After talking to my administration, there are multiple improvements that Houston is trying to implement. The first is to continue on the past of formative and summative assessment. With our new grading policy, which will be explained in August, focuses more on formative assessment versus a daily grade on assignments. We will be breaking our grades down to different areas, but I will only have to give five grades in a six weeks. I will also be grading their behavior in a different way as well. I think that while new policies are great, there has to be a blend of good assessment, and what is beneficial to the students and teachers.
One of the goals is to also have more computer time in each of the classrooms. With the technology initiatives that IISD has tried to incorporate, this is becoming more of an issue in the middle school classrooms, because when they become freshman, they are not ready for the one to one incorporation of the laptop. This will be incorporated by having a requirement of each teacher using technology at least once a week.
Data collection is going to be focused more on D2SC to gather not only the current information, but also the information from previous years and make teachers know how to use this and do this. We will be focusing on completing more TEKS checks online as well for students to figure out how to run their own data to figure out what they need.
To know if we are effective for technology, it must be in our lesson plan, and then we will be discussing them in our PLCs that we meet with weekly. The district will also be completing more walk-thrus in our classroom on days that we will be using technology. For grading policy, we will be working on that as the district comes out with more information.
The future assessment in my classroom will be run similar to years in the past. With our district going to a completely new grading policy for next year I don't know what my gradebook will look like or how things will look as a whole. I am also receiving new curriculum which will change how I look at things.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Student Learning
We do use three different databases for assessment: Gradespeed for daily grades, progress reports, and attendence; D2SC for TEKSchecks, semseter exams, and teacher created exams; and last, Blackboard for test, quizzes, and assignments.
To start, Gradespeed is what I use the most. Since students are able to look into thier grades through a special program, my grades are updated 2-3 times a week so that both students and parents know where they stand in the classroom.
While I love D2SC becuase it scores it for you, I hate that you can't automatically enter them into the gradebook. This has part to do because the score given on these assessments are at scaled for a better numeric score for the gradebook.
Last, Blackboard is hard to use with us not having a 1:1 student to laptop ratio in our classroom. While we can do this, students struggle with the technology and are needing to learn this skill.
Overall, I think each of these programs have benefits to them, but wonder about the cost and the ability to sync them all together. I know that IISD has a lot of work to do with the new grading policy coming into affect, but I believe that we will need a more cohesive form of assessment to match the policies.
I believe that D2SC is the best information for collecting student data and using the information for further growth of student learning. I think that the data is informative and allows teachers to see areas of student growth, but like any assessment, it is only as good as the thought that is taken out of it. I believe that some teachers use the data for educational purposes, and others let the data sit. D2SC is the most beneficial for data collection and use because there are so many different data sets made available and they can incorporate new data sets as new benchmarks are given.
To start, Gradespeed is what I use the most. Since students are able to look into thier grades through a special program, my grades are updated 2-3 times a week so that both students and parents know where they stand in the classroom.
While I love D2SC becuase it scores it for you, I hate that you can't automatically enter them into the gradebook. This has part to do because the score given on these assessments are at scaled for a better numeric score for the gradebook.
Last, Blackboard is hard to use with us not having a 1:1 student to laptop ratio in our classroom. While we can do this, students struggle with the technology and are needing to learn this skill.
Overall, I think each of these programs have benefits to them, but wonder about the cost and the ability to sync them all together. I know that IISD has a lot of work to do with the new grading policy coming into affect, but I believe that we will need a more cohesive form of assessment to match the policies.
I believe that D2SC is the best information for collecting student data and using the information for further growth of student learning. I think that the data is informative and allows teachers to see areas of student growth, but like any assessment, it is only as good as the thought that is taken out of it. I believe that some teachers use the data for educational purposes, and others let the data sit. D2SC is the most beneficial for data collection and use because there are so many different data sets made available and they can incorporate new data sets as new benchmarks are given.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Multimedia Add In for Assessment
I have been in training this morning through my district on technology. I found a great program that would be great in the classroom for any subject. It is Google Sketch up and Google Earth as a help mate for Google Sketchup.
