I enjoyed the reading on assessing student learning. I
am becoming increasingly aware of how students are assessed differently than
they are taught, just as the students in Mr. Sullivan’s class. I believe that
teachers should not be made to feel insecure about what they are doing but be
shown respect and support. Teachers should be encouraged on the positives of
what they are doing well and given tips on enhancing their teaching to increase
student learning. Administrators or coaches may give the impression that a
teacher is inadequate. Still, their feedback should be very clear to show that
they do not want to change who the teacher is but enhance their instruction to
benefit student achievement. Mr. Sullivan’s activity was great for bringing
realia to the classroom, but it was irrelevant if it had nothing to do with the
learning objectives or assessment. That’s why the students reacted in surprise
to the assessment. His activity reminded me of a place value activity that the
class and I did this year(see Figure 1).
Figure 1.
Place Value Mat Activity
Note. Students were prompted to create a three-digit number.
First, this same activity was done last year at the
beginning of the Unit. It was done as part of teaching. I learned from last
year that the students were so excited to use the food that they could have
been more engaged in the learning objective. In addition, some students needed
to grasp the understanding. Working with food was frustrating for them, but
how? It was supposed to be fun for everyone. So, this year I altered the timing
of the activity. I used the activity as an end-of-objective learning celebration.
Although it didn’t seem like an assessment to the students, it was an awesome
way to see which students understood place value forms. This year I noticed a
difference in the confidence and engagement of the students. Even students who
usually struggle with most concepts seem to understand place value forms.
Writing specific learning goals is one part of the
reading that stood out to me. I love that Slavin (2020) provided the three
steps to write learning goals: condition criterion-performance, action verb,
and behavioral objective (p.351). I plan to use these guidelines to help me
create my learning objectives. I like the Video Example 13.1; I believe this is
what true team-teaching collaboration should be like. For us teachers, the
essence of time has always stood in the way of such collaborations. I believe that
with the help and support of administrators, mandating collaboration between,
ESOL, EIP, SPED and other support teachers would be helpful to increase academic
achievement.
Slavin (2020) stated that before assigning an internet
assignment, students should be familiar with the resources, which may require
teaching or reteaching (p.352). I agree, and I understand first-hand because of
a writing celebration that I assigned the students. They were to write a
non-fiction book using PowerPoint. Well, while this should have been fun and
engaging. Unfortunately, it turned into frustration since most students had
never used PowerPoint, so between other students who started their story
earlier and me, we were teaching the basic concepts of PowerPoint to help get
students started. Some students were sitting and waiting on someone to help
them to get started. Next year I will introduce PowerPoint earlier in the year
so that students are regularly working in the program so that by the time we
get to our Writing Celebration, they will be familiar with PowerPoint. In
addition, I can use PowerPoint as a common way for students to do online
project assessments.
Slavin (2020) acknowledged that you might create a test
before teaching, but you may have to change the test after teaching. I am glad
to have read the part about changing your assessment (p.354). I love this
because we must be flexible and understand that we may have to change our
instruction, activities, or assessments to increase student learning.
I never thought about the term teaching objectives
being different than learning objectives., but it is made clear that the
teaching objective is what you want the students to learn, and the learning
objective is what you want the students to do (Slavin, 2020, p.354). I remember
a 29-year veteran teacher told me that they used to have to write “The teacher
will…, The students will…” in their lesson plans. I am assuming the reason why
is for clarification of the lesson objectives. The prompts are a good idea,
especially for new teachers or other teachers who need assistance organizing
lessons.
We use 1,2 and 3 to grade our students. The same grade
is applied to Reading, Writing, Math, Science, Social Studies, Specials areas,
and Social Skills. Although we have a Rubric for Math and ELA, there is no
rubric for the other areas, so the grades are subjective.
Question: As
a teacher, when I am learning all this great material and things, I can change
to become a better teacher. Where do I begin, and how do I not overdo it by
trying to change too much at once? I know it’s a process, but where to begin?
References
Slavin, R. E. (2020). Educational psychology: Theory and practice (13th ed.). Pearson Education
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