Chapter three states the important of assessments and testing children knowledge before and after. Before being admitted into teacher education here at Fort Hays State University I did not understand the importance of a pre and/or post test. However, now I see the several reasons why testing student’s knowledge before a lesson and after a lesson is so important. How else are you going to know if your lesson was effective or a completely a waste of time? This chapter lists so many different tests; page 45 introduces norm-referenced tests, tests that are created by publishers who use theses test scores to create norms. I was unaware that publishers created these types of test. However, it makes sense that publishers like Pearson create test to help better their textbooks. I am most familiar with standardized test but I am sure anyone who went to a public school is familiar with some type of standardized test. We all dread them in school, but as I am gaining knowledge to become and educator I see the importance of them. State as well as our Nation needs to know what schools need more help in curriculum.
During Reading and Language Arts Methods we were able to go to an elementary school and test actual students on their reading level. It was a type of assessment needed for reading. The Miscue Analysis reminded me of this procedure in figure 3.10. Miscue Analysis is a way to score students mistakes in reading. It deals with substitutions, mispronunciations, omission, insertion, repetition, long pauses, self-corrections, and sounding-out words. I am eager to have my own classroom and practice the system of miscue analysis or systems similar.
This chapter is filled with so much great information about testing, analysis, recording and so much more. I have learned that in the school system for elementary students there are records of the child’s progress in assessments they have taken. I believe it is so important for teachers to look at and understand each and every one of their students and help the out to the best of their ability.
In response to Matraca's post, I too did not understand the importance of pre and post tests until after taking reading methods. It makes total sense though. Having a measurement of where the students background knowledge is on whatever subject gives the teacher a starting point of what to cover. And then, can measure, accurately what the students have learned after the instruction.
Matraca, I am very eager to get out and actually do a miscue analysis. It seems like it will take some time getting used to and many student to practice with in order to get it down. However, that's probably why we need to record each time we assess a student. That way we can go back and listen to make sure we marked the correct stuff.
Matraca, I agree I didn't really know about the importance of testing prior to getting into the teaching program. I think that test your students is so important just like you said, so you know if the lesson needs to be taught or not. I don't remember my teachers giving pre and post test therefore, I wonder how effective their lessons were effective.
1. Analysis of reading/issue. Chapter 3 discusses the different types of assessments. In the beginning formative and summative assessments are defined and what they provide teachers with. The book also provides numerous examples of the different types of assessments that teachers can give their students. The chapter also includes the different types of information the different assessments provide teachers. There is also information about tests that can be given to ELL students and the questions that teachers can ask the students. The book also provides examples of how to score the tests and how to mark miscues. There is also discussion about different types of assessment that don’t include tests; for example, portfolio, cloze test, attitude test, etc. These give the teacher information about the students and their views and their accomplishments. 2. Questions/contradictions about the reading/issues. When reading about the diagnostic tests, it provides disadvantages. With this number of disadvantages why do teachers still give these types of tests? I realize they provide answers to questions and can help teachers design personalized instruction for the student, but those disadvantages do throw a red flag up for me. 3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently? I didn’t realize how important all of the ‘assessments’ like the attitude test, personal interest inventory, etc. made such a difference in teaching. Sometimes, it scares me to think about all the testing I’m going to need to complete on such a large amount of students. I’m very concerned that I’m not going to be able to help them the way I want to. 4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience. I really liked the ‘Accomplishment and Goal-Setting Logs’ section on page 71-72. The reason for this is that I believe that students should play a vital role in their learning. Allowing them to see their progress through goals and other types of assessment is great because it can build their self-esteem and sense of accomplishment and change their minds about reading. When I was in school, I don’t remember ever setting goals or taking the tests that are discussed in this chapter outside of the standardized tests. Whenever people who ask me to set goals, I would, but I never followed through with them because I never remembered what they are and I have never followed through with things.
I LOVE goal setting, and was so happy to see it mentioned in the textbook. It is something that all teachers from elementary school through high school really pushed, and I've already decided will be a part of my classroom. To this day I still goal set every semester before classes start!
You bring up a valid point when it comes to disadvantages and the diagnostic tests. I noticed that there were more disadvantages than advantages. However, I feel like he advantages outweigh the disadvantages. They are said to be valid and you can compare the students to their peers with similar characteristics. Student weaknesses are also presented in these test, which I think is a huge thing in addition to the validity!
The comment about connecting reading to you is wonderful. Giving the students something tangible that they can relate to with the reading is vitally important. Pulling in prior knowledge that pertains to a read aloud or weekly story is also a way to increase comprehension. I have seen many students almost jump up and down when they make a connection with a weekly reading story. The students are just full of stories they want to share. Other students sit and you can see the blank stare when they just don't understand, this is the time to pull on other resources. Such as show a video of Mount Saint Hellenes so the student can understand what a volcano looks like or bring in a baseball glove to show students what it looks like. If we can give a visual of an items and form a connection in the students mind then comprehension may increase.
In response to Matraca F: There is a lot of information about assessments provided in this chapter; however, if you have taken Curriculum and Assessment, you received more information about the different types of tests there. That class is great, and I hope you get to take it soon! Also, I took the CSAPs (Colorado’s standardized tests) and I dreaded them too.
After reading Chapter 3 covering assessment in reading, I felt overwhelmed with all the information and examples of different testing for students. The beginning of the chapter went over the different types of formal and standardized testing: intelligence, achievement, and diagnostic. These tests are administered for different reasons. Intelligence tests determine the scholastic aptitude of students. Achievement tests measure the current level of a students’ performance while including subtests that cover the big five in reading. Standardized testing supplies the teacher’s information if the student needs additional screening. Diagnostic testing are standardized tests but differ from achievement test because they determine strengths and weaknesses by including subtests. These diagnostic tests seem to provide the most information for the teacher to determine what the cause of weakness might be. Miscue analysis is a new term for me. I remember it in reading methods, but I did not have a full understanding of what that term meant until after reading this chapter. Also, figure 3.13 on pg. 56 was helpful to see an example of the conventional markings used during testing. I will definitely be referencing this textbook for direction on reading corrections this semester and when I am teaching! So much to learn! In conclusion, I really enjoyed this chapter as I am thinking about becoming a reading specialist, after I finish my teaching degree. In addition, I liked the Chinese proverb at the beginning of the chapter, “I hear, and I forget. I see, and I remember. I do, and I understand.” So true and a great motto to motivate students and teachers!
I think this chapter will be a good one to keep in mind! It does a great job of explaining all of the different tests in addition to the examples it lists. I know I will refer back to this one in the future!
Sara - I know it does seem a little bit overwhelming at first! When I started working in a Title I reading room, we gave a lot of these assessments, sometimes on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. It was quite a process learning how to give and analyze all of them, but once you get the hang of it, it's great!! They give you a pretty clear picture of what is happening with a student's work, difficulties, etc. You'll have them mastered in no time:)
Chapter 3 discusses assessment, formal and informal. The thing I liked most about this chapter is it gave advantages and disadvantages for different types of assessments. This just shows that not one assessment is perfect and wide variety should be used within your classroom. Even though informal assessments are less time consuming and easier to administer they aren’t always accurate and the best to use. I’ve learned quite a lot about assessment over the semesters and learned what assessments I find the most interesting. I love the idea of keeping a portfolio assessment. This type of assessment doesn’t compare the students to one another. Instead, it shows how each student has approved throughout the year. Another thing I liked about this chapter is the table they have on the conventions used for miscue analysis. Mrs. Stoppel said we are going to be using these a lot so I know I will be referring back to this page. After looking at the different examples of informal assessments I realize how organized I will need to be. Each student will definitely need to have their own record kept somewhere safe yet easy to pull out when I need to assess them. Just from what I’ve experienced out in the classroom going to my internships I’ve never seen a teacher doing an informal assessment. I suppose they each have their own way of doing it and I may not have noticed. I’m very excited to get to know my students I’ll be tutoring because after reading the information on personal interest surveys I know I’ll be a better teacher if I know my students interests. I will be able to personalize each tutoring session so they will be engaged and we can get a lot accomplished.
Andrea- I, too, liked the table on miscue analysis. It was very informative and Ms. Stoppel did say we would need to know it so it helps that the text talked about it too.
Andrea - Like both of you, I also like that the book was able to list advantages and disadvantages of these assessments. It gives us a good idea of maybe when they would be more effective. I actually love to give assessments because they can give you such a clear picture, sometimes, about a difficulty that you might not have noticed otherwise.
Chapter three could not have been any more informative about all of the different types of assessments. There are so many to choose from!!! Before reading this chapter I was a little confused on what each of the different assessments consisted of and when to use them. It was really nice that this chapter went into such details and gave such great examples of how to administer them. The most informative section in this chapter for me was about the miscue analysis. When Ms. Stoppel went over them in class, the virtual students couldn't see what she was writing on the board so it was difficult to envision what she was doing. I took the basics from the book and wrote them in my Cooter, Flint, Cooter book in order to have with me in the field. I also added some from class as well. I also really liked the section on technology and resources that are available on the internet. They listed several websites to aid teachers in literacy assessment. I looked up some of the websites they listed and found them to be very interesting and a great resource tool to use in the classroom!
I agree that this chapter definitely relieved some of the stress about not understanding assessments and how to score them. I also made sure to highlight all of the websites mentioned within this chapter so I have resources to use! I may also steal your idea and put a few notes in my Cooter / Flint / Cooter textbook!
I agree, this chapter provided us with a lot of good information that we will be able to use in our own classrooms. I think the chapter did a great job of breaking it down and making it understandable. I know I sound like Emily but I really like your idea as well of putting the notes into the other textbook. I am already finding that I will not be selling the Cooter,Flint, Cooter book back.
I also felt the great deal of assessments and when / where to administer was very informative. This information I feel will be useful during my tutor sessions.
I remember learning about all of these different kinds of assessments during the Reading and Language Arts methods class. This chapter helped me recall all of that information and it has got me thinking about how I will actually be using these assessments in my class. Of course, the standardized tests will always be there for us to worry about, but I feel like every little piece of information we get on them will be to our benefit. I recall discussing criterion-referenced and norm-referenced tests in my Curriculum and Assessment class. Criterion-referenced tests are usually used in the classroom as a way for the teacher to see if the students are mastering the content or criteria. The standardized tests are good example of norm-referenced tests because the students’ scores are looked at based on the norm of their grade level. I think diagnostic tests are advantageous when it comes to getting to know your students and determining their strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately, the fact that they are timed means the students have to perform right then and there when they are administered; this may cause the students to do score as well on areas that they know well. We have talked about the miscue analysis in both this class and the Reading and Language Arts methods class now, and I am definitely ready to get some practice in with administering it! I am ready to start actually applying all of this information that we have learned. This reading made me realize just how many tests are out there exactly. Some are better than others, but they all measure one skill or another to help us figure out what we need to teach the student. I really like the idea of keeping a portfolio for my students. I think it is important that the child be involved in picking his or her work to put in it to see how much improvement is made. I think seeing the improvement can help motivate a child tremendously to keep getting better. The student self-assessment can show a teacher how the student thinks of him or herself and what possibly needs to be done to improve the attitude. I believe that attitude can be improved by relating content to their interests. This is where the personal interest survey comes into play. I know I will use them in my classroom because it is one more way to help me get to know my students. The skill logs, reflection logs, and goals-setting logs all seem like great ideas. They allow the child to really think about how they are doing in school right now and how they think they can do better. Motivation is a big key and I believe having a student reflect on the completed work will add to their personal motivation. Finally, I think rubrics or checklists are also quick and easy way to see whether or not the child is meeting the criteria. The results are right there in front of you to determine whether or not some changes need to be made.
