Monday, April 11, 2011
Assessment
After you complete the assessment reading and look over the QIWK address two topics: (1) what do you think you will assess in your own classroom and why; and (2)what are your 1-2 greatest questions or concerns about assessment in your classroom? Please complete this task by Sunday, April 17 for full credit.
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After reading the few pages about assessment I'm not as scared as I thought I would be about assessing reading.
ReplyDeleteThe first pargraph talks about three things to do to help you know where you students are on a reading level. The one I like the most is where it talks about you need to know what level the child is on so you know how much support they need to be successful. I like that it talks about being successful and not making you think the bad things.
The idea of keeping a checklist of emergent literacy behaviors and observe a few children a day, is a great idea and I plan to use this. It will help in more ways then one.
Writing is one that I think I may have trouble with so that paragraph helped me by just giving me thoughts of what to look for and what to ask myself as I'm observing and helping the students.
What is a good way to help students that are "low" with nonsense words? I hate to say it but it is on test.
From reading chapter 10 on Assessment, I learned that: -Assessment is not grading or standardized test scores. -Assessment is collecting and analyzing data to make decisions about how children are performing and growing. -Four steps for assessment are identifying what you want to assess, collecting evidence, analyzing that evidence, and make a decision and act on it. -Three main purposes for reading assessment is to determine student reading level, identify good reading behaviors, and document student progress. -When determining reading levels, have individual students read passages at different reading levels. -Students should have an oral reading accuracy level of about 95% and demonstrate comprehension of 75% of the important ideas in the passage. -Prior knowledge and interest have a large influence on reading level. They can also read text that is a little beyond their level if they are given the support before, during, and after reading. -I plan on using the checklist of emergent literacy behaviors, sight word, decoding, and spelling behaviors, comprehension strategies of a story and information, and beginning interests and attitude summary in my elementary classroom. -Writing is a very complex process and no matter how good a student gets, there is always room for growth. I like the idea of the three writing samples on the same topic across the school year(that will provide evidence of growth to both student and teacher). -I like the idea of early in the school year determining what your students like to read and how they feel about it. The homework assignment is great (students are to bring to school the three best books they read all summer). One of the best methods of assessment is to observe what your students actually do. Assessment in real life is a natural and productive activity. Questions I have: -How do I assess ELL learners and special need students? Are they given the same checklist? -What happens if students don't get past the easy reading level? Is each student suppose to master all levels of reading(easy, medium, or hard)?
ReplyDeleteI think I would assess reading levels in my classroom because I feel it would be the best way to discover and support each student’s individual needs. I was leery of assessing individual reading levels because I felt it related to “reading groups”, but after reading the text I realize I was looking at it all wrong. I would want to assess student’s reading levels to insure I was providing adequate reading material in the classroom library and to insure that classroom activities allow growth for all reading levels represented.
ReplyDeleteI would also like to assess emergent literacy behaviors. I would like to teach kindergarten to second grade and feel that monitoring emergent literacy skills would be very important to planning instruction, designing literacy activities, and providing students with individual support. I liked the sample emergent literacy behaviors checklist and the simplicity of record keeping (+, -, ?). I feel that the checklist would definitely be a valuable classroom tool that I would use.
I also like the writing samples throughout the year and think that even kindergarteners would benefit from this. I liked the idea of repeating the same question in order to show growth. I think using writing samples would be something I would consider for my classroom.
Concerning assessment, would you let students know that you are assessing them? Why or why not?
Is there any method of storing assessments that are beneficial to teachers? (space, ease of use, folders, etc.)
Assessment is a word everybody hates to hear including me. When you hear assessments you automatically think of having to pass a test, but in this case it is not.
