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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ReplyDeleteWell, I have not recieved my placement yet unfortunatly so I am going to talk about one of my education professors at LU. He has been teaching for a number of years and has also been a coach and a principal so as you can guess he is a very knowlegeable man with a lot of experience.
ReplyDeleteIn our class we are required to create and teach to the class two lesson plans that correspond with our majors. Then when we recieve our placement for our practicum we get to teach one more lesson to them.
Before each of our lessons are due he gives us the guidlines on what exactly he is looking for. This allows us to prepare accordindly. He video tapes all of the lessons also so we can see how we did. This allows us to give our own constructive critisim and we can also progress our own learning from one lesson to the next.
I feel he determines our mastry when the lesson is complete. We get to put together everything he has taught us throughout the class periods and prepare or use it in our lessons. If the class is not understanding or falling short on some part of his instruction he will take the next class period and go over it again until we understand, hopefully then doing it correctly in our next lesson.
I felt like Rick had some really good points in the video. I like how he called assessments a celebration because personally when I hear the word test I auotmatically think of anxiety.
I placed myself and I have been observing for a couple hours a week at the high school I attended in my hometown in southern Illinois. I have been observing a sophomore math class that is taught by "Ms.G" She assess learning with your typical quiz and test routine. However, those aren't the only methods she uses. I observed the day before they were supposed to take their test and she let them take a partner quiz. The students were not allowed to ask the teacher for help because they had an individual review period the class before. The students worked together in pairs to complete their quiz that she counted for a 20 point grade.
ReplyDeleteIn the next section that she teaches she has a student that is bipolar and has a very hard time staying on task. The class was intermediate algebra and there are only ten students in the class. With such a small number of students she is able to give each student the one on one time that each one requires. She makes sure to stay patient herself and to keep the students on task. The lesson she was teaching was how to graph on TI-83 calculator. The students had learned how to graph equations during the previous couple of lessons. She had her calculator plugged into an overhead so that they could see exactly what buttons she was pushing so they had not only written and verbal directions but visual aid as well. She assessed them constantly throughout the lesson having students repeat the steps back her, etc. They were required to do a worksheet after the lecture by using their calculators to find what the graph would look like and then copy the image on their calculator to their handout.
She documented the students mastery of skill by obviously the tests and assignments handed in, however as she was teaching she also jotted down a couple of notes on a notebook, now I have no idea what the notes said but I did ask her if they were assessment purposes once the class had ended. She said that during the lesson she writes down very abbreviated notes about students that struggled with the lesson or excelled. She also writes down things that class enjoyed or did well with as a whole and things that the class did not do well with and do not like as a whole.
Ashley-
ReplyDeleteSorry you havent been placed yet. Hopefully you will soon though!!! That really great that your professor tells you exactly what he is looking for. I think thats one of the hardest thing as a teacher and student is to make your directions and guidelines extremely clear. I know as a student I get frustrated when a teacher gives very vague guidelines and then you get a bad grade because it wasnt what he/she wanted. Best of luck with your placement!
Well this question is a little tough for me to answer because the classes I observe are PE and Health classes. The teacher I observe doesn't seem to show much regard to where the students are in terms of mastering a subject. The teacher just hands out packets for the kids to do each week (which most of them probably copy off of their friends) and watch movies, and occasionally take some notes. The class is lacking in depth, which has become an expected thing for a health class. I think the teacher could use some tools in class to see if the kids are actually grasping the subject, or just stealing all the answers from the person next to them.
ReplyDeleteI have been placed into 4th grade class. My favorite grade! The teacher that I observe is a wonderful teacher. She has 27 years of experience in the teaching field. She knows exactly how to get the students involved and assess them on what they just learned. For example, in the morning before class begins the students are given a daily quiz over something they learned the day before. She told me that this is a great way to get the students involved early. They are ready for this quiz every morning and sometimes they do great and sometimes they do not, but it helps them assess what they learned the day before. Another way the teacher assess the students is not by giving them a test, but asking the students a question and having them answer by raising their hands. If the teacher choices a math problem to quiz the students on, then they can answer using their fingers. They all showed me the different ways they, for example show 65 on their fingers. It is a excellent way to get the students involved, plus in 4th grade they all want to answer even if it is wrong.
ReplyDeleteIF the students need further instructions on what they are learning the teacher ask them more questions on the same topic. She gives them different views on the same topic. She changes the lesson plan all the time because she wants the students to understand everything before they move on. The students have completely mastered it when they all have passed the assessment she give verbally and they answer verbally. She knows her class well enough to know when they are having trouble on a particular lesson/ section. The teacher will create different strategies to overcome the problems
Ashley-- I love how your professor tapes the lessons that you teach. It is scary, but fun to see how you did and watch yourself teach! I think that great and a wonderful teaching strategy that he uses. Great way to help you improve your flaws.