Don't you find it great that these classes are building upon each other the same way the new common core standards are designed? I really like that. I am excited to write the lesson plans using the common core standards.
This is such a transition time between our current standards and the common core ones. I am excited to be learning about the new common cores, but it is a little stressful to know that this will happen just after we have gotten comfortable with the old ones!
Analysis of the reading/issue: Chapter 3 discusses the types of assessments we will utilize in the classroom and the importance or relevance of each assessment. While I was familiar with most of these, I have never had the opportunity to use the assessments relating to interest or work with portfolios. There are so many things that can be useful to us as teachers, but we need to really be aware of how to give these tests and analyze the data we get from them. The explanation of checklist, rubrics, and portfolios was my favorite section of this chapter. I have a much better understanding of how they are used and why. The section on student self-assessment was also eye-opening. I've seen my own children do many of these things, but I didn't realize what it was they were actually doing. I can see the importance of this and how having students assess themselves will make a big difference in their motivation and attitude towards their education.
Questions and/or contradictions about the reading/issue: I was wondering if anyone has a preference to which portfolio works best with elementary students and their parents. I know not all families have access to computers, but I really like the idea of creating an electronic portfolio. My children have always had the standard notebook and dividers type of portfolio, but I wondered what other people have experienced either in the classroom or with their own children.
How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently?: The reading makes it clear that assessment is so crucial in helping a teacher decide what information needs to be taught, what their students already know, the type of strategies they might need to use, and how to track & show growth of a student's work. Looking back at this chapter, I feel that it is going to be important to be organized and well-informed where assessments are concerned!
Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience: Having worked with students in this capacity prior to this class, I was happy to learn that the things we were using with our students was dead on with what the text suggested. The use of both formal and informal testing provide us with much needed information. The formal assessments are easy to schedule and you know what they will contain. Informal assessments, however, can be just as important and provide you with information "on the fly". You can really learn a lot about students through observation and taking daily notes. We don't always have the time to sit our students down and given the an assessment to give us certain information. In my opinion, you can really tell a lot about what a student does or doesn't understand by discussions in class, observing cooperative learning groups, or even listening to them read. I am glad to have read this chapter prior to our tutoring sessions. I feel like I am better equipped now to assess my students and look at the results of those tests.
You are so right! There isn’t always going to be time to sit them down and test. And in fact, in my opinion, we can learn a lot of valuable information about our students and their understanding if we use discussions and observation to assess them throughout the process. This information will not only help us guide our students to a deep understanding of the material, but will also help us reflect on what works and doesn’t work in the classroom with particular students, and how we can rework future lessons and activities to better reach individuals.
For starters, I loved that the textbook mentioned the concept of goal setting. I believe that being able to set goals for yourself is a skill that all students should learn. I remember always having to set goals from elementary school through high school. To this day I will still set goals for myself – both for my personal life and school life.
It was incredibly helpful to not only read about the certain assessments and the ways to grade those, but to also see examples of this. I am definitely a visual learner so this really helped me gained so much more than just reading.
The retrospective miscue analysis really caught my attention. I think this would be awesome to use with students. It would be more than just the educator analyzing and picking which instruction he or she thinks will work best for the particular student. The student actually gets to listen and decide what he or she did wrong, and together that student and the teacher discuss what’s going on and what will be done to help improve their reading abilities and confidence. However, I feel like it is unrealistic to use this approach with a class of 25 students, because it is so incredibly time consuming.
I agree with the importance of goal setting! I think that when students have a visual reminder presented in their goal log, they will have better luck sticking to it. Also, I am so glad you identified the time constraints that an educator may run into when incorporating the retrospective miscue analysis into instruction. Maybe it would be an appropriate tool for a guided reading group.
Emily - I agree with your statement bout setting goals. It is so important for students to be able to set short and long term goals. Short term goals keep them motivated so they know that are able to reach that long term goal they are fighting for.
I thought that material represented in the chapter was very detailed and explained the various types of assessments excellently. I also enjoyed reading the sections for English learners; I found it super helpful that the author lists six principles to keep in mind when performing an informal assessment with the student. I went to the world-english.org web site and at first glance it is very overwhelming. However, when you click on the links, the material is much like those found in worksheets. An aspect of the site that I did like is that the materials can be accessed multiple times and the game section encourages them to use prior knowledge. My favorite part of this chapter are the sections encouraging student self assessment. I really like the independence that the students will achieve with the strategies of book logs, skill logs, reflection logs, accomplishment and goal-setting logs. I am a strong believer in goal setting and self motivation!
Brooke, I am also one of those people that is a big believe in goal setting and self motivation. I think it is a very important skill that many students are lacking. Every time I find a section on discussing different types of self assessment I always take notes for myself because I want to incorporate this so much in my future classroom. I believe that I allows students to take direct responsibility for their learning, which encourages them more than I could ever do. Self reflection is one of the most powerful ways of self improvements, not to mention it allows students to see their accomplishments in real time. I am really excited to have the students create their own portfolio in the tutoring group, It will be a fun way for the students to show their parents what they have been doing and to show their accomplishments. I also think it is so much more meaningful for the parents to have their children show their progress than for me to just sit their and tell them about it.
1. Analysis of the reading/issue. Chapter three has several ideas of how to assess students and keep records of what students are doing and how they have progressed. The chapter explained the different types of assessments such as formal, formative, and summative. Reading this chapter I found that it is helpful to use a variety of assessments. The text also explained the advantages and disadvantages to standardized testing. I found this very informative. As a student I like multiple choice tests and I never thought of it the way the book did, that it allows students to guess. 2. Questions and/or contradictions about the reading/issue. For this chapter I didn’t have any questions. I thought the information was straight forward and since I worked as an aid in kindergarten I have gotten very comfortable giving different kinds of assessments. It was done on a regular basis. 3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently? I guess the reading has changed my mind a little when it comes to standardized testing. I always thought and still do think that the majority of the upper grades have to really focus on the test. However now I also see what good is coming from the assessments. 4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience. When I was a student in elementary I hated tests with a passion. Now that I see what assessments provide the teacher with I have a different view point. I guess the assessments from when I was in school are so much different than the ones that are given now. From what I can remember we didn’t do assessments daily and we always did written one. That is extremely different than what I read in the text book and what I see in the schools.
I love your connection with the text. I really did not enjoy tests either. I'm not sure if I know anyone who does. I don't know that what is being assessed is drastically different, but I do know that the way we assess is extremely different. It is kind of cool to look back and see how assessment has evolved.
I am currently a Para in a special education classroom and have been trained in AIMSWEB. Because of this training I felt confident while reading this chapter with all the new terminology. The section on preparing and administering a miscue analysis was informative to me. Even though I have had experience in this area when it comes to tutoring I will be doing this on my own without the direction of a lead teacher, as I do now. The biggest piece that I think I pulled from this chapter was the fact that I need practice, practice, practice. Hopefully after this semester of tutoring I will feel better about my responsibilities and duties as a future teacher in regards to assessing fluency and comprehension. I was happy to see this chapter talked about goal setting logs. This is a subject that I see more and more of in elementary schools. The pendulum is swinging in the direction of visible goals in the classroom. I see daily goals posted in the school I work at that pertain to every reading, math, language arts, social studies, and science lesson. Figure 3.24 is the personal interest survey for young students. I can see the need to use this in our tutoring sessions to find out our students passions and interests. The rubrics section was another piece I found to be beneficial because of the usefulness in the classroom. Students should be able to look at a rubric and know how to get an A and what is expected of them. Rubrics lay out the expectations. Overall, this chapter was another good read.
Practice, practice, practice is really what we all need. It is kind of overwhelming to see all the different types of assessment that we will be using in the classroom. I tend to ask myself how I am going to be able to use utilize everything I have learned about assessment and teach my children to the best of my ability.
I think throughout last semester, and this semester so far, the importance of using assessment to drive instruction has been constantly stressed. I was able to create my own assessment last semester and I feel confident in that aspect of it but there are still some areas of assessment I’m unsure about. Miscue analysis is one of them. I’ve learned a lot about it but I’ve never done it on my own before so I’m a bit nervous about that. The part in the text about miscue analysis in this chapter was very informative and helpful for me. I feel much more confident in my ability to implement a proper miscue analysis assessment now. I don’t remember ever learning about the retrospective miscue analysis before this chapter. I think it would be a very helpful extension to this assessment. This way the student couldn’t really reflect on his or her reading. One other bit of information in this chapter I really was interested in was the part about portfolios. Throughout my younger education years I cannot remember ever making my own portfolio. I had make little crafts and sculptures in art class to show my parents on parents night but I don’t remember ever doing an actual portfolio. I’ve been doing a lot of brainstorming on how to have the students I tutor complete their portfolio. This chapter has really helped me understand what I’m going to have them do. I really think the growth portfolio would be best for the students I tutor. I really want the students to be able to see their growth by the time the tutoring sessions end. I want them to feel more confident and proud of themselves in their reading abilities. I hope their parents feel this way too. I didn’t really have any questions over this chapter. It was very clear and informative. I learned many strategies I plan on utilizing in both this course as well as my internship courses.
Shannon, I too am still aprehensive about the miscue analysis for students. The one thing I can state is that in our local districts, students and teachers utilize an Accelerated Reading program that does all the work for the teachers. It presents questions that test the multiple levels of the students and teachers can subsequently use this information to place students in appropriate groups. From here the educator can address and focus on individual or small group literature. Additionally, I grew up in a very small school district. I graduated with 90% of the same students I began pre-K with! With this in mind, our district worked with our educators to make and continue to build on portfolios through our 13 years within the district. These "portfolios" were presented to us upon graduation. I do believe there were 5-8 major articles from each of our school years. It was something great for us to look back on our schooling. Many larger districts may find this impossible, however, I do not see why elementary educators cannot work on placing together digital portfolios that educators and parents can equally address.
I love the portfolio idea that you did! I graduated with 90% of the kids I went to kindergarten with also and that would have been awesome to do the portfolio that you did. I think I'm going to definitely try that when I start teaching. I also think that accelerated reading program sounds awesome and very helpful for teachers.
As we get ready to embark on our tutoring experiences this semester, and discuss the assessments that we will be giving in the first few days of our sessions, this chapter comes as a great reminder of why we give assessments and also provides us with an overview of the different types of assessments and what there specific purposes are. As the text states, assessment, “ is the process of gathering data in order to better understand the strengths and weakness of student learning, as by observation, testing, interviews..” and more. When we think about assessments many of our minds go straight to summative type assessments. I am sure most of us have vivid memories of some of the summative assessments we have taken throughout our education. As the book reminds us, these are given at the end of a unit or lesson and often used to measure student growth and to use for grade reporting. But, we easily forget about the times when our instructors might have used formative assessments and in some cases, may not have realized that their guiding questions were testing our knowledge at all. This type of assessment can occur through observation and daily feedback.
