Throughout this semester in Lit. III I have gained a ton of information that is just adding to my sureness that I have chosen the right career. We have discussed a lot of big ideas surrounding teaching, and I have been able to firmly establish some overarching teaching beliefs that will be the basis for how and why I do what I do in my future classroom. Even with these beliefs there have been a few things I still struggle with sometimes. One of those things I find the most important is assessment.
Yes, assessment. That word that people seem to cringe at now-a-days. I don't want to come off sounding like I think assessment is bad, because I don't. Assessing the students in your classroom throughout the year is extremely important. It can serve as a way to obtain background knowledge of what your students already know, a way for you to determine how you should begin a unit or lesson, as well as a way for you to decide when your class is ready to move forward. On top of that, assessment gives you insight into how you, the teacher, are doing. You can use it as an assessment of how you are teaching and if you need to make adjustments.
Assessment doesn't have a set of steps or rules, or a nice little "how-to" book that every teacher is given during their first year of teaching. It varies between districts, schools, teachers, etc.; and is almost always based off of research from many different viewpoints. Because of this, everybody has a different idea on assessment and how it should be implemented. This is pretty easy for me to accept because, to be honest, what part of being an educator doesn't come with about a hundred different opinions and ways to do it? The hard part is how do you decide which opinion is best?
I think this is the most difficult to figure out when assessing a student's writing. Writing is such a broad subject to teach, and is portrayed differently by everyone. Of course, as a teacher you can set some boundaries or expectations of your students' writing such as having them write in a certain genre, giving them expectations, etc.; but you won't see one finished paper that is the same. This is what makes assessing writing so difficult for me. You are supposed to somehow take a writing assignment you gave to 20+ different children, then assess every single one the same way. So, I come back to the question how do I do this?
We have discussed this question a lot in class, and great ideas have been passed back and forth that I fully agree with and think would be great to implement in my future classroom. A lot of the ideas I really like come from the one and only, Debbie Miller. She is a firm believer in formative assessment. In her book, Teaching with Intention, she talks a lot about the different ways a teacher can assess a students' writing by consistently checking in with them throughout the writing process. I love this! This kind of conferencing, throughout the student's writing process, keeps the teacher informed as well as gives them the ability to assess progress instead of just product. By using this, a teacher can keep record of what each child is writing, where they are getting stuck, and what is going on in their minds while writing. A teacher can also gain a relationship with each student, and the student is able to learn and practice how to reflect on their own writing. How much of that would be obtained by just looking at a finished paper?
Miller has given me some great ideas on assessing writing, and I know that a lot of what I have read from her is what I would like to implement in my classroom. Even though, I am still struggling with exactly how I will do this, I know this will definitely be something that I keep looking to.
I also am open to more tips and knowledge from others on this topic. I always love to hear new ideas to make myself better!
Here's a link if you would like to take a look at Teaching with Intention
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