Assessment 

The competent teacher understands and uses appropriate formative and summative assessments for determining student needs, monitoring student progress, measuring student growth, and evaluating student outcomes. The teacher makes decisions driven by data about curricular and instructional effectiveness and adjusts practices to meet the needs of each student.

These assessments connects with many of the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards. The first standard it connects to is Standard 7J 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". The test I created was made to test student knowledge so that I would be able to compare student performance, and also see where they stand regarding the information they were tested on. The goal of the test was to see if the students were able to reflect back on their performance in the Basketball Unit, and then bring their knowledge on the sport they were taught to the tests given. This project also connects to Standard 7M, which states "the competent teacher maintains useful and accurate records of student work and performance". This standard focuses on the data analysis part of the assignment. I was to observe my student's performance and then find things to improve on to see how each student did individually, and as a whole.  The type of style I chose to give out the test was paper form and multiple choice, true/false and fill in blank to make it easier for the kids. I did this to gather the data information from my students to receive feedback on how my students managed the Basketball Unit. This way also made it much easier to collect the results from the students and then analyze how well they did on the test. I also was able to take the data I collected and then reflect on it the next day. 

I found these assessments to be very beneficial in many ways. As a future teacher, it was very helpful to make a test on my own, assign it to students, and then analyze the results. This is what my profession will be having me do and so having the opportunity was effective for what my future will be like. I was able to walk through the process of collecting data, and then make conclusions based on what I gathered. Overall, I feel that this assignment has helped me grow as a future teacher. It was beneficial to see the other side of this process, being the teacher rather than the student. 

I created these Tests for my Basketball Unit to see how well my students were understanding the lesson I have been teaching for the past 2 weeks. I try to create questions that are straight from the notes that I hand out to my students and my explanations when describing the sport. I try give my students a variety of questions, for instance, multiple choice, true/false, and short answer. I give them the variety so that students don't get too overwhelmed with trying to answer so many questions. Sticking to this amount of questions keeps the students engage long enough without losing focus. 

This lesson connected well with standard 7B which states, "the competent teacher understands that assessment is a means of evaluating how students learn and what they know and are able to do in order to meet the Illinois State Standards". I think the standard connects well with this lesson because I am using this test to assess my students so that I have an understanding how well they understood the previous lessons we have learned in class. Creating an end of the year test helps the teacher understand where his/her students stand in regard to the science curriculum and I think it can help the students by asking them how much they remember.

One takeaway I have from this assignment is that tests don't need to be scary or nerve-wracking for students. I had  students that tend to get very nervous when I told them we had a test in PE. I try to encourage my students to take a deep breath, and to try to get into a positive headspace so that they are confident in their own knowledge when taking the quiz. Many times once they begin the quiz, they realize that many of, or all of the questions they are being asked is about information they had just learned from their notes and explanations in activities. I try to remind them that I will only quiz them on information they know and performed.