Chapter 7: Using Assessment to Guide Instruction

Chapter 8: Collecting, Organizing, and Presenting Evidence

Group Members: Charlee A., Abigail G., Hailey J., Bridget M., Kari M., Kianna W.

For our chapter seven discussion, we first discussed the importance of asking for help, whether you’re the student or the teacher. Acknowledging when you’re wrong or when you don’t know something allows for learning opportunities. Someone brought up the example that their math teacher would write something wrong and then change it to the correct answer without acknowledging it, leaving the entire class confused. We said that the best teachers are the ones who are everyday learners, the ones who say they don’t know but ask someone else or do a google search to help find the answer.

We also mentioned again how we like that the textbook has examples for all grades as usually most texts talk about younger students.

We then got into chapter eight and went into a discussion of the importance of knowing when to give feedback to students in front of the class. We discussed that singling someone out could lead to the other students feeling less than and the other student is left feeling pressured or embarrassed. Bridget brought up a story from her pre-internship and how when the students were sitting for circle time and the teacher mentioned that she liked how one student was sitting or that another was quiet and making eye contact with the teacher, it got the attention of the other students who then wanted to follow that example. I suppose our conversation was on the negatives of singling people out for assignment-related purposes and the positives of this when teaching about desired behaviours. Finally our conversation lead into portfolios. Generally, our thoughts were positive and we discussed how it allows students to have a collection of their finished work and also work they are still working on. Portfolios could be filled with activities, elements of a book report, or select pieces of work from each class for student-led conferences. We felt that they could get tiring to make if you did this all the time, but felt it was important to revisit each portfolio more than once to create importance.

My group really works well together now, we all contribute to the discussion and if someone has a question, we are able to talk through possible answers with our discussion. One group member said that our discussions actually help her understand the chapters.