Assessing Instruction (TPE 5) 

Assessment has been a crucial part of my instruction this semester because it has allowed me to see where there is still confusion, track my students' progress, and tailor my teaching to support my students' needs. Although I have been able to assess students using exit tickets and informal observations during English Language Arts lessons, assessment has proven to be most frequent in math lessons this semester. In my CalTPA lesson, I gave students a Freckle assignment as a diagnostic assessment to monitor what students knew about decimals before the first lesson. This diagnostic assessment informed me that students needed support with place value knowledge -- something they should have been familiar with from fourth grade. Therefore, I posted place value charts around the classroom and made sure to repeat place value vocabulary throughout my teaching. 

During this unit, I also included white board activities as informal and formative assessments where students worked either individually or with their table groups. I would post a problem on the TV screen and have students hold up their white boards to reveal their answers. This form of assessment allowed me to pause throughout the lesson and reteach the concept if a majority of students answered incorrectly (TPE 5.1).

Lastly, during this unit I gave my students a self assessment with a rubric and used the results to group students based on their needs during math centers where I gave them additional support in the area they weren't as confident with. After working in the math centers I gave the students their self-assessments again and allowed them to reflect on where they felt they had grown or if they were still not there yet. I have also used a simple thumb scale during instruction before sending students off on independent work. This particular lesson, I had students show me with their thumbs if they felt like they could do the practice problems independently or if they needed additional support. Only about 4 students gave me a thumbs down or to the side. So then I called them over to work with me at my table while everyone else began their independent practice. There was another instance where I was giving students their checkpoints back but only gave them a score without showing them which problem they got wrong so that they could check their work and identify their mistake themselves (TPE 5.3). 

Right before conferences, students took their STAR reading and math tests to see if their was any growth or if they were still meeting grade level requirements. My CT and I used the results to inform our instruction but also inform parents on student progress and offer suggestions for how to support their child's learning at home (TPE 5.5).