Standard 5: Asess, Provide Feedback and Report on Student Learning
Reflective Commentary:
Assessment is one of the aspects of teaching that I know is extremely important and necessary. Assessment is important because it’s an integral part of instruction, as it determines whether or not the goals of education are being met. (Arthur et al., 2008). A primary purpose of assessment is to enhance learning and the other purpose is to enable the reporting of student’s achievements. Assessment practices have a powerful impact on learning and teaching, issues such as what evidence to collect, how to collect it and how to interpret it need to be addressed and debated widely within the school community. Developing a shared understanding of the outcomes enhances the validity and consistency of judgements about student learning. This improves learning and teaching by improving the quality of information upon which teachers and students act. Teachers are also then able to report more credibly to other teachers, parents and the wider community (Brady & Kennedy, 2009).
Assessment is one of the aspects of teaching that I know is extremely important and necessary. Assessment is important because it’s an integral part of instruction, as it determines whether or not the goals of education are being met. (Arthur et al., 2008). A primary purpose of assessment is to enhance learning and the other purpose is to enable the reporting of student’s achievements. Assessment practices have a powerful impact on learning and teaching, issues such as what evidence to collect, how to collect it and how to interpret it need to be addressed and debated widely within the school community. Developing a shared understanding of the outcomes enhances the validity and consistency of judgements about student learning. This improves learning and teaching by improving the quality of information upon which teachers and students act. Teachers are also then able to report more credibly to other teachers, parents and the wider community (Brady & Kennedy, 2009).
5.1 Assess Student Learning
5.2 Provide Feedback to Students on their Learning
5.4 Interpret Student Data
5.5 Report on Student Achievement
5.2 Provide Feedback to Students on their Learning
5.4 Interpret Student Data
5.5 Report on Student Achievement
Situation:
In my previous teaching practicums, assessment was an area I was not comfortable in and felt really nervous about. I read through my practicum observations and reflections and assessment was one of the areas I needed improvement on after reading reports from my mentor teachers and was something I underlined whilst reading through my practicum reports. I wanted to come up with different strategies and advice on how to improve my assessment techniques. I want to learn how to ensure that my assessment is directly linked to my intended outcomes, and reflect the principles of assessment, so that I may accurately judge what students have gained from a lesson/s, and so that I may accurately reflect to make improvements for future teaching and learning.
On my first week of my practicum I asked my mentor teacher if I could possibly see some of her assessment techniques and how she assess different learning areas and outcomes. It was a perfect opportunity for me to enhance my learning and find out new assessment strategies in my professional practicum that catered each individuals with different learning abilities and needs.
In my previous teaching practicums, assessment was an area I was not comfortable in and felt really nervous about. I read through my practicum observations and reflections and assessment was one of the areas I needed improvement on after reading reports from my mentor teachers and was something I underlined whilst reading through my practicum reports. I wanted to come up with different strategies and advice on how to improve my assessment techniques. I want to learn how to ensure that my assessment is directly linked to my intended outcomes, and reflect the principles of assessment, so that I may accurately judge what students have gained from a lesson/s, and so that I may accurately reflect to make improvements for future teaching and learning.
On my first week of my practicum I asked my mentor teacher if I could possibly see some of her assessment techniques and how she assess different learning areas and outcomes. It was a perfect opportunity for me to enhance my learning and find out new assessment strategies in my professional practicum that catered each individuals with different learning abilities and needs.
Action:
To address and cover this standard effectively I first discussed what I could do in terms of assessment with my mentor teacher. She suggested checklists, observation, rubric and anecdotal records top use as assessment techniques and strategies in the pre-primary classroom. My mentor teacher said that these forms of assessment will eliminate a lot of bias, which was something I wanted to learn how to tackle, and allow me to assess only what students know, not what I think they know. We also discussed trying a few types of activities, oral, tactile, written, visual so as to avoid favouring one type of learning style that may be familiar to some students’ but not to others, hence it would have been favouring a particular group ( Brady & Kennedy, 2009). I read up about the different assessment and learning style my mentor teacher mentioned before and researched which type of formative assessment used to provide information about children’s difficulties, misconceptions and errors. I then planned some activities to do with the students that I could assess to see their strengths and weaknesses in mathematics and literacy.
In my professional practicum, my mentor teacher and my experiences made me realise that feedback on students work is a much and is very important in their learning. Feedback has been shown to increase learning outcomes and help students make connections with the content (McInerney & McInerney, 2010). With giving verbal feedback on my professional practicum students were able to see their progress, they identified where they had to improve on and they knew their strengths. Every time I had a student that did outstanding work, put allot of effort or improved I will give them verbal feedback so they know and feel proud about themselves and I also give them a sticker to put on their name for my reward system. not only does feedback benefit students but also benefits teachers. I was able to evaluate and further plan my lessons in order to effectively teach and facilitate effective learning within my students.
