7. Assessment 

This artifact shows the visual representation of what a student pictorial transition assessment looks like.  I had the opportunity to assist my cooperating teacher in conducting this assessment with one of my students during my student teaching placement.  This is an assessment that is done specifically within the field of special education and seeks to gain important student information regarding what a student might want to do for a career in the future, where they may want to live, and whether or not they might want to receive specific on the job training or attend a college of some kind to learn more upon graduation.  

This student pictorial transition assessment meets the peformance indicator 7L which states, "The competent teacher invovles students in self-assessment activities to help them become aware of their strengths and needs and encourages them to establish goals for learning."  The assessment that was conducted with our student that I participated in with my cooperating teacher directly met this indicator that said to involve students in self-assement activities that would help them determine their strengths and areas where they may need support.  This also goes along with the latter part of this indicator that highlights the importance of supporting students and guiding them towards creating their own personal learning goals.  This assessment does just that in its own way.  It allows students to be involved in the decision making process regarding their academics and beyond that as well.  It also helps students learn that they have a voice and deserve to be heard and should always be given an opportunity to advocate for themselves, especially as a member of their own IEP team. 

I would say that what I learned most through being able to assist in conducting this assessment with my cooperating teacher for one of our students, would be that when preparing for IEP meetings, there are a lot of components first and foremost.  Additionally, I learned how to incorporate students into the assessment process in a way that allowed them to practice their self-assessment skills where they could learn how to address their strengths and areas where they still need support provided.  I also learned the importance of capitalizing on student strengths to support their areas of deficit.  This is something that I want to always be cognizant of and make sure that I am doing my best to serve my students well and help them achieve to their own highest individual potential. 

This example depicts an example of an exit ticket.  An exit ticket is a comprehension check tool to use with students to give teachers an idea of what students took away from a lesson and determines whether or not they understood the overall concept of what was being taught.  Typically, we use 2 answer choices supported by visual pictures to present to our students at the end of a Seesaw activity that we cover to see where each student is at with their individual level of understanding on a specific topic.  At the beginning of the school year, our class did a study on the desert and broke it down into different categories and aspects related to the overall desert concept and focus of study.  After each lesson, I would ask my students what our was lesson about to see if they understood what I taught them and continued to do so for each lesson to come to see if they could build on prior knowledge that they acquired to connect it to the next related topic regarding the desert.  I felt as though this was a useful instructional tool to use with my students to help support their learning and adjust my instructional delivery for my students so that everyone learns and is provided with the information that they are entitled to in a way that works best for their learning needs. 

This artifact meets knowledge indicator 7I which states, "The competent teacher uses assessment results to determine student performance levels, identify learning targets, select appropriate research-based instructional strategies, and implement instruction to enhance learning outcomes."  This standard directly aligns with this specific kind of student comprehension check tool that educators can use in the way that it uses informal assessment results to dictate what level students are performing at to creat a clear path for where students need to be versus where they are and creating a plan to bridge the gap to get them to where they need to be.  Another main component of this standard is regarding implementing instruction that enhances learning outcomes.  Not only does this example of what an exit slip student comprehension check tool can look like enhance learning outcomes for students by seeing what gaps there are in student learning, but also showing how this artifact connects to the standard as a whole.  It shows how implementing an exit slip monitors student progress and evaluates student outcomes and takes that learned information moving forward to make informed decisions regarding student learning to better approach instructional delivery and make necessary adjustments to the fit the needs of students at all times. 

The most important piece of information that I learned after creating my own exit slips or tickets within the lessons that I taught my students was the internal self-reflection piece that comes along with any adjustments that need to be made to future instructonal delivery for students, based on student outcome results in response to exit ticket question.  Sometimes, we as educators do not want to change our ways or stray from what we know and have always done that works for us.  However, that being said, sometimes we need to take a step back and realize that it is nothing against us personally as educators, but the way in which we are presenting something or the wording chocie that we are using that just is not as effective as it could be.  I learned the importance of being willing to try anything and not being hesitant to shift gears even in the middle of a lesson if it seems like something is not working as planned.  This will help me to continue to learn how to pivot and always keep my students at the center of all informed decisions that I make.