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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The teacher in the classroom I am observing, which is a preschool class, has each student draw and write in a journal each morning when they enter the classroom. I think that this is a great way to show what the students are learning and document their progression. She also has each student show her the journals everyday. I think that this is a great way to help children learn and show what they have been learning in class. Also, each student has his or her own slot in which to put drawings and papers so that they can take them home and show their parents. I really like what this teacher does and how she utilizes the classroom to help the students learn and grow.
ReplyDeleteI haven't started my observation yet so from my experience in my classes I'm currently taking I'd say the way my teachers sees how much we have learned is by testing us. Based on our grades they can pretty much see who knows the subject. For us in college it seems like the professors don't really pay too much attention to who has the material mastered or not it's kind of just our responsibility to keep up with the reading and our in class lectures. I'm sure when I'm observing it will be a little different then the way my professors do things.
ReplyDeleteI haven't started observing class yet, but from my experience here at Lindenwood it seems like teachers just lecture for a couple of weeks and follow it all with a test to see who has retained the material. When I go back to High school I am sure there will be more hands on learning and assignments.
ReplyDeleteI have not starting observing yet. I was just recently placed. I agree with Jimmy O'Brien. Lindenwood teaching seems to just be lecture and tests. Universities with many more students have better teaching strategies. They use all of their resources to maximize teaching and learning.
ReplyDeleteMy 9th grade geometry teacher is actually one of the main reasons I decided to teach high school math. She made class fun. I learned more in that class than I have in any other math class in my life. She made games, riddles, rhymes, and songs to help us understand and memorize the rules and formulas. I hope I can be a teacher like her.
ReplyDeleteI have not started my ovservation yet, my placement school is on cycle break right now. But I see from the video that instead of making tests an unpleasent part of school and one of the main reasons kids say that they don't like school and change that stereotype to having tests become postive feedback on learning. In order to do this I think as a teacher I need to become more modern in the way that I see children learn and remember information. Possibly instead of paper and pen tests have outloud tests or turn tests into a game.
ReplyDeletei have not started my observation yet but have just been placed and cant wait to start. my professors at lindenwood really only use the old fashion way of assesment. one of my professors only gives tests over the material no quizes or homework and im not a great test taker. on the other hand i have teachers that are very good at assesment. they will not continue with the lesson or chapter untill all in the class have understood the lesson to 100% accuracy. they ask questions frequently for the students to answer and encourage class room discussions. i have experienced both sides of the spectrum.
ReplyDeletethis is in response to Brooke Rowden's post. i agree with you when you say that you aspire to make learning fun and enjoyable. i had a teacher similar to yours in the same subject and i ahted math but i loved going to her class cause i knew she would be smiling and ready to teach. i also hope that i can have that affect on kids and make them want to learn.
ReplyDeleteStill yet to be placed. From my experience here at Lindenwood, though, I've seen some different teaching strategies and uses of assessment that are...uhmm....interesting?
ReplyDeleteOne of my teachers (one of the more high-up in his department) believes firmly in the Bell-curve, I think. It's one of those lecture classes with a quiz here and there, a big paper, and two tests. The pace of the class moves through the quizzes like they're nothing more than a way to gain/lose points. We never go over them and we never discuss where even a majority of the students didn't do well.
On the other hand, I have a mathematics professor who I really enjoy. I'm an English major..I hate math and have a terrible record with math classes. This professor, though, really cares that his students do well and understand the material. If he doesn't feel we're ready for a test, he won't give one. On the first test we took, he had a lot of people do poorly so he even offered a re-take just to make sure everyone understood the chapter's material. It's the first time I can say I have an "A" in a math class and I really feel like I understand what's going on. Odd.
My high school teacher made class fun for us. she would not just talk the whole time she would use all the resoure she had in the class room to make the class fun
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jimmy. I think that the teaching at Lindenwood is only lecture and test there is no hands on learning.
ReplyDeleteI believe effective learning starts with the influence of the teacher. If the teacher shows she is an ongoing learning for example learning from her students and other peers it will influence them to learn from everything also. I think a teacher can tell when a student is falling behind especially in the class I am observing, 1st grade because each student is called on. Once the teacher notices the child is falling behind then she should talk with the parents and with the student. There is one student in the class I am observing haveing the same problem and the teacher had him tester for learning dissabilities and it ended up he had one. Therefore I believe there are alot of ways to help if a student is struggling. When a student fully comprehends the subject they will be able to move on to the next level of that objective for example word families like nip, tip, lip they then move onto words like fight, light, tight
ReplyDeleteI have starting my observing and first thing in the morning the teacher makes the students do board work. The board work helps them refresh their memory of the previous things that have been learned.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that in many college classes a lot of the lessons are based off of notes and tests. They expect for the students to be more independent.
ReplyDeleteThe teacher I am observing, who teaches Anatomy and Physiology, assesses her students by giving them tests after every few chapters they learn. She does grade on a curve giving the highest grade a 100 and then supplements everyone else with the same amount of points. Example: Highest grade is 94/100, gets 6 bonus points, everyone else also gets 6. After the tests, the material learned is not covered until review at the end of the semester for the final. She also goes over the tests when she hands them back to reinforce any points and allows the students to ask any questions for clarity. If students are not learning the material very well, the instructor makes sure to explain what she wants them to learn and know. She also encourages students to ask more questions and interact more during class.