As the chapter goes on, we are reminded and also introduced to some various types of assessments. From formal achievement and diagnostic tests to informal reading inventories, miscue analysis, running records, rubrics and portfolios, there are many shapes and sizes of testing methods and tools, and they all have their own unique strengths and weaknesses. I am particularly interested in the types of Student Self-Assessment tools that the text mentions. I have been fortunate to see some of these used in the classroom, as well as used them myself during my own education, and I think that they are highly beneficial. In my Reading and Language Arts Internship, the students had writing logs/journals. The teacher used them for her own purposes, but the students had a fun and exciting brag portfolio to show off and personally track their progress with. The amazing part is, they could glance through their work throughout the semester and tell you about their growth. They spot spelling errors and grammar errors, and proudly announce that they have sense learned the appropriate phonograms or vowel to be used. They are excited to tell you about it, and they focus on their progress instead of judging their early work as mistakes.
This chapter was a huge help as I am preparing for my tutoring this semester. I now have a better understanding of each type of assessment and how I should use them in the classroom. It is very important to assess students so you know how they are doing. It is also very important that each assessment is different and not just paper and pencil. This chapter showed all the different types of assessment that I will someday be using in my classroom. Something else this chapter talked about was miscue analysis. Although there are a lot of steps and information to miscue analysis it is interesting to me. I cannot wait to actually give a child a miscue analysis test. I think that as a beginner it is very important that we record the children to be sure our analysis is correct. I learned a lot about the different types of testing in my Reading and Language Arts Internship and I can see myself using the information I learned in that class to help tutor my children. The internship had a lot of testing and I got to see what kind of testing the students enjoyed and also got the chance to observe the teacher observing and taking notes on each child. I think that assessment is a huge part of our school system today and we should embrace all the different kinds and types of assessment.
Amanda, I agree that the assessments given should not be the same. Not every student learns the same, why should assessments be the same. Assessments allow teachers to keep track of the student's progress, which in turn also helps the student know how he/she is doing. I am very excited to start tutoring and give the assessments, this allows for practice and to see how each assessment works!
Assessments are ways to show teachers, and students data that will help them observe how well, what needs improving, and what the students know. Standers were created to guide the planning of the assessments. Standardized tests have three types, intelligence, achievement, and diagnostic. Not only are standardized tests used to test these areas, there are IQ tests, achievement tests, and diagnostic tests. This chapter has lists of instrument concepts and principle: sign, message, copying, contrastive, etc. Miscues are substitutions, mispronunciations, repetitions, or omissions and insertions. During these assessments, the teacher needs to keep records, not only to know what is going on right then, but to see the improvement in the student’s test. The assessments don’t have to be tests; they could be checklists, rubrics, and portfolios. Have the students keep logs of books, reflections, goals. I do not have any questions about this chapter. This chapter was a joy to read because it gave great easy to read description for assessments. Assessments don’t have to be tests; it gave multiple ideas for them. In Reading Methods we talked about reading assessments, rubrics were suggested, with these, students can see what needs to be done to get the best score. The only time that I was given a rubric was when I was writing a paper or for a science fair project. I as a teacher would not just use them for those two things; it could be a simple assignment that a rubric can be used for. Even just observing the student doing the assignment could count as an assessment.
Yes, Carrie! Just by observing a student completing an assignment could count as an assessment. It would be a type of informal assessment. You can learn so much about a student just by observing them. The teacher can study their behaviors and what could affect them or not. I'm glad you brought that up! Good job!
I like rubrics as well! I really like being to know exactly what I need to do to receive each score. They seem like they could be tricky to write though. There are so many different ways to assess. It's good to point out that assessments don't have to be tests. I'm not sure all of my teachers throughout the years have gotten that memo. It's hard to imagine exactly how I will assess without actually getting out there and doing it. The after school reading will be a great experience with different assessments.
Chapter 3 was a review of assessment tools for anyone who has taken the Curriculum and Assessment course. I was really surprised at how much I knew and how familiar everything seemed to be. I attribute this to how FHSU has put together their Elem Ed curriculum insuring that students touch on the same definitions throughout the various course works. This chapter was extremely helpful to me as I am preparing to begin my tutor group. As I read the section on informal reading inventories I better understood why I will be having my students read silently and the purpose of the retelling. The section on miscue analysis was very informative and although we have been shown through adobe connect recordings, how to document miscue’s, it was nice to have the sample in the in the book for a reference especially the example of how to mark sounded-out words on page 53. Retrospective miscue analysis was a new concept for me but one that I think will be beneficial to students. The book describes retrospective miscue analysis as a powerful instructional tool because the student listens to the recording of his reading to find mistakes and make corrections. I really appreciated all of the samples given in this chapter and I am excited to apply them with my tutoring group. I must admit that I was a little nervous about the tutoring expectations but after reading this chapter I feel a little more confident in my abilities. This chapter has helped me to better understand the importance of assessment in reading and the many tools available to me. Many of these tools will be used throughout my professional career. I have even begun to use these tools at home with my nephew who is ADHD/ODD and is having difficulty in reading. I am excited to begin practicing the use of these tools.
I also thought chapter three was a great review after having taken curriculum and assessment. It feels good to know that I'm familiar with so many teaching tools and strategies in textbooks now. I really liked the part in the chapter about miscue analysis too. I'm a bit nervous about doing the analysis with my tutoring students so the examples in the book helped. I'm really a bit nervous about all of the tutoring actually. I'm thinking after the first couple of sessions we will feel more comfortable though.
Chapter 3 was over assessments and testing children before and after lessons. It’s important for teachers to give pre and post test, by giving the students these tests you can tell if your lesson was effective or if the students already know it, then you don’t need to teach the lesson. I didn’t find any questions of the reading. I thought that this chapter was very informational. I now know the importance of giving assessments. I get nervous thinking of all the tests that I need to give and make sure that I cover. I don’t remember getting pre and post test as I was a child, this makes me wonder if my teachers were effective with their lessons. As a future teacher I will do my best to try and make sure that my tests are given prior and after.
I agree and also think the pre and post tests are important when determining how and what to include in the lessons. I do not remember getting very many pre tests in school, some teachers gave us one every once in a while but not very often.
This chapter discussed assessments, the different types, what their used for, how to administer them, and the benefits of them. Throughout my course I have been introduced to almost all of these different types of assessments and I am pretty confident in my understanding of them. On the other hand I have not had the experience of using many of these so I am a little nervous and excited to get to have the opportunity to use them in my tutoring group. I think this chapter came exactly at the right time. I just watched the video from Thursday on the different types of assessments that we would be using and this chapter allowed me to learn as much as possible and clear up any questions that I had about the assessment that are in the book. The section that I was a little bit more unfamiliar with was on intelligence test. I was told earlier on that these tests are not as accurate as others in establishing the student’s level. I’m curious to learn a little bit more about these types of test because I have never seen them used in the classroom and they are not talked about a lot in the methods courses. The types of test that I’m most familiar with is the diagnostic test. These tests are designed to assess the student’s level so that the teacher can create lesson plans that target specific areas. To me, this seems like the most common sense way of teaching. Find the areas that need to be worked on and work on them, spend less time on areas that students are proficient at. Also these types of test are crucial for the MTSS model of teaching, because it allows the teacher to take an individualized approach to teaching every student. Another huge section that I spent a little more time on is the informal assessments. There are many similarities to these assessments as to diagnostic test, the major difference is; diagnostic testing is longer, standardized, and allow teachers to compare scores to other students with similar characteristics. I really enjoy informal assessments because it takes the presser of the students which may make them nervous. Not to mention they are usually quick and allow the teacher to assess a students’ progress on a more regular basis than just once or twice a year. Finally I love the Figures and charts in the book, they are so helpful in understanding how to score and administer these test that we will be using in our tutoring group. As a virtual student many times I feel a little lost when watching the videos, but this chapter helped me see exactly to score and analyses the data. I also like reading through the anecdotal notes from teacher, it gives me some idea of what exactly I want to put into my own once I start. There was so much more information in this chapter that catch my attention. On one final note I also really enjoyed the section on self assessments. I do have a question for my classmates; I am having a little trouble thinking of a really creative portfolio idea for my tutoring group. If any of you have a awesome idea would you please share with me? Thanks.
In chapter three it talks about three different types of formal and or standardized assessments. First of all I did not realize that there was three different types, I thought they were grouped into one. There are many different types of test scores for the standardized tests. As a future teacher it is important to know the different types of scores and how to interpret them. Later in the chapter the book talks about diagnostic tests, it is a test they measures the strengths and weaknesses of the student. These diagnostic tests are standardized, this means that they are more valid and reliable. The text also talks about miscue analysis, this will be very helpful when assessing my students during tutoring. I will be able to correctly determine if they have reading errors and how to make them in the reading.
You hit right on it, their is so much we need to know about how to read the test, that's why it is so important that the test be valid and reliable. When the children are taking the state assessments and you are walking around checking on them, they will look up and take any clue you give them about weather they are answering the test correctly so you have to be very careful, even facial ticks you might have could give away answers, such as your eyebrows lifting,and you can't give them anything to use. These test will also help us to figure out why they might be having problems.
I think the most important element to take out of this chapter is that there are numerous ways in which to test the abilities and comprehension of the students. Depending of the element of information desired, assessments will vary. I firmly believe that there is an element of importance that all educators must incorporate within their classrooms. These are portfolios or some element of preserving work completed by a student. These works should begin from day one and continue throughout the school year. Students, teachers and the families should be brought in on the great success the student is experience and continuously strive for more success. If a student does not feel as if they are getting any better or are having a rough day, visiting a simple compilation or student portfolio to show the student where they started and how they are succeeding now, it is just the boost that some students require. These portfolios can be maintained in locked file cabinets within the teacher’s control, or, with today’s technologically driven society, these files can be uploaded to the web and have password-required-limited access so the family and constantly check in. Ensuring that the family is actively involved in the student learning can make all the difference.
I like your thoughts on student portfolios. That is a good idea to bring out their work to show the student how much gains he/she has had when they are having a rough day. I too agree that keeping the family involved by showing them their child's work can make a difference in their learning. Good post!