ReplyDeleteIn my case I want to teach older grades..5th or 6th... and I think it is harder to assess the children as they get older. One thing I know I would make sure of is to know where my children are on their reading skills. I would make sure that I WILL have many options for my children to choose from to read. i will provide so many different types of reading materials like newspapers, chapter books, picture books, brochures, etc. I would also use a checklist because I think that would be very helpful something to use for quick and simple tool in the classroom. I also like the writing ideas. The older grades would definitely benefit from this and I think it would show great progress in my children. Some questions I have would be do I assess my ELL children the same way especially if they have not mastered the English language? Would I use a different method of assessing with my lower children or assess all my children the same way?
Reading about the assessment methods of reading and writing was very interesting and got me thinking about the ways I will assess my future classes.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing I learned was determining what "grade level" the students are. This is determined when the student has an oral reading accuracy of 95% and comprehends 75% of the important ideas.
I liked the checklists given in this chapter- emergent literacy behaviors and sight words, decoding, and spelling behaviors for the younger/lower level readers; and then comprehension strategies for the more experienced readers.
For writing, i thought the assessment of having the students write a prompt at the first, middle, and end of the year was neat. It would be helpful for the teacher and the students alike to recognize the progress made.
The QWIK assessment was also a good way to assess students in reading/writing. I think it is especial helpful in the emergent levels.
I still have a few questions about assessment.
When assessing writing, at what grade level do you start really implementing "correct" spelling?
Are most children who are really strong readers successful in writing as well?
Is there a way to find out the actual grade level of every book in your classroom library to more accurately determine the reading level of the students?
Assessments are a vital tool used to make decisions about how the students are learning, their various interest levels and my instructional level as well.
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher, my most important priority is to teach my students well everyday. The process of assessing a whole room full of children at any given point was a little overwhelming to me. I know that assessment is the tool that teachers use to help them vary the instruction of students, but I wasn’t sure how the process worked for an entire classroom. After reading this chapter, I think I understand the procedure a little better. I like the check list tool because this really simplifies the recordkeeping.
In order to capture and hold their interests, I need to know what my students like. Being able to provide interesting materials will foster their natural curiosities and support their desires to learn more. I also know that I learn easier when I am interested, children are no different.
Instructional assessment is something that will be geared to me. I will use this within my classroom by varying my instruction based on the assessment data gathered from the students. This data will ensure that each child within my classroom will receive the level of instruction that they need.
I wonder about the best way to record this data on a daily basis. Do most teachers keep a daily reflective journal that includes thoughts about instructional strategies? How will I mesh this data together? The idea of recording information about the students is made simplified within this chapter, but how do I make this user friendly for me?
It is important that each child has reading instruction that is geared towards his or her ability and using these assessments is one of the most important tools for determining reading skill. I would use these reading assessments to ensure that children are progressing in a timely manner and to identify any areas where further reading instruction might be required. By using them, teachers can identify students that might be having difficulty reading and provide them with a way to design their lessons according to students' needs.
ReplyDeleteStudents need to be assessed on phonemic awareness and reading comprehension. It isn’t enough for children to simply know their letters and sounds, but they must also make the connection between phonetic awareness and words. They must also be able to read at a specific level while comprehending the material being read. When using assessments appropriately, weak areas can be identified. Without using them, it would be extremely difficult to accurately measure a student’s reading ability.
How do you determine the reading level of a particular book?
How do you assess a child that knows different sight words compared to the sight words on the assessments?
This reading on assessment really made me think about assessment in other ways. I have always had the idea you test, then see where you are at. But with this reading it showed the ways to assess with out scaring the kids or you. You can see where you need to imporve as a teacher without spending hours checking papers and you can have ways to see where a student is truly at in his or hers learning. We all know that when you hear the word assess or test you start really studing to pass and this is not true representation of where the learner is. If you use the steps in the reading you have ways to check to see if the learner is ready to move on or needs more work in the area being taught. This reading really gave me good ways to check the learners in my future classroom.
ReplyDelete-Questions: How do you go back and reteach students that have been passed on, the decoding skills that they lack? It seems that the time you have is limited with all the hype on testing. How can I as a teacher break the pattern of poor spelling behavior that is self taught through years of school? At what point do you become really strict with poor spelling behavior?
