FIAE+B1+Chapter+3

toc Lizz Theriault Chapter 3 in FIAE is about [|assessment]in the differentiated classroom. There are three different types of assessment, which are pre-assessment, formative assessment, and summative assessment. Pre-assessments are used to indicate student’s readiness for content and skill development, and to guide instructional decisions. Formative assessments are checkpoints, done frequently. The provide feedback and are very helpful to the students. Lastly, summative assessments are given to the students at the end of the learning. They reflect most if not all of the essential and enduring knowledge. Chapter 3 also talks about EEK a.k.a KUD. EEK stands for Essential and Enduring knowledge and some people call it KUD, which stands for Know, Understand, and Able to Do. Know refers to the the students have retained over the years from learning with other teachers. Understand refers to the concepts or connections that the students understand because of the unit that is being taught. Do refers to specific skills that the students can actually demonstrate. All these of these can be important when assessing the students. When students are assessed through multiple assessments teachers and school officials can see what the students are learning and we see different sides of their understanding. The section on authentic assessment is about how close the student will apply their learning in real-world applications. An example is the five-paragraph essay because employers seldom care and in facts, sometimes doing a five-paragraph essay hurts the chances of the job. Teachers need to instead of asking for a five-paragraph essay they should be asking for a properly done essay, no matter the length.
 * Abstract: **

While reading through the blogs many people brought up the subject of [|tests]. Some people agreed with Wormeli’s perspective on test taking. He talks about how tests should be given out at the beginning of a unit so that students can look for the answers throughout the process, and that students should be able to retake tests without restriction. Others thought tests were a little skeptical because if the tests were giving at the beginning of the unit then what would be given at the end or if the tests were given at both the beginning and the end then students could end up cheating. Another conclusion that a majority of the class agreed on was that grades should not be a students or teachers top priority. Students want the best grades possible and rarely care how they get it or worse they do not actually learn anything that might one day be useful to know. Students shouldn’t need to ask “will this be on the test” all the time because if the teacher tells them what is going to be on the test then that’s all the students will study because it has been drilled into their minds that good grades equal better opportunities in the real world. The class mostly agreed in some sort or another that assessment is very key to a well run classroom and that as future teachers we will need to assess our students and if we have a variety of ways we will be able to see more from the students hopefully.
 * Synthesis: **

toc

Tyler W
Chapter three is about how to grade students in a differentiated classroom. The author starts out saying that students learn better when they receive assignments with a goal, not just “study until you learn the material.” Two new concepts were introduced too. EEK, which stands for essential and enduring knowledge, and KUD, which stands for know, understand, and able to do. EEK and KUD offer guidelines for giving questions that require students to have an understanding of the context of the material. They create questions that make you think about more than just answer, but also to why that answer would work.

There are three types of assessments that the author lists that can be used to gauge a student's understanding of the material. There are pre-assessments, formative assessments, and summative assessments. Pre-assessments are used to find out how ready a students is to learn the material. Formative assessments are like checkpoints, to make sure that students stay on track. Finally, summative assessments test to see how much the student learned. It's like a reflection on the unit that the teacher taught. These assessments should not happen just once or twice a unit because they might not reflect the student's knowledge accurately. A student may be a great learner and completely understand the material, but could have an off day, like many people do, and completely bomb the test. Assessments need to be varied through-out the unit.

Also avoid “fluff” assignments. These are assignments that are used to kill time and offer no real world applications. Like asking students to make a poster about their favorite mathematical equation, or holding a toga party and hope that the students learn about ancient Greece. Instead, offer students different ways to learn a mathematical equation or hold a Greek senate meeting. Keeping the material and projects relevant increases student learaning.

