Evidence 1. Chart of Assessment StrategiesThis chart is a summary and brief analysis of each of the assessment strategies I have learned about and/or implemented in the classroom. The chart includes types of multiple-choice questions, in-class activities, ways to do individual assessments, methods to provide feedback, and various grading system formats. I also shared my thoughts in the chart for how likely I am to use each of the assessment strategies based on their advantages and disadvantages.
This relates to Standard 6 because it shows that I understand and use multiple methods of assessment. Both the in-class activities and individual assessment sections include examples of how I use student products as a source for assessment and instructional decisions. For example, using exit slips allows me to evaluate students’ understanding at the end of a lesson and alter following lessons to address any misconceptions I noticed. I also shared various methods for providing feedback to students, including Assessment for Learning, which helps students develop self-assessment strategies and focuses them on their growth instead of on numerical grades. This shows I am capable of providing prompt and meaningful feedback to students about performance and progress.I also discussed multiple grading systems, which demonstrates my competence in the use of acceptable grading and scoring practices in recording and reporting student achievement. Both my ability to give feedback and accurate grades provide clear expectations for learning to students and parents. I also understand the importance of preparing students for the SOL and other standardized tests. For this reason, I identified various multiple-choice question formats, as this is the most common type of questioning on standardized tests. I also recognized that these questions must be used in an intentional way so that they reflect the academic content studied. My ability to write accurate and productive multiple-choice questions shows that I can prepare tests that reflect the academic content studied and will incorporate strategies to prepare students for SOL and standardized testing throughout the school year. Finally, this chart shows that I have an understanding of the benefits and constraints of each of the assessment strategies. I know when they will be most useful to help monitor student understanding. For each of the strategies I discussed, I shared when I would be most likely to use them and in what ways they would provide evidence of student understanding. As a result, I will be able to utilize multiple assessment practices congruent with instructional goals both in content and process. This evidence is important to me because it reflects the growth I have made as a teacher. When I started this program, assessment was an intimidating topic to discuss, as I had no idea how I would implement it in the classroom. Now, I am comfortable with assessment and constantly reflect upon how I am assessing my students in every lesson. |
Evidence 2. Dividing Polynomials Pre-AssessmentIn my advanced Algebra I class, I chose to include a unit on dividing polynomials with long division. While this is not specifically in the SOLs, it was a suggested addition to the content as it would be a beneficial skill for students moving on to higher level mathematics courses. I spent three class periods on this topic. The first day, I had students take a pre-assessment. I gave them various types of division problems (dividing by a monomial, dividing by a binomial, and dividing by a binomial with missing terms in the dividend). In the second class period, I grouped students based on their performance in the pre-assessment. I distributed the students who got at least one question correct into different groups, along with the students who attempted long division. Once these students were placed, I evenly distributed the rest of the students into groups where I thought they would be the most productive and work well with their peers.
This relates to Standard 6 because I was engaging learners in their own growth. In the final class period, students took a short quiz on dividing polynomials. In just three days they made tremendous improvements. The first review questions the class went over were the problems from the original pre-assessment, to show the students how much they had learned. Since this was such a short unit, it shows that I can provide prompt and meaningful feedback to students about performance and progress. It also shows that I use pre-assessment data in developing expectations for students and as a basis for documenting learning gains. This also shows that I use assessment to guide the teacher’s decision making. After the students took the pre-assessment, I used them to determine how to group the students in the following class period. Since this was such a quick unit, I wanted to make sure that students who needed extra support were grouped with students who may have already understood some of the concepts and may have picked it up faster. This shows that I monitor student understanding on an ongoing basis and adjust teaching when necessary. In addition, both the pre- and post-assessments included at least one question for each type of long division problem students learned. This shows that I prepare tests that reflect the academic content studied and effectively use teacher-made tests as appropriate. This evidence is important to me because of the growth students made in such a short period of time. I was so excited to see their final assessments and how well they did. Having a pre-assessment was also very helpful because I could have students compare their original and final performance, side by side. I think they appreciated seeing their own growth. The units in this particular class are usually longer, and having a short, encouraging concept to master was fun for both myself and the students. Below are examples of student growth. Each document includes the pre- and post-assessment for one student.
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Evidence 3. Student InterviewThis piece of evidence is a student interview that I conducted with an Algebra I Part 1 student over two class periods. I sat with the student during class and asked them prepared questions about the tasks they were working on. After each class period, I reviewed the student’s work and determined what I thought the student knew after the class period and what questions I would write to help further their understanding in the following class period. In these lessons, students were learning how to solve systems of linear equations and practical problems involving systems of linear equations.
This relates to Standard 6 because it shows that I use multiple methods of assessment. Using a student interview as an assessment takes more time than giving each student the same test, but it gave me a much more thorough understanding of my student’s abilities. This shows that I am able to use student products as a source for assessment and instructional decisions. This evidence also shows that I use assessments to monitor learner progress and guide the teacher’s decision making. After each class, I reflected upon what I felt that the student understood and what questions I would use to further their understanding in the following class period. This shows that I monitor student understanding on an ongoing basis and adjust teaching when necessary. In addition, my daily reflections show that I maintain and use organized records of student progress for instructional decisions. This evidence is important to me because this particular student worked extremely hard in this class and truly desired to be successful in mathematics. This student was not very confident in answering my questions when we first started the interview process, but by the final class period, she was explaining her work to me before I even asked and was excited by the progress she had made. While I do not know how often I will be able to do student interviews while teaching, I was happy that I got the experience to really focus on one student and set up a plan to help them improve. I learned a lot about this student and really enjoyed working with them. |