WEEK 1 (January 10th):
Today, we had our first ECS 401 class. We started talking about assessment and evaluation in the classroom and how it’s an important part of teaching. We started the class by answering questions on Poll Guru, a website I had never heard of before, but it was helpful and fun. Doing this questionnaire made me realize that most of my classmates are in the Pre-K to 5 program including myself.
Next, we did an assessment of assessment with Ty the T-REX, which I have never done before as well but it was interactive and made typing out responses easier. I received an email with all my assessment responses right after I was done. Then, we discussed the syllabus and assignments in breakout rooms. It was helpful to talk to classmates about assignments and have the chance to ask the professor any questions we had.
We did more Poll Guru that focused on assessment. The class results showed that five out of ten stars was the most common comfort level for assessing and evaluating as a teacher. No one had ten out of ten stars, which means everyone still needs to learn more about it.
To end the class, we filled out a sheet about our multiple intelligences. I scored highest in logical/mathematical with 38 points, which makes sense to me. The lowest was musical at 18 points, not surprising. Many people in the class didn’t score as high in the naturalistic part. This part is about how we connect with nature, like plants and animals. What caught my attention even more was that everyone seemed to be pretty much the same in the other areas of the quiz. This means we all have different strengths, but in some ways, we’re similar too.
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WEEK 2 (January 17th):
To start the class this week we began with our learning circles. We were to read chapters 1 & 2 of our text Making Classroom Assessment Work by Anne Davies, Ph. D. We were given time to discussion about these chapters and ask any question we had within our group. My group often focus a lot of Chapter 1 about Assessment and Evaluation and we shared what we liked and didn’t like about self-assessment. my group agreed that high school students often lied about their mark to get them a better mark. We also thought self-assessment should be introduce to younger grades and we thought younger grades are more honest compare to older grades.
After our learning circles, we did a poll guru on the chapters and on how we feel about our learning circles. One of the questions that I really liked about the poll guru was “provide one example of how you personally connected to the content of Chapter 1 & 2?”, it was interesting to see my classmates responses and the connections that they had. Couple big takeaways that I took from chapter 1 and 2 is that every students is at a different learning level and learning takes time.
Next, we looked at some e-portfolios to see some examples. Then, we did some poll guru about our e-portfolios. We also began setting our SMART goals. We teamed up with a partner to help us start and figure out what our SMART goal will be. This activity then led us to review assignment number one, where we outline our personal learning plan and our goal.
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WEEK 3 (January 24th):
For ESC we started off with our learning circles where we discussed chapter 3 and 4 in our textbook. Later, as the whole class we talked about our personal connection we had with these chapters. Below is what the class had to say. For me something that I liked in these two chapters were the talks about samples. As a student it really helps me understand what my teachers expected from me. However, I think this is an idea that I would take into my future classroom.
Then, we looked at a simple and complex activity. Below is a picture of the handout. In this activity we had to take a task and make it either simple or complex, and it helped expand my knowledge to make tasks/assignments/questions and make them either simpler or more complex.
Then we were introduced to BLOOMS taxonomy and structuring the learning journey. Blooms taxonomy is a tool that can be used to organized learning object. The six steps of blooms taxonomy are:
- Remember
- Understand
- Apply
- Analyze
- Evaluate
- Create
Next, we were given a activity with a topic where we had to come up with questions that could be used for each of the six steps in Blooms taxonomy. Below are the questions my group and I came up with:
Overall this class was great and it introduced me to fresh concepts and expanding my knowledge with new insights.
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WEEK 4 (January 31st):
This class made me think a lot about creating lessons and grading criterial together. During my first pre-internship, I did not get the opportunity to do this. However, I plan to try it during my three week if I am allowed too. When teachers and students work together on setting criterial, it helps us understand what students know about the topic. Also, I believe it helps the students because it gives them a sense of ownership and gives them a say in how they are graded. When teachers set criteria on their own, even if it is clear, it is not always effective compare to when student help set their own criteria.
Now, my partner and I have already completed our unit plan for the three-week block. However, I want wanting to discuss with my cooperating teacher the possibility of involving my students in creating the rubric. I think this would be perfect a final project that we will be going at the end of my three-week. However, this is my first time doing this before, so getting help from my cooperating teacher would be beneficial for me and would prepare me for the future.
I also enjoyed talking about cultures with my classmate after class. My classmate and I had different beliefs and backgrounds, providing a great learning opportunity. For example, I grew up in a small town on a farm, so moving to Regina for university was a significant change for me. In my small high school, I had the same 17 classmates from kindergarten to twelfth grade. However, my partner grew up in Regina, and attending the University of Regina wasn’t a big change for her because she didn’t have to move. She mentioned that she always had different people in her classes and graduated with 120 people, not even knowing half of them. I appreciated this activity because it allowed me to learn about someone else’s background.
In our small groups, we also discusses about the classes offered in our high school. In my high school, there was no Indigenous class offered but we would discussed residential schools in my social class. It wasn’t till university that I took my Indigenous studies and learn much more than I did in high school. I am grateful for that class because it expanded my knowledge about the past and reconciliation. My goal is to incorporate my knowledge into my lesson and share it with my students.
