Blog Post #1: Assessment for Learning

Today we began our assessment class, and discussed the different aspects of assessments as a teacher. One of the comments that stood out to me was how assessment improves the learning of the student. Thinking of how assessment improves learning for students had not been a concept that I had thought about when I was a student. Even as a teacher candidate, I think my initial focus when it came to assessment was finding different or new ways to assess students. I would label myself as a student who did well throughout elementary and high school, however there were certain assessments that I struggled with. One of the assessments I struggled with was tests, particularly multiple choice. When I realized this I had to really work hard to improve my skills in this regard. However, if it was a test that required short answer or essays, I excelled and did well. The type of assessments that I really liked were group projects, presentations, and essay writing. Those were my strengths and it gave  me an opportunity to display my knowledge in that course or topic and do well. Although when I reflected on my experience with assessment in school I also considered how I saw other students struggle with some of the types of assessments and they would get low grades because of this, but this didn't mean that they were any less intelligent than some other students. They just struggled with displaying their knowledge on that topic. 

My Beliefs About Assessment in Elementary Classrooms 
These experiences have made me aware of how important it is to remember that students are individuals and will learn at different rates as well as have different learning styles. As a teacher I want to give my students many different types of assessments to show their knowledge, whether it's sitting next to them and them orally discussing what they have learned or through presentations and tests. I really like the idea of having check in points of assessment for assignments so that students can produce the best work possible with multiple times for feedback. I would also like to create innovative ways for assessment such as using media and devices to display student’s knowledge. Examples of this are:

•   Creating online timelines 

•   Online presentations 

•   Creating a digital game

•   Blog posts/ Journal 

•   Using Twitter 

•   Group projects 

Today's Discussion

In our discussion today, we explained how assessment was a process and it was something that happened gradually. As a teacher we want to monitor a students progress through assessment, we can do this by having "check-in" assessments that can give the students constructive feedback from both the teacher and their peers. This is two-fold, because it creates a learning opportunity to teach students how to give constructive feedback. Through their feedback of their peer they may view their own assignment in a new light and see how they can better their own. Another great idea that was offered was to include students in creating the rubric or grading standards for the assignment.