Winter 2025 Goals & Strategies:
Reflecting on my previous practicum, I have gained valuable experience using a variety of assessment tools, including rubrics, checklists, and formative assessments. Moving forward, I want to deepen my understanding of assessment for learning by taking a more active role in evaluating student progress and using data to guide instruction. My goal this semester is to enhance my ability to assess student learning in a way that informs my teaching practices and supports student growth. I plan to focus on developmentally appropriate assessment strategies for kindergarten students, including observational assessment, anecdotal notes, and play-based assessment that captures a holistic view of student progress.
Reflection:
This practicum allowed me to strengthen my assessment practices by using developmentally appropriate strategies like observations, anecdotal notes, and play-based assessments. I took a more active role in evaluating student progress and used that data to guide my instruction. This approach helped me better support student growth and tailor learning to individual needs.
Winter 2024 Goals & Strategies:
As I reflect on my initial fall goal, I am happy to say that I was introduced to a variety of assessment tools and strategies throughout my practicum. I was very lucky to have a mentor teacher who was very invested in my learning and provided me with a variety of assessment tools that she uses. I also took on the challenge of creating my own rubrics and checklists, as well as implementing a few forms of formative assessment into my lessons. In the future I am hoping to take on a larger role for assessment in the classroom. This includes grading students' work based on my assessment tools and discussing their grades with my mentor teacher. I believe that this will contribute to my learning tremendously, as I have yet to take on that responsibility.
Link to the assessment tools that I created!
Fall 2023 Goals & Strategies:
This semester, I will be using the knowledge that I have gained from EDUC 2375 in order to create the most effective assessment for each lesson plan. I will continue expanding my knowledge on the different types of assessment strategies and rubric making. I believe that the most important part of a lesson is backwards design, as it ensures that your outcomes relate to your activity, assessment, and grading process. My goal for this semester is to create lessons and assessments that correspond with the curricular outcomes in a way that is easily understood by students. It is very important to me that students understand the learning goals and objectives of the work that they are completing.
In order to accomplish my goal, I will create assessment tools and rubrics that highlight the importance of my lessons with appropriate language for their age category. I will ask my mentor teacher for feedback and make changes along the way. Since I am going to be teaching for a larger period of time, I will be creating assessments and rubrics for each of my lessons even when it is not needed as a form of practice. I plan on discussing this further with my MT to learn more about her preferences. (A 1, 2, 4, & 5).
Winter 2023 Goals & Strategies:
My goal for next semester is to continue conducting assessments with the student that I am tutoring so that I am able to compare their progress over the course of the entire year. I would also like to explore different assessment strategies with the same student to see if they have any specific preferences. I will use knowledge that I have gained from EDUC 2375 in order to create the most effective assessment for each lesson that I will be creating throughout this semester. I will continue expanding my knowledge on the different types of assessment strategies and rubric making. I believe that the most important part of a lesson is backwards design, as it ensures that your outcomes relate to your activity, assessment, and grading process.
In order to accomplish my goal, I will attempt to make a few rubrics that relate to what is being taught in the classroom, and I will ask my mentor teacher for feedback and make changes along the way. I will also have many opportunities to teach next semester, which is why I want to create an assessment and rubric for each of my lessons even when it is not needed as a form of practice. I plan on discussing this further with my MT as it will allow me to find out about her preferences. (PR 1, 2, 4, & 5).
Fall 2022 Goals & Strategies:
This semester I have been able to create a few different assessments for students, which has helped my ideas expand tremendously. Throughout my lesson, I was able to create exit slips that allowed students to privately communicate their struggles and understanding with me. I thought this was a great assessment strategy as it removed the idea of comparison and embarrassment amongst children. I was also able to assess that student that I have been tutoring and watch their progress as the semester continued.
Fall 2021 Goals & Strategies:
Assessments are essential when teaching because as educators, we must ensure that all students are demonstrating improvements in their learning. Throughout my field experiences, I noticed that my mentor does private assessments for all of the students. I think this is a very effective idea because some students may not feel comfortable enough to speak up and express their thoughts in front of others. My goal when assessing children is to be able to see a significant improvement throughout their work as the year progresses.
In order to achieve my goal, I will make sure that students are provided with extra services, and I will also make the parents/guardians aware that their child may be falling behind grade level. By doing so, the parents can choose whether or not they can provide extra help at home. I will also give each student constructive feedback on all assessments and projects so they are aware of the mistakes being made. All assignments will include a rubric that contains information on what is being expected from the student. This will make the main goal of the assignment clear in order to avoid confusion. I believe that my job is to communicate high expectations from all students and ensure that they continuously develop skills in literacy and numeracy.
Winter 2022 Goals & Strategies:
My goal is to create effective lessons that provide me with many different assessment opportunities. I believe that as an educator, it is our job to asses students in many different areas in order to identify their strengths and weaknesses. This gives us the opportunity to explore new teaching methods for those who are falling behind. It is also very important for teachers to communicate student progress with parents in order to ensure that every child is receiving extra help at home when needed.
One thing that I admire about my mentor teacher is that she goes out of her way to build effective relationships with parents in order to learn more about each child's private life. By doing so, she is able to understand why they need more assistance in specific areas of learning. When completing my lesson plan, I decided to use a checklist as my assessment tool. I found this to be very effective since I was assessing students based on the completion of their task, as well as their listening and speaking skills.