Domain: Professional Practice
Standard five: Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning.
Specifically; 5.1 Assess student learning.
Reflective Commentary
Each week I set out what five students that I wish to observe as well as what subject I was going to observe on what day. I would do this by post it notes and records on my daily work pad. Then at the end of that week I transfer them to an anecdotal records sheet that I store in my assessment file
Formative assessments: each Friday I gave my students a quick quiz that showed me where they required more teaching of what we learnt that week and who may need extending in the following weeks activities. At the end of each maths topic (usually fortnightly) I also gave them a little test to see whether they had absorbed the topic, from that it was clear that some students only understood a topic if it was worded one way for example converting grams to tonne, they were unable to convert tonne to grams. From there I would break down the test to link it to the curriculum via a checklist and would use the key: Able, more teaching required or needs a whole lesson on this point. From there I was able to give the EA a task with several students who required more teaching and this brought them to speed on what we were working on.
I was in a situation many times when my students were working at different levels and I was able to set a task and then pull a small group together who were not coping and give them explicit instruction. This is evident in comments from my supervisor on the BIMDAS lesson.
I also took many pictures of my students working together on maths task and would put together a slideshow of these photos for review at the beginning of the next lesson as a refresher of what we had done previously.
Display of students work that is meaningful is an important part of making the students feel at home in their working space. I felt comfortable having the students make their own charts on Simile and Metaphor as it was a way of supporting their knowledge growth and serves as a visual clue when required.
Action Plan
Assessment is a task that I plan to delve heavily into during my first appointment as a graduate teacher. I plan to keep electronic records on all my students as I have an app on my Ipad called "TeacherKit" that I wish to commence that involves me being able to write anecdotal records and take pictures of students work linking it straight to their file.
I would also like the students to have a dedicated quiz book, where weekly quizzes are taken on various subjects and then a page at the back where they can graph their own score. It will enable them to track their own progress and be a checkpoint for parents to see the student’s progress as well
With regards to professional development, this is an area I believe should be constantly under review. Through the Graduate modules and active service within the classroom and mentoring from other staff, I believe I will have the chance to work through some different assessment methods and find the ones that work well for me.
