WEEK #10- Apr 10, 2024
We started class with a fun assessment game, which I liked—it was interactive and enjoyable, much like Kahoot. Then we moved on to discussing interview preparation. I feel ready for my interview since I’ve been turning in assignments on time and putting in a lot of effort.
For the dialogue paper, I wasn’t happy with the average feedback from my classmates. I believe I deserved a higher grade because I met all the requirements. Also, I think my eportfolio was well-done since I submitted everything on time and put in a lot of effort.
to end the class we assessed our peer’s assessment plan demonstrations. I was not incredibly impressed with the way myself and my peers did on our plans. We were missing key components and lacked the specifics of feedback, professional development, and demonstration of our assessments during the 3-week block. I think many of us may have been performing well during the internship but lost or disregarded the examples or “proof” of our work.
assessment plan demonstrations, and interview preparing.
WEEK #9- Apr 3, 2024
During our discussion on assessment strategies used during our internships, I was surprised that interactive activities weren’t widely utilized by my peers to gauge student understanding. I found interactive lessons and assessments effective for engaging my students and catering to their attention spans.
The “5 Lenses of Data” provided good information, although I feel I’m not as advanced on the scale as I’d like to be, especially in exploring provincial data. During my internship, I primarily focused on individual and classroom data as I wasn’t sure where to access provincial data and it wasn’t emphasized by my cooperating teacher. However, I recognize it is important for future teaching.
Sharing our experiences of pre-internship, 5 lenses.
WEEK #8- Mar 7, 2024
In class, we kicked off by spending an hour reviewing and providing feedback on each other’s dialogue papers. I found this process incredibly beneficial as I had the chance to read seven other papers and learn from their perspectives. Some of the questions my peers asked were innovative and made me think about aspects I hadn’t considered before. While I agreed with most of my peers’ views on assessment, I had reservations about peer assessment in younger grades. I believe younger students may not possess the maturity needed to assess their classmates fairly, which could lead to biased judgments.
I also read a paper on the 252 influences in the classroom. It was not surprising to see collective teacher efficacy ranked at the top, as it fosters high expectations, effort, positive school culture, collaboration, and strong leadership, all of which contribute to student success. However, I was surprised to find technology in distance education ranked at the bottom. While technology is everywhere nowadays, not all students have access to it. Teachers should be mindful not to overly rely on technology for assignments, providing alternative methods for completing homework. Additionally, I was surprised to see performance goals ranked low. I believe setting and working towards goals is crucial for student development, something I aim to incorporate into my future classroom
Marking dialogue papers, 252 influences.
WEEK #7- Feb 28, 2024
I enjoy it when we begin our classes with Poll Guru. I think it’s a good way to get us engaged and useful as a review. From a teacher’s standpoint, it is beneficial to connect with your students and get to know how they are feeling, and what they are thinking about the content so far. We also discussed the assessment criteria for the dialogue papers.
We talked about culture and what establishes culture. I’m committed to fostering an environment that celebrates diversity. This involves acknowledging and respecting students’ cultural backgrounds, traditions, languages, and experiences, and encouraging them to share with their peers.
In our breakout rooms, we tackled the topic of attendance and its impact on grades. I have mixed feelings on this issue. While consistent lateness or unexcused absences might warrant a loss of marks, I believe occasional absences due to mental health concerns should not be penalized. Students should have the flexibility to take time to prioritize their well-being without facing academic repercussions.
Establishing culture, attendance.
WEEK #6- Feb 14, 2024
We began by discussing graphic organizers and their benefits in the classroom. Graphic organizers provide the students with a visual representation that is often designed in their way to understand best what it means. Students can create something to represent their learning and organize their thoughts. after speaking about graphic organizers we also talked about feedback, specifically teacher vs. student feedback.
Feedback is so important and when I was in school is didn’t care about the feedback I was receiving. I only cared about the grade that was on the top. I think it’s important that we provide feedback throughout the entire assignment to ensure the students have the biggest opportunity to succeed. I think this because most students are not going to read the feedback they receive with the grade and then use what they learned in the next assignment or activity.
When it comes to student feedback I think we need to be careful when and where we use it. Student feedback can be beneficial for both the person receiving and the person giving the feedback. It allows them to think about their work and provide explanations for certain decisions they made during the process.
Graphic organizer, teacher, and student feedback
WEEK #5- Feb 7, 2024
The success criteria are interesting to show personal growth, especially in our portfolios. It’s nice to see the breakdown and get a chance to analyze how we are doing through the term fully. I like the breakdown that is easy to understand and helps us to guide our learning independently. From a teacher’s point of view, this is great to instruct the students and from the student’s point of view it is also great.