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Today, I had to leave class halfway. However, my classmates shared their notes with me, so I believe I am caught up on what I missed. During this class session, we started with our Learning Circle, where we covered chapters 7 and 8 of the Making Classroom Assessment Work textbook. We also did a Poll Guru activity to discuss important points from the chapters and our Learning Circles.
Chapter 7 focused on using assessment to guide instruction and introduced the W.E.T. acronym: W – working together, E – everything in its place, T – thinking and acting safely (Davies, 202, p.64). Although I had not heard of this acronym before, I have always believed in these principles since I started collaborating with others. It is crucial to encourage these goals and ideas when students work with groups or individually to ensure a healthy, organized, and successful work period. That is why W.E.T. is significant to me this week.
Chapter 8 discussed collecting, organizing, and presenting evidence. Then, we were given an example of a future assignment, which was a great way to highlight key points from a previous chapter (Chapter 4). Next, we watched a full video and heard about what worked well during that assignment, giving us criteria for our own assignments and providing another perspective on how to approach them.
During the Poll Guru, we usually discuss our thoughts on our and our classmates’ progress and different other topics. This ties into the theme of self-assessment and student involvement from the chapters we covered. It is a great way to apply the W.E.T. acronym – working together as a group to share our assessments and opinions in a safe space.
At the end of the class, we worked together to understand why we felt a certain way as students and why teachers may choose certain methods. Then, we concluded our thoughts in a safe space created by working together as a group and ensuring everything was in its place.
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WEEK 6 (February 14th) I found class today really interesting and fun. We talked about lots of stuff to do with testing and working together with classmates. We started by figuring out who our partner for peer reviews would be. Mine is Robyn. Then, we spilt off into our learning circle groups and talked about the chapters that were designed for today. After that, we talked as a whole class about what we thought of the chapters.
Next, we watched video’s and did some activities to help us understand things better. One activity was about using pictures and diagram to organize information. It was helpful because it made things easier to understand. Then, we talked about how to give feedback to each other in a nice way, This means saying what is good and what can be improved, but in a friendly way not in a rude way. Then, I got with Robyn to go over our papers and giving each other feedback. At the end, we watched a funny video about how not to grade papers. It shows us some silly mistakes teachers can make when grading our work.
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WEEK 7 (February 28th)
Todays Class was both informative and engaging, covering a range of topics related to assessment, cultural inclusion, and educational practices. Here are some key points that stood out to me:
- Poll Guru Check in: The class started with check-in on our progress with different assignments, such as e-portfolios, dialogue papers, and assessment plans. This exercise helped me assess my own progress and identify areas where I might need to improve on.
2. Cultural Inclusion Discussion: One of the highlights of the class was the discussion on cultural inclusion in the classroom. Exploring the concept of culture and its significance was thought-provoking, especially when we participated in the interactive activity where we joined different break out rooms based on our beliefs about culture. However, hearing diverse perspectives from my classmates enriched my understanding of cultural diversity.
3. Assessment Jumper Game: The assessment jumper game provided valuable insights into national and international assessment system. it was fun to learn about different assessment approaches and their implication for education. This activity broadened my perspective on assessment practices beyond the classroom level.
Look ahead, we talked about the upcoming activities and assignment for the next class. Preparing our dialogue paper assessment sheets and engaging in peers and self assessment activities will further enhance my understanding of assessment practices and promote collaboration among classmates.
Overall, today’s class deepened my understanding of cultural inclusion, assessment strategies, and education reform. I appreciate the interactive nature of the activities and the opportunity to learn from both the instructors and my classmates. I look forward to applying these insights in my future teaching practices.
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WEEK 8 (March 6th)
Today in class, we engaged in a peer assessment and self-assessment activity focused on our dialogue papers. Our first step for this class was to finish our dialogue and email them to everyone in the class and to the teacher. Each of us prepared eight dialogue assessment sheets for the scoring activity. Therefore, we had to create a document that had eight dialogue paper scoring sheets. In class, we were given the name of the papers we had to mark. Our job was to find their dialogue in the email and to mark their papers. We completed the peer and self assessment of the dialogue papers, which served as an assessment of our learning progress. Every student was required to assess seven peer papers along with one self-assessed paper. This self-assessment was done last and was at the bottom of the paper. Once we complete eight summative assessments we were asked to email the scoring pages document to Chris. However, I am nervous to see what my classmates score my dialogue. Overall, this class was very helpful and gave us extra marking assessments.
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Week 9 (April 3rd)
In today’s class, we began by reviewing our agenda. Initially, we tackled the course evaluation, which we completed after our interviews. We also engaged in a Poll Guru activity focusing on our pre-internship experiences. It was enlightening to discover that everyone had positive experiences, and I learned that each person had unique assessment strategies during their time in the school. Some examples included using a cookie sheet for spelling tests, relying solely on self-assessment for physical education, and using individual whiteboards for check-ins.
Following this, we examined data from our class discussions and assessed how well we performed in the online fraction activity. We then collaborated to enhance our understanding of fractions, recognizing they can be tricky. Exploring different approaches to analyzing data was particularly interesting and i believe this will help me understand how test and assessments work.
Lastly, we prepared for our interviews, ensuring we are ready for it.
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