FIAE+B2+Chapter+3

Chapter 3: Principles of Successful Assessment in the Differentiated Classroom
by: Erin O'Halloran

This lengthy chapter was mostly about assessment how teachers need to evaluate what their students have learned. Working backwards is essential to stay on track when forming assessments. In order to determine how much of the information the students have absorbed, teachers need to categorize the information they teach into concepts they //know, understand//, and are able to //do// ([|KUD]). //Know// refers to how much the students preserve and can memorize. //Understand// refers to connections students make with the material. //Do// refers to what the students are able to demonstrate or duplicate. Before a unit starts, teachers should pre-assess their students to establish the readiness of the students in the classroom. This could also be a way to document development in the subject. There are many different [|activities] that could be used to pre-assess rather than give a written test. Formative assessments are done throughout the lesson and are done often. They can be quizzes, journal entries, reflections, etc. There is a lot of feedback given when the assessments are passed back, but not all of these particular assessments are graded. Summative assessments are given at the end of the lesson, or unit. These assessments are generally graded and cover all the material discussed in the lesson. This is where teachers need to make the objectives clear to the students; the students should not have to ask if certain material will be on the test, they should know.

Everyone got the general ideas of the chapter. Almost all the posts mentioned the different types of assessments: pre, formal, and summative. Pre-assessment seemed to be the favorite out of all the types of assessments and was mentioned in the majority of the posts. It was apparent that outlining the expectations, vocabulary, and main ideas of the chapter is very important to avoid confusion. The UbD/DI book was also mentioned in a few posts because in this chapter of FIAE, the method of working backwards was discussed. There was not much confusion in this chapter and everyone seemed to agree with the ideas and suggestions of assessments. Another common theme in the posts was being able to change methods of assessment (or of teaching) if you feel the students are not learning. Teachers need to be on their toes and prepare for everything.

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Charli Sayward
Chapter 3: Principles of Successful Assessment in the Differentiated Classroom The important concept I absorbed was assessing more often than not is better for checking a student’s progress. Pre-assessments and formative assessments are helpful for knowing how to differentiate for a student before starting a lesson or a project. As a math teacher I will give out weekly quizzes, some graded, some not, just to keep tabs on how my students are doing. As a student I learned a lot from my mistakes on quizzes, and it helped my test grades significantly. It was also helpful when my teacher dropped many of the quiz grades. I was able to learn better when the pressure was off. I plan to do the same for my students. They will be motivated to study for quizzes, but if they don’t do as well as they had hoped they don’t have to stress when I exclude that quiz grade. They can just learn from what they did wrong

Kassaundra
Chapter 3: Principles of Successful Assessment in the Differentiated Classroom Chapter 3 highlights the idea that students learn and achieve more when they have a clear picture of what the expectations for them are. This means I can’t just assume students will know what is expected of them, I will need to outline my expectations at the beginning of the unit or lesson. It was good to find out that there is a way for teachers to prioritize which standards or objectives most need to be taught by categorizing them. This will be helpful to me as a teacher because I tend to be so passionate that I would want to teach every minute detail. By using this method my students won’t be bogged down by tons of information. Also, it is good to know that there are many resources available that can help me teach a unit for the first time. This will make me more confident and in turn benefit my students. This chapter also emphasizes that pre-assessments should be derived from the summative assessment so that the knowledge before and after the unit can be compared more effectively. Most of all, if we as teachers do not take action after getting the results of assessments then we have defeated the purpose of assessing our students. As a teacher, I will need to be able to change my instruction if the assessment I give indicates I should do so, I should not just keep teaching they way I had originally planned.

Alyssa Wadsworth
This chapter was about assessment. I learned that a lot of teachers will give these assessments and, instead of taking into account the results of the assessments, continue to play out the lesson plans they already made. This renders the assessments unnecessary and useless because they are not making a difference in how the teacher is teaching the unit. This impacts me because I have already learned how to assess students, and this tells me how to use the results of the assessments for the success of my students. I have also learned that “providing students with specific information about their standing in terms of particular objectives increased their achievement by 37 percentile points” (Marzano et al. 2001, p. 23). This means that, not only will I be able to use the assessments I give my students, but my students will also be able to use their own results. My students will also be impacted by the fact that I can effectively use what they tell me in pre, formal, and summative assessments and thus help them learn more effectively.

