As my university journey winds to an end and my teaching career begins I find myself reflecting on assessment. When I began this journey in the fall of 2018, my understanding of assessment was very cut and dry. The assessment was a grade on a paper, whether or not students understood the content and it was directly related to testing. I truly believe this was a reflection of my own experiences in school, where the emphasis was placed on grades and whether or not you passed. If you had a low grade that reflected your understanding and that is as far as discussion around assessment went. This was part of the reason my ideas of assumption were so cut and dry. My education journey began to change this introducing us to the concept of summative and formative assessment, and how to create meaningful assessments for student learning. In January 2022, my idea of assessment had grown along with my understanding of how to assess students but the introduction to the reason behind assessment, the purpose of assessment, and specifically, data collection feels like my core understanding is whole. This is not to say, I do not have more to learn but the foundation has been laid to start building my experience in assessing students in the Inclusive classroom and beyond. 

I would like to begin with the 5 big ideas I learned through my time in ECS 401 these include: analyzing data, shared responsibility of assessment, effective feedforward, miscue instructions more specifically carrying out the task, and lastly the importance of learning logs. These 5 big ideas were the most meaningful in my journey of assessment. The first concept that was new to me was the idea of collecting and reviewing data. I should mention I understood the first level criterion-referenced, relating to curriculum objectives and the level of difficulty. This is something that is crucial to classroom assessment and played a role in the assessment tasks I created for my Grade 9 social studies class. My understanding of standards referenced, self-referenced, norm-referenced, and longitudinal-referenced were murky and frankly nonexistent. I should clarify, that I understood how data was compared between divisions, provinces, and over previous years but the specific terminology and importance were not something that occurred to me. Something that helped me the most in understanding was the portion related to PCAP and PISA, more specifically the visual diagrams and comparisons. As someone who enjoys visual aids, it increased my comprehension greatly. PCAP additionally guided my thinking in relation to inclusive education specifically the emphasis placed on the core subjects such as reading, mathematics, and science; I argue that it might be worthwhile to include writing skills and Treaty education. In addition, I question why there needs to be such a divide between male and female achievements. I feel understanding data has and will help me in my learning goal which is assessing students at different levels in the inclusive classroom. 

The second big idea that I have gained in my assessment journey and my goal setting is the concept of shared responsibility of assessment. For me, this is allowing students to have more input in their learning and final assessment. This is not handing the reins over to students to decide every aspect of their learning but taking into considerations some of their strengths and interests. Incorporating this into my classroom and assessment will be useful because it increases student engagement which in turn can boost moral in the classroom. In my own experience, when students can give input it initates learning along with motivation to succeed. This practice is mildly time consuming but I do feel like it can help students at different levels and educational experiences. 

The third big idea that has helped me is the concept of feed forward. Feed forward has not only helped me in achieving my learning goal but additionally my feelings of assessment in the inclusive classroom. Wording it as feed forward helps students see responses to their work in a more of a positive light. It is a great way to motivate students while having them take accountability for their learning. For students who struggle with self esteem related to marks or are learning at a lower grade level it is a confidence booster knowing that the information that is being given to them is helping them to succeed rather than critiques. This big idea was very important to me and has guided me in my assessment journey. 

The fourth big idea, I enjoyed exploring was the usefulness of learning logs or journals. I have always seen journaling as a tedious class especially when I was attending school. That being said, as an inservice teacher I have been able to look at the concept of learning journals as useful. They do not necessarily need to be used for marks but rather a way to track student growth and engagement. Students can reflect on their work to see growth they have made over the semester or year. I additionally feel it is useful tool for tracking and reaching IIP goals, for students who are working towards specific goals, learning or behavioural. The feeling of looking at where you have grown is a rewarding experience for any student. I feel it is important to make sure that the journals are not just filler activities for students, which can make them feel mundane instead of a tool for learning. As I reflect on the near future, I would certainly begin journals early on and keep them consistent through out the year, all while explaining students the importance of these activities. 

My fifth and final big idea I would like to share is related to Miscue instruction and how to carry out this instruction. In previous courses we explored using reading and tracking students as they do to screen fro reading comprehension. It was rewarding to go review this concept once more in ECS 401 especially as I near the beginning of my journey as an in service teacher. This is a rewarding diagnostic tool that can help diagnosis where students are in realtion to reading skills. This is helpful for differentiated instruction and assessing students at different levels in their learning journey. It is a simple task that is not an extremely stressful diagnostic activity. This is certainly something that would compliment my goal of an inclusive classroom in the future. I intended to make this into account when working with students especially at the beginning of the year to gauge student levels and abilities. 

The independent assignment that was most rewarding and useful was the dialgoue and connections piece. I chose to focus on assessment in the inclusive classroom by interviewing two intensive support teachers both working in different programs. One of the most meaningful conversations I had that have really helped me move forward in my inclusive education journey was when my first interviewee explain how she sees formative and summative assessment in her DC classroom. She explained that formative is what students are capable of doing and summative constantly happening and always being assessed on the go. My internship taught me a great deal about assessment in the inclusive classroom, but re-framing the concept was rewarding and something that has supported me in my journey. 

My experience in ECS 401 has helped me deepen my understanding and knowledge of assessment. It has helped to lay a foundation for my journey and it is now time to start building my career on this foundation. ECS 401 not only expanded my knowledge but additionally introduced me to big ideas including but not limited to anaylzing data, shared responsibility of assessment, effective feed forward, and the importance of journal logs. Lastly it reviewed the importance of miscue instruction and cemented my previous understanding. I am looking forward to seeing where my journey takes me as I transition into life as an inservice teacher.