FIAE+B2+Chapter+4

Chapter 4 : Olivia Norris
Self assessment in the classroom can be both a wonderful and frustrating thing for students. In classrooms where teachers consider the feedback from their students, assessment can be a very positive experience for both the students and the teachers. This chapter focused on the use of assessment in the classroom, and there are many ways to assess your students with the use of rubrics, portfolios and student self assessments. The chapter had great detail about creating rubrics and all of the steps one has to take to make them. The chapter also described ways to make a [|portfolios], which can help a teacher track a student's success in the classroom. One of the most commonly known technique is through student assessments, especially within math classes.

In our blogs, many of us wrote about how we had teachers that would either assess us as students or not, and most of those who did assess us did not monitor our success or needs in the classroom. As students ourselves, we can look back on what worked and what did not, and I plan to keep up with what my [|students need]. Assessing my students can be one of the most effective and important things I can do for the betterment of my students. toc

Kassaundra
Chapter 4: Three Important Types of Assessment Chapter 4 introduces three types of assessment for the differentiated classroom: portfolios, rubrics and student self-assessment. I like the idea of having portfolios because I want students to be engaged in their own learning and by going over a portfolio or asking students to contribute to a portfolio this can happen. When it comes to rubrics, I did not realize there were so many steps to making one. I’ve never been exposed to holistic rubrics so I will challenge myself, as a teacher, to use them in my classroom so that my future students can be introduced to them. Furthermore, having students self-assess can be very beneficial. It can provide great feedback to the teacher and in turn can help students set goals. One way for students to self-assess is to have an interactive notebook, which I really like the idea of. It gives the students a chance to look at all of the materials they have used and then let me know what they have learned. It is definitely important to utilize all three of these types of assessment in the differentiated classroom, not just one.

Charli Sayward
Portfolios, rubrics, and student self-assessments are the three most important types of assessments. Portfolios keep a file of a student’s work and can be shared with the student and parents. It is a great way to determine a student’s mastery if they can explain why each sample of their work shows their understanding of the required material. For my Education course last semester, I created a portfolio of my works that exemplified understandings of the course’s essential questions. With each work sample, I was required to write an explanation for why it showed my understanding of a topic. Rubrics are another great way to assess a student because they act as a self-checklist for the student. I love having rubrics for projects because I know exactly what I need to do and I will want my students to have a clear idea of what is expected from them too. Self-assessment will allow the student to reflect and discuss what they learned, what they liked, and what they wish could have been different or better. I will want to use this in my classroom to get any feedback I can from my students because their opinion will always matter to me.

Bri Douglass
After reading about wanting students to master and using the 6 facets of understanding chapter 4 describes three different kinds of assessment great for these two ideas. I learned that portfolios are a great way to assess students in a differentiated classroom. Students choose works to put into the portfolio and also create goals for themselves. I also learned that self-assessment is a good way for students to learn how they have grown. This impacted, me as a teacher because as I was reading this I was thinking about how I would do it in my own classroom. I thought it would be great to incorporate the ideas, self-assessment and portfolios, into one project at the end of a grading period or unit. I like the idea of using these things in my classroom instead of always using standard tests. As a math teacher I could ask my students to include homework, quizzes and projects and compare their growth on different skills.

Matt Towle
This chapter discussed three different tools that teachers can use to assess their students. The part I learned the most from was the section about creating rubrics. It talked about different ideas to keep in mind while creating rubrics for projects and assessments as well as a variety of formats. I personally prefer the rubric that focuses on the highest standard and works its way down from there. If this type of rubric is used it prevents students from taking the easy way out. If the way to get an A- rather than an A+ is spelled out before them, they may choose to take the route towards the A- if it is easier and less time consuming. When the rubric focuses on the highest standard they only have that to work with.

