Assessment Inventory

Assessment Inventory
Date	Name and Description	Assessment Administration	Outcomes Assessed	Improvement of Teaching and Learning Process
Column1	Column2	Column3	Column4	Column5
11-Jan	Summative Assessment Chapter 8 Quiz focused on Section 8.3 about Exponents	In class quiz	Understanding of the rules of exponents	Assessing student's knowledge about the rules of exponents helps teachers become more effective
31-Jan	Formative Assessment Fractional Exponent Introductory Worksheet	In class worksheet	Introduce students to fractional exponents	See if students can recall information learned in middle school and where they stand with that knowledge now; Transitions students to a new concept: fractional exponents
31-Jan	Formative Assessment Review Worksheet about  Exponents	In class assessment graded as class participation	Understanding of exponents	Assessment allows teachers to decide whether students need another lesson or if students are ready for the next topic
7-Feb	Formative Assessment Worksheet about the Transformations of Exponential Functions	In class worksheet	Understanding of how certain parts of exponential equation transforms the parent function of an equation	Practice worksheet helps students get comfortable with an understanding of how certain variables tranform the equation rather than relying on a table of values
14-Feb	Formative Assessment Worksheet about Growth/Decay Models of Exponential Functions	In class lesson worksheet	Introduce students to exponential growth and decay and how to recognize it in word problems	Allows students to practice exponential functions with real-life related questions
21-Feb	Formative Assessment Worksheet about Solving Exponentials	In class group worksheet	Graphing calculator skills of finding solutions for exponential functions	Technology lesson helps students learn how to use a calculator; helps students follow certain steps to find a solution on the graph and table of values
3-Mar	Summative Assessment Chapter 7 Quiz: Operations of Polynomials	In class quiz	Identifying and operations with polynomials	Helps teachers assess students' knowledge
15-Mar	Formative Assessment Worksheet about Factoring Polynomials	In class worksheet	Factoring Polynomials	Assess student's understanding and skills of factoring polynomials

Philosophy of Assessment

After learning about numerous assessments, I have realized that they can all offer something to the classroom. When choosing an assessment, I first consider what kind of learning I would like to assess. For example, if I want to see how well students work in the lab, I would not choose to give a written test or an essay because it would not accurately measure their abilities. Instead, I would use a performance lab activity and observe students to see if they can properly use things such as the microscope and pipettes. Using this kind of thinking, I will use tests, exit tickets, oral presentations, and other assessments in the classroom based on what the learning criteria entails.

Just as I will use assessments to help students learn better, I will also use assessments to help me teach better. I will statistically analyze the results of tests and other assessments to determine which questions should be rewritten or omitted. I will also use exit tickets to help me determine if there is something I am not teaching effectively. For example, if an exit ticket shows me that the majority of the class is confused about a certain topic, I will readdress the topic to the class and make a note in my lesson plans to teach it differently in future classes. Finally, I will use student surveys to help me determine what I can improve upon. The survey questions will address how helpful certain class activities and teaching methods were and a section will allow students to include their own comments.

Along with becoming more effective in teaching certain subjects, part of becoming a better teacher includes fairness. If rubrics are elusive or subjective, there is room for favoritism in the grading. I will be a fair grader by creating structured rubrics to avoid any personal bias. I will consult with other teachers to make sure my assessments and rubrics are effective and fair. I will also assure that my assessments do not discriminate against different abilities by making sure student learning is measured rather than students’ innate abilities.

https://www.linkedin.com/

I believe technology can benefit my classroom to a certain degree. In my classroom observations, students were supplied with an iPad and are expected to take notes and stay on topic. However, this classroom tool has led to immense distractions as I’ve noticed students in the back of the classroom playing with different apps. To avoid these kind of distractions, I will use educational games such as Kahoot or Quizalize at select times in the classroom rather than allowing students to use their electronic device throughout the entire class period.

http://www.scoop.it/

Throughout this class, I really resonated with McMillian’s (2008) textbook. The textbook straightforwardly showed me everything I need to know about classroom assessments. I also resonated with Black and William’s theory that formative assessment improves learning (Kingston & Nash, 2011). Rather than just measuring students’ knowledge with summative assessments, I will try to help my students learn with formative assessments. The theory that I resonated the most with was the importance of affective assessment (Hall, 2011). I believe that addressing and helping a student develop a positive affect towards learning can have lasting, profound effects on that student’s life.

https://www.amazon.com/

As of now, I have developed my personal philosophy based on what I learned in textbooks and classroom observations. I have no doubt that my personal philosophy is subject to change in the future when I actually start teaching. Although I still have much to learn from my mentors and from my mistakes, I can proudly say that I am moving in a positive direction. Thank you for reading!

References

Hall, R.A. (2011). Affective assessment: The missing piece of the educational reform puzzle. Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin: International Journal for Professional Educators, 77(2), 7.

Kingston, N., & Nash, B. (2011). Formative assessment: A meta-analysis and a call for research. Education Measurement: Issues and Practice, 30(4), p. 28-37.

