Post 7 – Effective Assessments
Most of you have already begun your classroom observation. The next few blog entries will be based upon what you see in the classroom in which you are observing. If you have not started your observation, answer the questions by observing the assessment practices of one or more of your Lindenwood professors. Please do not use names of teachers, professors or students.
How does the teacher assess the progression of the students’ learning? How does the teacher determine a need for further instruction? How does the teacher determine and document when a student reaches mastery of a learning objective?
I have posted a youtube presentation by Rick Stiggins about Assessment For Learning. Take 6 minutes and watch the youtube - it will help you know what to look for in your classroom.
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I have not started my observation hours yet due to my host teacher being on maternity leave. However, I have one teacher now at Lindenwood where he gives us a grade on a paper, midterm, and a final. I hate this because I feel like I am not learning anything and when the midterm came around, I felt like I had to buckle down and learn where as if he would have given test more often, I feel like I would have learned better.
ReplyDeleteI also had a teacher this semester who was crazy. I ended up having to drop the class. She was very strict. Is a student were to turn in a late assignment they would get a zero (that is fine but not for the first assignment). Then she would expect us to read 100 pages of the book every other day and give us a quiz on it. Then when we had to write a paper, she would be strict on it. We could not use the internet and only books and articles (sometimes those were outdated). Then she would get really mad if we had 5% plagiarism on turnitin.com. The class started out with approx. 25 people and when my friend went to the class she told me it was her and three other people. I was shocked.
These teachers aren't the best and don't really teach properly and effectively for students to learn.
Kaitlyn,
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is hard to do well in a course with only a midterm, final and paper as your grade, but then again, it is a way for the teacher to assess whether or not you are studying well and reviewing on your own time. I do not think it is fair for students who have test anxiety or poor test taking skills, because they cannot prove themselves in the course if they only take two tests.
While I observed in my kindergarten class, I noticed that my host teacher had great teaching tecniques. Considering that it was kindergarten, she was obviously easier on the students than eighth grade teachers are on their students, but honestly, she was pretty tough. She did let them correct their mistakes on worksheets or assignments after she graded them, but she would go through the assignment with them, explain what they did wrong, and she would usually (sternly) speak to them about listening to directions. She also had a progression test for each student to complete. I had to oppurtunity to test the students. It was very interesting! She had them complete tasks like, telling their phone number, address, birthday, saying colors, numbers, ABCs, and zipping a coat. If the student did not know or could not get it, they did not get a check mark. They do have the chance to redeem themselves once she does the progression tests again, but it shows her, the parents and the students what they must improve on.
ReplyDeleteJulia,
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in kindergarten there, I don't think they had the progression tests. I simply had worksheets and had to learn how to count by twos, threes, fours, fives, tens, etc. I also remember having a ABC book which helped us along with colors, but I think the progression tests does a better job to see if the students and parents are working together. I'm sure we all will be learning about different ways to see how we are doing as teachers and how parents are working with their children.
I have not started my observation yet, so I will be talking about a LU professor I have this semester. My professor assesses our learning progression by giving tests every 3 chapters, assigning class and group work, and by assigning projects for homework. She determines the classes need for furthur instruction by asking the class if we understand the material and if we have any questions, she also uses our class work and homework as a determination factor as well. I am not really sure how she determines if the class has reached mastry level learning on particular material, but she probably gathers this information through our homework and tests. I really enjoy this professor and her class, and I find her to be an effective teacher.
ReplyDeleteJulia,
ReplyDeleteIt is neat that you were given the opportunity to test the students yourself, I am sure you learned a lot from being able to do that. I was curious to know how often your kindergarten teacher gives the progression tests? I have not learned much about progression tests yet, but I would assume that they would be most beneficial in the younger grades since it is hard to give the younger kids a written test to complete.
I have observed two day so far in a first grade classroom. In first grade the emphasis seems to be on reading. My host teacher sits down with the kids one by one and has them read a certain book aloud. She then checks off the words they read on a worksheet and makes note of the words they have trouble with. The worksheet also has questions to check their comprehension of the story they read. I was impressed that almost every student I observed being assessed was reading very fluently! She also has timed quizzes for addition and subtraction. At this age all the kids seem to be much better at addition than subtraction! I think she has very effective assessment techniques because it is concrete, and she can show the parents on paper how their child is doing.
