This is the discussion board on which we will share our thoughts, concerns, and moments of pleasure as we begin our total teaching experience.
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This is why I am an education major!!
Monday, November 23, 2020
Kayla is interested in assessment
What do you think is the best way to assess students who are being taught virtually? How would you go about doing that type of assessment? How would you monitor student answers on assessment tests?
Jessica Kellenbach: I think that the best way to assess students who are being taught virtually is through participation and tests. I think this because I am observing fully virtual so I have been lucky enough to see first hand what works and what does not. Personally, in my third grade classroom the students are very easily distracted. This makes it extremely important for my cooperating teacher and I to take the grade of participation and use it as a big part of their grade. This gives the students incentive to participate in class and focus on the tasks they have at hand. On top of this, homework seems to be something that children in my classroom are really struggling to complete. I think that by the end of the day the last thing they want to do is get back onto their. laptops to complete a homework assignment. Homework is something that we are still trying to have all of our students complete on a regular basis. Tests are something that go very well in our classroom set up because we use Thursday as a review day for our math and our spelling words so that the children are put in a position to succeed on their tests on Friday. The students complete their tests virtually through google classroom and submit them online. I think this is a very fair way to assess the students because they are provided with more than enough support to succeed.
Dennis Martin: I am currently in the circumstance that all teaching and learning is done virtually from home until January 19. Mind you, I am in a kindergarten classroom, so this in itself is not easy. I am not implying any grade is harder to teach than the other because all grade levels being taught virtually has their own challenges. However, assessing Kindergarten so far in this school year has been difficult, especially when you consider the things we need to assess Kindergartners on like letter-sound correspondence and understanding capital and lowercase letters. Back to the topic at hand about assessment, no one is in the school building unless teachers need to pick up materials to bring home for lessons. My cooperating and I realized that our best bet in assessing our students is to use only formative and performance assessment to give us the data we need. This does mean that my cooperating and I have to be constant observers of what students are doing and how they are presenting to us their understanding of our lessons. But, this method of only formative assessment and performance assessment such as writing on a whiteboard and showing the teacher what he or she wrote works for us teachers because it is the most intimate and honest way for us to see where students are at, rather than having students take assessments online without our supervision and risk parents submitting invalid scores. Our students are obligated to have their cameras on for this very reason. The parents have been so far very helpful in not giving us the issue about reminding that cameras need to be on. However, I have especially witnessed some sneaky students who will ask their parents in Spanish to help them, and I have to let my cooperating teacher know immediately. We are fine with parents in the room due to circumstances beyond our control, but we can tell when students are being helped, and with me in the classroom, we can address both English-speaking and Spanish-speaking parents on the issues of not helping them so much.
Personally, I find it extremely difficult to assess student virtually. You aren't getting authentic results and scores doing it virtually because most parents are helping their children in the background, or students are smart enough to look things up. I am lucky enough to be in a classroom in person with students where tests can be completed, however, if this were not the case, I would do my best to have the children keep their mic and cameras on during the assessment. I may also try to find programs that are good for assessing students to get the most authentic scores possible. Unfortunately, parents may still intervene and help students to try and give their student good grades.
Jessica Kellenbach: I think that the best way to assess students who are being taught virtually is through participation and tests. I think this because I am observing fully virtual so I have been lucky enough to see first hand what works and what does not. Personally, in my third grade classroom the students are very easily distracted. This makes it extremely important for my cooperating teacher and I to take the grade of participation and use it as a big part of their grade. This gives the students incentive to participate in class and focus on the tasks they have at hand. On top of this, homework seems to be something that children in my classroom are really struggling to complete. I think that by the end of the day the last thing they want to do is get back onto their. laptops to complete a homework assignment. Homework is something that we are still trying to have all of our students complete on a regular basis. Tests are something that go very well in our classroom set up because we use Thursday as a review day for our math and our spelling words so that the children are put in a position to succeed on their tests on Friday. The students complete their tests virtually through google classroom and submit them online. I think this is a very fair way to assess the students because they are provided with more than enough support to succeed.
ReplyDeleteDennis Martin: I am currently in the circumstance that all teaching and learning is done virtually from home until January 19. Mind you, I am in a kindergarten classroom, so this in itself is not easy. I am not implying any grade is harder to teach than the other because all grade levels being taught virtually has their own challenges. However, assessing Kindergarten so far in this school year has been difficult, especially when you consider the things we need to assess Kindergartners on like letter-sound correspondence and understanding capital and lowercase letters. Back to the topic at hand about assessment, no one is in the school building unless teachers need to pick up materials to bring home for lessons. My cooperating and I realized that our best bet in assessing our students is to use only formative and performance assessment to give us the data we need. This does mean that my cooperating and I have to be constant observers of what students are doing and how they are presenting to us their understanding of our lessons. But, this method of only formative assessment and performance assessment such as writing on a whiteboard and showing the teacher what he or she wrote works for us teachers because it is the most intimate and honest way for us to see where students are at, rather than having students take assessments online without our supervision and risk parents submitting invalid scores. Our students are obligated to have their cameras on for this very reason. The parents have been so far very helpful in not giving us the issue about reminding that cameras need to be on. However, I have especially witnessed some sneaky students who will ask their parents in Spanish to help them, and I have to let my cooperating teacher know immediately. We are fine with parents in the room due to circumstances beyond our control, but we can tell when students are being helped, and with me in the classroom, we can address both English-speaking and Spanish-speaking parents on the issues of not helping them so much.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I find it extremely difficult to assess student virtually. You aren't getting authentic results and scores doing it virtually because most parents are helping their children in the background, or students are smart enough to look things up. I am lucky enough to be in a classroom in person with students where tests can be completed, however, if this were not the case, I would do my best to have the children keep their mic and cameras on during the assessment. I may also try to find programs that are good for assessing students to get the most authentic scores possible. Unfortunately, parents may still intervene and help students to try and give their student good grades.
ReplyDelete