Reasoning

When designing my assessment for this unit my main goal was to keep the students I have in the class present and their abilities in mind. My students are not yet able to read and write so I could not have the assessments be to write an exit ticket. That being said I had to get creative and make sure my assessments were written and implemented in a way they are already comfortable with. I have illustrations, verbal explanations, photographs, videos, and worksheets that the students can all show their knowledge through multiple different ways of learning that are not based on their reading and writing skills.

Looking to create a simple pre-assessment that they are already familiar with. I decided to have them use a name chart already set up in the classroom with three different symbols of thumbs. One is a thumbs up, a thumb to the side, and a thumb down. I then explained to the students what a thumb up will represent that "the students can show AND explain what it means when an object is in motion, and how to push, pull, redirect, start, and stop certain objects". A thumb to the side will mean “I can explain OR show what it means when an object is in motion, and how to push, pull, redirect, start, and stop certain objects. The thumb down will be “I can NOT show or explain what it means when an object is in motion, and how to push, pull, redirect, start, and stop certain objects. I will be scoring the students' work into three categories. These will be meets (M), partially meets (PM), and do not meet (DNM). The thumb up will represent the standard meets, the thumb to the side will represent partially meets, and the thumb down will represent does not meet. At the end of the school day, I will review where the students all stood pre-unit and adjust my accommodations, extensions, or misconceptions I had previously written if needed.

For embedded formative assessment, I looked to use observations of students and how they are working through each activity as a whole and individually. I will use this information for instructional decision making to use during my lessons. If I notice a group of students stuck on a certain section of the lesson I will know that there needs to be more of an explanation on this specific section and maybe it will need to be taught in a different way than implemented prior. I also could potentially use this information if I see multiple students struggling. I could bring the attention back to me and reteach the part they are stuck on during the lesson. Both of these strategies can also be used if multiple students are understanding a certain part of a lesson, I can log this for later to remind myself I won't have to spend as much time focusing on a section they already understand.

Formative assessments were performance tasks that students completed during the lesson plan. These performance tasks all demonstrated the individual understanding of each student and if they met the learning objectives for that lesson. For each performance task, I will quickly meet with all the students to get a stronger understanding of how they felt after each lesson and to see if they are ready to move forward with the next lessons. If I feel a student is not ready to move forward I have already scheduled time into the day when I will be able to meet with them one on one or in a small group to get them where they need to be for the next lesson. This will allow me to get a stronger understanding of where all the students are standing with the unit and give me a chance to plan for the following day. I review the students' formative assessments before they move on and then in more detail at the end of the school day. I will keep a log of any key points I am noticing so students don't fall behind.

Every day after each lesson I have the students self-assess themselves using three baskets. These baskets will have the same thumb symbols they are already familiar with through the self assessment. I will review the objectives that I kept on the projector for the students and have them hand in their work into the basket that they feel they fell under for the particular lesson plan. At the start of each lesson, the objectives were presented and dissected so students understood their job for the activity. Having daily self-assessments allows children to practice self-reflection and metacognition. It also gives me feedback on where they view themselves and how the students think they are understanding the objectives. If I have compared the students' formative assessment, embedded assessment, and self-assessment and students are consistently confused about what basket to put their work in for the self-assessment, this may tell me I need to approach my introduction of objectives differently.

For the summative assessment, I have the students use the same name chart they used in the pre-assessment. I did this because I found my students work best when things are familiar to them. This is the same reason I am using the same three symbols throughout the entire unit. I did not change my question for this assessment, it remained the same as the pre-assessment. I wanted to be able to see my student's growth throughout the unit, but I also want them to see their growth and understand what it means to self-reflect. I recorded the assessment information gathered in google sheets and scored it in a color-coded system with the standards Meets, Partially Meets, and Does not meet.

Overall my assessment was planned out while keeping in mind that my class does well with structure and tasks that are familiar. They are not yet able to write so I wanted to be able to provide alternative ways for them to self-reflect. As well as a way for them to show me their knowledge and understanding of the task. For me as a teacher this allowed me to build a stronger understanding of where my students stood with the lessons that was presented, and if I needed to adapt instructions to help fit their needs.