ReplyDeleteI have been observing for a couple of hours each week in a first grade classroom. With the kids being so young my teacher has to come up with special ways to see how her students are doing with their lessons everyday. It is a whole other level when they are young because you cannot just give them a quiz everyday to see how they are doing.
ReplyDeleteWhat my teacher does with certain subject areas like reading and sight words is she has different levels of words and every Friday she calls each student over individually and makes the student read the sight words out loud to her starting on level one and going up. When a student gets a word right she highlights it, and when they get one wrong she will stop and tell her student that these are the words he or she needs to work on over the weekend and then puts the list in their "homework packets" along with a book that is at the right level of their sight words.
With first graders it is pretty easy to tell if further instructions are needed because trust me, they will let you know. Every once and a while you will have that very shy and quiet young boy or girl who will not say anything to you but what my teacher does is normally before they turn something in she will make them come up and check it with her before they turn it in just to make sure they are somewhat on the right track. If not she then helps them.
The students have completely mastered it when they all have passed different assessments. my teacher has so many different charts and levels that each of her students are on because in first grade everyone is learning at a different pace.
Based off my past teachers from high school, i would say my my teachers would determine how far along the class is coming by their test scores and class participation. If they are answering questions correctly in class and getting involved in activities, then they know they are right on track.
ReplyDeleteFor my teachers in high school, a flag would pop up to them that the class isnt tracking if there are blank faces and it is drop dead silent. They would then ask us if we understood what was just taught and some people would say no, some kind of. The teacher would either then try to re-explain it or help the individuals personally if they were completely lost.
In addition, my teachers would know when a student has mastered the information when their test scores were good or when they would be able to hold a conversation about certain topics and be able to expand on them.
Anna- It sounds like the teacher you are observing knows what she is doing. I think you will learn a lot from her and go on to be a great teacher like her!
ReplyDeleteI remember my teacher that I had used to do these weekly quizes to see if the students had reached the level that they needed to reach. It was a progressive evaluation. If the students didn't improve their scores, or didn't do as well as they were aiming to do, then the teacher would spend time with them more often on the subjects that they were scoring low in.
ReplyDeleteThis class I was in was a resource class under the Special Education department. So the students in here were either struggling in another class or classes. When a student improved their scores and, if they were, became less disruptive, then the teacher knows that they are, at the very least, beginning to master a certain thing.
Ashley, though I understand the value of criticism, I am not certain if I agree with that. I could very well be wrong in this opinion, but here it is. I believe, at least for "new" teachers such as ourselves, that having a camera watching us will only intimidate us during the time we should be teaching. I believe we will be so focused on that, that we won't be the best teachers possible. Unless you are completely unaware that a camera is there, I don't see the value of a new teacher doing that. Just my belief, which again could be wrong.
ReplyDeleteI finally had my first chance to observe just yesterday. My teacher had to leave because her baby has the flu and she forgot I was coming. I was able to go into a different 6th grade science class though.
ReplyDeleteI was able to observe two one hour classes. She followed pretty much the same plan for each, but had a few things she did differently based on the personalities and activity level of each class.
The students had just been tested on a learning unit and were beginning a new topic, a 50 question test worth 100 points. She still took a few minutes at the beginning of class to review what they had learned and then applied that information to the new topic, the scientific method. She had a really cool way of getting the kids to want to be involved in this assessment process... she threw a soft ball to one student to answer a question and they got to throw it to another student to answer the next question, and so on. Practically everyone had their hands up. Sometimes she would ask a student that didn't have their hand up to make sure they understood what she was asking about, but then got back to the one with the ball.
She also collected a Venn diagram that was supposed to be finished the night before, but she gave them a chance to ask her questions to see if they had been able to do it correctly first. At one point, I heard her ask the student if they had "done quality work." That is an example of self-assessment.
Because they were beginning a new topic, the kids were mostly taking notes and filling in a chart that was going into their science journals. She started out assessing where the class was as a whole though by asking if any of them had studied the Scientific Method in grade school. Then she asked them to tell her what they remembered. So she had a way of knowing how much they knew and what she needed to review and where to start the expanded material. They had a worksheet sent home that would assess whether they had fully grasped the first step in the Scientific Method.
I'm really looking forward to going back next week and getting into the class where I was placed and see the differences between the two teachers.
Ben,
ReplyDeleteDont feel that your opinion is wrong.. it's just that, an opionion so you can feel however you want. I actually found it quite helpful though having my lesson video taped. When I was teaching my lesson I wasnt at all focused of the camera because it was in the back corner of the room.
