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Assessment Strategies Article Response: Formative Assessment in Higher Education: Moves Towords Theory and the Enhancement of Pedagogic Practice By Mantez Yorke

Formative Assessment in Higher Education: Moves Towords Theory and the Enhancement of Pedagogic Practice By Mantez Yorke


"Formative assessment is a concept that is more complex than it might appear at first sight. The basic Idea seems simple enough - the central purpose of formative assessment is to contribute to students learning through the provision of information about performance" (479)

What I liked about this article is the approach and the attention that the research had on using formative assessments. A few of the main points in the first page are quite interesting especially the section that distinguishes between formative and summative assessment.

"Formative because the student is expected to learn from whatever feedback is provided, and summative because the grade awarded contributes to the overall grade at the end of the study unit." (480)

I have had trouble trying to understand the difference. I always thought that assessments are just one or the other, but why can't there be both? You need both to accurately judge if you and the students are hitting the objectives and the goals set for the lesson.

Another interesting thing about this article is the effect that formative assessment and how “formative assessment  works – it is effective in promoting student learning across a wide range of educational settings.”  It gives direct and quality feedback that supports any type, kind, socio-economic status, etc. of schools because formative assessment adjusts to the students. This feedback can be used by the students to reflect and grow with a long term impact.

TPA Lesson Plan: Onomatopoeia!!!

I am super proud of this lesson plan! So I am posting it here to share it =)
Power Point
Work Sheet
Lesson Plan

Weekly Update 2

WEEKLY UPDATE 2!!!

Highlights!!

I am really excited to get back the poetry books that were a part of the lesson last week. Right now I am grading them using the assigned rubric and responding to each section that is being graded. I loved how excited some of the students got when they turned in their copy of the poem flip book. I want to really take the time to grade and respond to each and every one of them.

Something that makes me think differently about teaching:

the students are preparing for the MPS next week. I can already see the intense anxiety from the students and the teachers. From my experience with the WASL I know exactly how they feel. What I find Interesting is how much my class's curriculum focuses on strategies to pass the writing MSP and not the real development of writing to share your thoughts with another person.

A Practice that I wish to Adopt!!!!

My master teacher is the pro of lesson flow! The lessons are seamless and transitions are almost unnoticeable. It leaves no room for distraction and optimizes the time spent on actual learning. I believe that it is not something that I can do right away, but come with practice.

Conflicting situations:

Because I am the YOUNG new student teacher, many of the students find many things they want to chat about that is off topic. I really would love to hear what they have to say, but I am learning where I need to stand firm and where to make those personal connections.

Weekly Update 1

Weekly Update!

Context for Learning

My school is a middle school of 7th and 8th grade. While talking to my Master Teacher, he mentioned that this middle school is feeded by a demographic mix of elementary schools.

I was lucky enough that my placement was with a teacher who taught not only an accelerated English class, but also classes that have students who are struggling with meeting the standards. For the first couple weeks I got to observe both classes and interact with the students during busy time. Each class has about 25 to 30 kids and every desk has a student. This English class is a required for the year, but they do have shifts of content and focus in each semester. Last quarter I was at the school for about four hours a week, and now I have shifted into nine hours plus a bit more with an extra planning period to plan and reflect with my cooperating teacher.

His class is set up differently that the other classes in the building. Walking by the classrooms you see that most of them have individual desks in rows. My placement classroom has large tables that form spacious groups of five or six students. I really like this set up because it lets the student’s engage learning with each other and it fits my teacher’s teaching-style well.

Lately, the students have been working on their skills in essay writing. (Mostly this is due to the MSP test that will be coming up soon.) BUT, they also have been working out of a big blue literature text book that has a collection of stories with review questions and quick-write prompts. The students also have been involved in the AR reading program. Where the students read a book according to a specific level and then take a test online to show their understanding of the book. My placement classroom has three computers specifically for this program, but they are also available for word processing.

My teacher uses his room to the fullest, everyday there is an entry task on the smart board and directions for important tasks for the day on the white board. He also uses his window as a surface to write on and leaves important information up for students to look and recall details of writing.

I really enjoy the students in the two of the seventh grade classes that I am now a part of. They are very engaging with the subject matter and really love to create rather than reproduce required learning. (Some would rather create metaphors that involve inevitable crashing meteors and life of a middle school student than write a persuasive essay on school uniforms.) =) They all show a definite want to do better and show their work off. I loved having the students come up and show me how clever they can be through their poetry. The classes are evenly about 50/50 boys and girls. I am pretty sure that many of the students can speak more than one language, but I am not aware of any of them being involved in ESL programs.

TPA Review and Response

The Teacher Performance Assessment, the TPA, or the thing you will use to become a teacher. Whatever you decided to call it, this assessment for new teachers of Washington State is a well put together framework that gives candidates and teachers the tools to develop well written, standard based, and goal oriented lesson plans.

At first glance this handout that EWU has created seems like a bunch of rhetorical questions. The kinds of things that make me think, “Well, no duh!” Example: Who are the students in this class? Or What kind of assessments will you use in the lesson plan? I think at this stage in the game that I should have a grasp on these things, but it is nice to have a bit of clarity and depth into each section of the lesson plan.

What I like the most about the TPA, is the details that each section asks for in the lesson plan. Though I am a book nerd and like narratives as much as the next person, I find that the outline form of the TPA and the divided section are easier to read and follow. Anyone who picks up the lesson plan should be able to know what the objectives for the lesson, how to run/teach the lesson, the big idea and essential question of the lesson, and finally how to asses student learning in the lesson.

Another thing that is interesting about this lesson plan is that it is being used by many of my peers. In a way it connects us to each other in a way so we can share and understand our lesson plans. We can give advice on a level we all understand and perhaps barrow lesson plans from each other and know exactly how to deliver them to our future students.

One thing that I am not particularly fond of this lesson plan is that it is a requirement for the teacher candidates to know, but there isn't any real knowledge of the TPA until we are right in the middle of producing them. I wish I had a specific class that could take the time to develop writing lesson plans. I mean I have had management classes and assessment classes, but they needed to combine many other things and lesson plans were just a small part of it.

Other than hesitation of my knowledge of lesson plan writing, I like the TPA. It’s easy to understand once you get it down. It also covers many areas that are important to think of before you actually hit the lesson itself. I also appreciate how we can use our lesson plans to share with or get critiques from colleagues.

Welcome to my Blog!!

This my first time starting a blog! I hope that it will become beneficial to me and to other teacher candidates. =)

- Mindy