When looking at the formative assessment planning chart I like how it is organized and helps us realize the actual goal that we are trying to accomplish. I love the ideas for the formative assessment and how we can plan it. It’s nice to know the exact goal and how I’m going to respond to the information I get from the students.
Lastly, I want to talk about the SPARK peer feedback acronym.
S- specific
P- prescriptive
A- Actionable
R- referenced
K- kind
I think this is a great tool to put in the classroom to remind the students what feedback is and why it is important to give feedback appropriately! This would make a great mini-lesson before peer revision in ELA and good to keep up on the wall for future assignments.
Feedback & formative Assessment & SPARK
WEEK #4- Jan 31, 2024
We talked alot about co-creating rubrics and assessment tools with our students. I think this is a great way to get them involved and excited about the assignments they are about to do. This will make it easier for the students to know the expectations and limit confusion. I think when co-creating we need to be mindful of what we expect from the students but be sure that our expectations are being portrayed in a way that doesn’t completely veto the student’s opinion on the assignment. If there are points in the rubric that you think are non-negotiables, be sure there are some that the students can adapt. I think co-creation can also be options, or choices within the assignment.
Something else that stuck with me about this week’s conversation was culture and it made me think about how culture can change the abilities of our students. I believe every student is capable however, it is more difficult for students to learn what they are told in class when they are still navigating the English language, or translating terms, slang, or phrases. Culture can have many impacts on students in their social life which can affect the way they learn. other impacts could be cultural traditions or celebrations. In some cultures the times the students can eat differ, or students may need time off from school. these all hold so much power in the student’s education.
Co-creating Rubrics and Assessments.
WEEK #3- Jan 24, 2024
In this week’s class, we began with our learning circles. The learning circles helped me review what I had read in the chapters and jump deeper into the content. I feel that starting the classes with the learning circles is a good way to get us ready for class and we have the opportunity to start thinking and talking to our peers about the content. Learning circles would be beneficial at every level of school, in every grade, and in every class.
Other things I thought were cool in class were when we went through the questions and learned about Bloom’s taxonomy. This is something we have touched on in previous classes but I didn’t fully understand. It was nice to take the time with my peers and talk about ways we were identifying between remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. It is usually fairly easy to point out the questions that are more difficult but sometimes you have to think if these questions are doing what the curriculum wants them to do. In the indicators and outcomes, they use these specific words to describe how in-depth the content should be. What I love most about year three classes are these types of lessons where we truly learn how to be a teacher and can apply it all to creating our lessons.
Bloom’s taxonomy.
WEEK #2- Jan 17, 2024
During this week’s class, I got a better understanding of the development of our portfolios for this class and the activities we must do throughout the term. I was feeling a little overwhelmed after the last class but I’m now feeling that this is more manageable because we went through some examples.
We discussed chapters 1 & 2 of the textbook. I thought it was interesting to talk with my peers about assessment vs. evaluation. In my previous classes, we learned that they were different but I liked to hear about the different ways my peers were using assessment in their pre-internship. We touched on the “sandwich” effect, I can appreciate what the sandwich effect is trying to achieve however sometimes I don’t always agree with it. In school when I would receive the feedback that was delivered in between two compliments I often felt like the two “good” comments were only there to cover the bad. Of course, I believe that you should always celebrate what students did well but you should be giving the feedback in a way that it doesn’t have to be “sandwiched” in between compliments that often feel forced or ones that feel weak compared to the feedback. I feel as though as a teacher you need to begin the year by creating a safe space to teach the students that you will always celebrate their work and even if they receive feedback it is only to make them better and it is in no way a bad thing. When given feedback without trying to conceal it, the students can have a good idea of what they should try to work on next time.
Sandwich Effect.
WEEK #1- Jan 10, 2024
This week we did a lot of reviewing of the syllabus and learned what assignments we will complete over the term. We did check-ins and a multiple intelligence quiz while reviewing our term. While taking the quiz I learned that I’m fairly consistent throughout the different intelligences. However, my intrapersonal score was the highest out of all of them. This was interesting because, in elementary school, I preferred assessment styles where I was able to assess myself or go over feedback on my work. I enjoyed doing assignments where my opinion mattered and was based on individual thought which created opportunities for interesting assessment making us think deeper into our perspectives.
I think that keeping in mind that students have different strengths for example, intrapersonal, kinetic, mathematic, musical skills, etc., and the assessment we choose to use or focus on can make a difference for all students. Also, these different skills can affect the way the students learn or what they’re interested in. During my time in the schools or in my future career I’m excited to learn about how we can use these special interests or skills to benefit the growth of my students.
Racing Flag reminds me of the first reflection! Ready, Set, Go!