Chapter two highlights the best
motives or strategies to use when you are assessing early literacy development.
This specific aspect of teaching has always been an important matter for me
individually, because I have test anxiety, and have always remembered
struggling when it came to pencil- and- paper formed tests. Although I believe
that administered tests are a crucial aspect to the educational world, I also
believe that it’s important to be sensitive to children’s backgrounds,
abilities, and needs which is one of the main points that are highlighted in
this chapter. When talking about tests, I believe that we hold them to be the
best form of assessing children’s knowledge of a subject, but in all actuality
this could be the very opposite. We must remember that although administering
tests is inevitable and extremely essential to a child’s learning process, it
cannot be the only source for evaluating a child’s progress.
One form is authentic assessments,
which are activities that represent and reflect the actual learning that is
going on within the classroom as well as outside of the classroom. This form of
evaluation can be performed in a number of different methods, which include; anecdotal
observation forms, daily performance samples, audio recordings, videos, pencil-
and – paper forms, student evaluations, surveys and interviews, conferences,
and checklists. These types of assessments are continuous over a substantial
period of time, which means that it requires not only the collaboration of the
teacher and the student, but the parents as well. This form of assessment must
also take into the consideration that children are diverse and vary in their
culture, language, and altogether have different needs.
On the other side of things, there
are in-depth assessments. These include running records, informal reading
inventories, and portfolio assessments. While authentic assessments can be very
beneficial, they lack the understanding of each individual child’s development
over an extended amount of time. The first assessment is developing running
records. These are valuable because everything a child does is recorded but
it’s not put on display to the child or their peers. Not only do they save the
child from embarrassment and stress, they also can be useful in determining
applicable material to use for instructional purposes. Informal reading is
another form of in- depth assessment that is very comparable to running
records, but they focus more on comprehension.
The type of testing that most
people are familiar with is standardized testing. Of course like anything else,
this method comes with pros and cons. One valuable aspect is that it exposes
children to a variety of literacy situations. It also gives parents concrete
information about their children. One of the biggest downfalls of standardized
testing is that they only represent one form of assessment for the child.
As future teachers, the big
question is how often to administrate tests, what type of tests should be given
most often, and what overall will be most beneficial to the child? I believe
that it’s extremely important to take all forms of assessment into
consideration and give a variety all of them. Also, we should utilize a number
of different strategies, meaning that we shouldn’t consider one single hand
written test as the tell all of our students comprehending a subject. As long
as we remember that our students are diverse and need individual attention when
testing their knowledge in a subject, we will have a better overall learning
experience.
Cami, you presented well thought out points. I struggle with a multitude of anxieties, the biggest being test anxiety. I could know the material front and back and still score poorly on the test. Something about sitting down with a test and recalling the material from memory makes me second-guess my answers. I agree with your position in that administered tests are a crucial aspect to teaching and many believe that testing is the best way of assessing a child’s knowledge of a subject, but it is not the only method for evaluating a child. Every child learns in his or her own way. It is unfair for a child to be assessed in an environment where he or she does not feel is most comfortable. As a teacher, it is crucial to get to know your students while taking into consideration the various cultures, languages, and ethnicities of your classroom. While you are assessing your class, it is your responsibility to make sure your students are in a relaxed environment. I understand that authentic assessments may lack the understanding of the child’s development over a time period. Running records is such a beneficial form of assessing a student. It allows confidentiality to the child to save any embarrassment or anxiety he or she may have during the testing process. I agree with your last few statements as you suggest taking on all forms of assessment in the classroom. Offering several ways to assess our students allows for less stress and more success!
ReplyDeleteCami, you presented well thought out points. I struggle with a multitude of anxieties, the biggest being test anxiety. I could know the material front and back and still score poorly on the test. Something about sitting down with a test and recalling the material from memory makes me second-guess my answers. I agree with your position in that administered tests are a crucial aspect to teaching and many believe that testing is the best way of assessing a child’s knowledge of a subject, but it is not the only method for evaluating a child. Every child learns in his or her own way. It is unfair for a child to be assessed in an environment where he or she does not feel is most comfortable. As a teacher, it is crucial to get to know your students while taking into consideration the various cultures, languages, and ethnicities of your classroom. While you are assessing your class, it is your responsibility to make sure your students are in a relaxed environment. I understand that authentic assessments may lack the understanding of the child’s development over a time period. Running records is such a beneficial form of assessing a student. It allows confidentiality to the child to save any embarrassment or anxiety he or she may have during the testing process. I agree with your last few statements as you suggest taking on all forms of assessment in the classroom. Offering several ways to assess our students allows for less stress and more success!
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