Week 14 Class Reflection

Holy Cow! I forgot to reflect on last week's class! From what I remember (bare with me it was a week ago) I got a lot out of the class session. We spent the first hour taking the Accuplacer for ESL that is used at M.S.U. It was funny because half the class had perfect or almost perfect scores on the writing and didn't know it. Had we read about the test we would have known that a score of 6 on the writing was a perfect! that illustrated the point that we need to be very familiar with the testing materials especially when using an electronic test that we did not create.

Honestly, the whole concept of assessments is very new to me from the perspective of a teacher. I remember when I was a student, I dreaded tests. now, as a graduate student I still dread them and i am a living testament that some people are simply, "Not test takers". I have a Spanish class that I am currently taking to keep my fluency and I am graded solely on my test scores! It is frustrating because my writing and reading skills are great but that fact is not exemplified in the tests.

Class was well spent reviewing the concept of assessment and coming up with valid ways to assess our students. I know as a teacher, in the future I am going to fun ways to assess my students and show that them tests do NOT have to be scary. Perhaps I could do research on the subject as part of my develop as a novice teacher.

Classroom-Based Assessment Readings

This week's readings were all about assessment in the H.D.Brown book. I noticed at the beginning of the chapter, H.D.Brown made reference to the fact that assessments and tests can be fun and that statement made me want to read even more about the subject that I knew so little about.

The chapter first differentiated between norm-referenced testing and criterion referenced testing. This is the way I understood the two terms:

Norm-referenced testing: The results of a student's particular assessment, evaluation, or test is placed on a scale in comparison with the other students' scores. The purpose of this test is to place students on a mathematical continuum for example, Joe got 90/100 as a numerical score and 90% is his placement among the other students, or he placed higher than 90% of the students. If the students have been differentiated and separated with scores than the goal of the assessment has been met.

Criterion-referenced tests: This test is centered on feedback from the teacher on whether or not the criteria for a particular course or lesson has been met. More responsibility is placed on the teacher to deliver meaningful feedback to each student.

I also took note of the strategies for before-,during-, and after-test strategies. It seems that all the steps are very important to facilitate and prepare students for success, however, the before-testing strategies are vital for students. I think it is important to consider that many students have anxiety when it comes to test taking and each teacher should take this into consideration.

It is also important to be very encouraging for the students and let them know that we, as teachers, have confidence in their abilities as students.

Finally, washback is very important and extensive and relevant feedback from the teacher is the important factor in washback. As a future teacher I plan to provide ample opportunity for my students to discuss their tests or assessments and I can then give them ideas on how to improve in some areas. I will also commend the students on the concepts that they did well. I think praise can go a long way with students also.

The cartoon below expresses how I think some of my first days of teaching in an elementary school. I think I will experience some things that none of my professors can prepare me for.

Reflection of Class on 4/13

Class on Monday started in the G.L.L. with a presentation by Ahmet which was his for his graduate research project. He talked about writing acquisition and other concepts around it. I found it interesting that many of the language learners that he surveyed admitted that they do not use language outside of the classroom! I also found that when a learner does not have good speaking skills that will transfer to both reading and writing skills


It was then time for Jodi to give her presentation about assessment. I thought she did a really nice job explaining assessment and I wish she had time to present everything that she wanted to.

We then got into groups and matched cars up with their definitions. I found that to be quite useful because all of the different terms of validity were at one point a little vague for me. We then had to create ideas about how to assess a certain skill. My group had writing skills and we came up with a few really good activities. We then swapped the activities and had to exemplify the idea behind one of the activities.

Finally, in our whole group discussion we talked about our teacher observations and the struggles that we sometimes had. I was both relieved and disappointed to hear that other students felt that E.S.L. teachers were not put on the same level as the other teachers. Also, some people thought that the E.S.L. teacher was a "fix-it" teacher and I could see all of that in my own experience.

Readings for Week 14

This week's readings in P&B were extremely interesting and beneficial as usual. I like this book the most because it gives me a chance to think of activities that I would use some day in my future classroom.

A few things I wanted to keep note of:

The concept of rehearsing was not new but the label was somewhat unfamiliar. Rehearsing is used in post reading activities in groups and pairs and help students retain more of the information. Rehearsing can be done by speaking and writing with peers and helps students not only remember and reevaluate what they read but clarify certain points that were unclear.