Alyssa Wadsworth
The three important types of assessment described in this chapter include having a portfolio, rubrics, and student self-assessment. As a student I always felt that self-assessments were useless for me because the teacher never actually used them for me—they only asked us to reflect on our work in their class on the last day of class so they could use the feedback on their next class but the next class reported that they had not changed. It is difficult to change drastically, if at all, in a short period of time, but if I begin working with and actually use rubrics, self-assessment, and portfolios, then I will not have to change a lot of my methods in a short amount of time. This affects my students because, not only do my students not have to feel that I am giving them busy work on the last day of class, but they benefit from their own feedback when I change my lessons based on what they need. My students are also affected by rubrics because if they are given the exact details on how to get the best grade possible, then they might strive for that grade.

Darcie Simmons
The two things that I liked the best from this chapter was the form of portfolios and self-assessment for ways to assess students. First, I think that portfolios are a really good tool for teachers, because they are able to easily see the progress students have made. This progress could be from either the academic year, or it could be throughout their whole middle or high school career. The students also like it as well, because, while they will complain about the amount of work put into it to create it, they will enjoy the end product and seeing how much they have done, and the progress they have made. The second form of assessment I liked was self-assessment. This is a good tool, because it requires the students to take a deeper look at what they have done throughout the unit, and to see if they reached the requirements set out for them. It’s also good because then the students can look and see how their own self-assessment compares to the teachers assessment. These two types of assessment are two that I will definitely be using in the classroom, because I feel that the students should be assessing and reviewing their work with a critical eye, just like the teacher does.

Ryan Pelletier
This chapter covered the importance of rubrics and assessments. These are two very important components for having a differentiated classroom. I found the student self-assessment to be interesting. I believe that “invaluable” feedback, or reflection that is not graded is important for the student to notice and have. This is a great way for them to reflect on what they have learned. It also lets them know if they do have a good understanding of the material. If they are able to explain what they did, then they can know that they have a good level of understanding.

Lyzz Stevenson
**Chapter 4:** There are three important types of assessments that should be used in the classroom as they are beneficial to both teacher and student. Having students build a portfolio is a great way to engage them in their learning after products have been created. They can watch themselves grow as learners. Rubrics and self assessments were also suggested in this chapter. Rubrics are a good tool of communicating to students of what is expected of them and gives them a set of well thought out guidelines. Self assessments will help students establish goals and give feedback to educators. I plan to use all three of these assessments in my classroom as they seem to keep the teacher-student relationship close and in tune.

Kelly Steinhagen
This chapter made me think about all the aspects of creating a rubric that is fair for the students and demonstrates understanding while still following the ideals of differentiation. One very useful step the book suggests is only giving the highest performance possible. This will cause students to aim for the best rather than seeing the criteria for only getting an "adequate" grade rather than a "proficient" grade. This particularly struck me because I never would have considered students would only want to do enough work to get an alright grade, but the book mentioned that some students would not think that they could do any better anyway and therefore would not strive to do so. I definitely want to use this strategy in my classroom to try and avoid this happening. If I also add a mixture of student self-assessment, this may encourage students to work even harder.

Megan Wallace
I learned that there are three main categories of assessment. They are portfolios, rubrics, and student self-assessment. Each of these methods has their own time and place. Portfolios are helpful to see how a student progressed throughout the class. Rubrics have a lot that goes into them. They help to assess the more traditional student who needs that structure. Student self-assessment helps to show what the student thinks they have learned and what they think their own strengths and weaknesses are. As a teacher I will try and use a variety of assessment techniques. This will give my students the best chance to succeed.

Linda McLaughlin
//Chapter Four: Three Important Types of Assessment// This chapter discussed the importance of using portfolios, rubrics, and self-assessments as assessments in the classroom. The book provided tips on how to create effective rubrics and how to have students do self-assessments. I think that portfolios and self-assessments are really important tools because as a teacher, I can see the growth and progress that my student has made, and the self-assessment helps me see what the student is thinking. This impacted me because I see that these three types are really important to use because it helps maximize the amount of learning. It’s going to impact my classroom because I plan to use all three for assessments. I think it will help build a good teacher-student relationship, and that will help make me a better teacher and help meet their needs.