ReplyDeleteEmily,
ReplyDeleteI think it is great when a teacher uses homework and classwork to determine the need for further instruction. Many professors will not take the time to make sure everyone in the class understands the material, and expects the student to get extra help outside of class if needed. She sounds like a great professor to have!
I have not started my observations yet, but I have been observing my professors here at Lindenwood. One of my teachers gives my class a test every other week. I do not like this approach because we are expected to learn a lot of information in such a short period of time. We do not have homework in that class either so our entire grade is based upon our test grades. I feel like my teacher does not really take any time to make sure that her students are learning anything.
ReplyDeleteI have not started my observations yet, but I have been observing one of my Lindenwood professors. She gives my class an exam every other week and I do not agree with it. We are expected to learn a lot of information in such a short period of time. We aslo do not get any homework so our grades are only based off our test scores. My teacher does not take any time to make sure her students are learning so I do not think she is an effective teacher.
ReplyDeleteAshley,
ReplyDeleteI wish that all my teachers were effective like that and had a strict way of teaching. I think it is important for a teacher to have one on one time with their students to make sure they are learning.
When I last obsesrved my teacher they were talking about the parts of the Eucharist. They had been talking about it for a couple of weeks in preparation for first communion. She had written all of the parts of the eucharist on slips of paper and the students were called up and had to pick which step went first, second, third etc. I thought this was really good because it got all of the students involved and was fun for them. There was no pressure of a test and everyone got to participate and test themselves.
ReplyDeleteBecca,
ReplyDeleteI have a teacher just like that at Lindenwood. He lectures every week and I can't keep up with him I have contacted him many times and he refuses to help. I dont find those kind of teachers effective at all, and it makes it a very hard class to sit though.
The teacher I am observing is a choir teacher so some of the questions are a little more difficult to answer but she does a great job at what she does.As far as assessments go, she can tell progression is being made by how much less the students look at their music.Also by having memory test over certain sections. However, if the sections are not learning their music and not practicing their sight reading skill it will be clear as day and that is when the teacher will have to give further instruction. Moreover if the groups begin to sound show ready and are not using their music that is when as a director we know our students have begun to master their art and craft!
ReplyDeleteJaclyn-
ReplyDeleteI wish I knew the teacher you are observing because I would shake their hand for two reasons:
1. That is a teacher who is teaching to all kinds of learners by using auditory tactics and hands on/visual tactics.
2.The Eucharist can be a scary well not really scary but more confusing for younger students and believers and the way that teacher is presenting the concept is non threatening and makes the possess simple it sounds like!
I am observing preschoolers so they have a certain routine everyday. Their routine includes duties in circle time like weather, the day of the week, and excerise time. Each student gets a differnt job each day, so the children by now have learned the routine and know what is needed to be done and when to do it. After circle time are their activies in which the learn or play games what the teachers have set up in the lesson plan. The teachers make up lesson plans for the month which then they decide what they want the children to learn or what they feel they need to work on. If the teacher feel like the activites are a little challenging they will start the day before. There system seems like it works.
ReplyDeleteI spent most of my time observing in a 4/5years old preschool classroom. The class meets 3times a week form 9am to 3.15pm. Every morning starts the same way: the children seat on the carpet with their teacher and talk about the calendar, the weather, they practice their numbers and letters, the teacher reads a story, and finally, the "child of the day" does his/her Show&Tell (the children's favorite moment of the day!!)After their little morning meeting, the children have some play-time while the teacher calls the children one at the time to realize the project of the day. It was very interesting observing the children during this activity, because the motor develop varies a lot from a child to another. After lunch time, the children have a recess and then they come back to class for a little lesson on the unit currently studying, and then an other play time. I was surprise to see how friendly were the children with their classmates, compared to some other classes I observed. I think that because the class meets a lot and for the whole day, the children really know they classmates, and they all get along pretty well. The 2teachers were both very active in the class and around the children, they had lot of energy, and I observed that the classroom ambiance was totally different that in some other classes.
