Assessment Reflections 10/7/22 CI 5980

SECTION 1: STOT Assessment Reflection

Perspective 1) As a teacher candidate learning about assessments, and reviewing it from the angle of exploring the ways this assessment can be viewed as both a summative and formative assessment depending on how it is used and engaged.

1. What is the primary purpose of this assessment?

The purpose of the document is to determine if the student teacher is prepared to be a teacher. The assessment is based on the 10 national standards for new teachers.

2. Who is this assessment primarily for and why? 

• Who created it? 

NDACTE 

• Why did they create it?
  To provide a checklist for implementing & assessing the InTASC standards for new teachers.

• What do they hope it tells them? 

The document collects data that will tell the University                                                effectiveness of the pre-service curriculum in preparing teachers for service.

They hope that this document will tell them how a teacher candidate is performing in terms of the 10 national standards of effective practice. 

• How will/ could they use the data gathered from this assessment? What will they do with it?

They could use the data gathered from this assessment to inform the teacher candidate of their performance in relation to the standards of effective practice and provide feedback that can then be used to improve performance by the teacher candidate. It could also be used by the university or state administering it to provide more general feedback about the teacher training program or individuals participating in these programs. 

3. How can you tell this is a summative, performance-based assessment?
   - Occurs after the instruction is complete (unit or course end)
   - Covers larger instructional units (full semester or a year) rather than discrete content (e.g., one skill or concept) as in a formative assessment
   - Evaluates past performance of an instructional strategy rather than informing ongoing instruction to improve student outcomes.
   - Focuses on assessment of rather than for learning
   - Usually uses quantitative data rather than qualitative data.
   
   

4. How could this also be used as a formative, observation-based assessment? If administered in the middle of a student teaching placement, the student teacher would be able to use the information provided to adjust and/or improve teaching strategies and dispositions throughout the rest of the placement.  

Perspective 2 As a teacher candidate whose supervisor will be using this exact assessment to formally evaluate their student teaching experience.

1. How can you use this assessment to inform and guide your learning in your student teaching experience? We can use the feedback provided when it is administered in the middle of our term to guide alterations to how we teach. We can also look at each standard and categories beneath each standard to inform our teaching before we even begin receiving feedback from this assessment.
   
   

2. In your personal opinion, what are the inherent limitations of this assessment in terms of your "performance" as a student teacher?

Much of the way we relate to other humans is hard to measure. I think this assessment is inherently limited simply because of that. 

• What can't this assessment measure that you believe to be crucial aspects of good teaching?

Withitness and mindfulness might be hard to measure and are crucial to good teaching. 

3. What do you appreciate about this assessment?
   
   - the clarity with which expectations are laid out
   - the amount of expectations (although a little daunting) are there because meeting them will benefit the students and the learning environment overall.
   - there are many options for scoring (not Y or N). 

SECTION 2: Readings/Viewing Integration - Kidwatching and Using Standardized and Standards Based Tests Kidwatching

• As a new teacher, what is most appealing to you about the Kidwatching assessment method?
  
  Several things make the Kidwatching assessment method appeal to me most:
  
  

• Relational & Real: Ability to “slow down” to set aside time to simply observe students without distractions and to intentionally confer with each student individually with a set of targeted initial prompts in mind.
   

• The Whole Child: Consideration of how well children are thriving (or not) within both academic work and play as well as socially and emotionally (rather than according to prescribed curricula standards).
  
  

• Precepts: The Kidwatching precepts resonate deeply with me.
  
  “- I am the teacher who is committed to discovering what each of my students knows, cares about, and can do.
  - I am the teacher who wants to understand each student's ways of constructing and expressing knowledge.
  - I am the teacher who helps my students connect what they are learning to what they already know.
  - I am the teacher who respects the language and culture my students learn at home, and who supports the expansion of this knowledge at school.
  - I am the teacher who knows that there are multiple paths to literacy, and who teaches along each child's path.
  - I am the teacher who is committed to social justice and to understanding literacy as a sociocultural practice.
  - I am the teacher who believes that each child can teach me about teaching, language, and learning.
  - I am the teacher who believes in the interconnectedness of language, learning, and life.
  - I am the teacher who supports children in writing I can! on their wings.
  - I am a kidwatcher"
  (Owachi & Goodman, 2002, p. ix).
  