After looking at my tape I was able to see my flaws such as "did I actually say "umm" that many times. When teaching I didnt know that i was doing this, but actuially watching it made me see this. So for my next lesson I focused on not saying um.. It was a bit intimmidating at first but I feel it was definitely a good learning tool for me.
Ashley, as long as you are comforatable with it that is all that matters. If you aren't and it causes you to be distracted, then it is a bad thing, but as you clearly point out it doesn't so that is fine.
ReplyDeleteRight now I cannot yet observe. however i will say a few things about my chemistry teacher. I personally like his method of teaching. it is both simple and straight forward.
ReplyDeleteBasically, he uses a basic visual structure on power point and then from there lectures. Stoping whenever for questions and constantly asking us for answers. it keeps our attention. keeps us involved and teaches us what we need to know
Anna- just wondering about what you said with the charts and levels of the first grader... did your teacher show you physical charts? did she just share this information, or did you ask specifically what she does to track student progress?
ReplyDeleteI had a teacher who didnt believe in tests and tracked the students progression only by how much they knew in one on one conferences with the teacher.
ReplyDeleteShe also had a reward system where if a student could convince her that he had enough information on a subject before it was taught then he could take a pretest and be able to test out of coming to the class for that chapter.
ReplyDeleteI always felt very comfortable in that class because it was so easy to learn how I wanted to.
ReplyDeleteChris-
ReplyDeleteI like that style of teaching. It relieves a stressful class environment and makes learning more enjoyable. This method will give the student a better understanding of the material.
I actually havent been able to observe yet i hopefully will be able to next week though. It was funny because the when i finally got a classroom assignment the teacher was gone for fifth grade camp. :) Anyways in my classes now i see many ways that teachers can measure a students progress. Some of my teachers just give tests in order to determine if we know the information they have given us. Some other teachers simply have us make a power point or do paperwork over a certain topic.I really feel that if a professor in college takes longer on a subject they just feel they need more time to explain it or talk about it because it is interesting. I think that alot of teachers also know when students know the information fully is by testing or quizes.
ReplyDeleteanna- think that having children say the words to the teacher aloud is a different way to measure childrens progress but i think it is a good way and i something to remember.
I have observed only a few hours for a first grade class in Orchard Farm. She records progression in many ways. for example, for about an hour, the students get into groups and work on certain tasks like spelling words, free reading, playing with puzzles...etc. while the majority are in the corners, she brings 5 students to her desk and works and test them on their reading skills. she has binders for each student in the class and records their progress at the end of the day. she also takes about ten to fifteen minutes in the beginning of class to make sure they understood the last section. she motivates the students to read and make progress by putting marbles in this fish bowl. once the line is reached, they win a pizza party.
ReplyDeletekayla- i agree with you in the sense that teachers often see the progress of the child by using quizes and tests but i wish that was not the only way. many students including myself get good grades but just stuggle when taking tests.
ReplyDeleteI have not observed yet but in my English class. We had a big paper assigned last week and instead of having class my teacher cancelled all her classes and met with each student one on one twice for 15 minutes to help us with our rough draft. This way she can help more people one on one and in the end help that student get better in that subject.
ReplyDeletelike ben said earlier in the blog, i had a previou teacher who would give weekly quizzes to evaluate the class. it really helped our class become more confident with our different sruggles in the subject tested.
ReplyDeletei have a teacher who is overall a decent teacher but the class and him disagree on a few things. he feels very strongly that if he has covered a problem or section of the chapter and explained it then by no means should he have to answer the question or even revise it again. this becomes a huge problem when time goes by and people like to review for a quiz and he refuses to help. he determines mastery of the subject based solo on our test grades. no matter the situation. i understand his logic behind this method, he shouldn't have to repeat himself over and over again, but if a student is in need of some confidence boosting on a particular question or just some refreshing on a few different questions i think he should be able to get help from his teacher.
ReplyDeleteI have not started observing yet, but last year in high school I was an A+ tutor. I tutored a kindergarten classroom. The teacher was amazing with the kids. She has been teaching for 20 years and you can tell she is a good teacher just by how the kids act. We had a kid in the classroom that had anger issues and would not want to do his work but she never gave up on the talking him into it. She would always ask him why aren't you working on your work and he would respond I don't want to do it, but in the end she would end up getting him to realize that he is in school, and that if he didn't do it then the work would not get done. He would also throw tantrums and she would have the whole class under control along with 5 minutes to get him under control also.
ReplyDeleteAndrew- that was pretty cool that our professor took time to help all of the class one on one. I understand what I am doing wrong with some of my papers.
