Chapters 1, 2, 11

Chapter One

Summary: Chapter one begins by explaining the difference between assessment and evaluation, assessment being “when one gathers information about student learning that informs our teaching and helps students learn more”, and evaluating being “we decide whether or not students have learned what they needed to learn and how they will have learned it.”  Anne Davies then proceeds to explain what assessment for learning involves and goes on to provide us with an example of a research project and how to properly assess it until we reach out final results of what we’ll be evaluating.  The assessment in this assignment is focused on many different kinds of assessment that one can use as well as making sure that the students take part in the planning of the criteria in which they will be evaluated with.

1) Begin by thinking about what yuo have read so far. Has it confirmed some things for you? Did you realize you were already doing some of this? Did it remind you of anything you had forgotten? As I read this chapter, I came across many great ways that one can assess in a classroom.  I have only had two field placements so far in my University career so far and only was able to teach during one of them.  One of the examples of assessment that I can remember throughout my fieldwork was one that my co-op used last year.  After phys. ed, my co-op would ask her students to rate their participation on a scale of 1-5, one being the lowest (not partaking in activities nor helping clean up) and 5 being the highest (putting full effort into the class and helping set up and clean up).  When she received their feedback she would then go on to change the marks depending on what she thought but keeping in mind what they thought. This was great to see how well the students thought they did during the lesson and seeing her feedback and making the changes accordingly.   This process made me realize that I need to be more aware of the little types of assessment that could be very beneficial in the long run.  I could even use this scale technique during a lesson to see how well the students are understanding and coping with the material they are learning.   Also during the reading, she states the importance of including the students in creating the criteria of the assessment and taking part in it as well.  I believe that this could be very challenging but important as well.  This way the students will know what exactly the expectations of the assignment is and will be easier for them to be able to succeed.

2) Record something you would like to learn more about. Talk with someone else about your thinking. Well I am hoping that whoever is still following me will be my “someone” to talk about my thinkings.  What I am wanting to learn more about is how to make group work more efficient and learn more about peer assessment/including the students in creating the rubric.  I remember in my high school days and even some students in my last placement I did that group work was not some people’s cup of tea.  One person always ends up doing the most work and when the peer assessment comes along, the group mark in the end gets affect/the person who doesn’t do all the work gets upset with the mark that reflects theirs. Something that I am wondering is How can we efficiently monitor the group work of students? How can we make sure that one student isn’t always doing all the work and the work is distributed evenly?

Chapter Two

Summary: Chapter two begins by explaining that in order to have good assessment/evaluation practices in your classroom, you must create  an open, safe, and comfortable classroom environment that students will be willing to attend. This way the students will feel better about the place they are in and will be more willing to open up and talk about their opinions on things.  Anne then proceeds to emphasize on the importance of different types of feedback and taking time to communicate with students to ensure everyone is on the same page with evaluation and understand where the teacher is coming from with the steps of assessment.  She also states that it is important to get everyone involved, from your students to their parents, just to ensure that no one is confused or doesn’t understand the teacher’s point of view of how she is going to assess the assignment.

1) Think of a time when you learned something successfully. Make some notes about what you learned, when and where you learned it, who helped you, how they helped, and what kind of feedback you got. Talk with others about your experiences. I remember in one of my high school math classes I was struggling to understand a concept that we were learning about during class.  My teacher always told us when his prep classes were, he stayed at school during lunch hour and after school for extra help if we ever needed it. Well I tried on my own and with my friends to try and comprehend what was going on but I just couldn’t do it.  I finally decided to spend my lunch hour with my teacher to get his help.  He showed me many different types of ways to solve the problem and I couldn’t catch on to the concept.  At this point, we were both getting frustrated.  The lunch hour ended and we didn’t get anywhere.  So, I went to him for help afterschool and that was the time I finally got it! He ended up having to break it the solution down step by step. We spent time at each step to ensure I understood what was going on before we went on to the next step and after about half an hour, I understood what went on!  We were both so excited! He screamed, gave me a high five, and I could tell that he was really happy that I went for him to help and that I finally got it.  I’m wondering if anyone else have had this experience? Or if they have had this experience with one of their students?

2) Build a common list of the kinds of feedback you found supportive for your learning. Talk about the implications for your students’ learning and your teaching. Some feedback that I found supportive was my teacher’s excitement, the grades I got back from assignments/tests, I received both positive and negative feedback which helped me grow and even just the way my teacher would help and present things to me.   I believe that feedback is one of the most important things you can give to a student and even something you can receive as a teacher.  When you give back a students assignment or test, you should write comments on what you think of their work. Students benefit from comments on their work, whether it is positive or negative, they grow as learners and it helps them realize that you are there to help.  It is even beneficial for the teacher to get feedback from their students.  A teacher should get their students to write comments about what they think of the way the lesson was approached.  If it made sense, if something could be changed, if she should continue using this method in the future, etc.  This way the teacher can reflect and grow and improve their way of teaching.

3) Take time to reflect. How can you use this information to help your students learn more? How can you begin to give up responsibility for being the main source of feedback in the classroom? How can you create opportunities for students to get feedback for themselves that helps their learning?  This is a tough question for me to respond to considering I haven’t had much experience in the classroom let alone assessing.  Something that a teacher could do is get students used to self-assessing and even assessing the teacher every day. Even if it is by just using a scale method or by writing a sentence about what they learned or what can be improved or how they they think they are doing, this could be a good place to start.  Students will then be able to take the chance to realize where they stand with the information that they have learnt, could help the teacher improve his or her lesson or even help their peers improve as well.

Chapter Eleven

Summary: This chapter was all about building your own learning circle.  It gave many strategies on how to create a good learning network and how one can benefit from being in one.  Creating a learning circle with your colleagues, friends or anyone in the same profession can help you get different perspectives, tips, or any help that you need to make your teaching learning journey easier.