I really liked the mapping idea presented on page 352, figure 9.2. I just used this strategy when studying for a test in Spanish. I think this type of mapping would appeal to visual and kinesthetic learners.

Learning logs seem to be a great way for students to ask questions and for teachers to continually assess their students. I suppose that is why we blog!

Finally, the idea of photo essays seems like a great way for students to enjoy the assignment and it seems the project could activate the intrinsic motivation of most students. The book gave examples in which the students took pictures of their families and presented them on a story board. In my opinion, students would enjoy this activity because they have a great platform to tell their stories.

Chapter 9 also talked about assessment and the most important idea that I learned from the readings is the fact that assessment needs to be ongoing and conducted in multiple ways.

Reflection of Class on 3/30/09

Monday night's class started with Bekir giving a presentation about writing and how it can be taught. He had 3 different groups come up with different pre, during, and post writing activities.

Chris then presented and broke us into partners and we had to demonstrate the different activities presented in the Peanut Butter book. I was so excited because I got the life mural, which I would LOVE to do in a classroom. I think it would work really well to activate the intrinsic motivation, background knowledge and the desire to expand vocabulary. The reason I feel so strongly about the activity and the writing opportunities it presents because people simply want to "tell their story". When students are presented with an opportunity to explain where they have come from, they want to tell it and as a future teacher I would want to hear it.

We then broke into groups to view our videos of us teaching. I spent some of the time having Thea help me fix my paper, as it seems I had it in the wrong lay out. Chris and Thea liked the students in my video and they gave me some really good feedback.

I think it would be helpful to sit as a class and discuss our teacher observations. I find that I had a lot of questions and there was no where to address them. I also learned a lot and again I did not have anyone to bounce ideas off of. I hope we talk about our observations a little next week.

Readings for Week 12

This week's readings were all about writing. The Peanut Butter Book covered many things that I found to be new and useful information. First of all, I appreciated how the book explained the concept of process writing. It seems that process writing has not always been the way in which teachers taught writing. According to the H.D.B. book, teachers put an emphasis on the final product rather than the writing process.

Process writing presented an activity that I think can be used with all grades and ages. The "I remember" activity seems like a great writing activity and it activates background knowledge, to boot!

There were so many activity ideas that the Peanut Butter Book presented, especially under the beginner writing section that I want to keep this book for future reference. I like the idea of creating stories with pictures or using wordless books. I have a funny anecdote about my first encounter with wordless books. Last week at my teacher observation I was looking through my teacher's books and I came across a book titled, "Anno's Journey". That book was filled with beautiful pictures and I must say that I took longer "reading" that book than many of the other books on the shelf. I was completely engrossed and enthralled with what the main character must be doing. Finally, I concluded that he was travelling through time and I came up with an idea for a lesson that students could write their own stories based on the pictures.

I did have one question about concept books that were presented on page 228. The book stated that a teacher could have concept books for the students to look at and use as a basis for constructing their own. The book said that concepts such as big and little could be presented to help enrich the writing and vocabulary of the students. I learned in the past that presenting vocabulary opposites in English was a pedagogical faux pas.

I love the idea of any of the 3 types of journal ideas that were presented and I remember as a 1st and 2ND grader enjoying the writings I created in my journal.

To be honest, before I read these readings for the week I was somewhat leery of teaching writing because it is something I do not enjoy. After gaining all the new information I gleaned from the textbooks I realize teaching reading can be not only student centered but fun!

"You smell like a princess" Last Teacher Observation

I received one of the best compliments from one of the students yesterday, "You smell like a princess" I am not quite sure what that means but I am going to take it as a compliment!

Yesterday was my last official day with the teaching observation, although, I got invited back for my good-bye party with all the students.

The day was a crazy day with all the kids excited and full of energy. Some of them found it very hard to concentrate but when they did they really worked hard. I think it helps that Mrs. Becker put up a chart to map their positive progress and if they all do well they get a party.

It was more of the same as far as what we did for the day. We read books and wrote spelling word sentences. I really enjoy working with the students on the other subject areas because I learn something too! I have been really working hard at becoming more "teacherly" and I think I have been doing really well at it. I have been pretty good at keeping the students on task. I think that is the part that I do not like about it. It seems I almost feel like I am nagging the students when I tell them a few times in a row to do their work. I guess that is part of the experience and it seems like that is a small price to pay when working with such wonderful students.