Nicole Fowler -Assessment Practices
EDU 650 Teaching, Learning and Leading in the 21st Century
“Assessment is not about you as a teacher; it is about your students”
However, to the great teachers that goes above and beyond and has the students best interest at heart at all times, this quote is very much true. The instructors that teach the critical areas: Math, reading and science, I feel are subject to more ridicule and their positions are sometimes threatened. However, the question is, “What type of experience are the students having”?
In what ways have you succeeded/failed to make students your partner in assessment?
I like the example with the little girl in the doctor’s office and the explanation
“Today in our schools, teachers are jamming numerous assessments down the throats of ourkids without any explanation of what they are measuring or how it will help them achieve success in the long run.” Sometimes we don’t stop and realize that students can very much become overwhelmed just like the teachers. Most students will not burst in tears at school like the girl in the doctor’s office but they very well may be crying inside. I taught one subject and focused on only that subject being a creative and direct and money and time would allow. My students had seven classes along with extracurricular activities and sometimes more. It would very much help if teachers, parents and everyone in between explain to the students what they are doing and why. And most important explain to them that it will be ok.
Funny Pages: Assessment
Assessment in the classroom
"Defending Our Assessment Practices" (pg. 98)
1. Why are you participating in the assessments that you use with students?
If it were up to only me I would limit the amount and the methods of how I HAD to assess my students. I felt like it was so concrete and it didn’t show how creative the students were and the various ways that they learned. Example: My Hispanic students with language barriers were awesome with hands-on assessments and understood the concepts. However, my honor students would rather not get dirty and were ok with assessments, text book activities and critical thinking.
2. Can you share in explicit detail the value that you find in each assessment?
Yes, most times I could share in detail but the only ones who could understand me where the other teachers. The district I taught in was known to pass students along and some teachers really didn’t care what the students learned. So when they came to my class majority students and majority times I spent re-teaching items that should have been already learned.
3. Do you participate in assessments that you find no value in for students?
Yes, I found myself participating many times and I also gathered other teachers and some administration asking for their feedback.
4. Are you using an assessment you have no idea how to deliver, but are afraid to ask for help with?
Yes sometimes, I taught agriculture and biotechnology however, many of the activities and lessons that would ultimately lead to assessment were lost. The subject I taught required a lot of special and specific licenses that the academy refuses to pay for and that hindered my teaching a lot. Example: A lesson on biofuels and their many uses required the use and purchasing of switch grass. An awesome lesson but very expensive and rigorous.
References
•Lopez, D. (2013). No Excuses University: How Six Exceptional Systems Are Revolutionizing Our Schools (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Turnaround Schools Publication.
Email: nicole10.fowler@yahoo.com
Location: Tallahassee, FL, United States
Phone: 850-533-3333
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