It was a great basic course, and I am looking forward to adding it in to our goodie bags as a MTT student!
It was a great basic course, and I am looking forward to adding it in to our goodie bags as a MTT student!
Automated Essay Scorer-Paper Topic
I love being an English teacher most of the time. The time where I really hate being an English teacher is when I have to grade 150 essays in less than a week. I think that the creation of the Automated Essay Scorer is a wonderful invention, but this is also without using it, researching it, or seeing how user friendly it really is.
I have chosen this as my topic becuase there are a lot of teachers in my building that are leary of an automated scorer, and it if will help our middle school students with thier 7th grade TAKS scores. FOr the few that I have looked out, there are a lot that focus more on writing traits, and less on the 1-4 scale score that TAKS uses. We just adopted new literature textbooks in our district, and one of the items that was brought up in supplementary materials.
While the thought is impressive, the question comes, does it work? I am hoping that at the end of this class and through my research, I will be able to see if this is an accurate for of assessment for my building.
I have chosen this as my topic becuase there are a lot of teachers in my building that are leary of an automated scorer, and it if will help our middle school students with thier 7th grade TAKS scores. FOr the few that I have looked out, there are a lot that focus more on writing traits, and less on the 1-4 scale score that TAKS uses. We just adopted new literature textbooks in our district, and one of the items that was brought up in supplementary materials.
While the thought is impressive, the question comes, does it work? I am hoping that at the end of this class and through my research, I will be able to see if this is an accurate for of assessment for my building.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Current Assessment Practices
Assessment is critical to the field of education. Without assessment, we do not know where are students currently are, or where we are to take them in the future. In my classroom, as well in our district, are key on assessment.
Standard testing occurs in my classroom at the end of units to see what the students know and what needs to be retaught. In the 5th and 6th six weeks, we work on building background knowledge of WWII and read literature to help with grammar aspects. In the first four six weeks, when my focus in solely on grammar, after we get through parts of speech, there will be a test to see what is known and not known. We then reteach in mini lessons throughout the school year.
Benchmark testing is essential in my district. These are called TEKS checks and are given on a monthly bases. In my content area, the test in one passage long and has six questions. In my personal opinion, there is not enough data that can be drawn on six questions to truly tell a teacher what a student does or does not know. I am hearing that this will be changing next year, and we will go back to having one a six weeks and then having 12 questions on them. Our curriculum is being rewritten, so our benchmarks will have to allign to those as well.
As a writing teacher, I use portfolios for their writing. We call these, their writing folders, and I add all essays to these folders. If we do a creative writing, I will also add these in. I also let the students determine what they would like to add to their portfolios as well. At the end of the year, I conference with students about where they started and where they currently are and what is needed for high school. This is done within the last two weeks of school.
Project based learning is still something that is rather new to me. We do currently do this in our curriculum when we teach WWII in the 4th six weeks. The students complete a research topic on WWII, and then create a multimedia presentation to show to the class while giving an oral presentation, and then create an expository essay for their topic. I also found this cool website that helps make checklist for PBL. http://pblchecklist.4teachers.org/
Technology used for assessment comes in the form of our benchmarks which can be taken on paper or in a digital format. We can also use blackboard to give quizzes or test. The issue with this is more the lack of availability with computers, versus a desire to want to do them. We also have a way to create our own assessments in TEKS Check, but it is currently only available to reading and math.
Technology standards that are currenlty assessed are:
1) how familiar they are with different applications
2) Copyright information (especially in expository research essay)
3) Solving problems in the programs
I know that I do a whole lot more as well, but those are the three big ones.
My three assessment related goals for my classroom and building are how to add more assessments through technology, focus on PBL for cross-curricular, and to make assessment something that students understand.
I think each of these goals will not only benefit me this next year in the classroom, but also for long term goals of a PhD program.
