Hello Class!!! I really enjoyed watching the video “Using Assessment to Guide Instruction,” because it helped me to gain a better understanding of what we have been learning and reading about in class. The video demonstrates how teachers measure student performance through the use of assessment. In the video, Dr. Jeanne Paratore leads a workshop of practicing teachers. In this workshop, they discuss assessment strategies that they use in their classrooms. The teachers make known of how, when, and where they assess their students, while on the other hand, Dr. Paratore shares how these assessments direct instruction.
This video taught me a lot about how assessments should be performed. First and foremost, it is vital that assessment is done in formal ways, such as running records; however, assessments must to be done throughout the day during daily classroom routines. Second, assessments should indicate how students are learning. Assessments should give teachers information about their students on the following:
How they are interpreting and using language.
How they understand language and meanings of texts.
Which word level they are on? Do they read alone or with their peers? Are they utilizing reading narratives and expository texts?
Finally, these assessments should be collected during the lessons, so therefore they need to be ongoing assessments which must be used to dictate what is being taught in the classroom.
During my observation of an ESL elementary school teacher last semester, I noticed how she did assess her students throughout out the lesson. She would have about 5-6 students during any given class period. She would first present the lesson give them activities to do, and while the students were working on the activities she would go to each student, sit with them, perform (informal) running records where she would ask them to read a paragraph or a few sentences for her, ask them questions about what she was teaching to see if they were on task and if they were understanding. I thought this was wonderful. I guess for an ESL teacher who only has a handful of students each period, this would be much easier to do and manage, in comparison to a regular classroom teacher that has anywhere between 22-25 students, where it would be more difficult to manage time and be able to control the classroom while trying to sit with each student individually. Do you guys agree?
I agree with you that an ESL class of five or six would be much easier than 25, especially if the teacher wanted to perform assessments on each student regularly and diligently. With five students, a teacher could observe and/or assess the student everyday, but with 25, the teacher would be lucky to have a moment to sit with each student in a day.
ReplyDeleteHey Vanessa, I know, it must be very difficult for a regular education teacher to sit down with each student day. It must be extremely challenging for the teacher to meet all the students need. Hopefully when we become teachers we will be able to figure out a plan where we can manage our classroom time efficiently. I am also considering specializing in ESL.
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher performs informal assessments, he/she becomes aware of any academic issues a student or a group of students may be experiencing. For example, after teaching a lesson and prompting students to engage in a learning activity, it may become apparent during informal assessment that a group of students really did not grasp the key ideas or learning outcomes from the lesson. The teacher could teach a mini-lesson, emphasizing the key ideas or assign a specific homework assignment that addresses the problems found during the informal assessment. In addition, the informal assessment can also provide the instructor with certain key ideas and concepts that should be reinforced before students are asked to demonstrate their understanding on a formal assessment such as an exam.
ReplyDeleteHey Ed, You are totally right, a teacher can see how students are doing using informal assessments and if need be have mini lessons to review materials that students do not know that well.
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