Chapter three is all about assessments and what each assessment is used for. I have taken a curriculum and assessment that studied the various types of assessments and reference testing. I was surprised by how much I remembered from that class and my SLP courses. I am not a huge fan of standardized testing. My favorite type of assessments is informal assessments. So many factors can affect standardized testing. I like working with rubrics, portfolios, and checklists. A drawback to informal testing would be whether or not it is bias. Even though assessments can be a pain, both for the student and teacher, they do serve a very important purpose. It is important to give an assessment before and after a lesson. This shows not only how well the student is learning but how effective of a teacher you are. Children learn in different ways and sometimes it takes an assessment for a teacher to understand this. I really liked the rubric that was provided in the text for reading comprehension. It is neat to see an actual rubric that is used. I also was found it interesting that there was a tablet (which looks basically like the iPad) in the book. It is funny how much textbooks change within the years because five years ago; you probably would not see that example in a textbook. The chapter explains more about cloze tests. In my opinion, I think this type of informal assessment seems fun. You find out a lot of information from the student from this and a student would not think of it as a “test”. Towards the end of the chapter they pay attention to assessments that concerns with reading. It is so interesting to me because I know when I was in grade school these assessments that were used on me because of my reading abilities. I see it from both sides now, and that to me is neat. I admire my reading teachers more knowing what they had to do to help me succeed. From everything I learned in the past about assessments and from personal experience, I do not have any questions at this time.
Chapter 3 provided information about assessments and administering. Much of the information provided was a great refresher from a course I took previously. This chapter helped to provide more detailing and understanding towards preparing for tutor sessions. I am really interested in portfolios. This is something I would like to incorporate in my classroom. I feel this concept will allow for a better view of how the student is progressing. Rather than sending papers home every week or other of material they have done, and then the parents look at them for short period and then throw or put them away. There is really no observation of how the student is progressing through the year. If you have the material all together in order through the year to view all at once I feel you get a better visual. (Just like viewing a photo album of the child from birth to age 3) (Hope this makes sense!) I plan to experiment with portfolios through my tutor sessions, get a start of what students and parents think and what works the best for the future.
Sheena--I also believe I have learned some of this information in other courses but i believe this text does great job explaining more in depth about the advantages and disadvantages of each. i am anxious to be able to give these assessments in our tutoring internship. Lastly, I completely agree with you, I am also really interested in portfolios. I believe this is going to be a fun, informative course!
Chapter three provided a lot of information about testing, both formal and informal examples. All of the information that was provided, such as the rubrics and checklists were helpful for the tutoring sessions. The most favorite of all methods is probably the cloze procedure and it is one that sticks out in my mind more than any other when I think of reading comprehension. There was overall a wealth of information for this chapter that will be helpful when testing student ability in the beginning of the tutoring session and throughout.
Jessica B. I agree with you about cloze procedures because I really like those the best. They remind me of the mad libs that we used to do when I was younger. I thought of making little cue cards to help me remember the strengths and weaknesses of each type of test. It was a lot of information but it was good useful information.
Chapter 3 refers to assessments. There are many different types of assessments and each has a list of strengths and weaknesses. It is very important that you be familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of each assessment, to be able to use the correct test to assess the student. Sometimes giving the wrong assessment can be just as bad as not giving an assessment at all. The 11 standards for assessment of reading and writing written by the NCTE are listed in figure 3.2. I really liked how number 11 involves the family. So many times you hear of teachers and parents not agreeing. I can’t help but understand why we have defiant children in the classrooms. If children could see more collaboration and correspondence between teachers and parents it would make teaching children easier. Recently with the new math program the schools in Wichita are using, they send home a paper at the beginning of the unit for the parents which shows them how they are do work the problems and even gives them the answers so they can help children work and understand the problems. I also noticed with state tests and some other tests, the schools are going over them with the parents at conference time. The teachers even take the time to make sure the parents are able to read the test. When my children bring their weekly tests home I take a little time to go over it, see why they missed the problems, and make sure they know why they missed the problems. I noticed with IQ test they say that the score can be dependent on student’s exposure and cultural experience. Once I found myself reading to a group of 3rd grade boys (low income families) about a student that was home with chickenpox. The student would email to the teacher and class about the lessons and how she was doing. When we went to answer questions on the test, the 3rd grade boys didn’t seem to be understanding. After asking a few questions to them, I found that they had no experience with computers and emails. As teachers I think it’s our responsibility to bring that understanding to them. So we emailed a teacher down the hall. Then the boys and I walked down to the teacher’s room, showing them that the email had arrived much quicker than we had arrived to the other teacher’s classroom. After that experience and rereading the story, it was much easier for them to answer the questions and give feedback. Looking at figure 3.10 I can understand why it would be a good idea to record students, to make sure you mark it correctly. I really liked the ideas of the personal interest surveys and surveys at the end of chapter 3.
The thing that stood out most to me in chapter three is the sheer number of assessments. There are more assessments than I can wrap my head around. With so many, how do we choose what will be most effective and important to use? I think a good idea to keep in mind before giving an assessment is knowing what we want to get out of it. I don't really see a point in giving a test just to give a grade. That isn't really useful to anyone. I see assessments as a way to better myself and my students. If I can informally or formally assess my students and see that what I am teaching is going right over their heads or is way too easy, I need to do some reteaching or move on. Obviously we're required to give certain tests, but other than that, I think it's important to have a clear reason for our assessments. I can think of several times that I was given tests and hearing from the entire class that everyone did poorly, but the teacher just moved on. I don't think that's the proper use of tests. It will be interesting to get more experience and see how it really works out in the field!
Chapter 3 was over different formal and informal assessments to use in the classroom. I really enjoyed this chapter because it gave advantages and disadvantages of each assessment which I believe are great thing for new teachers to read so they know what to expect when they begin using these assessments. As far as experience goes, I believe I do have some experience with a few of the assessments because I do work at a school district so I have seen many of the these assessments ran. I also took reading and language arts methods course last semester and we did learn assessments. I believe in this course we will learn more indepth about each assessments and will actually get a chance to run a few. I believe these are going to be important to know especially since MTSS is becoming so popular. This text is going to be a great resource to look back on in the near future.
I also remember reading about many of these assessments in Reading and Language Arts Methods, but it was a nice refresher especially since we will be assessing our own group of students next week. I also think that we will have a much better understanding of assessments after taking this course because we will get to administer our own assessments and also see how they can be used as a tool to drive instruction.
All of these assessment techniques really hit home when we start internships. I enjoyed reading about them in RLA and Math, but to go out and see them in a real classroom was awesome! A teacher can really help himself/herself out by utilizing formal and informal assessments in the correct way!
Chapter 3 discusses using assessment as a tool to drive instruction. I like the definition of assessment on page 43 “assessment is the process of gathering data in order to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of student learning, as by observation, testing, interviews, etc.” Assessment is a tool which helps us to better understand our students, which is essential to effective teaching. The chapter goes on to further discuss many types of assessments including standardized tests, diagnostic tests, Informal Reading Inventories, Miscue Analysis, and informal assessment for ELL students just to name a few. While we learned about many of these assessments in Reading and Language Arts Methods it was nice refresher as we prepare to assess our own group of students next week. I also enjoyed the section on personal interest surveys. Before reading this chapter I didn’t fully understand the importance of personal interest activities. I knew it was important to know your students; however I didn’t realize how this could allow me to “provide more effective, individualized reading and writing that will motivate them to engage in activities.” I like the idea of providing students with individualized reading and writing activities. Student motivation is an important factor when it comes to success in reading and writing and knowing your students interests could definitely help you as a teacher keep them interested and motivated in what they are learning. Lastly, I like the idea of using self-assessment tools such as book logs, skill logs, reflection logs, and goal-setting logs so students can learn to monitor their own progress and gain confidence by taking an active role in where they are currently and where they are going.
I also like the idea of self assessment and I especially liked the idea that the opening scenario posed. The idea that the children can record themselves reading and then see how they sound to themselves is awesome. If you think about it people are always recording their children or students when they are playing a sporting event so they can see what to improve on to make them a better athlete. Why not apply this same concept to reading, let them see and hear how they sound reading so they can understand what it is they can try to work on to become a better reader. I think I am going to do this in my future classroom and maybe my tutoring group. I just need to look up the Photo Booth information and see if its doable.
Reading this chapter I found that I already was accustomed to many of the different types of assessments that are used in schools. I have children is grades 2, 3, 7, 9, 11, & 12 so we have seen everything from the IOWA basics, to Dibels, and intelligence testing. The part of the chapter that I found most interesting and helpful was the information on performing the assessments and miscue analysis and Informal Reading Inventories. This information is helpful as we begin our tutoring, I like to read as much as I can on the subjects before we go out into the field. This whole chapter is giving us more information to read about as we prepare to go into the field, everything from Rubrics, to portfolios is talked about. I found the information on the anecdotal record helpful as well.
Jen, I also work in a district and have witnessed many different testing techniques. I really appreciate the teachers that assess daily with informal evaluations.
Chapter 3 was about formal and informal assessments. I really enjoyed how it broke down each different assessment in the different sections in the chapter. When flipping through the pages, it's hard to believe that there are that many different kinds of assessments! I know they are all created for a purpose, and are probably very successful, but it's still intimidating to think of them all.
The figures in this chapter I found to be helpful. Figure 3.8 was something I took a long look at when initially going through the chapter. It goes through 8 and 6 different traits for emergent and beginner readers, respectively. Figure 3.10 also was something we went through in class (miscue analysis). I feel like I'll be looking back at that figure to jog my memory about miscue analysis!
Out of the entire chapter, I was drawn most intensely to the informal assessment of English Learners. I loved the principles given for teachers by Hurley and Blake. And the sub-headings that followed that heading (personal interest surveys, attitude surveys, literacy self-perception scales, etc). This ELL section is a section I will pay close attention with internships and what not getting ready to kick off.
Overall, just a ton of good information! Good chapter!
Cody, I love the figures in this book too! They make great resources for us. I also liked the principles listed in the English learners section. These are principles we can apply to assessment for all students.
Chapter three is an important chapter because the information we gain from effective assessments is the cornerstone of our students’ instruction. This chapter covers many types of assessment. I feel the “six guiding principles” listed under the informal assessment for English learners section on page 66-67 are guidelines that should be considered when assessing any student, not just ESOL students. I also like the idea of using interest and attitude surveys to help us understand what interests students, and their attitudes toward reading. I think these could be very helpful in finding ways and materials to motivate students to read. When I was in school we read what the teacher told us to read. I loved pretty much everything, but I know not all students are that way. If students are interested in what they are reading they will be motivated to continue reading.
Assessment is a very interesting topic to me. I don’t agree that we should be teaching to the test and I don’t expect to be giving formal tests all of the time, but I know that I will be using assessment each day in my classroom informally! I appreciated the definition of assessment on page 43 in the text and figure 3.1 is helpful to guide me in different forms of assessment. The information provided on miscue analysis will be helpful in the next few weeks as we enter the classroom. This chapter did a great job of reinforcing my thoughts of always assessing, though informally I will always be able to see progress.
Chapter three states the important of assessments and testing children knowledge before and after. Before being admitted into teacher education here at Fort Hays State University I did not understand the importance of a pre and/or post test. However, now I see the several reasons why testing student’s knowledge before a lesson and after a lesson is so important. How else are you going to know if your lesson was effective or a completely a waste of time? This chapter lists so many different tests; page 45 introduces norm-referenced tests, tests that are created by publishers who use theses test scores to create norms. I was unaware that publishers created these types of test. However, it makes sense that publishers like Pearson create test to help better their textbooks. I am most familiar with standardized test but I am sure anyone who went to a public school is familiar with some type of standardized test. We all dread them in school, but as I am gaining knowledge to become and educator I see the importance of them. State as well as our Nation needs to know what schools need more help in curriculum.