Justin Stewart
Three types of assessment were introduced in chapter four, including portfolios, rubrics and self-assessments. Portfolios are useful to students because they require the students’ work and their explanations for why their piece of work meets the goal that was set for the portfolio. Beyond simply doing an assignment, portfolios really made me think about why I did that assignment and how that assignment really fit into the main ideas of the class. I felt like this really benefited my understanding of my work and forced me to really master the material that was being covered. This could be very helpful to the students in my class because if they keep a portfolio of the important ideas that I lay out for them in the beginning of the year, the important concepts that I want them to truly grasp will hopefully be imbedded. This is also a way for me to check and see if the students truly grasp the concepts at hand.

Jenn Baum
Chapter 4: Three Important Types of Assessment There were three types of assessment that were introduced in this chapter that seem to be more fair in their assessments. These included portfolios, self-assessments, and rubrics. In my experience, the most common of these assessments is the use of rubrics. I think that they are a lot more valid and fair in assessment because you know from the very beginning what is expected on that particular assignment. Before reading this, I did not realize how much work went into making rubrics. One recommendation that I particularly enjoyed was that when making a rubric, instead of having the minimum requirements for each level of proficiency (ex. 1-6), you can choose to provide the students only with the expectations needed in order to receive the full grade (a 6). I think that this would be a really effective way to prevent students from being lazy and settling for a lesser grade. The other type of assessment that I want to include into my classroom is self-assessments because I want to get feedback from them to ensure that my student’s opinions and learning needs are recognized.

Taylor Kemp
This chapter is about the types of assessment. The three that ere talked about were portfolios, rubrics, ad student self-assessment. The portfolios are a great way for looking back while using differentiated instruction. It is an excellent way to see progress over time for a student. If you have the student themselves pick out the work you can have them reflect back on it as well. The rubrics are a great tool for outlining exactly what is expected o an assignment, and it is always good to be clear. The self assessment is great for getting direct feedback from a student to see how they felt about an assignment. These will all impact my classroom because i am sure to put all of these practices into play while teaching.

Kaitlyn Haase
Chapter 4: Three Important Types of Assessment In chapter 4, I learned about the significance of portfolios, rubrics, and self-assessments in differentiated classrooms. Portfolios are a great way to assess students over a long period of time. Whether I choose to review portfolios of students’ work over one year or several years, I will be able to make more valid assessments of those students than if I did not use portfolios at all. Rubrics are very tricky for teachers to create because there are many factors that go into choosing the appropriate criteria. This chapter does a great job of outlining the necessary steps to creating a rubric that will allow students’ to be creative with their work and earn a deserving grade. The last type of assessment in the chapter is self-assessment. By giving students the opportunity to assess themselves they gain invaluable feedback. In my experiences, I know that I create better products when I’m able to check myself for errors based on the specific expectations of my teachers.

Olivia
In chapter four of Fair Isn’t Always Easy, three different assessing methods are discussed. The first idea is using a portfolio to keep track of students. This is an excellent way to continue assessing students in the classroom, and it helps a student keep track of their progression as well. The second method mentioned was using a rubric. Rubrics help communicate to a student what exactly is expected of them. The third method mentioned was the use of the self-assessments. By allowing students to express how they feel they have progressed, it will give me a chance as a teacher to better understand how to help my students. When I become a teacher, I will use all three of these ideas to assess my students in a differentiated classroom.

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Erin=== Chapter 4: Three Important Types of Assessment I learned about three possible ways to assess my students. After reading about portfolios, I realized that having students make a portfolio for a math class might not be the best way to assess them. I would would think that that method would be better for a creative class such as English or art. I learned that if I were to make a rubric to assess my students, I would most likely use a holistic rubric. This goes over the main ideas and the content is more black and white rather than gray. This impacted me because it made me realize that to improve my students' understanding for the subject, I would need to assess them in some way. In may classes where I have had rubrics, I have felt that I understood the concept of the project more. In my classroom, as of now, I would use a mixture of the holistic rubric with the self-assessment. But if I had to choose between the two, I would choose the rubric. This really shows where I think that student needs improvement rather than what they think.