Assessments

 

One area in which I noted that I needed to improve as my time as a student teacher progressed was in the area of assessment. I feel because my time was broken into two different locations, performing thoughtful, adequate and efficient assessments was something that I struggled to perform as well as other aspects of my teaching.

 

There are various kinds of assessments and these assessments can be given for a wide variety of reasons. There are assessments that are given to gauge the level of learning of the class; in essence to take the temperature of the class to determine the amount of content being absorbed and processed. These types of formative tests are where I excelled. My classroom was full of classroom activities including group activities focused around whiteboard activities located around the room. This allowed me to observe and gently correct students as they slowly absorbed new knowledge. We also performed activities with various manipulatibles which allowed me see the students make models and I could quickly and easily make corrections.

 

Where my understanding fell short was that my assessing the students’ learning in this manner was only half the equation. I was not giving the students an opportunity to learn from other types of assessment. For example, I also had graded classwork, homework and exams that were submitted and returned. I didn’t review this work properly enough for the students to learn from their mistake. This type of more summative assessment did not seem to be beneficial for the students. Towards the end of my placement I realized I was lacking in this area of truly helpful assessment so I sought out help from various teachers and received numerous ideas.

 

Of all of the things I learned from my time as a student teacher this lesson of performing proper, timely assessments was the one I hold most dear. I know now looking forward to my time as a full time teacher that having a variety of assessment techniques is critical for both the teacher and the student and I look forward to implementing many of these techniques.

 

 

 

Directions & Guidelines

 

Giving students clear, concise directions gives them the best possible opportunity to succeed. Initially I thought this was only true with young students but I learned this applied to older students as well. In fact, I would say students of all ages not only benefit from clear directions but also crave these types of guidelines.

 

Clear guidelines are essential for both instructional and behavioral expectations. I observed that even though students know the appropriate and expected behavior and quick reminded is sometimes all that is needed to curtail an inappropriate behavior. I sometimes found this frustrating as I felt a 17 year old student should not need to be reminded, but sometimes the reminder was all that was needed to stifle a larger issue. For example, my students had an awful habit of getting very loud during the announcements so one day before the announcements I simply reminded them of the appropriate behavior that I expected and they acquiesced. Even simple directions such, “Novia, I need to you turn around, put your feet under your desk and get out your notebook” often times worked. I learned that it was a two-fold process; not only did I need to give simple easy to follow directions, I needed to give the students time and the opportunity to successfully follow the directions with hovering over them. They had a choice to either follow the directions or handle the consequences of not following them. This allowed the students to feel in control and allowed me to feel in control as well. I think this overall allowed the classroom to be very successful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taking Risks

 

 

The classroom behavior I witnessed during the observation period during my placement very much disturbed me. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. The students were very disrespectful and the class at times was chaotic. During my first week I was able to observe, quietly and for brief moments, some of these students in other situations and classrooms. I noticed their behavior was different. They were quieter and better behaved. Their ill manners seemed to be more confined to my classroom. As I became closer to some of the students I simply asked one of them one why she felt it was ok to act this way. Her reply was, “Because he [the teacher] has always allowed us to.”

 

I spent a long time wondering what to do on my first day with the class. I wanted to be more firm with the class and yet still be approachable. I was very nervous, but I had a deep conviction that these 11th graders needed to be reminded that they were almost adults and their behavior was not acceptable. It was a big risk to start the first few days this way but I thought it was necessary. My first day I asked everyone who was 18 years old to raise their hands. And then I did the same with 17 years old and 16 years old. This covered the entire class. I then told them I would treat them like young adults until they showed me they couldn’t act like young adults. I also told them that their disrespectful behavior was inappropriate and would no longer be tolerated. I was shaking on the inside and terrified the class would erupt but instead it became very quiet. I had their attention. I had them do an activity where they listed two things they expected from me and two things I could expect from them. I then took this information and made the “wordle” diagram shown above. This program takes all of the words and assigns them size and intensity depending on how often they were mentioned. The following day I showed the class the picture and we talked about the words and what they meant to us as a class and what we could do about them. They students seemed please that they had been heard. They shared that they were frustrated about aspects of the class and I shared how these things are not excuses for bad behavior, that adults handle concerns with words not bad behavior. Their behavior did not change overnight but it did slowly improve. It was a big risk to approach the students this way but I think it was the right choice.