ReplyDeleteI spent most of my time observing in a 4/5years old preschool classroom. The class meets 3times a week form 9am to 3.15pm. Every morning starts the same way: the children seat on the carpet with their teacher and talk about the calendar, the weather, they practice their numbers and letters, the teacher reads a story, and finally, the "child of the day" does his/her Show&Tell (the children's favorite moment of the day!!)The teacher uses this moment of the day to evaluate her students knowledge. She asks them questions once at the time, and give the children the opportunity to take their time to answer if they need it. After their little morning meeting, the children have some play-time while the teacher calls the children one at the time to realize the project of the day. It was very interesting observing the children during this activity, because the motor develop varies a lot from a child to another. This is the time of the day where the teacher can mostly observes her students progress. After lunch time, the children have a recess and then they come back to class for a little lesson on the unit studying.
ReplyDeleteJulia, I think it is great that the teacher you observed takes the time to explain to each of her students what they did wrong on their test. I think it is one of the best way for them to make improvements and it shows that she really cares for each one of her students.
ReplyDeleteI'm observing a 3rd grade class and the teacher assesses the progression of the students' learning by going over worksheets they did on their own in class. She asks the students what the answer to the question is and she goes over it with the whole class. Students get to ask questions if they don't understand. One day the students took a practice MAP test and when they were finished the teacher went over the answers. After each answer she would have the kids put their heads down and raise their hand if they got the question right. Then she made a bar graph of how many students got the problem wrong. By doing this she could determine what type of problems needed further instruction. One example of how the teacher determines and documents when a student reaches mastery of a learning objective was by giving the students a timed multiplication test and once they got a perfect score on that test they moved to the next test. Say the student was on multiplications of 6 and they didn't miss any, then the next timr they would get multiplications of 7.
ReplyDeleteRyan,
ReplyDeleteI remember being in choir and we had to know our music by a certain time because we would have to perform shortly after. I don't remember every having memory tests in choir. Our teacher would be very angry with us if we didn't learn our music. If we didn't learn it well enough in time she would pull that piece from the program.
I am not observing yet but what I remember in the past of teachers assessing the progression of our learning was by group work and then independent worksheets. If there was a progression in the work that we had to do independently then that was a sign of us, as the students, mastering the new given information. But, I remember that if there was any hesitation at all among my class the teacher would take a step back in re-teaching the material in a different way in order to move forward.
ReplyDeleteRebecca, it sounds you are observing an excellent teacher. I like how she uses different strategies for her students to learn and understand what they got wrong.
ReplyDeleteI haven't started my observation yet either. But, this semster professors that I have are pretty hard on their students. One of my professors is a good teacher. She is very into what we are doing and making sure that the class understands what is going on. On the other hand, she grades our papers very hard. This can be good but, somethings it's hard to know what they are looking for, even after you spend time after class and meeting with her to make sure you know what to do. But, she does give test and pop quizes all the time. One of the other professors that I have haven't given any test. The only thing we have done is projects. Doing good on the projects and homework is great but, we have one huge final at the end of the semester. My other professor well he's nice but we do nothing in his class. No homework or anythings. We have to listin to him talk the entire time. We have a mid-term paper due and a final and that's it. It's hard to understand what we are to be doing in class and what we should know to study.
ReplyDeleteBecca,
ReplyDeleteI understand what your going through in your class. I am having the same problem in some of mine. I wish that they could understand (which they should because they are teachers) that most students do not do good with that way of teaching. Sometime I think they like to see us fail.
I have observed for almost 10 hours now learned a lot of classes aren't always lectures and so far i have watched movies and went to the labs with the students and only got to sit in a couple of lectures. I really haven't got to observe anough to see what is effective and what is not effective.
ReplyDeleteAshley,
ReplyDeleteI honestly feel the same way. Some teachers don't really care and I do not understand why they choose to act that way. I dislike classes where your grade is base off of one or two big assignments because maybe something doesn't go right and you get a bad grade in the class. I don't really think that is fair.
