Goal

Assessment continues to be one of the most crucial steps in the learning process. There are any different ways to assess students work and as teachers we are tasked with choosing the best option for the work and student. While assessment is important, it is crucial to remember that students should not be judged by their assessment, it is merely a tool teachers use to determine who is meeting the grade standards and those who may need more help. It seems that the older students get the more they are viewed by their assessment which can induce many types of fears. Teaching students at a young age about the importance of assessment is great, but ensuring they understand it does not represent them as a learner is even more crucial and beneficial to them. My goal this semester is to understand more the types of assessment teachers can use and more specifically how to assess kindergarten students and prepare them to move on the grade one. This age group is more general so I think it is more difficult to determine who needs that extra help. It is my goal to use these types of assessments in positive ways to help learner better engage with the material and find their abilities

This artifact is my annotated bibliography from fall 2019 that used important sources to answer a key question. This is an example of not only the work we did in class but collaborative work and how different eyes can help answer questions differently. I was able to analyze many journals, essays and websites to respond to how teachers can provide students with special needs effective teaching. Through my research, I reviewed many assessment tools that helped me get a general idea of how they assess these students. These follow program outcomes 1,2 and 6 of assessment. (A 1,2,6). They explained how they modify their teaching and the way they assess students' knowledge based on the unique student. This helps teachers recognize that they are effectively teaching the content. teachers can also use assessment to see what they need to adjust which is extremely helpful. Sometimes, students, have a hard time coming forward saying that they do not understand things so this helps create a safe space that informs teachers. Assessment is one of the most important parts of education and should take place in all forms like tests, presentations, speeches etc...I have learned it through my field study and lectures that is an extremely helpful tool for teachers. From doing my lesson plan I could immediately see how evidence of assessment is clear right after the lesson is complete. Having discussion be apart of this helped me determine who understood the concepts we were discussing. Assessment is crucial in all environments of a classroom to determine that high-level thinking is happening.

The artifact I chose for this portion of teaching competencies is my participation learning log. This selection of slides is a weekly document that includes a pre-class and an exit class slide surrounding our weekly theme. It ranges from Alberta's program of studies or assessment to phonological awareness and fluency. It is an extra step in our learning process that helps to tie everything together. Assessment is a particular topic that we spoke about around the end of the semester and also in my mentor teacher conversations. While we focused specifically on reading assessment, through our lesson plan and other in-class activities we learned a variety of things. The participation slides gather lesson activities whether whole class or group work, readings we have done and our pre-existing knowledge to expand on topics. Many of the slides include activities that help with an assessment like a running record for example. This is a part of the reading assessment and we were able to practice for ourselves with our peers.

As many say practice makes perfect, learning how to properly and accurately assess students fairly is very important. Because assessment is such a large part of what teachers do as educators, mastering the skill is crucial. Being exposed to different ways of assessment through differentiation can help me as a teacher be able to adapt to any student's needs. My mentor teacher uses a grid evaluation form to keep all students together and stay organized throughout the school year to be prepared for report cards. This is a goal I hope to bring into my future classrooms. I feel that organization is important to me generally, but even more when I become a teacher. It is so important to have things prepared, especially in terms of assessing students because this is such a major part of the school. My goal is to always keep up to date with assessment tasks and make sure that students and always fully aware of what is asked of them. Creating simple yet intentional goals or checklist can help them succeed and also help myself as a teacher have all materials needed to help them. An action plan for this goal would be to practice these organizational things in my school life and continue my exploration of different types of assessment as I carry on through my degree. Knowing as many things about how to assess students properly is so important as a teacher and I am already learning many useful tools to help me succeed at it.

The artifact that best represents assessment for learning is my assessment dossier. The assessment dossier is a detailed backward design plan created to outline different assessment techniques from my EDUC: effective assessment course. Through this course, we discussed and critically analyzed all areas of assessment within the Alberta curriculum. Assessment is truly the foundation of learning. Without it, both teachers and students would have nothing to base understanding and comprehension on. This dossier is based on the Waste in our World unit for grade 4 students, but the outline works for all assessment cases. Working on this dossier allowed me to "create multiple and varied assessment tools that align with outcomes" (A3). This varied assessment is necessary within instruction to keep students engaged and informed. I believe learning about how to differentiate instruction is a crucial step into effective assessment. A specific element of my dossier, the self-reflection checklist, helps "provide specific, timely, constructive feedback to help students monitor their own learning" (A5). This is just one example of the many different types of assessment useful in classrooms. Through this dossier and our in-class topics, we learned about different types of assessments and why they best fit specific curriculum needs. Some examples are multiple-choice quizzes, portfolios, or writing pieces.

As teachers, it is our responsibility to provide students with the best and most accurate representation of assessment as possible. This is done through learning ourselves and a goal of mine is to explore further the different types of assessments and how each one may be more suitable for different units or topics and why. Once we can better understand this, we can best tailor instruction and assessment. Through my courses and, in particular, my assessment class, I have had the chance to explore the importance of assessment and how crucial it is to continue to make connections within learning. My goal is to explore further differentiation and ensure it is present in all instruction and assessment practices. This is something significant for comprehension and will facilitate learning for all students. By differentiating instruction, classrooms will be a community of engaged and positive learners. It is the teacher's role to provide students with adequate learning in all circumstances, all of which is part of the facilitation of learning.