Assessment

            Wow, this chapter was full of imperative information for assessing our students. There were many subtopics of assessment included in this chapter such as setting correct objectives for the purpose of accurate assessment, evaluation, portfolios, formative, and summative assessments.

            Setting clear and accurate objectives is something that I do in my classroom to ensure that I am confident about what is to be taught to my students. I also make sure that my students know what the objective of each lesson is. I am able to integrate my objectives for lessons with essential questions and I can statement for my students. A teacher can make great objectives all day everyday but assessing those objectives is when the magic happens.

            Through assessment a teacher is able to see where a child needs more help and where a child can move on. Teachers create small groups and remediation for students by using formative assessment data. I agree with Jonathan Lindsey’s discussion post this week, “With formative assessments, teachers can check for student understanding at any point in the lesson.” Unlike formative assessment, summative assessment is used to determine a student’s final knowledge of the content and skills. Summative assessments can be done through county and state standardized testing or can be done through classroom or school-wide common assessments. I agree with the author about summative assessment results and how they provide a great way for a teacher to reflect on what he or she can do better for the upcoming year (Slavin, 2012, p.410). Last year was my first year teaching an actual grade level as opposed to my previous year doing pre-k. Although my second graders did not have to take the Georgia Milestone test, they did have county wide assessments and the data that I received from those assessments have really helped me in planning for this upcoming year.

            When reading this chapter one thing that I learned about more are portfolios. Although I had a portfolio while in undergraduate classes, I never thought to use it with my second graders. A portfolio allows teachers, students, and parents to see what has been learned by the child over the year and it can help the parents determine what help their child can use during the summer break. Slavin (2012) stated, “You may collect student compositions, projects and other evidence of higher-order functioning and use this evidence to evaluate student progress over time” (p.430). I do believe that I will start using portfolios as a great tool to set goals with my students and as a great way to communicate the child’s advances during parent-teacher conferences.

            The last major subtopic that I would like to discuss is the opportunity for feedback from assessment results. Whether the data be constructed from formative or summative assessments, feedback is imperative to the future success of the student, teacher, and classroom. Slavin (2012) stated, “It is important to have a clear and objective set of criteria that student work is compared with so students can see exactly why they scored as they did” (p.412). Providing rubrics and explaining the rubric prior to the assignment being given, is a great way for the children to know the expectations and goals that they should set in completing the assignment.
            It is evident through the readings, discussions, and my personal experiences teaching, that assessment is important for teachers, students, schools, parents, and districts, because it allows us to reflect on how we can better teach and allows the students an opportunity to see what they need to work towards as a learner. One question that I do have is, if through the district and school level teachers are verified as meeting and exceeding the expectations of teaching and learning through assessment and observation measures, then is it so imperative to subject our students to state assessments as well? Are we doing harm in the long –run by requiring that students take these state tests? 

Reference

Slavin, R.E. (2012). Educational psychology: Theory and practice (10^th ed.). Boston:Pearson.

Effective Learning Environments

                This entire chapter discusses ways to properly establish and support classroom management. The first component to having a successful classroom as stated in the book is to establish classroom rules on the first day of school. Students should not be overwhelmed with rules so rules should be short, simple, and to the point. Procedures, or the way in which the rules are completed, should be introduced over a period of time (Slavin, 2012, p. 327).

            Not only does this chapter discuss ways to create rules but it also discusses proper managing of transitions. Keri Sumner mentioned in her discussion post for this week that classroom transitions are something that she struggles with. I think it is important to note her post because managing transitions is something that many teachers struggle with. Slavin (2012) stated, “Transitions are changes from one activity to another for example, from lecture to seatwork, from subject to subject, or from lesson to lunch” (p.322). In my own classroom when writing a lesson plan, I also write out the transitions that will occur and the directions that I will give that are associated with that particular transition. Transitions should be given in a clear and direct way (Slavin, 2012, p.322).  I could not agree more with Slavin about the stated quote, because too much wording and instances where students have to try to figure out what you are asking them to do, will only cause confusion.

            Another extremely important topic that I would like to note from the chapter is the proper way to handle misbehavior. I have to admit that I use a lot of nonverbal cues when having to address misbehavior, because it is a form of addressing the behavior with as minimum of distractions as possible.  What I learned in the book is that the best way to not have to handle misbehavior is through prevention. Prevention of misbehavior happens when students are on task, engaged, and ultimately interested in what and how they are learning. Teachers must realize that this will come with more effort than just creating fun activities. Yes, fun activities are a great way to get the student interested in learning, but if that fun activity is not differentiated correctly then that fun activity will turn from a learning activity to a playing activity. I also learned the proper order in how to address misbehaviors; prevention as first, nonverbal cues, praise of correct behavior that is incompatible with misbehavior, praise for other students, verbal reminders, repeated reminders, and consequences (Slavin, 2012, p.329).

            Classroom management is not always the easiest task for a teacher but it is the ultimate platform for success in our classroom. Teachers must remember that our ultimate goal is to provide students with as much learning time as possible, and creating activities that prevent misbehavior or properly address misbehavior will help us to do just that!

Reference

Slavin, R.E. (2012). Educational psychology: Theory and practice (10^th ed.). Boston:Pearson.