I have not started my observation yet because I am going to get it all done over Spring Break. I have a professor who is a great, but he is too hard on us. He bases half our grade on quizzes, 25% on our final paper, and the last 25% on the final. I am not learning that much in class because we are analyzing certain words and not the whole story. He gives us words that we have to figure out what they mean, and we have to explain how they relate to the story. My writing has not improved or my critical reading. I wish he would go easier on us because most of us are taking this class for General Education requirements.
ReplyDeleteKaitlyn Rechtien,
ReplyDeleteI hate when professors only grade us on a midterm test, a paper, and a final. I had a World Religions professor who had the same grading technique. It was hard because if you fail one of the test or do horrible on your only paper, then you pretty much have an automatic B.
I have not started my observation yet but one of the professors I had last semester barely used assessments any any way. Our whole grade rested on the 4 exams we had over his strictly lecture/book no powerpoint. It made it a hard learning environment. Another Professor I have this semester assigns readings along with lectures and asses the students with an exam. After the exam was finished we discussed the exam and talked about where everyone got stuck. She also assess our understanding by making us present in front of the class, this is benefical because we learn how to stand in front off people and learn the subject well enough to teach it.
ReplyDeleteBrittany,
ReplyDeleteI hate having test be a large portion of my grade because i'm awful at test taking. When the finals worth such a large percent of my grade i end up cramming for the final and not actually retaining any information. I hate sitting through a whole semester of a class you hate and won't take anything away from any way.
i dint ever remember haveing progression test or anything like that in kindergarden or up evn through high school. when i was litttle they focussed us on learning abc and 123. as i i got old we just had to to let the teacher know how measure how much we payed attention in class and that was it
ReplyDeleteElise and I are with the same age group. Her teachers do there lessons a little different they take out individual time with the students. the class that I am observing there activites have no structure to me there is no learning in some of there activities. I think there is more learning in circle time.
ReplyDeleteMy teacher asks the students frequently how they feel about the style of lecture is working for them and what the teacher can actually do more effectively as an instructor to better suit the students needs. She asses their progression mostly based upon test grades and if they are not where they need to be, she goes back and discusses what could have been done better by everyone including her to help them prep better for their next test. She also bases mastery of a subject based upon test grades and papers turned in.
ReplyDeleteTrey,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. When I got up into middle school and high school, most of my teachers based their students progression on feedback from the students themselves. If we as a class didn't understand something, we would have to voice our concern and the teacher would usually go over it again in that class period or the next one.
my psychology teacher does very well in teaching her students in the classroom. she constantly checks for understanding and asks us if we have any questions over the material we have gone over. she allows us to retake tests until we get over 80% on it. this helps out the class alot and pushes the students to learn
ReplyDeletenick,
ReplyDeletei think its great that you teacher does that as well. i find it so helpful that they actually care about my success in the classroom and check if we understand it or not. teachers who dont do this are not encouraging at all.
I have started my observation but I would just like to say this about a teacher I have. He has helped me realize that I do not want to become a bitter person and transmit that to my students. He has made me think that there will be many times in which i might have problems of my own but i have to keep those problems away from my students. He barely teaches, it is more what he complains and nags than what he teaches. I do not want to become a teacher like that.
ReplyDeleteChris,
ReplyDeleteI think that what your teacher does is good. i have always been taught that what your teacher does is exactly what has to be done, to make sure that students are learning and not trying to find a way to fail the student. maybe if more teachers were like her, more students would be more interested in learning.
i have been thoroughly enjoying my observation time at a local HS band program. This teacher does things completely different to how I am accustomed, and from day one, I have really liked his teaching method!
ReplyDeleteEach day, he posts on the board his objectives. He instructs the kids to read it and be prepared.
Then he covers the material.
At the end of the period, he reviews all of the objectives with students to see if they feel they adequately achieved them and to answer any questions.
I think this is an awesome way for a band director to monitor his progress and his students progress. Band so often seems haphazard and unorganized. It's sometimes hard to see the progress.
I have observed many other fine qualities in his teaching, but I believe this one has been the most impressive to me. :)
Ryan Muzzey
ReplyDeleteI agree that assessment in Choir and Band can be a little hairy. It is not something that you can just put a paper and pencil test to.
And how do you assess effort?
Comprehenion?
Development?
in the individual student.
Its very difficult to do one on one when it is an ensemble, group effort.