Assessment Article Response: Assessment Formative and Summative Some Theoretical Reflections by Maddalena Taras

While the general focus of this article is on formative and summative assessment, I found the thoughts on assessment in general to be far more interesting. The article begins by clarifying and defining assessment. My definition of assessment is some type of measurement of a specific skill or knowledge. The definition I used was vague and not very detailed. Taras defined assessment as a judgment using a comparative or numerical rating based on data-gathering instruments, weighted goals, selection of goals, and justification of the judgment. This means that students will know exactly how they will be assessed (the parameters and value of each assignment). As a student, nothing is more frustrating than putting a lot of effort into an assignment and then receiving a bad grade because it wasn’t what the teacher was looking for. Giving students the rubric or criteria in which they will be scored, will result in more accurate assessments. It’s also interesting to note that teachers act as judges. While teachers strive to be fair and impartial, there are a variety of factors that influence how teachers grade assignments including implicit and explicit parameters. Implicit parameters are implied based on the norm of the classroom. For example, a teacher assigns an essay to the class but doesn’t include a parameter for spelling on the rubric. However, throughout the year the teacher lectures students on the importance of spelling when writing an essay. The implicit parameter is that each student use correct spelling. If the teacher had included spelling on the rubric, then spelling would be an explicit parameter. An argument can be made for either parameter, but it is up to the individual teacher to make the final judgment. Taras goes on to say that assessment, while necessary, can be detrimental to students. Society is quick to make judgments but often fail to reflect and question. Teachers can fail a student without taking in the psychological impact this will have on the student for the rest of his/her life. The byproduct of student assessment is teacher assessment. If the majority of the class is performing poorly, the teacher should be reflecting on how they can improve as an instructor. I believe that teachers and students have a shared responsibility for the outcome of education. When a student is performing well, it’s easy for teachers to take the credit for student success. But when a student does poorly, it’s the student’s fault. I am beginning to understand that teaching is more of a partnership. Teachers and students need to work together to be successful.  

Observations April 15

Students continued to prepare for MSP testing by writing expository essays. My cooperating teacher reviewed the process in great detail. She explained that the introduction needs a hook, elaboration  and a thesis. Body paragraphs need some typed of fact or statement with an opinion and finished with a transition. The conclusion should sum up the essay and end with a powerful sentence that evokes emotion. In addition  students had to provide specific pre-writing exercises but were advised to skip this step on the MSP in the interest of saving time. I do not recall learning how to write a five paragraph essay with such detail. I see the advantages of teaching with such sequential  steps: consistent format, the class learns the same rules/terminology, and more time can be spent on content and mechanics. However, not every student learns the same way. I'm still learning this process even though I am fully capable of writing a five paragraph essay. I think this format is a little to strict for my style. I am expected to teach using this model next year, but I hope I can make some adjustments. Pre-writing should be unique for every writer because pre-writing is designed to generate and organize ideas. Students should not be restricted at this stage of writing. I also disprove of setting sentence limits. Introductions can be as short as three sentences or as long as a page. There are many ways to write a five paragraph essay and i want students to find a way that is easiest for them. I worked individually with each student and discussed their theses. Most of them understood the basics except for three students. I explained that a thesis should include your main idea and the three supporting ideas of the body paragraphs. I think they understood. I eagerly await to read their work next week.

Managment Article Response: The Sociology of Classroom Discipline by Leo Leriche

This article is very introspective because it questions the why and how educators discipline students. My initial thought towards school discipline was that school prepares students for the rules and social norms of the outside world. However, Leriche says that school is an unnatural social setting where people are grouped, expected to sit and listen for hours. Most careers do not operate with such restrictions. The article links curriculum and instruction to discipline. Leriche is opposed to the traditional instruction and claims it can harm students’ development. I think he sees traditional instruction as too restrictive; the teacher will lecture, students listen, students memorize, and students repeat what they memorized. Leriche favors an interactionist curriculum where students and teacher engage in a more dialogue based education. I agree more so with the interactionist method because I think it engages students and if students are engaged they will not become disruptive. The traditionalist educators take a “Crime and Punishment” approach to discipline where students have specific punishments for specific misbehavior. I like the idea of having a system or policy that students and teachers understand. This can save on instruction time. That being said, this looks like a short term solution for discipline. What if the punishments don’t work? What if there is a bigger problem? The interactionist approach is more empirical. The teacher and student discuss the reason for misbehavior and work together to find a solution. I think this method is great for the “repeat offenders” that fail to respond to the traditional approach. Leriche also notes that the traditional approach to discipline needs to establish rules with the class on the first day of school. I’ve had professors at Eastern that suggest the same idea. Students need to be part of the rule making process and teachers need to be flexible on rules because, “that suggests that institutions are more important than the people in them” (79). Leriche addresses the importance of demonstrating positive behavior or the “do” norm. The “do not” norm makes students feel like the teacher doesn’t trust them. The difference between a rule and a norm is the level of expectation. Rules are rigid and strict. Norms are acceptable patterns of behavior. Norms allow for some leniency as students are progressively learning how to behave. I’ve observed this in my classroom. My cooperating teacher will give warnings and punishment depending on the severity and frequency of the behavior. The most common problem is students talking too loudly during work time. The teacher will give at least one warning (sometimes more) and then move the student outside the classroom. I think the overall idea is to have a system but don’t let the system run everything. Leriche believes that by sharing the power with students will encourage them to have self discipline. And I agree.   