Ally
In this chapter you know how to properly assess your students after you teach them a subject. Most teachers assign a paper or require them to take a test. This isn’t the only way to assess to tell if your students understand the content. I learned about EEK or KUD, which means essential and enduring knowledge with concepts and skills. This assesses the main ideas and vocabulary in order to make sure all students know the important information. Determining the Readiness of my students will be very important because some teachers don’t recognize when their students don’t understand the content and then they all end up bombing a test. Pre-assessment helps know where the students are with knowing the information and it helps the teacher know what they have to cover more or explain it more. As a teacher this is going to affect my teaching because I am going to have to assess my students and in order to guarantee full potential I need to pre-assess them to know where they are stuck. This will also help me know how I am doing as a teacher as well. If a major portion of my students doesn’t understand the material it means I didn’t teach it properly. This will affect my students because they are going to be assessed and I need to find a way to assess them that fair to them. I want to make sure they understand the material and if they are assessed and it shows they don’t understand the content then I need to change my teaching tactics so they do understand. I really liked the Planning Lesson on page 35, I think it was helpful and I will use it. I liked how it was in steps and it makes sense the structure they used.

Jasmine
There are so many types of assessments that need to be used in classrooms in order to make sure that students have the ability to be successful, and so a teacher can understand what is going on in class and how students are doing. Pre assessments, formative assessments, and summative assessments are all examples of assessments. Assessments need to be often because there are many reasons a student could be distracted. Students have a lot going on in their lives other than school. It is not fair to have only one assessment count for everything and have such high stakes. A student could have a bad day, home problems, stress, illness, relationship drama, etc. For this reason, assessments need to be done constantly. When I am a teacher, I will make sure to do formative assessments throughout the school year and if I notice a trend with any students, I will take the time to address that student individually. Some teachers get too focused on preparing kids for the future that they dismiss what they know as developmentally appropriate for the age group. There should be focus on what is important to students, not just focus on the test. It is a constant battle with teachers because there are consequences when students don’t do well on standardized tests. The problem is that they don’t always help determine concrete information about how students are doing in classes.

Abby
Testing and assessments make up a big part of school. Often whole units are set up solely to prepare students for a test. Students realize this but teachers seldom tell them exactly what they are expected to know. Wormeli points out that, “We haven’t done our job if a child ever asks, ‘Will this be on the test?’” (22). It should not be a game of guess what information is important, but rather our expectations should be clear and concise. Also, we should not wait until the end to test the student’s knowledge but before the unit even begins, to see where they are, and throughout to make sure that they are learning the necessary information. By the time we reach the end of the unit it is too late to help them improve. This is why Marzano says, “The most powerful single innovation that enhances achievement is feedback” (28). Students need both positive and constructive feedback so that they know what areas they are strong in and which ones they need to try harder or seek help in.

I plan to have some sort of assessment at the beginning of each unit that is not graded, but rather lets me know where each student is already. If they are not prepared I might have extra prep work before the unit or they might already know that concepts I am trying to teach them and I should restructure my unit to go more in depth or highlight a less well know concept. Throughout the unit I want to check in and see if students are mastering the material and give them feedback both positive and critical feedback to help them along the way. By the end they should be able to display this learning in the summative assessment with very little difficulty and their overall grade should not be surprising to me.

Jake
In this chapter Wormeli discusses what successful assessment looks like in a differentiated classroom. The first form he discusses is “pre-assessment”. This form analyzes a students readiness to engage with certain material, giving the teacher a basic understanding of where his or her students are in a given area. He also discusses summative assessment which is ultimately when a teacher measures if his students have met the set goals of a unit. He tells how both of these areas are important, however the one he tells to be the most important is formative assessment. This is essentially, simply markers along the way to show a teacher whether his or her students are learning. Wormeli, describes them as checkpoints.

This idea of formative assessment was relatively new to me. I strongly agree with Wormeli’s point that it is important, and I believe that formative assessments will challenge students to make progress over time, instead of trying the usual to cramming before the meaningless test the night before.

I also very much enjoy Wormeli’s perspective on test taking. He talks about how tests should be given out at the beginning of a unit so that students can look for the answers throughout the process, and also that students should be able to retake tests without restriction. This is clearly a shift in focus. I feel as though many teachers today are very strict about keeping tests secret and about being firm in not allowing retakes. Both mindsets appear to be completely detached from the overall goal, that students learn the material. Who cares how they learn it, the point simply is that they learn it.

Both of these points have certainly transformed my thinking and I hope that eventually I will be able to incorporate these ideas into the classroom.

