Assessments
What is it? & What Does it Look Like in Practice?: Assessments apply to the work of both teachers and the students an involves closely examining student work and our teaching practices. Based on my personal experience in the field, assessments should be incorporated into every lesson in order to better the education of the students and to improve the lessons and teaching practices that we implement in the classroom. Collecting data from both formal assessments (Ex: written work, exit tickets), and informal assessments (Ex: whole class discussions, turn and talks), can help us determine how students are understanding the content and how we can adjust our practices to better support their understanding for the future. In terms of assessing the writing process, it is important for teachers to use "a variety of procedures; five of the most useful are observation, conferences, checklists, rubrics, and writing samples" (Tompkins, 2019).
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Connection to Philosophy: This connects to my philosophy of education because consistently assessing both formal and informal data, helps teachers gain a better idea of student understanding. These assessments help teachers reflect on their own teaching practices and assists them in deciding how to make adjustments to their future planning and instruction. This can give teachers the opportunity to reflect on both the successes and needs of their practice to determine where to include more collaboration, engagement, and interactivity into their classroom learning environment. In terms of assessing the writing process, the best way to do this is by creating rubrics, observing/listening, and analyzing writing samples.
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Experience: During my time teaching in the field, I have came to the realization that it is important to carefully analyze student work to see where they are at in terms of their writing because writing has so many different features and it can be challenging for students to keep track of them all when crafting their writing pieces. I have assessed student understanding through listening carefully to their responses during whole class discussions, listening to their responses to my questions, and by reading their work. By doing this, I have been able to see which students were grasping material and which ones were struggling, and I have been able to reflect on that and think of ways that I can improve my instruction to avoid that as much as possible in the future and provide the most support for students during lessons.
Evidence: According to Tompkins (2019), "keeping track of students’ progress is a demanding task" primarily because "writing is multidimensional and not adequately measured simply by counting the number of compositions a student has written". In terms of the CAP element: reflective practice, teachers should consistently reflect "on the effectiveness of lessons, units, and interactions with students, both individually and with colleagues" and uses the "insights gained" from these reflections "to improve practice and student learning" (Massachusetts Department of Education, 2020).
References
Tompkins, G. (2019). Teaching writing: balancing process and product. Columbus, OH:
Pearson.
Massachusetts Department of Education (2020). CAP elements. Retrieved from Blackboard.
Pearson.
Massachusetts Department of Education (2020). CAP elements. Retrieved from Blackboard.