Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Assessment Practices
Assessment is an important tool in teaching. However I think there is a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. I think we do more assessing then we might realize over the course of a day or week. Assessment doesn't always have to be paper and pencil. Sometimes we can learn a lot from our students just by observing them and/or their work. I find that I tend to do a lot of informal assessment when I am working with students in stations, small group, one on one, reviewing their homework/classwork. Through observation I am realizing what I might need to go back and reteach. I think that I need to do more on record keeping and keep anecdotal notes about what I am observing during my informal assessment. We keep student portfolios on each student while they are at our school. Their portfolio keeps their state/district assessments from Prek-3rd grade. These can be a great resource as they travel from grade to grade with the child. As we have been working on our unit, we have decided to utilize a rubric for one of our assessments of one of our lessons. I have gotten more ideas on how to incorporate assessment with my group as we complete our unit from our readings this week.
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I agree w/ you - there is a right way and a wrong way to assess children. Our third graders are assessed to pieces.....if there is a test, they take it. From the pre/post test of the reading series, benchmarks, EOG, Dibels, and on and on....This week's reading of Schell & Fisher has made me realize that I need to take a step back and use more informal assessments when I can. Like you, I need to keep accurate records and anecdotal notes. This year, I want things to be different in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteI also need to take more informal assessments. It's very easy to do during small groups, but I often don't write the stuff down. I just keep it in my mind mentally, but of course over time I'll forget it. I need to jot down a few notes daily on my students so then I can really see the progression over the course of the school year and I can have documented proof.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you! Next year I would like to do more informal assessing than always doing paper and pencil tests. I fill that informal assessments will allow us to know what our students need us to reteach. The NCFalcon modules are saying the same thing.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that we do assess our students in different ways. I enjoy working with my students in small groups. This is very important for me to be able to assess my students and to see what they have mastered and/or what they need extra help in. I would love to at times to sit back at different times during the day to observe my students' behavior and personalities. I feel there are times that we are worried too much about getting to everything and not getting to know our students.
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