Dan
It is crucial that teachers understand the importance of correctly assessing students on subject matter. Assessments need to reflection the essential questions and knowledge, and it is just as important to give students pre-assessments as it is a summative assessment. Getting an understanding of students’ knowledge of a subject before teaching a lesson on it gives you a foundation and starting point on your students’ skill levels. Designing assessments is just like designing the curriculum: start with the end in mind. I like this process, because it allows you to check if you meet the goals of your entire curriculum without assessing what is not mention. I also agree that the use of formative assessments is important and should be used considerably, because you constantly give snapshots of your students’ progress. An important note about assessments is to connect them to real life (like the example of the five paragraph essay on page 32), and make sure the assessments are appropriate for that subject taught. The only complaint I have is allowing students to redo work. I understand things come up and issues revolve around them, but many students would take advantage of it if they knew they could redo work. Unless there was an authentic and genuine reason why a student did not complete their work, as a teacher I would be strict with homework and other assignments. If students did not understand something, I would gladly assist them. But if a student does not turn in work, then they do not deserve a redo.

Roger
The third chapter of FIAE was a lengthy chapter discussing the path to successful assessment. To have a good, informative assessment, the assessment must analyze how well students are progressing with certain lessons. To do this, multiple types of assessment can be given, and variation in teaching style can also have its effects monitored by assessment. Good assessment also relies on students being provided with the appropriate information, and given a clear picture of what the expectations are for the assessment unit.

One suggestion that was a little iffy in this chapter was the thought of providing students with the test that would be used at the end of the unit. I understand that it is a way to clearly show expectations, but that form of expression is a little too explicit. In an ideal world where students placed a higher value on learning as opposed to a grade, that might work. Unfortunately, learning in the modern school system takes a back seat to a number at the top of a page. This number will make students memorize the questions on the test, than memorize the answers. What comes out of that? Nothing learned, just random facts that will fade away. A more broad and workable way of explaining expectations would be to create a rubric, an actual study guide, or just a plain written out explanation. Some of the most direct approaches to situations can be the most effective.

As far as assessment in my classroom goes, it will quite clearly play a part. Assessment is a way of figuring out what works for students, and a way to adapt instruction to get students to learn the material. The importance of assessment has been fairly well laid out, it is just a matter of proper execution.

Katie
It is important that the educators as well as the students know the content that is going to be taught, known, and understood throughout the year. Teachers should inform students what it is that their summative assessment will be over by giving them the test right at the beginning of the school year. According to Wormeli, students will pay better attention to the material and look for the content that was listed on the assessment because they want to do well at the end of the year. Students will be looking for the answers on the assessment to be given by the teacher and thus will be more attentive to the unit. When giving the students the summative assessment at the beginning of the year, the teacher can also circle and identify what it is that students are having the most trouble with and can focus on that area of the unit in more depth.

This chapter also discusses the idea of pre-assessments, formative assessments, and summative assessments, and what it is that they are and what they do to benefit the student and teacher. Students tend to thrive more when given formative assessments rather than summative or pre-assessments because formative assessments are given to students throughout the school year and help to show the student what they may be struggling with and also help the teacher to realize what it is they must do to change their curriculum.

As a teacher, I would like to give my students the summative assessment at the beginning of the year so that I, as well as my students can see where our weaknesses and strengths lie in the material. I would also like to do formative assessments so that I can adjust my lessons according to how well my students seem to be learning.

Lizz
In this chapter, I learned about EEK, which means essential and enduring knowledge with concepts and skills, or KUD, which means Know, Understand, and Able to DO. The section called Determining Student’s Readiness will be very important to me as a teacher because some teachers do not know if or when their students do not understand the content. If the students do not understand the content then most likely on a test the students are not going to do as well as they should have. That is a reason why pre-assessment is a good to use at the beginning of a unit. Pre-assessment helps you to know what the students know for information and helps you know what needs to be covered in depth and what does not. As a teacher, this is going to affect my teaching because I am going to have to assess my students and in order to guarantee full potential I need to pre-assess them to know where they are stuck. If my students do not understand the material, being taught it means I did not teach it in a way that they could learn from. I want to make sure they understand the material and if the results show the students do not understand the content then I needs to change the way I teach. Every student deserves the right to learn and is pre-assessment helps me achieve that then of course I am going to do whatever it takes.