During my professional practicum I also made sure I made observational notes on students. There was a student that wrote his name backwards, I have many times showed him the correct way and a multiple times I got him to trace his name on the paper that I provided him. One day when this particular child was writing a letter to our class pet I saw him write his name left to right. Straight away I went to tell the mentor teacher, and I wrote in done in my observation notes to make sure that I told his parents at the end of the day.
Below are some examples of different assessment strategies and examples I used when assessing student work. (Click on the different numbers to see the next photo)
To address and cover this standard effectively I first discussed what I could do in terms of assessment with my mentor teacher. She suggested checklists, observation, rubric and anecdotal records top use as assessment techniques and strategies in the pre-primary classroom. My mentor teacher said that these forms of assessment will eliminate a lot of bias, which was something I wanted to learn how to tackle, and allow me to assess only what students know, not what I think they know. We also discussed trying a few types of activities, oral, tactile, written, visual so as to avoid favouring one type of learning style that may be familiar to some students’ but not to others, hence it would have been favouring a particular group ( Brady & Kennedy, 2009). I read up about the different assessment and learning style my mentor teacher mentioned before and researched which type of formative assessment used to provide information about children’s difficulties, misconceptions and errors. I then planned some activities to do with the students that I could assess to see their strengths and weaknesses in mathematics and literacy.
In my professional practicum, my mentor teacher and my experiences made me realise that feedback on students work is a much and is very important in their learning. Feedback has been shown to increase learning outcomes and help students make connections with the content (McInerney & McInerney, 2010). With giving verbal feedback on my professional practicum students were able to see their progress, they identified where they had to improve on and they knew their strengths. Every time I had a student that did outstanding work, put allot of effort or improved I will give them verbal feedback so they know and feel proud about themselves and I also give them a sticker to put on their name for my reward system. not only does feedback benefit students but also benefits teachers. I was able to evaluate and further plan my lessons in order to effectively teach and facilitate effective learning within my students.
During my professional practicum I also made sure I made observational notes on students. There was a student that wrote his name backwards, I have many times showed him the correct way and a multiple times I got him to trace his name on the paper that I provided him. One day when this particular child was writing a letter to our class pet I saw him write his name left to right. Straight away I went to tell the mentor teacher, and I wrote in done in my observation notes to make sure that I told his parents at the end of the day.
Below are some examples of different assessment strategies and examples I used when assessing student work. (Click on the different numbers to see the next photo)
Outcome:
Assessment practice has the potential to impact a student’s learning in both positive and negative ways. Teachers need to ensure that we match an appropriate assessment method to the task to ensure that it matches the intended learning outcomes and matches our students learning styles. This professional practicum made me more confident and taught me new ways and strategies on how to be fair on assessing students , how to cater for all student abilities, use different ways and strategies on assessment and know how important student feedback to students are.
Action Plan:
Although I am allot more confident and have more knowledge on assessment and its importance and different techniques, it still is an area that requires development to improve my professional practice and allow me to become an effective teacher.
For my future teaching I want to make up a resource of assessment which has different types of assessments which will allow me to do some research and find assessment type that is suited for my teaching and the students in my classroom.
Assessment practice has the potential to impact a student’s learning in both positive and negative ways. Teachers need to ensure that we match an appropriate assessment method to the task to ensure that it matches the intended learning outcomes and matches our students learning styles. This professional practicum made me more confident and taught me new ways and strategies on how to be fair on assessing students , how to cater for all student abilities, use different ways and strategies on assessment and know how important student feedback to students are.
Action Plan:
Although I am allot more confident and have more knowledge on assessment and its importance and different techniques, it still is an area that requires development to improve my professional practice and allow me to become an effective teacher.
For my future teaching I want to make up a resource of assessment which has different types of assessments which will allow me to do some research and find assessment type that is suited for my teaching and the students in my classroom.
References:
- Arthur, L. Beecher, B. Death, E. Dockett & Farmer, S. (2008). Programming and Planning in Early Childhood Settings, 4th Ed, Melbourne: Nelson.
- Brady, L. K., K. (2009). Celebrating Student Achievement: Assessment and Reporting (3 Ed.). French’s Forest NSW: Pearson.
- McInerney, D. & McInerney, V. (2010) Educational Psychology: Constructing Learning. 5th Ed. Sydney: Pears