How does the teacher assess student learning? Identify specific instances of informal and formal, formative and summative assessment and explain the types of assessments (e.g., self-assessment, portfolio, project, performance, etc.) that are used. How valid, reliable, biased, and practical are these assessments? Be sure to underline the concept's vocabulary in your response. (Use your study guide as you go!)
The teacher I'm observing uses a lot of classroom discussion (informal, formative assessment). She's constantly asking questions during her lectures to gauge whether or not the students are making connections between their outside reading & assignments and what they're supposed to be learning. She also played a fun game where they recalled names or terms from the chapter, and they had to include a brief explanation to convince her it was related to the chapter. That gave her a pretty good idea of which students were either not picking up on the information.
She is finishing up a unit, and she was slightly concerned that the most practical assessment wouldn't be a very authentic assessment. With over 220 students in one prep and a lot of material to cover over the year (and a college concurrent enrollment class, at that), she didn't feel it was realistic to give another performance-based assessment because of time. She tries to keep the majority of projects to class time because she finds some students don't have the resources, especially technology or parental help, at home. This helps her be fair in her assessment because it levels the playing field in terms of individual circumstances. But with the high numbers enrolled in this content-heavy course, she didn't feel it was doable. Instead, she decided to go with a more traditional formal assessment-- some multiple choice for basic vocab and important people, and some short essay answers to give the students a chance to work on basic writing skills, thought organization, and some other standards. These are more reliable, yet don't offer the students a chance for creativity. It also makes it difficult to keep the students engaged.
I discussed what I'd been learning about metacognition, and she was really interested in knowing more. She's been working on some aspects of the self-regulating cycle, but wanted to start including more analyzing and planning into some of her self-assessments. She currently asks them what grade they expect based on their effort, but she's also trying to help them develop the skills to take accountability for their learning, so I was excited to share that cycle graphic with her.
The teacher I'm observing uses a lot of classroom discussion (informal, formative assessment). She's constantly asking questions during her lectures to gauge whether or not the students are making connections between their outside reading & assignments and what they're supposed to be learning. She also played a fun game where they recalled names or terms from the chapter, and they had to include a brief explanation to convince her it was related to the chapter. That gave her a pretty good idea of which students were either not picking up on the information.
She is finishing up a unit, and she was slightly concerned that the most practical assessment wouldn't be a very authentic assessment. With over 220 students in one prep and a lot of material to cover over the year (and a college concurrent enrollment class, at that), she didn't feel it was realistic to give another performance-based assessment because of time. She tries to keep the majority of projects to class time because she finds some students don't have the resources, especially technology or parental help, at home. This helps her be fair in her assessment because it levels the playing field in terms of individual circumstances. But with the high numbers enrolled in this content-heavy course, she didn't feel it was doable. Instead, she decided to go with a more traditional formal assessment-- some multiple choice for basic vocab and important people, and some short essay answers to give the students a chance to work on basic writing skills, thought organization, and some other standards. These are more reliable, yet don't offer the students a chance for creativity. It also makes it difficult to keep the students engaged.
I discussed what I'd been learning about metacognition, and she was really interested in knowing more. She's been working on some aspects of the self-regulating cycle, but wanted to start including more analyzing and planning into some of her self-assessments. She currently asks them what grade they expect based on their effort, but she's also trying to help them develop the skills to take accountability for their learning, so I was excited to share that cycle graphic with her.
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