ReplyDeleteDuring Reading and Language Arts Methods we were able to go to an elementary school and test actual students on their reading level. It was a type of assessment needed for reading. The Miscue Analysis reminded me of this procedure in figure 3.10. Miscue Analysis is a way to score students mistakes in reading. It deals with substitutions, mispronunciations, omission, insertion, repetition, long pauses, self-corrections, and sounding-out words. I am eager to have my own classroom and practice the system of miscue analysis or systems similar.
This chapter is filled with so much great information about testing, analysis, recording and so much more. I have learned that in the school system for elementary students there are records of the child’s progress in assessments they have taken. I believe it is so important for teachers to look at and understand each and every one of their students and help the out to the best of their ability.
Matraca Forell
In response to Matraca's post, I too did not understand the importance of pre and post tests until after taking reading methods. It makes total sense though. Having a measurement of where the students background knowledge is on whatever subject gives the teacher a starting point of what to cover. And then, can measure, accurately what the students have learned after the instruction.
DeleteMatraca, I am very eager to get out and actually do a miscue analysis. It seems like it will take some time getting used to and many student to practice with in order to get it down. However, that's probably why we need to record each time we assess a student. That way we can go back and listen to make sure we marked the correct stuff.
DeleteMatraca,
DeleteI agree I didn't really know about the importance of testing prior to getting into the teaching program. I think that test your students is so important just like you said, so you know if the lesson needs to be taught or not. I don't remember my teachers giving pre and post test therefore, I wonder how effective their lessons were effective.
1. Analysis of reading/issue.
ReplyDeleteChapter 3 discusses the different types of assessments. In the beginning formative and summative assessments are defined and what they provide teachers with. The book also provides numerous examples of the different types of assessments that teachers can give their students. The chapter also includes the different types of information the different assessments provide teachers. There is also information about tests that can be given to ELL students and the questions that teachers can ask the students. The book also provides examples of how to score the tests and how to mark miscues. There is also discussion about different types of assessment that don’t include tests; for example, portfolio, cloze test, attitude test, etc. These give the teacher information about the students and their views and their accomplishments.
2. Questions/contradictions about the reading/issues.
When reading about the diagnostic tests, it provides disadvantages. With this number of disadvantages why do teachers still give these types of tests? I realize they provide answers to questions and can help teachers design personalized instruction for the student, but those disadvantages do throw a red flag up for me.
3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently?
I didn’t realize how important all of the ‘assessments’ like the attitude test, personal interest inventory, etc. made such a difference in teaching. Sometimes, it scares me to think about all the testing I’m going to need to complete on such a large amount of students. I’m very concerned that I’m not going to be able to help them the way I want to.
4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience.
I really liked the ‘Accomplishment and Goal-Setting Logs’ section on page 71-72. The reason for this is that I believe that students should play a vital role in their learning. Allowing them to see their progress through goals and other types of assessment is great because it can build their self-esteem and sense of accomplishment and change their minds about reading. When I was in school, I don’t remember ever setting goals or taking the tests that are discussed in this chapter outside of the standardized tests. Whenever people who ask me to set goals, I would, but I never followed through with them because I never remembered what they are and I have never followed through with things.
I LOVE goal setting, and was so happy to see it mentioned in the textbook. It is something that all teachers from elementary school through high school really pushed, and I've already decided will be a part of my classroom. To this day I still goal set every semester before classes start!
DeleteYou bring up a valid point when it comes to disadvantages and the diagnostic tests. I noticed that there were more disadvantages than advantages. However, I feel like he advantages outweigh the disadvantages. They are said to be valid and you can compare the students to their peers with similar characteristics. Student weaknesses are also presented in these test, which I think is a huge thing in addition to the validity!
The comment about connecting reading to you is wonderful. Giving the students something tangible that they can relate to with the reading is vitally important. Pulling in prior knowledge that pertains to a read aloud or weekly story is also a way to increase comprehension. I have seen many students almost jump up and down when they make a connection with a weekly reading story. The students are just full of stories they want to share. Other students sit and you can see the blank stare when they just don't understand, this is the time to pull on other resources. Such as show a video of Mount Saint Hellenes so the student can understand what a volcano looks like or bring in a baseball glove to show students what it looks like. If we can give a visual of an items and form a connection in the students mind then comprehension may increase.
DeleteIn response to Matraca F:
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of information about assessments provided in this chapter; however, if you have taken Curriculum and Assessment, you received more information about the different types of tests there. That class is great, and I hope you get to take it soon! Also, I took the CSAPs (Colorado’s standardized tests) and I dreaded them too.
After reading Chapter 3 covering assessment in reading, I felt overwhelmed with all the information and examples of different testing for students. The beginning of the chapter went over the different types of formal and standardized testing: intelligence, achievement, and diagnostic. These tests are administered for different reasons. Intelligence tests determine the scholastic aptitude of students. Achievement tests measure the current level of a students’ performance while including subtests that cover the big five in reading. Standardized testing supplies the teacher’s information if the student needs additional screening. Diagnostic testing are standardized tests but differ from achievement test because they determine strengths and weaknesses by including subtests. These diagnostic tests seem to provide the most information for the teacher to determine what the cause of weakness might be. Miscue analysis is a new term for me. I remember it in reading methods, but I did not have a full understanding of what that term meant until after reading this chapter. Also, figure 3.13 on pg. 56 was helpful to see an example of the conventional markings used during testing. I will definitely be referencing this textbook for direction on reading corrections this semester and when I am teaching! So much to learn! In conclusion, I really enjoyed this chapter as I am thinking about becoming a reading specialist, after I finish my teaching degree. In addition, I liked the Chinese proverb at the beginning of the chapter, “I hear, and I forget. I see, and I remember. I do, and I understand.” So true and a great motto to motivate students and teachers!
ReplyDeleteI think this chapter will be a good one to keep in mind! It does a great job of explaining all of the different tests in addition to the examples it lists. I know I will refer back to this one in the future!
DeleteSara - I know it does seem a little bit overwhelming at first! When I started working in a Title I reading room, we gave a lot of these assessments, sometimes on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. It was quite a process learning how to give and analyze all of them, but once you get the hang of it, it's great!! They give you a pretty clear picture of what is happening with a student's work, difficulties, etc. You'll have them mastered in no time:)
DeleteChapter 3 discusses assessment, formal and informal. The thing I liked most about this chapter is it gave advantages and disadvantages for different types of assessments. This just shows that not one assessment is perfect and wide variety should be used within your classroom. Even though informal assessments are less time consuming and easier to administer they aren’t always accurate and the best to use. I’ve learned quite a lot about assessment over the semesters and learned what assessments I find the most interesting. I love the idea of keeping a portfolio assessment. This type of assessment doesn’t compare the students to one another. Instead, it shows how each student has approved throughout the year. Another thing I liked about this chapter is the table they have on the conventions used for miscue analysis. Mrs. Stoppel said we are going to be using these a lot so I know I will be referring back to this page.
ReplyDeleteAfter looking at the different examples of informal assessments I realize how organized I will need to be. Each student will definitely need to have their own record kept somewhere safe yet easy to pull out when I need to assess them. Just from what I’ve experienced out in the classroom going to my internships I’ve never seen a teacher doing an informal assessment. I suppose they each have their own way of doing it and I may not have noticed. I’m very excited to get to know my students I’ll be tutoring because after reading the information on personal interest surveys I know I’ll be a better teacher if I know my students interests. I will be able to personalize each tutoring session so they will be engaged and we can get a lot accomplished.
Andrea- I, too, liked the table on miscue analysis. It was very informative and Ms. Stoppel did say we would need to know it so it helps that the text talked about it too.
DeleteAndrea - Like both of you, I also like that the book was able to list advantages and disadvantages of these assessments. It gives us a good idea of maybe when they would be more effective. I actually love to give assessments because they can give you such a clear picture, sometimes, about a difficulty that you might not have noticed otherwise.
DeleteChapter three could not have been any more informative about all of the different types of assessments. There are so many to choose from!!! Before reading this chapter I was a little confused on what each of the different assessments consisted of and when to use them. It was really nice that this chapter went into such details and gave such great examples of how to administer them. The most informative section in this chapter for me was about the miscue analysis. When Ms. Stoppel went over them in class, the virtual students couldn't see what she was writing on the board so it was difficult to envision what she was doing. I took the basics from the book and wrote them in my Cooter, Flint, Cooter book in order to have with me in the field. I also added some from class as well. I also really liked the section on technology and resources that are available on the internet. They listed several websites to aid teachers in literacy assessment. I looked up some of the websites they listed and found them to be very interesting and a great resource tool to use in the classroom!
ReplyDeleteI agree that this chapter definitely relieved some of the stress about not understanding assessments and how to score them. I also made sure to highlight all of the websites mentioned within this chapter so I have resources to use! I may also steal your idea and put a few notes in my Cooter / Flint / Cooter textbook!
DeleteI agree, this chapter provided us with a lot of good information that we will be able to use in our own classrooms. I think the chapter did a great job of breaking it down and making it understandable. I know I sound like Emily but I really like your idea as well of putting the notes into the other textbook. I am already finding that I will not be selling the Cooter,Flint, Cooter book back.
DeleteI also felt the great deal of assessments and when / where to administer was very informative. This information I feel will be useful during my tutor sessions.
DeleteI remember learning about all of these different kinds of assessments during the Reading and Language Arts methods class. This chapter helped me recall all of that information and it has got me thinking about how I will actually be using these assessments in my class. Of course, the standardized tests will always be there for us to worry about, but I feel like every little piece of information we get on them will be to our benefit. I recall discussing criterion-referenced and norm-referenced tests in my Curriculum and Assessment class. Criterion-referenced tests are usually used in the classroom as a way for the teacher to see if the students are mastering the content or criteria. The standardized tests are good example of norm-referenced tests because the students’ scores are looked at based on the norm of their grade level. I think diagnostic tests are advantageous when it comes to getting to know your students and determining their strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately, the fact that they are timed means the students have to perform right then and there when they are administered; this may cause the students to do score as well on areas that they know well. We have talked about the miscue analysis in both this class and the Reading and Language Arts methods class now, and I am definitely ready to get some practice in with administering it! I am ready to start actually applying all of this information that we have learned.
ReplyDeleteThis reading made me realize just how many tests are out there exactly. Some are better than others, but they all measure one skill or another to help us figure out what we need to teach the student. I really like the idea of keeping a portfolio for my students. I think it is important that the child be involved in picking his or her work to put in it to see how much improvement is made. I think seeing the improvement can help motivate a child tremendously to keep getting better. The student self-assessment can show a teacher how the student thinks of him or herself and what possibly needs to be done to improve the attitude. I believe that attitude can be improved by relating content to their interests. This is where the personal interest survey comes into play. I know I will use them in my classroom because it is one more way to help me get to know my students. The skill logs, reflection logs, and goals-setting logs all seem like great ideas. They allow the child to really think about how they are doing in school right now and how they think they can do better. Motivation is a big key and I believe having a student reflect on the completed work will add to their personal motivation. Finally, I think rubrics or checklists are also quick and easy way to see whether or not the child is meeting the criteria. The results are right there in front of you to determine whether or not some changes need to be made.