McMillian, J.H. (2008). Assessment essentials for standards-based education. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Grading

http://www.standunited.org/_media/

Usually when I think back on bad grading experiences, I think back to my high school history teacher. Since I used this example so often already, I will switch it up and talk about my college lab teacher. The class I took with this teacher was all lab based; there was no lecture. However, the teacher would often utilize the first 30-60 minutes reading off of a PowerPoint in the front of the lab class. There were some external factors that made it difficult to learn in that room that the teacher had no control over: there was a constant hum of machines and a vent that often over-powered her voice. What she could control, though, was how she taught and how clear she was about objectives. My teacher read off the PowerPoint slides word for word in a monotonous tone, never pausing at the end of sentences nor adding any emphasis to any part of sentences. The way she spoke put half of the class to sleep on any given day and motivated the other half to use this time to work on assignments for other classes. We would have a quiz every few weeks based on what we learned on class but the quiz outline was not clear on what we had to know. My best friend and I (along with the majority of the class) received 50s-60s on these quizzes. This experience reminds me of the experiences in the article. One of the teachers recall that they had an unfair physics class because the students didn’t know what to expect on the tests (Guskey, 2006).

https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/x/boring-teacher-23630688.jpg

Although I’ve had a few negative experiences with grading, I’ve also had positive ones. My most positive experience was in organic chemistry. According to student gossip, I had the most difficult teacher and it would be nearly impossible to get an A. I was motivated by the challenge and I put my all into the class. My teacher, unlike the other teachers, went into very deep detail about every organic chemistry topic. She expected us to know even the slightest details and put arrows showing movement of every positive and negative charge. She also gave very detailed study guides. This was a positive grading experience for me because the teacher was challenging but very clear about her expectations. In the article, one of the students had a similar experience as they reported about a teacher that “expected a lot, but showed us how to meet his expectations” (Guskey, 2006).  

I want to use my past experiences to help shape me into a fair grader. I want to be clear about my expectations towards my students by providing detailed rubrics and study guides. I also want to utilize my class time as well as I can by providing engaging lessons while speaking in a clear, enthusiastic voice. To prevent from bias, I want to use by rubrics to grade student work as objectively as possible. If it helps, I could grade the assessments while covering the name of the student to assure that I don’t act on any assumptions I have of how well my students should have done.

                                                   

Reference

Guskey, T. R. (2006). "It Wasn't Fair!" Educators' Recollections of Their Experiences as Students with Grading. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.

Student Ability

After reading the book about growth and fixed mindsets (Dweck, 2007), I am inclined to believe that students have the ability to succeed if they so desire. I believe all students are capable of learning given the right mindset and the right environment. The right environment can be at home or in school. For example, I have a mom that’s a math teacher so I got a very solid foundation at home. For other people who can’t have that kind of help at home, teachers can help create that right environment in the classroom.

To create this type of environment, a teacher can use various teaching strategies. Teachers can accommodate the various types of learners by speaking a lot to audio learners and using diagrams and drawings for visual learners. Teachers can also use techniques to help learners with disabilities including color-coding, peer/cross-age tutoring, and use of calculators (Maccini & Gagnon, 2006).

I believe that students can show how well they are learning, but it might not be in the same exact way. Some people are strong writers and some people are strong singers. Although everyone does have the ability to grow stronger in abilities they are weaker in (Dweck, 2007), it can be easier for one to express oneself using abilities they are strong in. For example, when two students understand something equally, one may express it in words while the other expresses it in pictures.

To ensure my students have the opportunity to express their learning, I will include various dimensions to my assessments. On tests, I will include a variety of test questions including critical-thinking questions, multiple-choice questions, and essay prompts. For projects, I will give students a flexibility to choose what they would want to do whether it be creating a mural, writing a skit, or writing a rap song. By using a variety of assessments, I will keep from being biased by only using one assessment type over and over again.

References

Dweck, C.S. (2007). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York: Ballantine.

Maccini, P., & Gagnon, J.C. (2006). Mathematics Instructional Practices and Assessment Accommodations by Secondary Special and General Educators. Exceptional Children, 72(2), 217-234.

Addressing Affective Domain

http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/affective/index.html

The affective domain of learning involves a student’s attitudes, interests, and values (Hall, 2011). Without a positive affective domain, a student will likely do poorly in a class, even if he or she has the capability and skills to do well. Similar to the growth and fixed mindset that we learned about, a certain affect could hold students back. Hall (2011) demonstrates this with an example: a student that have the ability to write and comprehend reading may do poorly just because they have a negative affect.

Even though having a positive affect towards learning would really help a student learn, teachers often neglect affective assessments (Hall, 2011). From my experience, most teachers focus on improving students’ cognition, but very few address students’ affect. While trying to improve assignments and the structure of homework assignments will certainly help a teacher become a more effective instructor, it does not address how open the students will be to learn.

