Standard 9. Teachers use appropriate formal and informal assessment strategies with individuals and groups of students to determine the impact of instruction on learning, to provide feedback, and to plan future instruction.
Teachers…
9.1 select and/or design individual and group classroom assessments based on the strengths, limitations, and data provided by the assessments
9.2 identify and consider student and contextual variables that may influence performance so that a student’s performance can be validly interpreted
9.3 systematically collect, synthesize, and interpret assessment results from multiple assessments to monitor, improve, and report individual and group achievement
9.4 provide students with opportunities and guidance to evaluate their own work and behavior against defined criteria and use the results of self-assessment to establish individual goals for learning
9.5 use assessment results to provide students with timely, helpful, and accurate feedback on their progress toward achievement goals
9.6 maintain records of student learning and communicate student progress to students, parents/guardians, and other colleagues
9.7 use information from their assessment of students to reflect on their own teaching, to modify their instruction and to help establish professional development goals
Artifact #1: Kahoot Assessments
Description:
Kahoot, the online classroom response tool, has been a useful and fun way to assess the information my students are learning from a read aloud or research topic. For example, after reading aloud the Rhode Island Children’s Book Award (RICBA ) nominee, I Dissent, and having students watch a short YouTube clip about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the students played a Kahoot game to test their knowledge. From the results, I could determine the impact from instruction or decide to reteach particular portions of the topic.
How artifact demonstrates meeting the standard:
This artifact demonstrates meeting standard 9 because this informal assessment strategy determines the impact of instruction on my students’ learning. Each student’s response is recorded to individual questions and a summary is given to determine the percentage of correct answers, the percentage of incorrect answers, and the average score. Based on the students’ responses to questions, I can easily determine what topics were understood and which may need additional instruction.
Why I chose this artifact:
I chose this artifact to demonstrate mastery of standard 9 because Kahoot is a fun, yet effective tool to assess students’ learning. The results provided in a spreadsheet format are perfect for assessing each student and assessing the learning that has taken place. I can easily tell if a particular topic was not understood by most students by evaluating the percentages of correct vs incorrect responses and then make adjustments in future instruction. This form of assessment is great for students as well because they don’t feel like they are being assessed, only that they are playing a game and trying to win points for correct and quick responses.
Artifact #2: Wolf Lesson KWL chart, Student assessment, Teacher assessment
Description:
During the wolf lesson unit for grades 3-5, students filled out a KWL chart to keep track of their learning progression throughout the unit study. First, students shared facts they already knew about wolves and then what they wondered about wolves. Students were able to add to their “Learned” column after several lessons. The first lesson was hands-on discovery of a wolf pelt, coyote skull, wolf skull, deer leg, deer antler, deer jaw, moose jaw, beaver skull, a wolf tracking collar, etc. Each item allowed great questioning and wondering opportunities for all. The second week’s wolf unit continued with an inside look into my personal experience studying wolves in Yellowstone National Park with a Google slides presentation. Students viewed pictures I took of a wolf den, the acclimation pens where they kept the reintroduced wolves, and viewed scientific data from the reintroduction process. Throughout this lesson, students were able to add knowledge to their learned column in their KWL charts, creating additional informal assessment opportunities.
In the final week, I read the book, The Wolves are Back by Jean Craighead George. This read-aloud gave students the opportunity to ask great analytical questions and think about how taking a keystone species, like the wolf, out of a local ecosystem had a detrimental effect on all parts, from the grasses and birds to the moose and fox. Students were also given time to research additional wolf facts through provided links in their Google Classroom. Any additional gained knowledge was written in the learned column of their KWL charts for an informal summative assessment of their knowledge of wolves.
At the end of this wolf unit students were given a self-assessment paper to fill out. Students assessed their ability to listen and follow directions, share facts and wonderings, listen respectfully to their peers, locate and gather new information about wolves, and work well with their group. Finally, I assessed each individual student with a summative analytic rubric using the same criteria students self-assessed with, giving a score from 1 (beginning) - 4 (exceeded).
How artifact demonstrates meeting the standard:
This artifact demonstrates meeting standard 9 because students were informally assessed throughout the wolf lesson unit on their KWL chart. These informal assessments allowed me to collect, and synthesize results to monitor and improve group achievement. I was able to use the information I gathered from the KWL charts each week to inform my instruction for the following lessons. Students asked questions and began discussions based on what was written in their KWL charts. I also used these assessments to guide my feedback to students as they were gathering new information about wolves.
The student self-assessment provided the opportunity for students to evaluate their own work, behavior, and collaboration skills. While the individual student summative assessment allowed for a record of their student learning, which was also shared with their guardians and classroom teacher.
Why I chose this artifact:
I chose this artifact to demonstrate mastery of standard 9 because these assessments were my first examples of creating rubrics for both the student and myself to fill out. I struggled at first with defining the criteria for the rubrics and received great advice from both my CT and course professor. I reviewed my lesson objectives and built the criteria for the rubrics from this information. These assessment strategies were helpful in assessing a long unit spanning several grades because I learned how to continuously assess during instruction and use this knowledge to better inform my lessons the following weeks. I was able to provide informal feedback throughout the lesson and formal feedback at the end of the unit.