Week 2: January 17th
Today we began class by doing our first learning circle and read chapters 1 & 2 from from the book “Making Classroom Assessment Work” by Anne Davies, Ph.D. My group started off by talking about chapter 1, our first main take away was how it was mainly focused around descriptive feedback and how learning takes time. As teachers, we need to let students take their time so they can further explore and understand the topics on their own. By allowing students to explore topics on their own, it makes them more involved and engaged in their own learning. We also talked about how assessment and evaluation mean different things. Assessment focuses on looking at a child’s achievements and their progress, whereas evaluation focuses on making decisions based on what the teacher has collected from students. We then briefly touched on chapter 2, and our main takeaway from that chapter was that failure is ok, and making mistakes is ok. Failure and mistakes are how we learn. We also discussed how important it is to ask questions, by asking questions you are gaining a deeper understanding and growing your knowledge, which is so important for everyone, but especially younger children as they are growing and developing. We wrapped up our conversation by all agreeing that it is very important for students to take their time so they can be successful in all that they do.
Week 3: January 24rd
This week for chapter 3, our learning circle we discussed how when there is set expectations and an outline in place, students are more likely to be engaged. Having this in place makes students less anxious. We also touched on how everyone’s common sense may not look the same, and how we as teachers have to be ready and willing to go further in depth on a topic so we can ensure that all students are on the same page. On top of going in depth, it is also very important to check in on students and to keep parents in the loop so they know what is happening in the classroom and how their child is doing. As teachers we have to have clear and concise communication with everyone and our colleagues because it only benefits yourself, but also them. In chapter 4, we talked about how important it is to allow differences in the classroom and to embrace them. A classroom is filled with many different individuals and personalities and as teachers we have to make sure we are using positive language and ensure we don’t use negative words like “fail”. You also want to ensure that you don’t single out students, that can raise anxiety and again all students learn at a different pace. It is great when teachers can collaborate and share the collection of information they have gained from their students with one another for the sake of their students and their students education. Overall from these two chapters, we have to know how to handle students and make them feel comfortable in the classroom while aiding them through their learning.
Week 4: January 31st
This weeks chapters just reiterated last weeks chapters, and went a bit more in depth. In chapter 5, we discussed how teachers have to assess by watching students. Students learn in very different ways, so when teachers go to collect evidence of learning, it can be harder to assess them. Especially when it comes to writing a paper, most students can express what they have learned better when they can orally do it, and that allows for them to share the connections they have made. Students can also assess by just observing what is going on and how much a student is comprehending. In chapter 6, we talked about how when teachers involve students in setting their criteria, they learn more about what the students already know. Also allowing students to self assess themselves gives them time to process and reflect on what they have learned so far. We also discussed how when teachers improvise the criteria, no matter how clear they make it, it is not as effective as when the students help set up the criteria and share their knowledge. The last thing we talked about was the triangle of evidence and how it is made up of observations, conversations, and products.
Week 5: January 7th
This week we started our discussion talking about chapter 7 and the acronym “WET”. WET stands for W: working together, E: everything has a place, T: thinking and acting safely. We said how it is important for teachers to follow this acronym and pass it onto students as is it important for students to work together, and to collaborate to create a respectful classroom. Branching off that, we also talked about how important it is for students to compliment each other in a positive way because it helps build confidents in the students abilities and overall in the classroom. As teachers it is also important to be aware of the different behaviors in the classroom and how to deal with all different behaviors that students may have. For chapter 8, we talked about how learning portfolios are a great assessment of learning and how they work well for tracking students progress. It is a simple way of keeping students involved if you keep the assignments simple. We wrapped up by talking about how important it is to provide helpful feedback to students so they not only can learn from it, but also share how they are doing with their parents. It is always important to keep the feedback positive and help motivate students.
Week 6: January 14th
Today was our last learning circle meeting, and it was a very good one. We began talking about communication and how important it is to have good communication in not only your classroom, but also with the school as a whole. It is also so important to be able to communicate with all students but also their parents so they can know what the children are learning and how their child is doing in and out of the classroom setting. We talked about the two main parts of communication that chapter 9 outlined for us, and those were students being able to collect and demonstrate their leaning and audiences responding back with feedback. It is important that you are giving students feedback on their work, because it not only helps them improve, but it helps outline the expectation for assignments. We also touched on the topic of goal setting and how important it is to meet one on one with students and learn what they expect to get from the class and help them set goals to meet their learning expectations. The other main topic we really dove deep on from these chapters was evaluation. This chapter really put into perspective the idea of co-collaboration between students and the teacher. By doing this, you not only outline your expectations when it comes to assignments and assessment, but you also get to involve their thoughts and opinions which can help them grow a deeper understanding. It also helps when it comes to the actual evaluation part, as it does not just fall back on the teacher. Evaluation is way more then just tests and everyone learns and performs so differently, so by having a diverse ways of evaluating, you meet everyone’s different learning styles and abilities.