Bri Douglass
In this chapter, just like with the backward unit design, they discuss beginning a unit with the end in mind. I learned that by giving the test on the first day of teaching is not cheating or making it easier but rather creating connections between material and the test. This idea of connections is part of the MEL model so therefore students learn the material better if they know the purpose. I was thinking though, as a math teacher I don’t want student to do the problems at home during the unit and solely memorize answers. Later in the section it says that teachers are left the right to change the order of problems or in mathematics, the numbers in questions. In my future classroom I could use this technique during my units so that my expectations will be clear from day 1. I would definitely change the order or maybe how they are asked from true or false to matching or short response, etc because I want to challenge my students by still being fair to all.

Darcie Simmons
This chapter on assessment was a lot like the UbD/DI book in saying that the backwards design is a good way to build units. And that, in order to build a successful unit, you should start at the middle or the end, instead of the beginning. This is successful, because as the teacher, I am first thinking about what my students should be getting out of the unit, and not necessarily the content of the unit. Another thing that I gathered from this chapter was that students like to know exactly what it is they’re getting assessed on before they begin a project. So as the teacher, I need to be able to provide them with the information and goals that they need to reach, to achieve the grade that they deserve. These two things that I pulled out of the chapter are linked together. Because you cannot create a rubric on what the students should be able to show, without coming up with the skills and content within the standard that they need to know. I may also be able to incorporate some of the skills from the UbD/DI and the Tic-Tac-Toe model that was provided. So not only will the kids know what they need to show, they will also be able to chose the best way for their learning styles to show that mastery.

Jenn Baum
Chapter 3: Principles of Successful Assessment in the Differentiated Classroom In this chapter, various ways to successfully and fairly assess students in differentiated classrooms was discussed. After reading it, I learned that it is best to be upfront with students about what you are looking for by pre-assessing them with the unit test, for example. Also making sure to assess frequently and in different ways in order to provide positive and informative feedback to both the student as a learner and to the teacher, who can adjust the lessons as a result of the feedback. The final summative assessment should not be a surprise to the students and should follow closely with the essential and enduring knowledge and goals. Before reading this chapter I did not really realize the importance of assessing students in such a variety of ways because I have become so accustomed to being assessed by high stakes exams. In one of my classes in college, I had two grades for the entire semester, neither of which truly assessed a students ability to master the material, but rather whether or not they could memorize vocabulary or people. In my class I want to be able to provide my students with all of the tools they need to be successful and make sure that they are all given many opportunities to demonstrate understanding and mastery of the subject.

Kelly Steinhagen
The main idea that I learned from this reading is that a teacher needs to be flexible. Lesson plans, evidence of mastery, and instruction are all things that require flexibility in order to effectively teach the students. This also helps generate more students that have mastered the unit and have attained the six facets of understanding. Something that I had not considered previously was adjusting the standards so that the most important standards get met. The three categories that they could be broken into are essential, highly desirable, and desirable, and these categories will eventually help me prioritize my lesson plans. I also plan to integrate the recommended order of assessments, beginning with summative, then going onto pre-assessment, and finishing with formative assessments.

Ryan Pelletier
I found two interesting things in this chapter. Understand, in the KUD is important to me. I know all three concepts have to be met in order to have an effective lesson. I just found that in my schooling experience the teachers focused mostly on the Knowing. I became very good at memorizing and not understanding. In my classroom I hope to have balance between knowing, understanding, and Doing. Another part that I found interesting was authentic assessment. I also felt that my teachers in high school focused on length more than what was written. I always worried that I would not have enough pages or words to pass the paper in. I should have been focusing on what was being put into the paper.

Justin Stewart
The biggest thing that jumped out to me in chapter three was to be abrupt with the students. Tell them what is going to be on the tests so that they can look for those important facts that they will need to put in their reservoir of knowledge. Having an idea of what I will be expected to know for an assessment before the content was provided always allowed me to know all of the information that was truly important in the material covered. I learned more when I knew what it was that I needed to concentrate on instead of memorizing everything in the book. I will pass out tests at the beginning so that they can differentiate the important aspects from when they come up in class. The numbers and certain material in the “true” test will be changed, but everything else on the test will be exactly the same.

Megan Wallace
I learned that the assessments that I give my students must show me not only what they have already learned but how to help them learn in the future as well. By giving them multiple kinds of assessment I can see how they learn and plan my lesson accordingly. If what I am currently doing is not helping them I must be able to adapt my teaching style. I will assess on a frequent basis to make sure that the students are keeping up with my rate of teaching. I will also make sure that my expectations of them are known from the beginning that way there are no surprises for them later in the course.