Don't you find it great that these classes are building upon each other the same way the new common core standards are designed? I really like that. I am excited to write the lesson plans using the common core standards.
DeleteThis is such a transition time between our current standards and the common core ones. I am excited to be learning about the new common cores, but it is a little stressful to know that this will happen just after we have gotten comfortable with the old ones!
DeleteNicole Schell
ReplyDeleteAnalysis of the reading/issue: Chapter 3 discusses the types of assessments we will utilize in the classroom and the importance or relevance of each assessment. While I was familiar with most of these, I have never had the opportunity to use the assessments relating to interest or work with portfolios. There are so many things that can be useful to us as teachers, but we need to really be aware of how to give these tests and analyze the data we get from them. The explanation of checklist, rubrics, and portfolios was my favorite section of this chapter. I have a much better understanding of how they are used and why. The section on student self-assessment was also eye-opening. I've seen my own children do many of these things, but I didn't realize what it was they were actually doing. I can see the importance of this and how having students assess themselves will make a big difference in their motivation and attitude towards their education.
Questions and/or contradictions about the reading/issue: I was wondering if anyone has a preference to which portfolio works best with elementary students and their parents. I know not all families have access to computers, but I really like the idea of creating an electronic portfolio. My children have always had the standard notebook and dividers type of portfolio, but I wondered what other people have experienced either in the classroom or with their own children.
How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently?: The reading makes it clear that assessment is so crucial in helping a teacher decide what information needs to be taught, what their students already know, the type of strategies they might need to use, and how to track & show growth of a student's work. Looking back at this chapter, I feel that it is going to be important to be organized and well-informed where assessments are concerned!
Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience: Having worked with students in this capacity prior to this class, I was happy to learn that the things we were using with our students was dead on with what the text suggested. The use of both formal and informal testing provide us with much needed information. The formal assessments are easy to schedule and you know what they will contain. Informal assessments, however, can be just as important and provide you with information "on the fly". You can really learn a lot about students through observation and taking daily notes. We don't always have the time to sit our students down and given the an assessment to give us certain information. In my opinion, you can really tell a lot about what a student does or doesn't understand by discussions in class, observing cooperative learning groups, or even listening to them read. I am glad to have read this chapter prior to our tutoring sessions. I feel like I am better equipped now to assess my students and look at the results of those tests.
You are so right! There isn’t always going to be time to sit them down and test. And in fact, in my opinion, we can learn a lot of valuable information about our students and their understanding if we use discussions and observation to assess them throughout the process. This information will not only help us guide our students to a deep understanding of the material, but will also help us reflect on what works and doesn’t work in the classroom with particular students, and how we can rework future lessons and activities to better reach individuals.
DeleteFor starters, I loved that the textbook mentioned the concept of goal setting. I believe that being able to set goals for yourself is a skill that all students should learn. I remember always having to set goals from elementary school through high school. To this day I will still set goals for myself – both for my personal life and school life.
ReplyDeleteIt was incredibly helpful to not only read about the certain assessments and the ways to grade those, but to also see examples of this. I am definitely a visual learner so this really helped me gained so much more than just reading.
The retrospective miscue analysis really caught my attention. I think this would be awesome to use with students. It would be more than just the educator analyzing and picking which instruction he or she thinks will work best for the particular student. The student actually gets to listen and decide what he or she did wrong, and together that student and the teacher discuss what’s going on and what will be done to help improve their reading abilities and confidence. However, I feel like it is unrealistic to use this approach with a class of 25 students, because it is so incredibly time consuming.
I agree with the importance of goal setting! I think that when students have a visual reminder presented in their goal log, they will have better luck sticking to it. Also, I am so glad you identified the time constraints that an educator may run into when incorporating the retrospective miscue analysis into instruction. Maybe it would be an appropriate tool for a guided reading group.
DeleteIt is always a good idea to start good habits at a young age. I also like the idea of starting early with goal setting.
DeleteEmily - I agree with your statement bout setting goals. It is so important for students to be able to set short and long term goals. Short term goals keep them motivated so they know that are able to reach that long term goal they are fighting for.
DeleteI thought that material represented in the chapter was very detailed and explained the various types of assessments excellently. I also enjoyed reading the sections for English learners; I found it super helpful that the author lists six principles to keep in mind when performing an informal assessment with the student. I went to the world-english.org web site and at first glance it is very overwhelming. However, when you click on the links, the material is much like those found in worksheets. An aspect of the site that I did like is that the materials can be accessed multiple times and the game section encourages them to use prior knowledge. My favorite part of this chapter are the sections encouraging student self assessment. I really like the independence that the students will achieve with the strategies of book logs, skill logs, reflection logs, accomplishment and goal-setting logs. I am a strong believer in goal setting and self motivation!
ReplyDeleteBrooke,
DeleteI am also one of those people that is a big believe in goal setting and self motivation. I think it is a very important skill that many students are lacking. Every time I find a section on discussing different types of self assessment I always take notes for myself because I want to incorporate this so much in my future classroom. I believe that I allows students to take direct responsibility for their learning, which encourages them more than I could ever do. Self reflection is one of the most powerful ways of self improvements, not to mention it allows students to see their accomplishments in real time. I am really excited to have the students create their own portfolio in the tutoring group, It will be a fun way for the students to show their parents what they have been doing and to show their accomplishments. I also think it is so much more meaningful for the parents to have their children show their progress than for me to just sit their and tell them about it.
1. Analysis of the reading/issue.
ReplyDeleteChapter three has several ideas of how to assess students and keep records of what students are doing and how they have progressed. The chapter explained the different types of assessments such as formal, formative, and summative. Reading this chapter I found that it is helpful to use a variety of assessments. The text also explained the advantages and disadvantages to standardized testing. I found this very informative. As a student I like multiple choice tests and I never thought of it the way the book did, that it allows students to guess.
2. Questions and/or contradictions about the reading/issue.
For this chapter I didn’t have any questions. I thought the information was straight forward and since I worked as an aid in kindergarten I have gotten very comfortable giving different kinds of assessments. It was done on a regular basis.
3. How did the reading reflect you or allow you to look at an issue differently?
I guess the reading has changed my mind a little when it comes to standardized testing. I always thought and still do think that the majority of the upper grades have to really focus on the test. However now I also see what good is coming from the assessments.
4. Connecting the reading to you. Examples of your own experience.
When I was a student in elementary I hated tests with a passion. Now that I see what assessments provide the teacher with I have a different view point. I guess the assessments from when I was in school are so much different than the ones that are given now. From what I can remember we didn’t do assessments daily and we always did written one. That is extremely different than what I read in the text book and what I see in the schools.
I love your connection with the text. I really did not enjoy tests either. I'm not sure if I know anyone who does. I don't know that what is being assessed is drastically different, but I do know that the way we assess is extremely different. It is kind of cool to look back and see how assessment has evolved.
DeleteI am currently a Para in a special education classroom and have been trained in AIMSWEB. Because of this training I felt confident while reading this chapter with all the new terminology. The section on preparing and administering a miscue analysis was informative to me. Even though I have had experience in this area when it comes to tutoring I will be doing this on my own without the direction of a lead teacher, as I do now. The biggest piece that I think I pulled from this chapter was the fact that I need practice, practice, practice. Hopefully after this semester of tutoring I will feel better about my responsibilities and duties as a future teacher in regards to assessing fluency and comprehension. I was happy to see this chapter talked about goal setting logs. This is a subject that I see more and more of in elementary schools. The pendulum is swinging in the direction of visible goals in the classroom. I see daily goals posted in the school I work at that pertain to every reading, math, language arts, social studies, and science lesson. Figure 3.24 is the personal interest survey for young students. I can see the need to use this in our tutoring sessions to find out our students passions and interests. The rubrics section was another piece I found to be beneficial because of the usefulness in the classroom. Students should be able to look at a rubric and know how to get an A and what is expected of them. Rubrics lay out the expectations. Overall, this chapter was another good read.
ReplyDeletePractice, practice, practice is really what we all need. It is kind of overwhelming to see all the different types of assessment that we will be using in the classroom. I tend to ask myself how I am going to be able to use utilize everything I have learned about assessment and teach my children to the best of my ability.
DeleteI think throughout last semester, and this semester so far, the importance of using assessment to drive instruction has been constantly stressed. I was able to create my own assessment last semester and I feel confident in that aspect of it but there are still some areas of assessment I’m unsure about. Miscue analysis is one of them. I’ve learned a lot about it but I’ve never done it on my own before so I’m a bit nervous about that. The part in the text about miscue analysis in this chapter was very informative and helpful for me. I feel much more confident in my ability to implement a proper miscue analysis assessment now. I don’t remember ever learning about the retrospective miscue analysis before this chapter. I think it would be a very helpful extension to this assessment. This way the student couldn’t really reflect on his or her reading.
ReplyDeleteOne other bit of information in this chapter I really was interested in was the part about portfolios. Throughout my younger education years I cannot remember ever making my own portfolio. I had make little crafts and sculptures in art class to show my parents on parents night but I don’t remember ever doing an actual portfolio. I’ve been doing a lot of brainstorming on how to have the students I tutor complete their portfolio. This chapter has really helped me understand what I’m going to have them do. I really think the growth portfolio would be best for the students I tutor. I really want the students to be able to see their growth by the time the tutoring sessions end. I want them to feel more confident and proud of themselves in their reading abilities. I hope their parents feel this way too.
I didn’t really have any questions over this chapter. It was very clear and informative. I learned many strategies I plan on utilizing in both this course as well as my internship courses.
Shannon, I too am still aprehensive about the miscue analysis for students. The one thing I can state is that in our local districts, students and teachers utilize an Accelerated Reading program that does all the work for the teachers. It presents questions that test the multiple levels of the students and teachers can subsequently use this information to place students in appropriate groups. From here the educator can address and focus on individual or small group literature. Additionally, I grew up in a very small school district. I graduated with 90% of the same students I began pre-K with! With this in mind, our district worked with our educators to make and continue to build on portfolios through our 13 years within the district. These "portfolios" were presented to us upon graduation. I do believe there were 5-8 major articles from each of our school years. It was something great for us to look back on our schooling. Many larger districts may find this impossible, however, I do not see why elementary educators cannot work on placing together digital portfolios that educators and parents can equally address.
DeleteMegin,
DeleteI love the portfolio idea that you did! I graduated with 90% of the kids I went to kindergarten with also and that would have been awesome to do the portfolio that you did. I think I'm going to definitely try that when I start teaching. I also think that accelerated reading program sounds awesome and very helpful for teachers.
