Essay Methods for Assessing Students

I believe assessment is important and is the basis of planning for instruction, whether it is diagnostic prior to learning, formative during units or lessons, or summative to evaluate student learning. Rowan’s quote in Every Teacher’s Guide to Assessment, "After all, in the end, the problem is less the idea of testing itself, but how we design them, apply, them, and make use of their data." definitely has an impact on my assessment practices. I feel it is necessary to make sure the student acquires all aspects of the learning. Assessment should be used to bring a value for students. Within my instruction, I implement daily formative assessments which may include turn and share, quick writes, graphic organizers, online discussion responses, KahootIt, and other forms. Designing the appropriate formative assessment to match the lesson is important to assess how the learning is taught and whether the students are showing progress. In addition, I have worked on building blocks of formative assessments in checklist style leading up to the point of reviewing for a summative test. Each of these are checked off as completed and instant feedback is given. Feedback from an assessment is essential to student learning and how a teacher will ensure the content is being acquired.

From the very beginning of the course, teachers should begin to analyse their learners through initial assessment methods. The assessments best suited to guide improvements in student learning are quizzes, tests, writing assignments, and other assessments such as a group activity. These can easily give the teacher/tutor an insight into the learning needs of the learners. Also

There is a large variety of assessment methods available for assessing learners’ achievements. These include observation; questioning the learner; examining product evidence; discussion; witness testimony; looking at learner statements; recognising prior learning; simulated environment; skills tests; oral and written examinations; assignments; case studies and projects. Choosing the most appropriate assessment methods is vitally important, to help and support the learner and to ensure the job of the assessor is as straightforward, reliable and problem-free as possible.

Assessment is a valuable tool to measure students learning and achievement. It is an essential element for teacher to reflect on what and how they teach. To assess students is to collect evidence of their learning. Teachers use the information to modify their lesson plans and adjust their instructional methods; students need feedback on their performance to concentrate on their vulnerable areas. Assessment is necessary for parents to reinforce their children strength and assist them where extra attention is required. The data collected will inform school

The assessment method that I chose was to ask the students questions about what they

Assessment and data driven instruction are a vital part of teaching. Assessments are used frequently to guide the proceeding lessons. I am interested in learning more about the different types of assessments and the appropriate uses of each. I think it is critical as a future teacher to have many resources to back up my techniques, especially with the growing interest in data and tracking students’ progress. Gathering information about assessments will allow me to broaden my own techniques and strategies that I use in the classroom, more specifically the ways in which I grade and provide feedback on assessments so that students can use that feedback in a positive way. In my past experiences I have noticed my cooperating teachers providing grades on all assessments with no feedback because they want the students to correct their own mistakes. This may work on summative assessments but I think that there needs to be comments on formative assessments so that students know how to correct their mistakes for the end of the unit tests.

I assess my students at regular intervals. Every time I ask a question to an individual or to a class I am assessing their knowledge and understanding.

In my assessment these students will be evaluated consistently my me and the instructors at Hillcrest elementary school. The students will be evaluated on how to continue his/her next steps within the school. Input will be given to the student at the school for data so they can learn more by adapting to their own personal experiences. I will first do a walk-thru of the classroom in starting my assessment. I will visually be able to check on my student’s progress and really understand the students. Next I will use a checklist to compare and see if the student is progressing or not. Criticism feedback won’t be seen as a problem but would be seen as a guide to understanding and achievement inside of the classroom. Lastly and most important I will give out a summative assessment to assess the knowledge of problem solving skills. The specific end goal is to persuade students to become long lasting learners inside and

Classroom assessment involves the professional decision of the teacher to determine how to implement assessment, what should be assessed, and when should assessment occur. Teachers must be able to interpret each students’ unique learning abilities in ways that are credible, fair, and free from bias. Possible factors to consider when creating these multiple formats for assessments include gender, ethnicity, culture, socio-economic backgrounds, and special needs. Each and every student in the classroom should be give the same opportunity to display their strengths. And it is important for teachers to properly manage an assessment plan that will benefit students, as well as the teachers, in the classroom. Eventually, a well-constructed assessment plan will be able to contribute to the development of lifelong learners within the teacher and the students.

The assessment process in a teaching environment is a necessary requirement to enable you to be able to measure a student’s knowledge and understanding. Assessments come in many different forms and use many different methods, each are important in obtaining an outcome to which the tutor can obtain positive outcomes.

After observing a 7th grade classroom, I have seen our class objectives being used in the classroom. I saw how a teacher uses assessment to check her students understanding and adjust instruction to meet the needs of the students. I saw different forms of assessment of formative assessment. I saw observations, the use of questioning, worksheets, and homework. The teacher reviewed material and retaught material that students had trouble understanding.

The teacher can use a lot of different methods here such as Question and Answer, Quiz, Peer-assessment, Observation, Discussion, to name a few. Assessing your students on a formative basis will enable you to see if they are ready prior to a summative assessment Gravells (2012:116).

Assessments are integral parts of instruction, they determine whether classroom goals have been achieved, and help teachers know what areas they should focus on and maybe reteach. They are great tools for developing lesson plans and answer questions such as; “do my students possess full understanding of the material?” There are many ways of assessing students’ learning, one of which I have personal experience with are on-the-spot assessments.

Informal assessment allows students to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways which can benefit all students. It can include group or individual projects, presentations, essays, experiments, or demonstrations. Each of these can allow for “knowledge that transfers from one situation to another [which] is based on students’ abilities to understand central principles, see connections and make distinctions, and be strategic in attacking problems and analyzing information” (Darling-Hammond, p. 285). A variety of assessment methods allow for this to happen and for students to use their personal strengths to demonstrate understanding of the information. “Research into students’ preferences for alternative assessments shows that the assessments that have been positively evaluated by students were more authentic and thus made learning more realistic and powerful” (as cited in Brown, Irving, Peterson, and Hirschfeld, 2009, p. 99). Students should be able to think creatively and take hold of their own education and learning because they must ideally be prepared for a rapidly changing society where they must be able to adapt and formulate their own solutions. Teachers are able to provide feedback to the children so they know what was done effectively and what needs to be modified. Rather than teachers pressuring students to show understanding through a single examination, they will have opportunities to confidently demonstrate knowledge with less

These can also be highly informal and done in a large group setting. If introducing a new topic, start by just asking some real easy questions regarding the topic and then write them down on a large piece of paper. This gives the students a visual aide and allows the teacher to have bases of what information the kids know and what still needs to be addressed. Students on most occasions tend to truly like this assessment because it gives them a chance to speak and be heard. Some students on the other hand do not actually like it unless they are in a one on one setting with a teacher.