Reflection On Practitioner Inquiry

Assessment, both formative and summative, plays a significant part in the learning experience as it determines progression and enables learners to demonstrate that they have achieved their desired learning outcomes.

This artifact portrays the ability of students to self and peer assess during learning activities. “Self-assessment is more accurately defined as a process by which students 1) monitor and evaluate the quality of their thinking and behavior when learning and 2) identify strategies that improve their understanding and skills (McMillian and Hearn, 2008).” This particular activity was part of a larger learning target.

Following my professional enquiry, I have felt that it was important to make further improvements in my teaching pedagogy in order to move forward. Therefore, I have put the next steps into place. Through the professional enquiry, I have gained a further understanding into which areas of my practice need further development.

Assessment is a process through which we gauge a learners level and progression, ensuring learning is taking place and the learner is developing their skills and knowledge. Susan Wallace recognises the importance of assessment as more than a means of determining learner achievement but also “as an indicator of the quality of learning.” (2007: 119) discussing the need for ‘ongoing assessment’ to evaluate how receptive learners are to the lessons.

Assessment needs to be an ongoing, integral part of the teaching and learning cycle. It must allow teachers and students themselves to monitor learning. From the teacher

Ch. 2 – Who are the various users of assessment and its results? What specific instructional decisions can be made based on assessment results? Why must we build balanced assessment systems to support the instructional programs we offer students? This chapter nails down the purpose of assessing, which is gathering information to inform teachers of students of their instruction and learning, respectively. In this way, assessment is individualized to each student and classroom, and because all students/classes are different, it should inform the teachers of what is working or not working in the classroom, which should then influence some sort of change to instruction. This chapter also talks about the different levels of assessment – from the individuals

Close your eyes and think back to your favorite teacher. What made him or her your favorite? Was it the way they taught you? Did they teach you in a way that you did not entirely know that you were learning? Did they make you want to know more? Most likely what made them your favorite teacher was something about the way they instructed you made a difference in the way that you learned what they were conveying to you.

In today’s classrooms, schools and educational settings, teachers and educators are overloaded with the responsibility to produce data, analyse students learning and development and assess this against the National Quality Framework outcomes, the Australian curriculum and State Curriculum and Standards. With this high demand each day, teachers and educators need to find a way to best utilise their time with their students’ and use strategies and learning approaches to get the most out of the learning experiences. By integrating an inquiry approach into a classroom, teachers and educators are providing students with a well-rounded approach to learning. Murdoch (2015) describes an inquiry approach as ‘an approach that places the learner

Utilisation of the Teaching Learning Cycle in conjunction with the NSW Quality Teaching Framework to design class programs that are specific to the needs of each individual student. Furthermore, I consistently assess student outcomes through diagnostic, formative and summative assessment, this data is then used to revise, reflect and improve my classroom practice. Successful reflection has allowed me to mould an effective teaching pedagogy that caters for each individual student.

Many researchers, however, believe that teaching and learning is a cyclical process that begins and ends with assessment:

Assessment for learning is any assessment for which the first priority in its design and practice is to serve the purpose of promoting further student learning and enabling improved student learning through purposeful interaction and providing meaningful feedback. Formative assessment is specifically intended to generate feedback and feed forward on performance to improve, accelerate and enable learning (Sadler, 1998). Formative assessment can and should occur throughout a daily class, through implementation of learning and teaching strategies that lead to both oral and written feedback. The Formative assessment approach is equitable and reliable, producing some significant indicator of student developed understanding that links directly to the syllabus outcomes. This then allows the teacher or other students to respond by trying to

Additionally, I have also learned from the class discussion that there are other alternative assessments or assessment options in having students realize meaningful objectives about not only what they have learned from what is being taught, but also how they can investigate deeper into pursuing from the opportunities from what they have learned. One example was with the group that I participated in doing a test analysis of the Brigance Transition Skills Activities. From analyzing this set of materials, our group uncovered that this assessment (if one was to call it that) served not so much in having students demonstrate what they have learned in translating to various measurements academic achievement or status of learning comprehension so much as to have available for the instructor an organized curriculum designed to help

The GTCNI have argued that, “Professional knowledge, by its very nature, is organic and, to an extent, evolutionary, reflecting a synthesis of research, experiences gained and expertise shared” (GTCNI, 2007:10). The GTNCI further reinforces this statement when it states that, “Teaching can never be reduced to a set of discrete skills to be mastered in some mechanical process of assimilation” (GTCNI, 2007:5). Teaching today has moved beyond the outdated view that the most important thing for a teacher was solely to have professional knowledge. Professional knowledge encompasses a range of different forms of knowledge such as knowledge on the curriculum and children and pedagogical knowledge e.g. how to manage a classroom amongst many other forms. Whilst this is still of great importance professional knowledge is of no use if you are not able to adapt this knowledge to meet the ever-changing dynamic situations that you will encounter in the classroom. This essay will examine how reflective practice can be unlisted by teachers to ensure that they are meeting the needs of their pupils as well as

As educators, we regularly take an action and considering the impact of the action. Then we analysing the results of the action by reflecting upon it and critically evaluate our professional knowledge and the effectiveness of our teaching. Further, we are altering and revising conceptions and planning following reflection. Finally, we are implementing these plans in further actions. In this process, teachers work collaboratively with other members of the profession and engage in discussion of contemporary issues and research to improve professional practice. Many educators are involved with praxis but it often isn’t part of their vocabulary. Without knowing the concept (inquiry as praxis),

Educators can utilise assessment to determine what learners bring into a learning cycle so as to develop instruction tailored to learner’s requirements and to build on existing knowledge and skills (Spiller, 2009:6 & 7). This diagnostic purpose can be further used to determine if learners require further instruction and to assess if learners are prepared for the next stage (Dreyer, 2014:7).