Taylor Kemp
This chapter was all about assessing your students. It talked about how assessing more often then not is better. This is a good way to check the progress of your students and see what is needed to be focused on more until the actual has come up. Also along with an outline is a very handy tool for students to have while learning. It shows the end goal of what they need to know. With this in hand, there are no surprises and they can be an active participant in the learning process. How this will impact my classroom is that I will have a large number of small assessments to track progress as well as always letting my students know what my expectations are up front. It is not fair to them if I were to tell them after the fact when they have already finished. I will make these resources available at all times.

Lyzz Stevenson
**Chapter 3**: Assessment is the most effective way to measure a students learning. Pre-assessing students is helpful as it gives you a sense of previous knowledge. From here teachers can give appropriate formative assessments and summative assessments. Pre assessments also allow teachers to modify their outline for a unit if need be. It is important when teaching not to assume students knowledge of anything. This way you can cover everything relevant and students will not fell overwhelmed. This is important to me as some science subjects over lap and some information could be skipped.

Erin
In Chapter 3: Principles of Successful Assessment in the Differentiated Classroom, gives many examples of "good" assessments. There were a few topics that really stuck out for me. The topic about students not having to ask if certain material is going to be on a test. The teacher should explain the material that is going to be on the test in such a way that the students should not need to ask. This would make studying easier for the students and will know what material is the most important. What impacted me the most was the section about "fluff". In way too many classes, my teachers assigned unnecessary projects and students would put too much work into them. To not assign "fluff" homework or projects and if I ever do unknowingly, then I will remember and not assign that project to future classes.

Linda McLaughlin
//Chapter Three: Principles of Successful Assessment in the Differentiated Classroom// I learned a lot about how to successfully provide assessments for my students. I like how this book also discussed the idea of starting with the end in mind, so that the students have the big idea, and as a teacher, you also teach in a way that’s efficient for the students. I learned that the assessments are based on the essential understandings and questions of the unit (p.27) and that it is important to do assessments more often than not. The three types of assessments that they thought were important to design and implement are pre-assessments, formative assessments, and summative assessments. I didn’t really know the difference between formative and summative assessments before reading this. This impacted me because it made me realize that there is so much more to assessments than I thought. Doing a variety of assessments will help me save time and energy while teaching my lessons because it’s going to give me an idea of where my students are and whether or not I need to go back and do more work or move ahead. This will impact my classroom because it will help my students feel like they’re playing a role in determining how they’re learning. It also helps them be in control of the pace of the lesson.

Kaitlyn Haase
Chapter 3: Principles of Successful Assessment in the Differentiated Classroom

In chapter 3 I learned about a lot of benefits of practicing good assessment as a teacher. Assessment should go beyond just simply giving students grades; it should provide a lot of meaningful information to the teacher as well as others. For example, by assessing my students using a method that is authentic to their learning experience, I would hope to gain knowledge of what is actually worth being assessed in my class. I would also like to gather information pertaining to my teaching methods; perhaps my assessment shows I need to make changes in instruction. It is important to note that assessment should be an on-going process and shouldn’t be kept to the very end of a unit. For instance, in a lot of my math classes, we have quizzes every Friday and then we have a test at the end of a big unit.

Matt Towle
Chapter 3 discussed a variety of ways to use assessment in the classroom. I learned about the three different types of assessment and the specific uses of each. It had never occurred to me that teachers would write their final unit tests before any of the others but not it makes complete sense. By writing the final exam first, teachers are able to work to the information they are requiring students to understand. This will affect me in the classroom because I will now be able to create my lessons and units based on the information I will want students to know when I have completed the unit. By creating my units using this "backwards" method, I will be able to keep the goals of the unit in mind at all times. It will also be very useful to use pre-assessments in order to gauge where each of my students are before I start the unit. This way I will be able to teach more responsively.

Olivia
Chapter three discussed the use of assessments in the classroom. Many things I read about in this chapter I recall doing in high school. In most of my classes, we started the first day by taking a quiz about the subject being taught and from that our teacher was supposed to teach according to our grades. It had helped me to better understand what I needed to do as a learner in the specific subject area, but it never felt as though my instructors had really paid attention to what my quiz results were. As a teacher, I will be sure to accommodate my students to the best of my abilities. I will not start teaching about historical facts of colonial America if they know nothing about the reasons England chose to colonize. I hope to reach my students needs through assessing them often.