ReplyDeleteThe teacher I am observing was also my senior english teacher and I love the way he teaches and assess. After watching the Rick Stiggins video I think that my teacher does a good job of the seven different things they mentioned on the video. First, he makes student-friendly targets and is good about teaching on facet at a time. Instead of throwing a bunch of different material at the sudents all at once he does a good job of breaking things down and making the assignments easy to get done but you still learn something while doing it. He also gives very good examples of strong and weak work. Whenever we were going over a certain topic like how to use commas he would make us entire packets of good and bad examples which was extremely helpful. Also, whenever we were assigned essay topics he would give us two entire previous essays, one an expample of a poor essay and the other a strong essay. I have always found this technique extremely helpful. Finally, I think my teacher did a really good job of making the kids in his class feel capable of learning. The youtube video made a strong point that if kids don't feel that they are able to learn, there will be no learning. My teacher always made us, and still makes his students now, know that they are able to learn in his classroom.
ReplyDeleteI am placed at a High School near by and it is really fun. I get to help the students. My teacher is a really laid back math teacher, he not only teaches upper math classes but he has some lower too. He will review a few questions from the previous homework. He will ask the class what problems they had problems with. If they have mutli ones he will work each one and each student tends to pay attention. Then he will assign the next assignment, go over it a little bit then walk around the room and help as they have questions. They are aloud to work in groups or by themselves. This is the point where I get to help them out to :)
ReplyDeleteChris- I also observe at Orchard Farm. I do high school and believe it or not that is how my teacher is. Except he walks around the room to their desk if they have questions. If they all do good on a homework assignment he has told them they may be able to get out of a test or have a chance to retake the test.
Chris Ricks talked about a teacher he had who, instead of giving quizzes, held one on one conferences with the students. This is one way that the teacher I mentioned in my previous post assessed students and I really like it. While he does give some tests and quizzes, after every essay assignment he has his students meet with him to evaluate their essay. I think this is a very effective way of assessing students, it helps the student to have continuous descriptive feedback from the techer and also teaches the student to self-assess themselves.
ReplyDeleteI have observed one time so far and wow! what an experience! the teacher was fresh to the program and still very young and inexperienced. The teacher was cool and fun, i'll give her that, but she had absolutely no control over the students in her classroom. half of the room was productive and doing what they were told... the other half were walking around, out of their seats, and talking the entire class period. Right away, i noticed little things i would have done differently. in order for a class to be productive, the teacher MUST always have control of his or her class. if i would have been her, i would have made sure that everyone was being productive but still having fun at the same time. i just find it funny how much i have already learned from just one lovely day of observation :)
ReplyDeleteoh yeah..... the teachers made me eat lunch with them on their lunch hour.... by far the most awkward thing i have EVER experienced!!!! ha! i laugh about it now, but at the time i felt very weird.
ReplyDeleteRuss- I agree with you completly. That is what all of my high school teachers would do. One thing that they would do more is to teach it in a different way then before if a lot of people didnt understand. I can remember a specific time. when i was in pre-alg my class had a hard time getting a handle on equations. my teacher had taught it one way and then we took a mini quiz to see if we got it. she didnt count it for a grade but wanted to see if we had a handle on it. she never told us it was a grade. the next day she got out cubes and gave everyone some and we did a hands on lesson with equations. My teachers would also get to know us as students and be able to tell if what they were teaching was getting across to us. reading students faces can tell you a lot. it lets you know if your teaching style needs to change to help your class. I cant wait to get in to observing! I hope mine comes soon!
ReplyDeleteThanks Russ! and Debbie my teacher showed me the charts. They are assessments that the kids took at the beginning of the year. After that all the teachers got together and put the kids into groups that were on the same level!
ReplyDeleteI think that i have been very lucky in the teacher that i've been placed with. He is a very good teacher and takes each students personal needs into consideration. It's a much smaller school and the class sizes are only about 13 kids to a class, so he takes the time to go through each student and see what he can do to help them that class. He goes over the assignments in class and does whatever he can to make sure they understand whats going on. I think its a very cool thing to watch.
ReplyDeleteKyle- I know the exact kind of teacher your talking about, i had plenty of them in school as well. I think that those teachers dont mean any harm, but if they would listen to their students and review a little more then everyone would be better off
ReplyDeletethese are very simple questions to answer almost all of my past teachers have used tests and quizes to determine how well we have progressed in their class.
ReplyDeletethey usually are able to tell if there needs to be futher intruction if no one is anwering their questions.
and the teacher will usually know if we have mastered a subject by our test scores at the end of the term.
hayley- i totally agree with u about how the teacher needs to take control for her class to be productive
I havent begun my classroom observation because I havent been placed yet, but I was an assistant coach this summer for a high school level team. I watched the coach, who I had played for, handle the kids and handle situations from parents to the concession stand. He also worked to give kids rides to games if they needed them. This is something I wouldnt want to do, but would for a player.
ReplyDelete