Chapter 15- Classroom Assessment Strategies

WHAT?
Chapter 15 focuses it's major points concerning classroom assessment strategies and the various ways we can assess our students. There are two major forms of assessments- Informal and Formal assessment. Informal is the day to day observation that you will make as a teacher- watching your students participate in a discussion or in group projects, etc are some examples.
Within in those two categories there are several ways to assess. Some of the examples are paper-pencil, performance, traditional, authentic and standardized. Each of these are distinctively different and can be a powerful tool but they need to be used with the right curriculum and process.
Qualities that need to be in a good assessment include: Reliability, Standardization, Validity and Practicality. Once the assessment has been put into place, it is also important to know how to correctly evaluate an assessment, depending on the type of assessment. Some time Rubics are involved while others might have the students create the evaluation.

SO WHAT?
With this information and knowledge of how to properly assess students, we can apply it to our own classroom. The next time an assessment is given out, before just writing it up- we can create an outline and go through the four qualities to see if it meets them and why or why not. Also, not just inspecting the assessment but also picking the TYPE of assessment to match the curriculum and students. Because each person learns differently, it'll be important to have various types so that you can meet your students needs.

NOW WHAT?
Assessments to me compares to the boogy man and a child. I am scared of them and they always seem like big, dark, scary, mean things that can't be tackled. Part of that being was no one has yet gone through step by step process for making an assessment. I knew it had to be aligned with the lessons but how to create that was the scary part. With the material that we learned in class and from the book, I have an outline of questions that i can use when i create an assessment. I know what to look for and when i do my student teaching next semester, I can use the material that i have to help me create assessments that are not only aligned but is best for my students and the curriculiam that we are learning.