Assessment

This artifact is a Student Assessment Project that was created in my Spring semester of 2022 for the class Elementary/Middle Grades English Methods with Dr. Ivanyuk. The Student Assessment Project includes different pieces of data from a student that I was able to observe during my time of fieldwork at Central Park Elementary. The purpose of this project was to get to know a student's strengths and weaknesses in the classroom. I then used the data from the different activities I did with the student to create activity ideas that will help with where they struggled. 

The importance of this artifact is that I was able to work with a student and find their specific struggles in order to help them succeed. By completing this project I was able to “understand(s) how to make data-driven decisions using assessment results to adjust practices to meet the needs of each student” (7G). I was able to take the data from the students' writing and determine where they were struggling, whether that be spelling, punctuation, etc. By seeing these struggles, I created activities that would benefit the student in these struggles in order to do better with their writing. Although the activities were not given, it was great practice to be able to do this type of project for students in my own future classroom. I could then do this project again with the student a month or two later in order to monitor the students progress and determine what activities are and are not working.  

This assignment was one of my favorite assignments that I completed in my college career. It was one of my favorites because of how beneficial it was to my practice of becoming an educator. I was able to learn about the struggles that a student may face in their writing and determine different activities that will benefit them. I was also able to learn from my peers that each student is going to struggle in different ways. In our English class we were able to look at one another's project, so it was very important to understand that each student will struggle differently. This is extremely important for my future classroom because each student is different and their struggles are going to be different. So, it is necessary to be exposed to the differences now so that I am ready for whatever comes to me in my future classroom.

This artifact is a Student Assessment Project (focused on running records) that was created in my Fall semester of 2022 for the class Elementary Literacy with Dr. Ivanyuk. The Student Assessment Project includes different pieces of data from a student that I was able to observe during my time of novice teaching at Helen Keller Elementary. For this artifact, I am focused on the “Running Records” section of the project. The student read two different short stories and then answered 5 questions for each story. The purpose of this project was to get to know a student's strengths and weaknesses of comprehension of vocabulary, key details, infer, analyze relationships, and evaluate.  I then used the data from the readings/comprehension questions I did with the student to create activity ideas that will help with where they struggled. 

This artifact is of great importance because I was able to get to know a student better and work with them on their reading/comprehension skills. I was able to not only do this with the student, but collect data that I can use to create different activities that I can give to the students to help them improve in the areas they struggle. By completing these running records and continuously working with this student throughout the year I was able to “maintain(s) useful and accurate records of student work and performance” (7M). I stayed in the same classroom for the entire school year of 2022-23, so I was able to use this project to continuously work on the struggles of the student. Together, we were able to help her get better with her reading because I “involved (involves) student (s) in self-assessment activities to help them become aware of their strengths and needs and encouraged them to establish goals for learning” (7L). I was able to share with her where she was struggling and work together to do better in those areas with the different activities that I discovered/created. 

This project was similar to the previous Student Assessment Project, but I think that this was even more fun than the previous. The reason for this is because I was able to be in the same classroom for the entire year, so I was able to consistently see how the student was progressing and constantly be working with her. I was able to learn how important it is to constantly be checking in with the students throughout time in order to determine if they are comprehending and growing. This is extremely significant as I go into my profession because I am going to be assessing students all the time and it is important to understand where the students are struggling to get them to where they need to be.