As we get ready to embark on our tutoring experiences this semester, and discuss the assessments that we will be giving in the first few days of our sessions, this chapter comes as a great reminder of why we give assessments and also provides us with an overview of the different types of assessments and what there specific purposes are. As the text states, assessment, “ is the process of gathering data in order to better understand the strengths and weakness of student learning, as by observation, testing, interviews..” and more. When we think about assessments many of our minds go straight to summative type assessments. I am sure most of us have vivid memories of some of the summative assessments we have taken throughout our education. As the book reminds us, these are given at the end of a unit or lesson and often used to measure student growth and to use for grade reporting. But, we easily forget about the times when our instructors might have used formative assessments and in some cases, may not have realized that their guiding questions were testing our knowledge at all. This type of assessment can occur through observation and daily feedback.
ReplyDeleteAs the chapter goes on, we are reminded and also introduced to some various types of assessments. From formal achievement and diagnostic tests to informal reading inventories, miscue analysis, running records, rubrics and portfolios, there are many shapes and sizes of testing methods and tools, and they all have their own unique strengths and weaknesses. I am particularly interested in the types of Student Self-Assessment tools that the text mentions. I have been fortunate to see some of these used in the classroom, as well as used them myself during my own education, and I think that they are highly beneficial. In my Reading and Language Arts Internship, the students had writing logs/journals. The teacher used them for her own purposes, but the students had a fun and exciting brag portfolio to show off and personally track their progress with. The amazing part is, they could glance through their work throughout the semester and tell you about their growth. They spot spelling errors and grammar errors, and proudly announce that they have sense learned the appropriate phonograms or vowel to be used. They are excited to tell you about it, and they focus on their progress instead of judging their early work as mistakes.
This chapter was a huge help as I am preparing for my tutoring this semester. I now have a better understanding of each type of assessment and how I should use them in the classroom. It is very important to assess students so you know how they are doing. It is also very important that each assessment is different and not just paper and pencil. This chapter showed all the different types of assessment that I will someday be using in my classroom. Something else this chapter talked about was miscue analysis. Although there are a lot of steps and information to miscue analysis it is interesting to me. I cannot wait to actually give a child a miscue analysis test. I think that as a beginner it is very important that we record the children to be sure our analysis is correct. I learned a lot about the different types of testing in my Reading and Language Arts Internship and I can see myself using the information I learned in that class to help tutor my children. The internship had a lot of testing and I got to see what kind of testing the students enjoyed and also got the chance to observe the teacher observing and taking notes on each child. I think that assessment is a huge part of our school system today and we should embrace all the different kinds and types of assessment.
ReplyDeleteAmanda, I agree that the assessments given should not be the same. Not every student learns the same, why should assessments be the same. Assessments allow teachers to keep track of the student's progress, which in turn also helps the student know how he/she is doing. I am very excited to start tutoring and give the assessments, this allows for practice and to see how each assessment works!
DeleteAssessments are ways to show teachers, and students data that will help them observe how well, what needs improving, and what the students know. Standers were created to guide the planning of the assessments. Standardized tests have three types, intelligence, achievement, and diagnostic. Not only are standardized tests used to test these areas, there are IQ tests, achievement tests, and diagnostic tests. This chapter has lists of instrument concepts and principle: sign, message, copying, contrastive, etc. Miscues are substitutions, mispronunciations, repetitions, or omissions and insertions. During these assessments, the teacher needs to keep records, not only to know what is going on right then, but to see the improvement in the student’s test. The assessments don’t have to be tests; they could be checklists, rubrics, and portfolios. Have the students keep logs of books, reflections, goals. I do not have any questions about this chapter. This chapter was a joy to read because it gave great easy to read description for assessments. Assessments don’t have to be tests; it gave multiple ideas for them. In Reading Methods we talked about reading assessments, rubrics were suggested, with these, students can see what needs to be done to get the best score. The only time that I was given a rubric was when I was writing a paper or for a science fair project. I as a teacher would not just use them for those two things; it could be a simple assignment that a rubric can be used for. Even just observing the student doing the assignment could count as an assessment.
ReplyDeleteYes, Carrie! Just by observing a student completing an assignment could count as an assessment. It would be a type of informal assessment. You can learn so much about a student just by observing them. The teacher can study their behaviors and what could affect them or not. I'm glad you brought that up! Good job!
DeleteCarrie,
DeleteI like rubrics as well! I really like being to know exactly what I need to do to receive each score. They seem like they could be tricky to write though. There are so many different ways to assess. It's good to point out that assessments don't have to be tests. I'm not sure all of my teachers throughout the years have gotten that memo. It's hard to imagine exactly how I will assess without actually getting out there and doing it. The after school reading will be a great experience with different assessments.
Chapter 3 was a review of assessment tools for anyone who has taken the Curriculum and Assessment course. I was really surprised at how much I knew and how familiar everything seemed to be. I attribute this to how FHSU has put together their Elem Ed curriculum insuring that students touch on the same definitions throughout the various course works. This chapter was extremely helpful to me as I am preparing to begin my tutor group. As I read the section on informal reading inventories I better understood why I will be having my students read silently and the purpose of the retelling. The section on miscue analysis was very informative and although we have been shown through adobe connect recordings, how to document miscue’s, it was nice to have the sample in the in the book for a reference especially the example of how to mark sounded-out words on page 53. Retrospective miscue analysis was a new concept for me but one that I think will be beneficial to students. The book describes retrospective miscue analysis as a powerful instructional tool because the student listens to the recording of his reading to find mistakes and make corrections. I really appreciated all of the samples given in this chapter and I am excited to apply them with my tutoring group. I must admit that I was a little nervous about the tutoring expectations but after reading this chapter I feel a little more confident in my abilities. This chapter has helped me to better understand the importance of assessment in reading and the many tools available to me. Many of these tools will be used throughout my professional career. I have even begun to use these tools at home with my nephew who is ADHD/ODD and is having difficulty in reading. I am excited to begin practicing the use of these tools.
ReplyDeleteStacey,
DeleteI also thought chapter three was a great review after having taken curriculum and assessment. It feels good to know that I'm familiar with so many teaching tools and strategies in textbooks now. I really liked the part in the chapter about miscue analysis too. I'm a bit nervous about doing the analysis with my tutoring students so the examples in the book helped. I'm really a bit nervous about all of the tutoring actually. I'm thinking after the first couple of sessions we will feel more comfortable though.
Chapter 3 was over assessments and testing children before and after lessons. It’s important for teachers to give pre and post test, by giving the students these tests you can tell if your lesson was effective or if the students already know it, then you don’t need to teach the lesson.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t find any questions of the reading. I thought that this chapter was very informational.
I now know the importance of giving assessments. I get nervous thinking of all the tests that I need to give and make sure that I cover.
I don’t remember getting pre and post test as I was a child, this makes me wonder if my teachers were effective with their lessons. As a future teacher I will do my best to try and make sure that my tests are given prior and after.
I agree and also think the pre and post tests are important when determining how and what to include in the lessons. I do not remember getting very many pre tests in school, some teachers gave us one every once in a while but not very often.
DeleteThis chapter discussed assessments, the different types, what their used for, how to administer them, and the benefits of them. Throughout my course I have been introduced to almost all of these different types of assessments and I am pretty confident in my understanding of them. On the other hand I have not had the experience of using many of these so I am a little nervous and excited to get to have the opportunity to use them in my tutoring group. I think this chapter came exactly at the right time. I just watched the video from Thursday on the different types of assessments that we would be using and this chapter allowed me to learn as much as possible and clear up any questions that I had about the assessment that are in the book. The section that I was a little bit more unfamiliar with was on intelligence test. I was told earlier on that these tests are not as accurate as others in establishing the student’s level. I’m curious to learn a little bit more about these types of test because I have never seen them used in the classroom and they are not talked about a lot in the methods courses. The types of test that I’m most familiar with is the diagnostic test. These tests are designed to assess the student’s level so that the teacher can create lesson plans that target specific areas. To me, this seems like the most common sense way of teaching. Find the areas that need to be worked on and work on them, spend less time on areas that students are proficient at. Also these types of test are crucial for the MTSS model of teaching, because it allows the teacher to take an individualized approach to teaching every student. Another huge section that I spent a little more time on is the informal assessments. There are many similarities to these assessments as to diagnostic test, the major difference is; diagnostic testing is longer, standardized, and allow teachers to compare scores to other students with similar characteristics. I really enjoy informal assessments because it takes the presser of the students which may make them nervous. Not to mention they are usually quick and allow the teacher to assess a students’ progress on a more regular basis than just once or twice a year. Finally I love the Figures and charts in the book, they are so helpful in understanding how to score and administer these test that we will be using in our tutoring group. As a virtual student many times I feel a little lost when watching the videos, but this chapter helped me see exactly to score and analyses the data. I also like reading through the anecdotal notes from teacher, it gives me some idea of what exactly I want to put into my own once I start. There was so much more information in this chapter that catch my attention. On one final note I also really enjoyed the section on self assessments. I do have a question for my classmates; I am having a little trouble thinking of a really creative portfolio idea for my tutoring group. If any of you have a awesome idea would you please share with me? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter three it talks about three different types of formal and or standardized assessments. First of all I did not realize that there was three different types, I thought they were grouped into one. There are many different types of test scores for the standardized tests. As a future teacher it is important to know the different types of scores and how to interpret them. Later in the chapter the book talks about diagnostic tests, it is a test they measures the strengths and weaknesses of the student. These diagnostic tests are standardized, this means that they are more valid and reliable.
ReplyDeleteThe text also talks about miscue analysis, this will be very helpful when assessing my students during tutoring. I will be able to correctly determine if they have reading errors and how to make them in the reading.
You hit right on it, their is so much we need to know about how to read the test, that's why it is so important that the test be valid and reliable. When the children are taking the state assessments and you are walking around checking on them, they will look up and take any clue you give them about weather they are answering the test correctly so you have to be very careful, even facial ticks you might have could give away answers, such as your eyebrows lifting,and you can't give them anything to use. These test will also help us to figure out why they might be having problems.
DeleteI think the most important element to take out of this chapter is that there are numerous ways in which to test the abilities and comprehension of the students. Depending of the element of information desired, assessments will vary. I firmly believe that there is an element of importance that all educators must incorporate within their classrooms. These are portfolios or some element of preserving work completed by a student. These works should begin from day one and continue throughout the school year. Students, teachers and the families should be brought in on the great success the student is experience and continuously strive for more success. If a student does not feel as if they are getting any better or are having a rough day, visiting a simple compilation or student portfolio to show the student where they started and how they are succeeding now, it is just the boost that some students require. These portfolios can be maintained in locked file cabinets within the teacher’s control, or, with today’s technologically driven society, these files can be uploaded to the web and have password-required-limited access so the family and constantly check in. Ensuring that the family is actively involved in the student learning can make all the difference.
ReplyDeleteI like your thoughts on student portfolios. That is a good idea to bring out their work to show the student how much gains he/she has had when they are having a rough day. I too agree that keeping the family involved by showing them their child's work can make a difference in their learning. Good post!
