In this chapter the pros and cons of informal and formal assessments are brought into light. Since I can remember tests have always been an important part of education and learning. Often times tests are considered the most important reflection of your learning and strongly affect the grade you will receive in a class. But tests are not the only way to assess a student and do not fully reflect what a child knows. Students may answer a question wrong for a variety of reasons whether it be their comprehension of the question or that they do not know the information, therefore it is impossible to discover what a child truly knows and understands without other assessments being made. Tests are important in a student's education but they should not be the only factor taken into account when grading a student's knowledge and understanding.
Every student has a unique and different method of learning; because of this assessments should be sensitive to a students background, abilities, and needs in order to obtain appropriate instructional strategies and to develop an accurate and helpful plan for their learning. These assessments can help one to better understand what a child does and does not comprehend and why. Assessing children in multiple ways allows a teacher to become informed of what does and does not work for a child when learning. These assessments allow teachers to deepen their understanding of a student's knowledge.
Authentic Assessments are assessment activities that correlate with the learning and instructional activities that happen in and outside of the classroom. These types of assessments are continuous over a substantial period of time and are intended to be a guide of instruction for the student, teacher, and parents. The main goals of these assessments are to observe and record the academic behavior of a student. Authentic Assessments can include observation forms, daily performance samples, audio and video recordings, teacher made tests, student evaluation forms, surveys and interviews, conferences, and checklists. Each type of assessment can give one a better understanding of a student's ability. For example student evaluation forms are a great way to to have students see their own work and reflect on their personal learning experience. This helps students create an awareness and better understanding of their own thought processes and how they feel about their learning. Knowing this information as a teacher is helpful for planning instruction and how to better accommodate to how a student learns.
In-Depth Assessments are assessments taken to see how a student is doing at a particular moment and what they truly comprehend. Types of in-depth assessments include running records, informal reading inventories, and portfolio assessment. Running Records are used to observe and record children's oral reading and are used to help with planning instruction. This assessment is used to discover what kind of error a student is making and why. When reading a passage a student might make a mistake for many reasons whether that is a meaning, visual, or structure error. Meaning errors are made when a child uses information from the text, pictures, or context clues to determine what a word is but still is incorrect. An error is still made but the meaning is intact and shows how the student made that error. Visual errors are when a student uses phonics to determine a word but doesn't take into consideration the meaning of the text. This type of error helps point out how a student must make sense of a word and emphasizes the importance of looking carefully at each word when reading. Structure errors are when a student makes a syntax error and does not look closely enough at a word but knows for example that a verb must go in that spot. Discovering what type of mistake a child makes can help determine why they made that mistake and how it can be corrected. This type of assessment is important in determining a student's reading level.
As a teacher I want to have as much knowledge about my students' learning methods and abilities as I can. These assessments create possibilities for me to learn more about a student's knowledge and understanding compared to what a test would tell me. A test cannot determine what kind of mistake one made or what I can do to help a specific student learn. Every assessment has multiple and different benefits and with more assessments comes better understanding of where a student is and where their education can go.
I very much enjoyed reading your response to Chapter two. I would like to build on your comment in the first paragraph about students answering a question wrong on a test for a variety of reasons. I know that my younger sister has extreme anxiety and whenever she has a test she has to make sure she knows the material like the back of her hand. Otherwise she will completely freeze during the test and forget the knowledge that she actually fully understands. Some children are just bad test takers.
ReplyDeleteWith regards to your second paragraph; I am torn. I am a strong believer in equality and fairness, and while I see the benefits to “being sensitive to a student’s background, abilities, and needs…” I cannot help but think that can only harm the child’s future learning. I think when first starting to assess in a classroom, all assessments should be equal. This can then help you, as a teacher; find out what children need more help. Then instead of making the testing appropriate to their learning capabilities, help them to reach the level they should be at! Whether that means spending more one on one time with the child teaching, or finding a student or tutor that can help the child outside of the classroom. As a teacher I would not feel comfortable making an assessment easier for a child who needs help, personally it would feel like I was giving up.
I love the idea of having children assess themselves. When I was in grade school it always seemed that there was only one way to learn each subject. I had so many ideas on how my teachers could teach me in a better way, but no one listened. As the teachers of the future, I think that we need to serve our students. Let them decide what the best way to learn is for themselves, and we can guide and scaffold along the way.
When reading about in-depth assessment I was completely against it. I put a lot of consideration into how I am going to teach my students, and base a lot of it on how my younger sister learns. If she were to ever have to sit in front of a teacher, in her younger years, and read a book out loud that she had never read before, she would have been a stuttering mess. I feel that it could be terrifying for the student to have to do that. However, possibly implementing the audio or video assessment in with the in-depth assessment could make the child feel more comfortable. Reading to themselves on the camera or in the tape recorder can show the child how they are doing and help themselves improve, while us teachers are able to keep the recordings.
I agree! I would love to find multiple and fun ways to assess my students throughout the year.