Utilizes various assessment techniques to allow for differences in student learning styles
Provides frequent diagnostic, formative and summative assessments of student learning to ensure understanding
In my classroom there are many different assessments given to students throughout units. I think that it is very important that students are given many opportunities to show their understanding, through written, verbal and creative means. I believe very firmly in the importance of allowing students to complete long term projects and using their work throughout as well as their finished product as an assessment, instead of having every assessment be a summative written test. In order to allow students to complete assessments in many ways I have developed projects that allow them to be creative and think critically.
One such example of a project in which students were given multiple assessments was in our Fairy Tale unit in Language Arts. Students were taught the various key elements of a fairy tale throughout the unit through mini lessons. Each lesson I reviewed the element that we learned in the previous lesson, and asked different students each day to describe the previously learned element and its importance in fairy tales. I then kept a record of their responses so that I could meet with them to discuss the element if they didn't seem to grasp the concept taught. Students were then given a variety of projects to complete as another way of assessing their understanding of common literary elements. Students worked on character trait charts where they had to identify characters in fairy tales, their common traits, and whether their traits were inferred or stated directly in the book. These tables were then collected and assessed. The students also worked as a class to analyze the settings of fairy tales and they kept track of the settings that they discovered in their books. They described the settings that they found in their notebooks, and then shared verbally with the class. Then in partnerships students worked to create the setting of a common fairy tale, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Students worked together to brainstorm the setting elements, and then made a design plan for their parts. They then created their setting elements with their partner and added it to the whole class mural. Students were assessed on their ability to clearly and logically organize their plan, their ability to create setting elements that matched with the story, and their ability to create new setting elements that were not mentioned in the story but that fit with the story's theme. Each partnership created at least 2 elements that were mentioned and two that were not mentioned in order to test their understanding of this element of literature.
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| Students completed a mural with partners to show their understanding of the setting of a common fairy tale. |
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| Students completed a character map to show their understanding of inferred vs. explicit character traits. |
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| Students completed a multiplication story to assess their prior knowledge of the concept of repeated addition. |
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| Students also complete end of unit written assessments. |