ReplyDeleteTo Brooke,
ReplyDeleteI like it when teachers play games and have different puzzles to help reinforce curriculum. I know that always help me review and relieve some stress before the test. There is only thing I don't like about it; once you get to college, no one does that anymore. I wish more college teachers kept things fun and entertaining in the classroom.
I haven't yet stated my oberservation but I asked one of my friends who is a teacher and he said he does a simple review everyday before he begins the new lesson to make sure students are not only aware but to help them learn. Reviewing is one of the best ways to reinforce the material. He also does physical activities to help them focus.
ReplyDeleteI am actually starting my observation tomorrow, so I have yet to sit in on my classroom. Here at Lindenwood most of my teachers just lecture and bore us to death, nobody actually retains the information because we are so bored, and then tests us which most of us fail due to not retaining the information). It is all just a big useless cycle. However, I do currently have one professor for a class that I believe is very difficult. We have a couple different books that we have to read and after each reading assignment we have a “reading quiz”, which is not really a quiz but makes us think in depth about what we just read. We can use our books and sources as well. Then the next day in class she discusses what we read the night before to ensure we understood it all. Of course we have a test at the end of each book, but it seems like personally her way of watching our progress in very effective.
ReplyDeleteNick and Jimmy,
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you about a lot of the Lindenwood professor doing mainly lectures and tests but not ALL of them and maybe it is because I am an elementary education major and not secondary but all of my education classes that i took last and this semester have been and are very hands on.
I havent yet started my observation but alot of my teachers i have had have shown me bad examples of how to rate progress in the classroom. Mostly in college so far my teachers have just tested us on the information. In some of my classes we dont even go over the test for the right answers after getting them back. Also, teachers lecture us, they dont mean to bore us on purpose but taking notes over all that information is nearly impossible to retain. I think most college professors need better ways to help teach students.
ReplyDeletePaige,
ReplyDeleteI dont fully agree with you that professors are trying to bore us, mainly I don't believe that is their intentions, they were just taught unhelpful strategies on teaching a class. Also, I believe that some teachers are too difficult, but some are also too easy. Sometimes it is okay to have a challange, that is how we learn.
I have not started my observation yet. But from what I have seen in the past when I was a student hardly any of my teachers were good at assesing our progress in the class. We would occasonally have tests but the info was given to us the day before the test in a study guide that we didnt even have to fill out. and then after the test no one would even remember what it was about. Then by the time finals came around everyone scored low and got bad grades
ReplyDeleteI also agree that allot of lindenwood professors just leacture and test. When all a teacher does is leacture all hour long every day im in there all i think about is not being there and by the time the test comes around i realize I only know a portion of the material, so i have to read over everything several times. I think that some should have to try a little harder to help us learn
ReplyDeleteI was able to begin my observation awhile ago (I am observing 4th grade), but I am still not able to answer all of these questions fully. I am only at the school for the last two hours of the day, so I do not see all of the subjects being taught and learned. I know that the students are assigned math problems and worksheets, but I don't know if they go over them in class once they are returned. (I'm assuming they are returned, although I've never seen papers being handed back to the students.) The teacher does tell the students what will be on an upcoming test the day before, and for spelling, they have pretests, recite sentences out loud, and work in their workbooks. One time, I witnessed the teacher work with small groups of kids in the back of the room who were having trouble with math. Also, I was instructed to have the students read to me one at a time to calculate their reading rate. Directions are read out loud by the students, and they sometimes write sentences on the board for English. I'm not sure how the teacher determines a need for further instruction. From grading, I can see that some students understand things while others are basically lost. They seem to be going at a pretty fast pace. I am also unsure how the teacher determines and documents when students master a skill taught.
ReplyDeleteMack,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Some teachers at Lindenwood are very good, but some could use a little help.
I'm wondering about the ages of your professors. Is the one who believes in the bell-curve older than the one who teaches math? Maybe they were educated at different times and learned how to teach differently based on what society's expectations were at that time.
I forgot to post this weeks so I am late! I'm sorry! But I didn't that week start my observations, however I noticed alot of people were talking about how most teachers graded randomly or not enough. I really love being in the teaching area, because I feel we have the most organized teachers that realize they need to assess the students to truly know if they are doing their job.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mack,
Ive noticed that much of the History teachers seem to only give out two tests and don't really care about the assesments. Those are the worst grades and most stressful classes I get.
I am also a little late..ssoorrryy! But..I have just started my observations today and i noticed that this particular teacher groups he students based on heir knowledge level. He gets the kids to compete wit eachother throughout activities to that they will wantto learn. He will give out the questions for the pop quiz's the next day. He also always gives papers and quizzes back with feedback!
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Mack, first off i hate writting papers nevermind correcting 30 of them. I have also noticed that history and english an in most cross cutural classses there is usually more writting...
ReplyDelete