Part B – Dialogue and Connections with 2 Different Teachers
Dialogue-Paper:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/13AiMzph51aKDMIp-5scADOEXXzG0gwrOTHs_xp7glz8/edit?usp=sharing
Peer Review:
Self Reflection Form:
Teacher #1 – Sharlene Holliday, French Immersion Educational Leader at Miller Comprehension High School
Teacher #2 – Janice Montgrand (my Auntie Janice), School of Sandy Bay in Northern Saskatchewan
“Assessment is an important tool in the classroom because it helps teachers understand what students know and can do. It is a way to measure their progress and identify areas where they may need additional support. I really like to use a lot of formative assessment for that very reason. I WANT my students to succeed and understand so giving them ample opportunities to develop is so important! As a future teacher, you will find that assessment plays a crucial role in your classroom. Using assessment involves gathering information about students’ knowledge and skills in different subjects. This can be done through a variety of methods such as tests, quizzes, observations, and tasks. I am not a HUGE fan of tests because it is a snapshot it time and we never know what the student has experienced prior to the exam. I love project-based assessment where students have choice in what they do and can highlight their strengths. By assessing students, you can identify their strengths and weaknesses, which can guide your instruction and help you tailor your lessons to meet their individual needs. There are different assessment strategies that work best depending on the purpose of the assessment. For example, if you want to assess a student’s understanding of a concept, you might use a formative assessment, such as a quick quiz or a class discussion. This type of assessment provides feedback to both the teacher and the student, allowing for adjustments in teaching and learning. As a future teacher, my advice to you regarding assessment is to remember that it should be fair, valid, and reliable. Fair assessment means providing all students with an equal opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and skills. Valid assessment ensures that what you are measuring is actually what you intended to measure. Reliable assessment means that the results are consistent and can be trusted. In summary, assessment is a valuable tool in education that helps teachers understand their students’ progress and abilities. It should be used thoughtfully and purposefully to guide instruction and support student learning. By employing various assessment strategies and ensuring fairness, validity, and reliability, you will be able to effectively assess your students and help them achieve success in the classroom.” – Sharlene Holliday
“For me, assessing a student involves many factors, such as their past experience, present knowledge, interests, motivation, curriculum objectives, intrinsic and extrinsic skills and abilities. Each learner is unique and so the progress one makes is quite different from another. Finding out where they’re at and helping them to reach a reasonable objective is important. I have had a learner struggle to write a couple sentences in the time it took another to write a page. In my assessment, they showed much effort, interest, and success in the learning process.” – Janice Montgrand
Dialogue Paper:
I seek to expand my existing knowledge of my understanding of assessment. My current understanding of assessment has been influenced by my knowledge from classes and my short experience during pre-interns last semester for once a week. During my experience in pre-interns, I experienced a bit of formative assessment hands on with – handouts and exploration and observations like activities such as class posters. I realize assessment is a process over time and I seek to learn from others experiences and utilize resources shared. To help best understand my knowledge of assessment I will share my experience from the interviews shared with the two teachers, and share the impacts, changes, and influences. Assessment should accommodate towards the learners interests, and learning should be understood as going through an ongoing process over time and should evolve with the learners needs.
The interviews I share are my thoughts on my discussions with two teachers and how the interviews have impacted my beliefs and understanding of assessment. Below I share what stood out to me from both interviews. These points help further my understanding of assessment. Learning to listen to these two teachers is another insight into how to use assessment within the classroom. The first teacher, Teacher #1 Sharlene Holliday, is a close friend of mine and was happy to share her knowledge with me about her experience in the education profession. The second teacher, Teacher #2 is Janice Montgrand, she is my Auntie, and I am happy to gain her knowledge on assessment too along with walking in her footsteps.