Brittany
This chapter suggests a great and "radical" idea, pre-assessment. The chapter suggests giving the students the test you plan to give them at the end of a unit. This not only allows you to see what they already know, but it allows them to see which information is most important and therefore they pay close attention in hopes to hear the answers for the test. The chapter states that students have the ability to achieve more when they have a clear picture of what is expected of them, and what is coming to them in the future. This is because if they have clear knowledge of what is expected completing the assignment is less of a difficult task and more of a chance to show their knowledge. EEK (essential and enduring knowledge) and KUD (know, understand, do) help teachers to provide effective assessments. Through these two types of assessments teachers can help students to pass tests and retain the information in a helpful way. This also forces teachers to look at the information and truly decide what is essential for the students to know, understand and do. I feel that through using these methods in my classroom I will be able to know what my students are ready for and help them to get through one unit and on to the next while making the necessary connections between units. I will be able to determine what types of differentiation need to take place in the classroom based on readiness. This chapter also taught me to present information that is "substantive" and to avoid adding information that, while it may be interesting, is not vital. This will help students to keep their minds on what is important without having to guess.

Jenn
In chapter three the importance of assessment is discussed. From all of the many great things mentioned in this chapter, there is one that I feel really stands out, and that’s presenting the end result before you learn any of the content. This has been used constantly through our history, one of the greatest examples being Shakespeare telling you what happens in his plays at the very beginning. I honestly feel like this is the most important way to grab any student’s attention. You are telling them exactly what they will be learning, and what they’ll be tested on. Not only does this help prepare them for the lesson, it also gets them interested, and can give them a sense of confidence going into the subject material. I feel like most of the time when students are being assessed and they are aware of it, they instantly become turned off to the material, but if they already know what to expect on a “test,” then they are more likely to see the test as a positive chance for them to show off what they know. I definitely think that all teachers and students can benefit from having this approach in any lesson, but most particularly when studying difficult material. If it isn’t something that the students have had much exposure to, maybe like Shakespeare, helping them understand what they are supposed to get out of it makes the prospect of the content a lot less discouraging. I really found this to be informative and plan on using it often in my classroom.

Alex
All of this material in chapter three was almost an exact replay of the UbDi book's material that we have learned just in a different voice and a tad bit of a different opinion. What I was able deduct from this reading is that assessment is far more key that I guess I realized even from reading UbDi. If both of these authors are going into this much depth about assessment and this much similarity then by golly I am going to learn the material! The crucial aspect of this chapter i think is to teach backwards with the goal you have in your mind it is far easier to teach towards that goal then to just teach in any random direction, because that is what will happen the kids will not learn the material they will learn in any direction and not have to appropriate material to meet to benchmarks, or the criteria then need to pass the class. All of these mistakes fall on me the educator not the kids. Essentially I the instructor am responsible for the direction these kids take so therefore mastery of the objective is crucial to the task at hand. In order to give good assessment I will learn from my mistakes because I know that I am going to make them, but also I will learn from my good choices, and good work as well. This can be achieved through reflection after my work as well as hearing what my students and co-teachers have to say about what I was able to do in the classroom. I have so many tools for success i might as well use all of them.

Caleb
Assessments are key role in the play known as the classroom, and these assessments are important because they allow the students to demonstrate what they’ve learned and give the teacher the chance to give the students feedback. Now there are many types of assessments, we have the pre-assessment, the summative assessment, the formative assessment,, and the authentic assessment. The pre-assessment allows a teacher to determine what the students know and don’t know. A teacher can use this information to modify his lessons to cover more of the lesson and go much more in-depth then previously thought about. The summative assessment is the assessments given at the end of the lesson. This will show the teacher what the students have accomplished and show their understanding. Formative assessments are the assessments done overtime. They tell the teacher how well the students are doing during the midst of their units. Finally, the authentic assessment is much an assessment that puts the lesson that is being taught and applies it to the real world. All these assessments have procedure that teachers need to carefully plan out. They must write their ideas down so that they may be able to best suit their students’ needs. A part of me wishes that teachers did these sorts of assessments when I was growing up in the classroom. I want to know what these assessments would have looked like especially in my math rooms. At the moment I am going to be creative and generate ideas that will support each learner that I have.