but it has a place....however small it has become. Indirect instruction is so different from direct instruction.

The vast amount of resources and unlimited creativity that can be used it exciting; it is the classroom experience that provides dense learning experiences for all types of learners (tactile, kinesthetic, auditory & visual).
There are many different aspects of the child learner an educator needs to decise what and where their beliefs lie:

• Learning Styles-
• imaginative
• analytic
• dynamic
• Three Phase Learning Cycle-
• exploratory/hands on
• inventive/concept development
• expansion/application
• 4MAT
• Learning Capacities-
• bodily/kinesthetic
• existentialist
• interpersonal
• intrapersonal
• logical/mathematical
• musical/rhythmic
• naturalist
• verbal/linguistic
• visual/spatial

Gone are the days of the teacher talking and the kids sitting passively and listening to facts that will be memorized.

Teacher's need to plan for each student, taking into account their unique talents and abilities. This requires knowledgeable and dedicated teacher's who don't live inside the box.

 

     The educator that plans gives themselves the gift of reflection. It is so important to look back and reflect and re-evaluate every lesson. Whether you have taught the lesson one time or 25 times, it can never be the same plan or outcome twice. The children are different, the class dynamic is different, and every year the teacher should evolve and be different.

 

  

Chapter 5

 

 

The Curriculum....

 

 

 



 

     Teacher's can be as creative or as mundane as they want. It is all up to them. The curriculum is the canvas and the type of instruction is the color. Within these colors there are many different aspects that distinguish an invested, inventive teacher from a teacher that is there to simply work a job. These details are the application by which we apply these colors. What will they want to create? Will it be one or many colors? Will we mix, create and experiment as we apply them?   

 

     Planning is an integral part of a teacher's job. The yearly, unit, and daily lessons all help to try and ensure a smooth learning and teaching  experience. Planning is a road map for the children and families, it helps to serve as a "check-up" for progression, it creates a more calm atmosphere, and it empowers the entire group. It also aids the teacher assessing progression. Along with planning comes creating goals and objectives. These are the directions to get where you are going on the map. Whether is a generalizations of goals or the specifics of objectives this is what we want for the children. The high expectations we want them to reach for (and attain). This can seem very intimidating but district, national as well as state standards serve as your guide.  

 

 

It is important that multiple resources are used when teaching a group of children. Multiple texts (not only the official textbook), environmental print, technology, art, music, experiences, etc.... This is so important because how can one source of information truly appeal and inspire so many different types of learners and personalities. Bloom's Taxonomy is something we have heard about so much.  It is such a great resource to us as an organizer to place different ideas regarding various needs. An example is the Bloom's Taxonomy for Technology, it is a great visual to have hung in a computer area.

 

 

 

It is important to also look into and know the affective and psychomotor domains. A child cannot be a successful learner if the "whole" child is not attended too.

 

     I think the if we learn anything, it is the fact that there is a lot of responsibilities that go beyond the interactions that are seen on the surface. Having the responsibility  of creating the environment that has a huge part of a child's thinking, learning, and understanding of the world is a big deal.

 

 

 

 

* Bloom's Taxonomy visual from: www.res.rcs.k12.tn.us