This chapter discussed three different types of assessments: 1. Portfolios, 2. Rubrics, and 3. Self-Assessments. With portfolios, teachers can examine a students' work over time, the students get opportunities to reflect on their own progress, and the portfolios can contain different time frames or stages in a student's life. Rubrics tell the students how the teacher is going to grade, based on quality of the work that the student passes in. By giving the rubric to the class ahead of time, the students get to decide what they want to recieve as a grade by using the rubric as a guide for every assignment they pass in. Student Self-Assessment is very important because it gives the student an opportunity to tell the teacher what they honestly think they should recieve as a grade based on how hard they worked on the assignment(s). All of these assessments are authentic, and they also are great ways to track the progress of the students.
Using only one of these assessments by itself may not be as effective than if all three were used together. This way, the teacher gets to view the students' work over time, but have a grading guideline, and the student has a chance to tell the teacher what he thinks he deserves as a grade based on his work.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Chapter 6
This chapter dealt with how to make good test questions so that the students know exactly how to answer the question and know what you are looking for. The chapter discussed how non-traditional questions can be just as accurate in a student's knowledge as traditional test questions. Also, if the test questions are presented in an interesting way, the students will be more likely to remember that question and that it is important.
We reflected on this chapter by remembering the tests that we had to take back in highschool, and which ones we did well on as opposed to the types of tests we did poorly. We all agreed that a variety of tests or a variety of different sections on a test is best.
We reflected on this chapter by remembering the tests that we had to take back in highschool, and which ones we did well on as opposed to the types of tests we did poorly. We all agreed that a variety of tests or a variety of different sections on a test is best.
Monday, March 5, 2007
Fair isn't Always Equal Chapter 3 Reflections
This chapter discussed differentiated assessment and each reviewer came away with a different point each of which was important to the chapter.
The goals for the unit should already be understand, in short we are to know the end before the beginning. The learning process to reach that end is most important and it must be differentiated to be truly successful.
Accurately measuring learning is also critical, and memorization seldom embeds that knowledge in long term memory. It is also important to understand that one test is in no way a true measure of a students capabilities.
The chapter elaborates upon 3 different types of assessment. Pre-assessment shows what the students know before the lesson starts. Formative shows how the student is doing in the ongoing lesson, and Summative reveals what the student has actually learned from the lesson.
Simply thinking about the assignment that we give and were given can often spark ideas. We all remember are favorite classes and least classes. Well, they probably were our favorites because the teacher probably did something mentioned in this chapter.
There might be some flaws in the method. It does seem as though a student might be able to work around the subject. Sometimes if things aren't straightforward enough people miss things. Also, it seems that this lesson format might run into problems when something needs to be covered quickly. And I know sometimes I just rather take a test than do a project. I mean I might know the material, but that doesn't mean I want to spend 6 hours on a project proving to you that I know it when a straightforward test might do.
Concerning busy work, nobody likes it. Filling out lines about people your never going to remember solves nothing. Practicing math skills, like a few problems each night to keep you on top of things, that's different. A little reading, especially of texts that are known to be particularly well written or conceptually important is great. But no worksheets.
The goals for the unit should already be understand, in short we are to know the end before the beginning. The learning process to reach that end is most important and it must be differentiated to be truly successful.
Accurately measuring learning is also critical, and memorization seldom embeds that knowledge in long term memory. It is also important to understand that one test is in no way a true measure of a students capabilities.
The chapter elaborates upon 3 different types of assessment. Pre-assessment shows what the students know before the lesson starts. Formative shows how the student is doing in the ongoing lesson, and Summative reveals what the student has actually learned from the lesson.
Simply thinking about the assignment that we give and were given can often spark ideas. We all remember are favorite classes and least classes. Well, they probably were our favorites because the teacher probably did something mentioned in this chapter.
There might be some flaws in the method. It does seem as though a student might be able to work around the subject. Sometimes if things aren't straightforward enough people miss things. Also, it seems that this lesson format might run into problems when something needs to be covered quickly. And I know sometimes I just rather take a test than do a project. I mean I might know the material, but that doesn't mean I want to spend 6 hours on a project proving to you that I know it when a straightforward test might do.
Concerning busy work, nobody likes it. Filling out lines about people your never going to remember solves nothing. Practicing math skills, like a few problems each night to keep you on top of things, that's different. A little reading, especially of texts that are known to be particularly well written or conceptually important is great. But no worksheets.
Chapter 2
How would one go about showing that they have mastered a topic? Its very easy really, and to go about it a teacher needs only to consider a few things. By having students give only a couple examples of what they know and understand you allow them to show consistency but prevent problems of tedious work that tires ( when the students are tired their work begins to get sloppy and no longer accurate). One can also track progress throughout the year, the long term view ( such as in a portfolio) is better in that it makes up for days where kids are having a hard time.
In trying to relate to this chapters material we felt it was very interesting. To some it was thinking about mastery and how with history its more of a technique and idea then a specific thing to learn. To others it was concepts of how looking at what the students will be tested on and teaching from that. Its not only logical but has, by some, actually been tested and found to be a nice way to understand what material is important for teaching
In trying to relate to this chapters material we felt it was very interesting. To some it was thinking about mastery and how with history its more of a technique and idea then a specific thing to learn. To others it was concepts of how looking at what the students will be tested on and teaching from that. Its not only logical but has, by some, actually been tested and found to be a nice way to understand what material is important for teaching
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Chapter 5
This chapter is about how to tier assignments so that each learning group of students is learning the new concept but are still being challenged. It is important when teaching a particular subject to leave room for thought and questions by the students. Teachers spend nearly seventy percent of their time speaking to the class. With the linguisitc part taken care of, the chapter deals with how to teach in ways that reflect all the other multiple intelligences. Tiering is how teachers adjust assessment levels based on a group's readiness, interest, and learning profiles. If we're going to differentiate in the class, we should consider doing a similar practice with the assessments to make sure all the students are able to fairly convey their understanding and mastery of the material.
We all agreed how this is helpful to the students, and how it is helpful to us as teachers in seeing what is understood. It brought some of us back to both good and bad experiences in high school, and offered ideas on what we has teachers can do in the classroom. It offers many strategies and ways to integrate MI into a curriculum, including an activity relating to inventions. We found the section on RAFT(S) very similar to GRASPS, which expressed the importance of a role and audience in a student's assessment.
We all agreed how this is helpful to the students, and how it is helpful to us as teachers in seeing what is understood. It brought some of us back to both good and bad experiences in high school, and offered ideas on what we has teachers can do in the classroom. It offers many strategies and ways to integrate MI into a curriculum, including an activity relating to inventions. We found the section on RAFT(S) very similar to GRASPS, which expressed the importance of a role and audience in a student's assessment.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)