Teacher #1: What stood out to me the most from my discussion with Sharlene was a lot of great valuable advice for why assessment is important within the classroom. I am impressed by how Sharlene believes that assessment is a strong foundation within the classroom. Sharlene emphasizes that “Assessment is an important tool in the classroom…” & “…assessment plays a crucial role in your classroom.”. Another key point that stood out to me during my discussions with Sharlene is her understanding what methods work best for her, for collecting the evidence needed from students, she mentions how she “… [loves] project-based assessment where students have choice in what they do and can highlight their strengths.”. I like how she involves students’ choices, “…different assessment strategies…[make] adjustments, [and provide assessment that is]..fair, valid, and reliable.” Lastly, I like how Sharlene mentions how students’ needs must be accommodated towards and learning to “…tailor your lessons to meet their individual needs.”
Teacher #2 What impacted me the most from my discussion with Janice was: how students’ interests need to be accommodated and assessment “…involves many factors, such as their past experience, present knowledge, interests, motivation, curriculum objectives, intrinsic and extrinsic skills and abilities.” I like that she puts the students’ interests in mind, to help form an assessment that involves their interests. The student is a focus and I like how my Auntie Janice’s view on assessment aligns with mine on how assessment needs to accommodate every learner, what stood out to me was how she mentions how “Each learner is unique [and it’s a] process [thats] different from another [for all learners].” The last thing that stood out to me from my second interview was realizing that assessment is a “learning process” for all.
The impacts during both the interviews with the two teachers that stood out to me the most is that with forming assessment I must keep the students’ interests in mind (Teacher #2), and tailor assessment strategies, make adjustments, and find ways to create engaging ways to assess the learners process. I like how Sharlene (Teacher #1) gave advice on ways that worked with creating engaging ways of assessment, with how she“[loves] project-based assessment where students have choice in what they do and can highlight their strengths.”
The changes to my knowledge of assessment is of my present knowledge is pre-internship – formative assessment. I would like to learn more assessment strategies within the three week block coming up this semester for pre-internship. Some assessment strategies I am interested in trying are doing a portfolio and graphic organizers for lessons. I think gaining more hands on experience with different assessment strategies will help me form more knowledge on assessment. It is helpful gaining the knowledge of others of their understanding of assessment within the education profession. I believe that learning to listen to others’ experiences will help with my understanding of assessment. I understand that assessment over time will become a mindset and lifestyle for me from experience. After gaining advice from the interview, it stood out to me that “…assessment plays a crucial role in your classroom.”. Planning to make the classroom have a solid plan for assessment – ensures the thriving energy of the classroom will benefit every learner.
What Influenced me the most that will be useful for my future practice with forming assessment is learning to create engaging ways to use assessment strategies as a tool to assess each learner’s process over the course of the school year. With advice from Sharlene (Teacher #1) I feel confident knowing the ways she used assessment in her class, what has worked for her practice, and taking her advice for the future. I would like to form engaging ways to assess just like how “project-based assessment” can center around being student-led with having the “students have choice.” along with keeping the students’ interests in mind (Teacher #2). Some more ways I was influenced is understanding that assessment should be “…fair, valid, and reliable.” understand that every learner is unique, understand that assessment is about the learning process, learn from others experience and utilize resources shared. I understand now that “Assessment is an important tool in the classroom…” and I should seek to create and provide a safe space for every learner’s progress to accommodate their individual needs through assessment.
Assessment should accommodate towards the learners interests, and learning should be understood as going through an ongoing process over time and should evolve with the learners needs. I’ve learned that every learner is unique – so tailoring assessment to best fit every student’s unique needs creates a trusting place where learners can flourish in their learning journey. I learned a lot from listening to other educational leaders. There is a lot to learn from others and finding how to create assessment strategies that represent each learner’s individual needs. I seek to make this an ongoing learning experience to myself, my understanding of assessment is always gaining knowledge and experience. I understand now that assessment involves being accommodating towards every learner and giving a more of a student guided/lead approach too. I now understand that assessment does play a crucial role in the success of all.