I plan to use affective assessments in my classroom to help both my students and me improve. I will use self-reflective essays and assignments to help students help themselves. For example, I can ask my students to write an essay about why they don’t want to learn about biology. Through answering this question, students may learn about what’s holding them back from learning. Self-reflective rubrics are also a valuable self-improvement tool; students compare their assignments and projects to the rubrics to determine how they can improve their work (Andrade, 2007/2008). Through this action, students will develop independence towards creating better work.

Unlike self-reflective essays and rubrics, the questionnaire and survey type of assessments will help me improve more than my students. Questionnaires will allow me to quickly see how my class as a whole feels towards learning certain subjects (Popham, 2009); I could then use this data to adjust my lesson plans. Surveys, similar to questionnaires, will help me understand how my students feel. Unlike questionnaires, surveys will be more in depth and less anonymous (Gibson & Chase, 2002). I could use the data from surveys to help me address each student personally.

References

Andrade, H. (2007/2008, December/January). Self-assessment through rubrcs. Educational Leadership, 65(4), 60-62.

Hall, R.A. (2011). Affective assessment: The missing piece of the educational reform puzzle. Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin: International Journal for Professional Educators, 77(2), 7.

Gibson, H.L., & Chase, C. (2002). Longitudinal impact of inquiry-based science program on middle school students’ attitudes towards science. Science Education, 86(5), 693-705.

Popham, W.J. (2009). Assessing Student Affect. Educational Leadership, 66(8), 85-86.

Creating a Foundation

As a biology major, it’s almost ironic that I struggled with general biology both in high school and in college. Learning facts like the contents of a cell, the genes of pea pods, and taxonomic naming were as random to me as learning sporadic dates in history class. It was also difficult for me to conceptualize these things because I couldn’t see them. Mr. M, my high school biology teacher, tried to do fun activities like decorate a cake like a cell and watch a YouTube video of little cartoon organelles moving around in a cell. From these activities, I learned that I should memorize the list of organelles in a cell, even though I didn’t understand what an organelle or a cell was. My general biology college professor didn’t help clear this confusion, either. She flipped through PowerPoint slides that had cartoonish images of cells and DNA and organelles. She made us memorize how each of these cartoon organelles looked like and what they did. I only truly understood cells when I looked at various kinds of cells under the microscope in anatomy, learned about how these cells made up organs, and learned about why we need these organs. It was much easier for me to know these facts when they connected in my brain rather than when they were a list or a diagram that I needed to memorize. From these Master’s classes, I learned that people learn better when using a web of knowledge rather than memorizing unconnected facts. To help students create this web, teachers should take a day or even a week to teach why and how things such as cells and DNA are connected. Also, teachers should let students see real cells before subjecting them to these cartoon diagrams.

http://www.yourgenome.org/

http://thegreatestgarden.com/animal-cell-light-microscope-observation/

While I struggled with general biology, I noticed other students struggle with basic algebra. When students had to answer more complex math problems, they were often trumped by the basic principle of PEMDAS. Math is a subject that builds upon itself. If these students don’t understand how to answer these problems now, they will only struggle more in college when they need to use these concepts in chemistry and physics. There should be more support for students to create a solid foundation of knowledge of math. If teachers don’t have enough time to sit down with every confused student, they should pair confused students with students that can explain these concepts to them.

Assessing Assessments

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This week, I learned about the five different types of assessments: selected-response, constructed-response, performance assessments, portfolio, and self-assessment (McMillian, 2008). I think each of these assessments have their own strengths and weaknesses that need to be considered before utilizing them in a classroom.

Personally, I enjoyed doing portfolio assessment because it gave me self-motivation to research on my own. I enjoy how personalized it was and how it allowed me to demonstrate what I was researching. However, before I use this in a classroom I will consider that although it demonstrates what a student learned on their own, it doesn’t necessarily guide students to learn a specific topic. For example, in a math or biology class, I wouldn’t depend on portfolio to teach a student the curriculum but I will use it as a side project to let students explore specific topics they are interested in. I think performance and self-assessments have the same trait as portfolio assessment: although they promote and measure higher cognitive abilities, they shouldn’t be used to measure knowledge of facts.

I think a balance between selected-response and constructed-response questions most accurately measured my learning. Selected-responses have a certain merit to them. If questions are worded correctly, I think this could be a very helpful tool to include on tests. However, as a teacher, I will use caution when using these types of questions in a classroom because I know how easy it is for questions to be too confusing or too easy.

While selected-response questions are like a broad web of measuring students’ knowledge; constructed-response questions can fill in the gaps to ensure students actually understand (McMillian, 2008). Although constructed-response is more reliable to measure deep understanding, it still has its flaws. I remember as a student when certain short-answer questions focused on a certain topic I didn’t study, and I just had to leave it blank. As a teacher, I will help students avoid this frustration on tests by giving test outlines that clarify what they will be tested on.

Overall, I enjoyed all of these assessments and I think they are all necessary in a classroom. Just as a dinner plate consists of a main course and a variety of sides, a classroom needs a little bit of all the five assessments to get an accurate idea of how much students know and to give them an opportunity to demonstrate their skills.

Reference

McMillian, J.H. (2008). Assessment essentials for standards-based education. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.