10. I Use a Variety of Assessment Practices to Support Student Learning

KSA 9 - Teachers gather and use information about students' learning needs and progress.

I monitor students' actions on an ongoing basis to determine and respond to their learning needs. This goes hand in hand with Page 4 as I analyze the contextual variables playing out in my classroom.  My assessment practice does not begin with a unit test or final exam.  My assessment practice is varied with many parts formative and many parts summative.

Here are some examples.  This list is not conclusive.

• My anecdotal record book.  This one is used more as a one-off place for writing for behavioural concerns and issues.  
  

Example of "A" level worksheet

• Student books and journaling in Math.  My math program, Bringing Math Alive teaches every math concept through 4 differentiated practice sheets.  After playing some introductory games, students know to always start with sheet "A" and as I circulate to help one-on-one, offer positive feedback, and correct their work, they know that they can move on to worksheet B, C, then D.  Sometimes, during my rounds, if I notice a student has grasped the concept quickly I will encourage them to jump right to page D (the more "analytical/create your own questions/ mastery" page) and/or do their journal entry (to show the rule or pattern to this concept and show their own examples).  I summatively assess math every few weeks in the form of a written quiz they must do individually.  There are unit tests attached to this program but I edit them to break them into two or three parts.  I find them too long and students tire out trying to cover as much material as they demand. 

Example of "D" level worksheet of the same concept

Example of math journal entry (not related to above worksheets)

• I follow the same formative methods for Science, as each student has a Science notebook and while doing an activity or experiment I will always circulate to correct their work and offer feedback. These notebooks, full of vocabulary, experiments, observations and teacher-made and student-made diagrams are great indicators of the students mastery of the outcomes. I use the completed notebook as a summative measure of their learning as well as a written individual unit test.  See more at my Special Guest - Getting Our Hands Dirty with a Soil Specialist post
  
  

Interactive notebook example.  Flip book contains definitions of types of soil.

• My social units and assessment follow the same patterns as mentioned above.  View my PBL unit on India here as well as my student planning handout for our Peru unit here and take note of the rubrics for each section.  I've compiled them from all over the web: 
• The Paragraph "Hamburger Model" can be found here
• The Reader's Response Pages  (students choose the fiction or non-fiction pages) that I have selected from here (I only use 3 of the 9 offered)
• The Word Problem rubric can be found here at Read, Write, Think
• The Venn Diagram rubric can be found here at Read, Write, Think
• The Friendly letter rubric can be found here

 The Rubrics are an important part of all of my assessment and time is scheduled for the explanations of the rubrics to ensure students know the expectations.  Students are always given the rubrics ahead of time so the responsibility is then on them to fulfill the requirements of the assignment as they are able.

• Self-evaluation is very important too.  Click here to find one of the self-evaluation checklists I've created for my students in language arts.   Another one I hand out just before report cards can be found here (Thank you Melissa Kozerski)

• As part of school procedure, I also assess my students against the Gates-MacGinity reading tests and the CAT4s as well.  I find these are excellent tools for establishing benchmarks and although they do not stand alone, they offer quality perspectives on student understanding.
• Most of my exit strategies to wrap up a lesson are simple questions and answer discussions, but something that has really worked well and the whole class seems to enjoy is the What Stuck With You? post-it note activity.  I give each student a sticky note to recall some information from the lesson (this works really well when we are watching a video as well!) and they have to write what stuck with them the most.  We put them up on our door for little reminders through the day.