Standard #6 – Assessment
The teacher candidate understands and uses multiple methods of assessment to engage learners in their own growth, to monitor learner progress, and to guide the teacher’s and learner’s decision making.
Summer 2015: Assessment is a necessity in any learning environment to ensure that learning objectives are being met, and to what degree. Used creatively, assessment can guide learners to a higher level of performance with specific expectations. I am a novice in both assembling and administering assessments, but have a new found respect for the effort that aligning standards and objectives to assessments requires, as well as the art of crafting good assessment items. I like that various types of assessment allow for more individualized and authentic types of assessment, especially in inquiry- or problem-based learning. Mastery of InTASC 6 is required of a good teacher, although initially I felt that assessment was a necessary evil.
InTASC 6’s assessment theme’s umbrella is much wider than I originally thought. I now have a better understanding of what assessment requires and methods to employ for both formal and informal assessments. As a result, I feel better armed with assessment options.
Autumn 2015: Assessment often seems like a necessary evil. We strive to use multiple methods of assessment in our classroom, including pretests and posttests, predictions and confirmations, formative and summative assessments. These are done through homework credit checks, quizzes and tests and blends of those we call “quests,” laboratories, activities, and presentations. The feedback obtained from these assessments allows us to get a pulse on the comprehension of the subject matter being related, and to address and reteach misconceptions or gaps in knowledge as necessary. We routinely utilize Kahoot, and online, informal, electronic formative assessment that offers us instant checks for understanding in class.
Spring 2016: I feel like my greatest strides this year have been made in assessment. I have adapted some summative assessments of Mr. Smith and used them for my own uses, realizing how difficult it is to write a “good” instrument with “bad” distractors. I also generated two more rubrics for use this semester, one for a project and the other for an authentic lab practical. Along the way I have learned of the importance of formative assessments, more than just checks for understanding as I am milling about as students work away at problems. I underestimated the valuable information that simple assessments such a bell ringers and exit slips can give. Initially, I felt that such activities were a waste of time. After implementing them, I see how something so simple can give you an instant check on the pulse of the understanding of a topic by students. Cheers to assessment and no longer fearing it, but embracing it in all of its forms!