I loved that this tells that there are other ways to assess a student than just to throw a test at them. Test can be scary to take or even to give, and finding alternates to testing and still getting the same purpose accomplished is great. One of the best ways i think is instructional assessing. Use inprompt writing and having many reading options avaiable.
ReplyDeleteAs a poor speller speaking, how do you help those students who cant just grasp the concept of spelling
I think assessing attitudes and interests is an important assessment at the beginning of each school year. Knowing how students feel about reading and learning what their interests are will be beneficial in knowing how to motivate them. It will be helpful in planning activities that may cater to the students’ interest and needs.
ReplyDeleteOne of my greatest concerns currently is that there seems to be too much assessment and not enough teaching. I hope the amount of assessments decrease before I become a teacher.
To what degree will I be allowed to determine how my students will be assessed throughout the school year?
I think that assessing younger children is going to be much easier than assessing older aged children. I want to teach K-2, so assessing their emergent literacy behaviors is key to knowing how to help different children. The checklist that the book provided for this is definitely a useful tool that I will use in my classroom. It is simple and organized.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, you need to assess your students' interests. This can help you determine literature to get for your classroom so they will actually WANT to read. I believe that younger children are much easier to please than older children when it comes to reading topics. I think that at a young age children have more common interests.
My biggest question is...
What is the best way to assess children WITHOUT letting them know you are doing it?
Do you want them to know that you are assessing them at all or should it be kept quiet?
One of the most important things that I will assess in my classroom is reading interests and attitudes. I strongly believe that when a topic is unfamiliar or uninteresting students struggle. I want to make sure to provide my students with success of reading. In Classroom That Work it was revealed: "Because comprehension is so dependent on prior knowledge and interest, it is not possible to feel secure in our judgements that a child can or cannot use a particular comprehension strategy". I had never given much thought before reading this chapter to this concept of comprehension. I plan on using the Emergent Literacy Behaviors checklist, Sight Word, Decoding, and Spelling Behaviors checklist, Comprehension Strategies for Stories/Informational Text checklist as an ongoing assessment in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteQuestion:
How long should a beginning teacher ask an experienced teacher to review over their reading assessments?
Is it more important to do reading assessment or writing assessment?
I would want to assess my students' reading levels, so I could better assist them with their reading skills. It is important to know what level each student is at, so I will know just how much assistance he or she needs. I would also want to assess what types of interests my students have, so I can find reading materials that will keep their interests.
ReplyDeleteThis chapter has a lot of helpful information. The check lists given in this chapter seem very helpful.
I would like to know the best way to assess a child's reading skills without making them nervous and when is it important to stress spelling?
I really like the idea of not testing the students all the time. I know as a student I don't like to be tested after every little subject or concept. I want to be able to take notes about what my kids are doing in the classroom and see where I need to help them. I think the check list in the book is a good tool to have and to use when assessing my students.
ReplyDeleteQuestion:
If you get questioned from a parent about not testing, how do you answer and explain?
(1) First of all, I think the type of assessment they are focused on in this chapter is formative, which is the one I was planning on implementing in my classroom on a daily basis. This will help me to know where my children are at any given time and most importantly, will tell me what I need to teach, re-teach and when we are ready to build on our knowledge, the next step we need to take.
ReplyDeleteInstead of testing and quizzing my students to death, I plan to have them make things to assess, products that they can share with their families and with the class—stories, books, Power Points, and Animoto slide shows; maybe even some Wordles to post on our classroom website (and print for outside our door).
One thing I will definitely use in my class is the assessment for their attitudes and interests in reading because this will not only help me get to know my students on a more personal level, it will also help me build my library based on what they want to read—I will know which books to buy or borrow (or beg).
(2) (a) One concern I have is the focus on the endless checklists—is this really an efficient way to assess student’s grasp of reading and writing? Is it the most accurate?
(b) Will this way of assessment be accepted by the current school system? These are informal assessment techniques—how do they translate into the formal assessments that will already be in place in which ever school/county/state/country I begin teaching?