DeleteChapter three is all about assessments and what each assessment is used for. I have taken a curriculum and assessment that studied the various types of assessments and reference testing. I was surprised by how much I remembered from that class and my SLP courses. I am not a huge fan of standardized testing. My favorite type of assessments is informal assessments. So many factors can affect standardized testing. I like working with rubrics, portfolios, and checklists. A drawback to informal testing would be whether or not it is bias. Even though assessments can be a pain, both for the student and teacher, they do serve a very important purpose. It is important to give an assessment before and after a lesson. This shows not only how well the student is learning but how effective of a teacher you are. Children learn in different ways and sometimes it takes an assessment for a teacher to understand this. I really liked the rubric that was provided in the text for reading comprehension. It is neat to see an actual rubric that is used. I also was found it interesting that there was a tablet (which looks basically like the iPad) in the book. It is funny how much textbooks change within the years because five years ago; you probably would not see that example in a textbook. The chapter explains more about cloze tests. In my opinion, I think this type of informal assessment seems fun. You find out a lot of information from the student from this and a student would not think of it as a “test”. Towards the end of the chapter they pay attention to assessments that concerns with reading. It is so interesting to me because I know when I was in grade school these assessments that were used on me because of my reading abilities. I see it from both sides now, and that to me is neat. I admire my reading teachers more knowing what they had to do to help me succeed. From everything I learned in the past about assessments and from personal experience, I do not have any questions at this time.
ReplyDeleteChapter 3 provided information about assessments and administering. Much of the information provided was a great refresher from a course I took previously. This chapter helped to provide more detailing and understanding towards preparing for tutor sessions. I am really interested in portfolios. This is something I would like to incorporate in my classroom. I feel this concept will allow for a better view of how the student is progressing. Rather than sending papers home every week or other of material they have done, and then the parents look at them for short period and then throw or put them away. There is really no observation of how the student is progressing through the year. If you have the material all together in order through the year to view all at once I feel you get a better visual. (Just like viewing a photo album of the child from birth to age 3) (Hope this makes sense!) I plan to experiment with portfolios through my tutor sessions, get a start of what students and parents think and what works the best for the future.
ReplyDeleteSheena--I also believe I have learned some of this information in other courses but i believe this text does great job explaining more in depth about the advantages and disadvantages of each. i am anxious to be able to give these assessments in our tutoring internship. Lastly, I completely agree with you, I am also really interested in portfolios. I believe this is going to be a fun, informative course!
DeleteChapter three provided a lot of information about testing, both formal and informal examples. All of the information that was provided, such as the rubrics and checklists were helpful for the tutoring sessions. The most favorite of all methods is probably the cloze procedure and it is one that sticks out in my mind more than any other when I think of reading comprehension. There was overall a wealth of information for this chapter that will be helpful when testing student ability in the beginning of the tutoring session and throughout.
ReplyDeleteJessica B. I agree with you about cloze procedures because I really like those the best. They remind me of the mad libs that we used to do when I was younger. I thought of making little cue cards to help me remember the strengths and weaknesses of each type of test. It was a lot of information but it was good useful information.
DeleteChapter 3 refers to assessments. There are many different types of assessments and each has a list of strengths and weaknesses. It is very important that you be familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of each assessment, to be able to use the correct test to assess the student. Sometimes giving the wrong assessment can be just as bad as not giving an assessment at all. The 11 standards for assessment of reading and writing written by the NCTE are listed in figure 3.2. I really liked how number 11 involves the family. So many times you hear of teachers and parents not agreeing. I can’t help but understand why we have defiant children in the classrooms. If children could see more collaboration and correspondence between teachers and parents it would make teaching children easier. Recently with the new math program the schools in Wichita are using, they send home a paper at the beginning of the unit for the parents which shows them how they are do work the problems and even gives them the answers so they can help children work and understand the problems. I also noticed with state tests and some other tests, the schools are going over them with the parents at conference time. The teachers even take the time to make sure the parents are able to read the test. When my children bring their weekly tests home I take a little time to go over it, see why they missed the problems, and make sure they know why they missed the problems. I noticed with IQ test they say that the score can be dependent on student’s exposure and cultural experience. Once I found myself reading to a group of 3rd grade boys (low income families) about a student that was home with chickenpox. The student would email to the teacher and class about the lessons and how she was doing. When we went to answer questions on the test, the 3rd grade boys didn’t seem to be understanding. After asking a few questions to them, I found that they had no experience with computers and emails. As teachers I think it’s our responsibility to bring that understanding to them. So we emailed a teacher down the hall. Then the boys and I walked down to the teacher’s room, showing them that the email had arrived much quicker than we had arrived to the other teacher’s classroom. After that experience and rereading the story, it was much easier for them to answer the questions and give feedback. Looking at figure 3.10 I can understand why it would be a good idea to record students, to make sure you mark it correctly. I really liked the ideas of the personal interest surveys and surveys at the end of chapter 3.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that stood out most to me in chapter three is the sheer number of assessments. There are more assessments than I can wrap my head around. With so many, how do we choose what will be most effective and important to use? I think a good idea to keep in mind before giving an assessment is knowing what we want to get out of it. I don't really see a point in giving a test just to give a grade. That isn't really useful to anyone. I see assessments as a way to better myself and my students. If I can informally or formally assess my students and see that what I am teaching is going right over their heads or is way too easy, I need to do some reteaching or move on. Obviously we're required to give certain tests, but other than that, I think it's important to have a clear reason for our assessments. I can think of several times that I was given tests and hearing from the entire class that everyone did poorly, but the teacher just moved on. I don't think that's the proper use of tests. It will be interesting to get more experience and see how it really works out in the field!
ReplyDeleteChapter 3 was over different formal and informal assessments to use in the classroom. I really enjoyed this chapter because it gave advantages and disadvantages of each assessment which I believe are great thing for new teachers to read so they know what to expect when they begin using these assessments. As far as experience goes, I believe I do have some experience with a few of the assessments because I do work at a school district so I have seen many of the these assessments ran. I also took reading and language arts methods course last semester and we did learn assessments. I believe in this course we will learn more indepth about each assessments and will actually get a chance to run a few. I believe these are going to be important to know especially since MTSS is becoming so popular. This text is going to be a great resource to look back on in the near future.
ReplyDeleteI also remember reading about many of these assessments in Reading and Language Arts Methods, but it was a nice refresher especially since we will be assessing our own group of students next week. I also think that we will have a much better understanding of assessments after taking this course because we will get to administer our own assessments and also see how they can be used as a tool to drive instruction.
DeleteAll of these assessment techniques really hit home when we start internships. I enjoyed reading about them in RLA and Math, but to go out and see them in a real classroom was awesome! A teacher can really help himself/herself out by utilizing formal and informal assessments in the correct way!
DeleteChapter 3 discusses using assessment as a tool to drive instruction. I like the definition of assessment on page 43 “assessment is the process of gathering data in order to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of student learning, as by observation, testing, interviews, etc.” Assessment is a tool which helps us to better understand our students, which is essential to effective teaching. The chapter goes on to further discuss many types of assessments including standardized tests, diagnostic tests, Informal Reading Inventories, Miscue Analysis, and informal assessment for ELL students just to name a few. While we learned about many of these assessments in Reading and Language Arts Methods it was nice refresher as we prepare to assess our own group of students next week. I also enjoyed the section on personal interest surveys. Before reading this chapter I didn’t fully understand the importance of personal interest activities. I knew it was important to know your students; however I didn’t realize how this could allow me to “provide more effective, individualized reading and writing that will motivate them to engage in activities.” I like the idea of providing students with individualized reading and writing activities. Student motivation is an important factor when it comes to success in reading and writing and knowing your students interests could definitely help you as a teacher keep them interested and motivated in what they are learning. Lastly, I like the idea of using self-assessment tools such as book logs, skill logs, reflection logs, and goal-setting logs so students can learn to monitor their own progress and gain confidence by taking an active role in where they are currently and where they are going.
ReplyDeleteLindsay,
DeleteI also like the idea of self assessment and I especially liked the idea that the opening scenario posed. The idea that the children can record themselves reading and then see how they sound to themselves is awesome. If you think about it people are always recording their children or students when they are playing a sporting event so they can see what to improve on to make them a better athlete. Why not apply this same concept to reading, let them see and hear how they sound reading so they can understand what it is they can try to work on to become a better reader. I think I am going to do this in my future classroom and maybe my tutoring group. I just need to look up the Photo Booth information and see if its doable.
Lindsay,
DeleteThe definition on page 43 was also one of my favorite parts of the chapter! It summed up assessment in a nut shell!
Reading this chapter I found that I already was accustomed to many of the different types of assessments that are used in schools. I have children is grades 2, 3, 7, 9, 11, & 12 so we have seen everything from the IOWA basics, to Dibels, and intelligence testing. The part of the chapter that I found most interesting and helpful was the information on performing the assessments and miscue analysis and Informal Reading Inventories. This information is helpful as we begin our tutoring, I like to read as much as I can on the subjects before we go out into the field. This whole chapter is giving us more information to read about as we prepare to go into the field, everything from Rubrics, to portfolios is talked about. I found the information on the anecdotal record helpful as well.
ReplyDeleteJen, I also work in a district and have witnessed many different testing techniques. I really appreciate the teachers that assess daily with informal evaluations.
DeleteChapter 3 was about formal and informal assessments. I really enjoyed how it broke down each different assessment in the different sections in the chapter. When flipping through the pages, it's hard to believe that there are that many different kinds of assessments! I know they are all created for a purpose, and are probably very successful, but it's still intimidating to think of them all.
ReplyDeleteThe figures in this chapter I found to be helpful. Figure 3.8 was something I took a long look at when initially going through the chapter. It goes through 8 and 6 different traits for emergent and beginner readers, respectively. Figure 3.10 also was something we went through in class (miscue analysis). I feel like I'll be looking back at that figure to jog my memory about miscue analysis!
Out of the entire chapter, I was drawn most intensely to the informal assessment of English Learners. I loved the principles given for teachers by Hurley and Blake. And the sub-headings that followed that heading (personal interest surveys, attitude surveys, literacy self-perception scales, etc). This ELL section is a section I will pay close attention with internships and what not getting ready to kick off.
Overall, just a ton of good information! Good chapter!
Cody, I love the figures in this book too! They make great resources for us. I also liked the principles listed in the English learners section. These are principles we can apply to assessment for all students.
DeleteChapter three is an important chapter because the information we gain from effective assessments is the cornerstone of our students’ instruction. This chapter covers many types of assessment. I feel the “six guiding principles” listed under the informal assessment for English learners section on page 66-67 are guidelines that should be considered when assessing any student, not just ESOL students. I also like the idea of using interest and attitude surveys to help us understand what interests students, and their attitudes toward reading. I think these could be very helpful in finding ways and materials to motivate students to read. When I was in school we read what the teacher told us to read. I loved pretty much everything, but I know not all students are that way. If students are interested in what they are reading they will be motivated to continue reading.
ReplyDeleteAssessment is a very interesting topic to me. I don’t agree that we should be teaching to the test and I don’t expect to be giving formal tests all of the time, but I know that I will be using assessment each day in my classroom informally! I appreciated the definition of assessment on page 43 in the text and figure 3.1 is helpful to guide me in different forms of assessment. The information provided on miscue analysis will be helpful in the next few weeks as we enter the classroom. This chapter did a great job of reinforcing my thoughts of always assessing, though informally I will always be able to see progress.
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