Observations April 8th

On the first day I returned to begin observations i worked with a substitute teacher. There wasn't much for me to do so I watched as the class corrected their assignment given to them to complete over spring break. it was a packet of vocabulary where the students needed to write a definition and example. Overall, the class did poorly and failed to capitalize the fist letter of a sentence and provided no punctuation. The next day i graded and entered their final scores. Did the student not know hot to write a proper sentence or were they just being careless? Based on their previous work and the fact that this was a spring break assignment, I think the students were being negligent. Nevertheless, MSP testing is only a few weeks away and these errors could hurt their scores. For now the best thing students can do is write everyday until capitalization and punctuation are second nature. They have the knowledge. They just need to refine their skills.

Context For Learning

I've been conducting my observations for a few months and I find myself struggling with a few of these questions. I think the class size is around 27 with 14 girls and 13 boys. I never took the time to get the exact numbers. The students are seventh graders ages 12-14. Three students have 504 accommodations and IEPs. Most of my students are white middle SES but there is also three Hispanic students and one black student. I think knowing the demographics and history of the class helps gauge abilities and expectations. Naturally teachers are expected to have high expectations for all their students. I want to set realistic goals based on numerous factors. The fact is students don't have the same educational experience. That's why the common core state standards are so useful. It may not be 100 percent accurate, but the common core state standards are a good reference guide to what specific knowledge students currently know and what they are expected to learn. If I had to condense my essential goal or philosophy on education it would be as follows: Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. My job is to help students discover their strengths and cope with their weaknesses. How this goal is accomplished is another story entirely. Content and academic language needs to be introduced gradually over a long period of time. Students need to not only provide a definition but use the content vocabulary in class and in their writing. It is only through formative and summative assessment that educators can even begin to gauge students' comprehension. I've discovered many ways to perform formative assessment and yet I still need to know much more. I prefer to use graphic organizers when lecturing so students are more inclined to take notes by filling out graphic organizers. After they've been collected and graded, I can return the organizers to let students study. I tend to grade students on effort and involvement more than initial knowledge. Summative assessment is more narrow in scope and should align with formative assessment. Students should only be tested on what has been taught. Tests, essays, projects, and presentations are the most common forms of formative assessment but I'm eager to discover some variations of these traditional practices. I've also learned that formative assessment is also an assessment of a teacher's instruction. If all the students are failing, something is probably very wrong. Perhaps the test did not align with the material that was taught. If all the kids are acing everything, something is probably wrong. The students might not be challenged with the material. It's a never ending line of questioning and reflecting.

TPA Lesson Plan Response

The first five items are pretty self explanatory. However, I've encountered problems in estimating the length of my lessons. Sometimes they run short and many times they run long. I'm doing my best to coordinate with my cooperating teacher to allow enough time for her to teach her lesson which is challenging but we manage. It forces me to be more adaptive.
The academic and content standards have become more clear and mainstream. I'm glad the common core state standards are being implemented almost nation wide. I always thought EALRs and GLEs were vague, confusing, and tedious. The common core state standards are easily numbered with detailed examples. I have a couple hard copies of the CCSS and bookmarked the OSPI webpage with the pdf file. I generally try to get two or three CCSS in my lessons.
The content objective and academic language section have always seemed redundant to me. Couldn't I use academic language within my content objectives? My lesson plans need some work in this area because I often forget to explain how the lesson specifically connects to the standards.
I'm fairly comfortable describing assessment, lesson rationale, and instructional strategies. The concept of student voice is very important in my opinion. I try to build my lessons around students' line of questioning and responses. In general, I try to make my lessons accessible to all students but I'm not aware of many techniques to address differentiated instruction. I'm fortunate that all my students with IEPs and accommodations have personal aides. The class is very inclusive and cooperative. Lastly, I noticed the addition of parent and community involvement to the TPA. It's important to utilize the community in education. Teaching is such a huge job so it's important to have a team of people with common goals.