Assessments are the tools teachers use to check for understanding and growth from students. These assessments are a valuable tool which are used by teachers and school districts. The school district and State set benchmarks for students to reach throughout the year, and assessments allow the teachers to check if the students are on track to reach these benchmarks or not. An assessment can be seen through formative assessments, checking for understanding (informative assessment) and through grading.
A formative assessment is an exam or quiz done independently to assess the students on their knowledge. After teaching a small lesson on nouns, students completed a word sort to assess their understanding of the different parts of nouns. They were asked to determined what category each word belonged to. Below are two pictures of students working independently at their seats.
Another aspect of assessment is checking for understanding. Checking for understanding occurs throughout a lesson. It’s asking students to repeat directions or information just taught to assess where students are before moving onto the next part of the lesson. Checking for understanding can be done in multiple ways. According to edutopia.org there are fifty-three ways to check for understanding. Below is a link to the article discussing the different strategies. The ones which I implemented during my student teaching are: exit slips, colored cards and repeat directions. For example, after finishing a lesson at the carpet I would ask students to repeat the directions for their seat work before dismissing them to get started.
Another area of assessment is grading; teachers check work, provide feedback and return the work students in a timely manger. Before asking students to complete work, which will be graded, the teacher must explain their expectations for how the work should be done. Below are two pictures of a worksheet graded with a comment and returned to students. Students were asked to complete a subtraction worksheet using one of the three methods discussed in class. The two students below chose to draw out each problem.
Below is a link to my paper about the assessment standard.
SaveSave