Standard testing occurs in my classroom at the end of units to see what the students know and what needs to be retaught. In the 5th and 6th six weeks, we work on building background knowledge of WWII and read literature to help with grammar aspects. In the first four six weeks, when my focus in solely on grammar, after we get through parts of speech, there will be a test to see what is known and not known. We then reteach in mini lessons throughout the school year.
Benchmark testing is essential in my district. These are called TEKS checks and are given on a monthly bases. In my content area, the test in one passage long and has six questions. In my personal opinion, there is not enough data that can be drawn on six questions to truly tell a teacher what a student does or does not know. I am hearing that this will be changing next year, and we will go back to having one a six weeks and then having 12 questions on them. Our curriculum is being rewritten, so our benchmarks will have to allign to those as well.
As a writing teacher, I use portfolios for their writing. We call these, their writing folders, and I add all essays to these folders. If we do a creative writing, I will also add these in. I also let the students determine what they would like to add to their portfolios as well. At the end of the year, I conference with students about where they started and where they currently are and what is needed for high school. This is done within the last two weeks of school.
Project based learning is still something that is rather new to me. We do currently do this in our curriculum when we teach WWII in the 4th six weeks. The students complete a research topic on WWII, and then create a multimedia presentation to show to the class while giving an oral presentation, and then create an expository essay for their topic. I also found this cool website that helps make checklist for PBL. http://pblchecklist.4teachers.org/
Technology used for assessment comes in the form of our benchmarks which can be taken on paper or in a digital format. We can also use blackboard to give quizzes or test. The issue with this is more the lack of availability with computers, versus a desire to want to do them. We also have a way to create our own assessments in TEKS Check, but it is currently only available to reading and math.
Technology standards that are currenlty assessed are:
1) how familiar they are with different applications
2) Copyright information (especially in expository research essay)
3) Solving problems in the programs
I know that I do a whole lot more as well, but those are the three big ones.
My three assessment related goals for my classroom and building are how to add more assessments through technology, focus on PBL for cross-curricular, and to make assessment something that students understand.
I think each of these goals will not only benefit me this next year in the classroom, but also for long term goals of a PhD program.
Welcome to Assessment
Good Afternoon! I am looking forward to learning more about assessment this summer and how it can be added to my technology and classroom environment. I am going on the assumption (and yes, I know what assuming does :)) that our essays for this class will be blogs like in the first two classes.
I will be gone on a Mediteranian cruise from June 12-20, so I am trying to go ahead and get a head start on what I can do for the class! Looking forward to meeting/seeing everyone on Friday.
Newby
I will be gone on a Mediteranian cruise from June 12-20, so I am trying to go ahead and get a head start on what I can do for the class! Looking forward to meeting/seeing everyone on Friday.
Newby
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Website
I truly enjoyed creating my own website. I would like to have more control over what is put on my website, but to do this, I haven't found a free way to do it. I like my website becuase it is completely me. While there isn't a lot of background and color changes, that isn't how I run my classroom. I run my classroom to help prepare my 8th grade students for high school and the real world. While I get that you need to keep students engaged, they also need to recognize that life isn't always fun.
There are a few items that are coming soon on my website that I will continue to fix for next school year. While I see this as a great resource, I am not sure how many of my students or their parents would actually view this. Great in theory, but I am not sure about practice in my school.
Overall, I know that I could add more multimedia, but I feel like this assignment, is a growing product as you continue to grow as a teacher.
I hope that you enjoy the website.
http://mrsnewby2010.wikispaces.com/
There are a few items that are coming soon on my website that I will continue to fix for next school year. While I see this as a great resource, I am not sure how many of my students or their parents would actually view this. Great in theory, but I am not sure about practice in my school.
Overall, I know that I could add more multimedia, but I feel like this assignment, is a growing product as you continue to grow as a teacher.
I hope that you enjoy the website.
http://mrsnewby2010.wikispaces.com/
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