Week 13- Assignment #2

How can you build assessment into your instruction?

 First, determine clarity about end of year expectations. Assess while instructing. 

How can you document ongoing classroom assessment? 

Use a notebook for anecdotal records, and checklists. Focus on a group daily. 

What is the difference between standards and benchmarks, and how do they impact your teaching? 

Content standards are what the students know and will be able to do. Benchmarks are what I can expect my grade level students to do by the end of the year. Standards are categorized into each grade level.  Create evidence or assessment to let teachers know how the students are doing.

 

How do end-of-the-year benchmarks influence daily assessment? 

Teachers from each grade level collaborate and create a staircase to teaching.  Teachers teach and assess with end of year expectations that will prepare students for the start of the next grade level.

 

How can you make anecdotal records useful and manageable? 

Teachers can make anecdotal records manageable by focusing on assessing one small group at a time rather than observing all students, all at once.

 

Discuss your experience using rubrics. What changes might you make after watching the video? 

I use rubrics to assess all published writing, math, science, and social studies assignments.

How can students use rubrics to guide learning? 

Students set goals for their own learning and challenges they need to work on. Students help develop the criteria of a rubric. 

 

Describe how portfolios are developed and how they can be used as an assessment tool. 

Grade level benchmarks can be collected in a student portfolio.  Evaluation portfolio: is selectively chosen pieces of work that meet the grade level benchmark.  The work can be compared and contrasted.

 

 

Why are high-stakes tests not always accurate measures of student learning? 

A single score doesn’t give us an accurate picture of how good of a reader or writer a student is.  The student might not be a good test-taker due to anxiety.  Higher-order thinking skills and knowing author’s craft is more challenging to measure through a test.  Motivation to read and write can’t be assessed through a test.    

 

What are the best ways to prepare students for high-stakes assessments? 

Rich content prior knowledge contributes to prepare for high-stakes assessments.  Make sure what “good-writing looks like” in various genres.  Give students a time limitation while writing or reading in preparation.  Connect test prep to prior instruction. 

 

How does assessment help differentiate instruction? 

Teachers will notice a skill that the whole class or small group of students are having difficulty grasping. 

How can you use assessment results to create small, flexible groupings in your classroom? 

Teach certain students (flexible/small groups) what they need to know- based on the data gathered from assessments.

 

Based on what you learned in the video, what changes might you make in your assessment practices? 

When I am creating anecdotal records, I will try not to overwhelm myself with too many observations.  I will focus on one small group at a time.