To support learners to self-assess, it is beneficial to provide opportunities for students to think critically about their learning and evaluate their current progress. Self-assessment involves students learning the importance and utility of self-assessments, teachers or students creating opportunities for self-assessment, and students learning how to use the results to improve their learning (Kostons, van Gog, & Paas, 2012). An important aspect of using self-evaluations is to gain valuable feedback to guide any misconceptions and persevere to maintain growth. Feedback is the connective tissue in the assessment system. It serves as a way to drive learning in the moment and when the learning is measured cumulatively.” (Fisher, Frey, and Hattie, 2020). As students and teachers open dialogue and conversations about the learning process, it promotes a shared vision and goal for learning. This work is crucial for students to document their progress towards mastery.

In my classroom, I use self-evaluations to help students to gauge their progress, gain feedback, and support growth. This work is typically completed in the middle or end of the learning process. Students are given the learning intention, time to reflect, and indicate evidence towards mastery.

Self-reflection is an essential skill for personal growth. Dr. Vogels, principal of the Colorado Academy Upper School, shares her beliefs on self-reflection. He states that "giving reflection time is valuable to anyone as a means of creating greater self-awareness, appreciating process as well as product, and deepening one’s learning." Students can utilize reflective questions to help them analyze their overall learning. In order to cultivate a growth and mastery mindset in the classroom, it is critical to establish a safe and positive learning environment. Students are encouraged to reflect deeply on their success so far with reflective questions, journaling, and open discussions.  Educators can use open-ended prompts to encourage students to discuss, critically think about, and critically assess their work. Students can participate in discussions and share their ideas in order to create a safe learning environment.

This work is accomplished in a variety of ways in my classroom. I post the reflective questions on the board for students to ponder. Students can write in their notebooks about the prompt or participate in small group conversations to share their thoughts. This practice ensures that students taking an active role in their education and making progress towards their goals. 

Single point rubrics can be used to encourage students to self-assess and evaluate mastery towards standards. According to Jennifer Gonzalez from Cult of Pedagogy, there are several advantages to using single point rubrics to support student learning. Single point rubrics only indicates criteria for proficiency, which allows room for growth. "Areas of concern and excellence are open-ended"(Gonzalez, 2014). This allows room for students to be push beyond the boundaries and students are not limited by a pre-determine expectations given by their teacher.

In my classroom, I utilize single point rubrics to support learners to self-assess. I only state the proficiency criteria necessary for mastery for students on a given performance task. By providing students with the criteria and space for feedback and reflection, students are more likely to utilize the rubric to assess their work. I found that it is more beneficial to use these rubrics because the focus is on proficiency criteria instead of itemizing each criteria for into various characteristics.

One way that students can "obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the roles of organisms and the flow of energy within an ecosystem," is using FlipGrid. Students are provided opportunities to engage with technology to create a presentation. They will screen-share to record a video of themselves delivering concepts of ecosystems to demonstrate mastery of the science content. Students were expected to include pictures of one or more organisms, as well as information about its role, and why it is so important in an ecosystem.

Another way that students can "obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the roles of organisms and the flow of energy within an ecosystem," is creating a poster to represent their knowledge. In this activity, students work in pairs or small groups to create a Missing from (Ecosystem): WANTED poster for the groups of organisms in the forest ecosystem (producers, consumers, or decomposers). They will include pictures of one or more organisms of this type, information about its role, and why it is so important.

Lastly, students can "obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the roles of organisms and the flow of energy within an ecosystem," is to maintain a healthy ecosystem for live worms. In this activity, students will record their observations in a journal to document the organisms, the role of each, and why it is necessary in the jar.

i-Ready is a computer adaptive test that continually adjusts the level of complexity of questions and activities to individualize the experience for each student. "Adaptive assessments are frequently chosen for their high precision and efficiency, allowing educators to pinpoint student needs more accurately and in less time than with traditional fixed-form assessments" (Curriculum Associates, 2006). Adaptive assessments support personalized learning because it leverages technology to curate customized experiences for all students to growth and succeed. Students receive immediate feedback, receive data driven instruction, and provide teachers and administrators a measure of growth. In my classroom, we utilize iReady Math to provide instruction during math workshop. iReady provides tools for instruction, teacher tool boxes, and learning games to supplement the standards.

The goal of formative assessments is to monitor student progress towards learning goals. Formative assessments can provide valuable data to educators in order to remediate any misconceptions during the learning journey. Google Forms allows me to provide remediation links and enrichment support to students and they can get the feedback immediately. Formative assessments provide data and information that allows me to personalize small group lessons to support all learners.

Authentic summative assessments provide students the opportunity to apply the knowledge that they gained to specific scenarios and tasks that are relevant and meaningful to the learner. We frequently have deliveries of several large boxes at the school for the book fair. The custodians often need to be able to lift these boxes up onto shelves, which can be difficult. In this task, students will design and create a device that will make it easier for the heavy boxes to be lifted onto the shelves. Students are planning and carrying out an investigation of how forces are changed when simple machines are used to complete tasks. This supports a personalized learning environment because students are developing higher order thinking skills required for the real-world, such as creativity, communication, collaboration, and critical thinking.