  

• The Kidwatching Purpose: To use evaluation to inform instruction closely aligns with my idea of formative assessment and models the inquiry-based classroom culture to which I aspire.
  
  “The purpose of kidwatching is to help children build their capabilities to use language to communicate and learn. Teachers achieve this by inquiring into who children are, what they know, what they can do, and how they learn. Because some knowledge is evident in children's daily language and actions, kidwatchers are always observing with a watchful, reflective eye. Because other knowledge lies beneath the surface, kidwatchers transact with children and their families to unearth what else is there. Teachers make these efforts in order to support children as they build upon their existing…. knowledge and practices or, in other words, in order "to keep alive the sacred spark of wonder and to fan the flame that already glows" (Dewey [1910] 1997, 33-34). Teaching with a kid watching eye offers a dignity to children by affirming the legitimacy of their own experiences, and of using them to learn. And of course, in a classroom where children are so esteemed, there is dignity in teaching” (Owachi & Goodman, 2002, p. 14).
  
  

• What do you believe are the affordances of this this assessment in terms of your growth and development as a student?
  
  

• The focus on the whole child: Relying on standardized and summative assessments alone miss the development signals that are necessary to fashion my instructional approach. This methodology focuses “on practices that place children in the safe nest of hands formed by teachers and families helps assessment maintain its ideal function to support student learning.student’s individual needs” (Owachi & Goodman, 2002, p. xii).
  
  

• The methodology strengthens the intuitive and relational side of my professional practice. “The primary goals of kidwatching are to support and gain insight into children's learning by (1) intensely observing and documenting what they know and can do; (2) documenting their ways of constructing and expressing knowledge; and (3) planning curriculum and instruction that are tailored to individual strengths and needs” (Owachi & Goodman, 2002, p. x). I want to build the students’ self-assessment capacity and skills.
  
  

• A systematic approach: The framework engages a “systematic, yet very personalized, data collection in all areas of literacy. High-quality kidwatching gives you the information you need to teach effectively, to work with child study teams, and to share detailed, concrete information with families and administrators. Students benefit from your in- depth understandings of their knowledge and ways of knowing, and parents prefer the rich assessment information over scores from multiple- choice tests (Neill 2000)” (Owachi & Goodman, 2002, p. xii). The Notetaking template helps ensure a consistent process of observation, analysis, and interpretation. The importance of setting aside a given period of time for Kidwatching cannot be underestimated. Consistency, continuity and testing actions plans is necessary for this methodology to meet its full potential.
  
  

• What do you believe are 3-4 "affordances" that the Kidwatching method provides you as a teacher in terms of student assessment?
  
  The affordances reside in processes listed by Owachi and Goodman (2002, p. 3) that enable: 

• “Building an insider view of the community 

• Understanding how language and literacy develop 

• Organizing a rich environment for learning 

• Interacting with children 

• Observing and documenting children's knowledge

• Analyzing data 

• Fostering children's self- evaluation 

• Engaging in self- evaluation of teaching 

• Using evaluation to inform instruction and build curriculum."
  
  

• What do you believe are 2 "limitations" (*There are always affordances and limitations to any and every assessment and instructional strategy).
  

• Anecdotal data such as Kidwatching data is insufficient for requesting for special services and IEP evaluation. 

• Despite the ability to create a story with Kidwatching data to elicit a parent’s or administrative staff’s empathy and attention, these key audiences can also easily dispute the results of Kidwatching on the basis of its subjectivity.
   

Formative Assessments

Please write a detailed and coherent that includes your thinking in response to the following three questions:

• In your own words, describe "formative assessment" practices. 

The term "formative," in general, means "serving to form something, especially having a profound and lasting influence on a person's development" (Google, n.d.). As such, we talk about a child's formative years. With this in mind, "formative assessment" practicies make the biggest difference when a child's development remains malleable, for instance, in the process of acquiring new knowledge and skills. Formative assessment practices, therefore, are designed for and administered during the learning process.
Google. (n.d.). Google dictionary from Oxford Languages. Retrieved 10/7/22, from https://www.google.com/search?q=formative%2C+definition&oq=formative%2C+definition&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i433i512j0i512l2j0i22i30l4j0i15i22i30j0i22i30.3168j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

• How do formative assessments help teachers improve their lesson planning and instructional decisions while teaching?

Because formative assessments are conducted during the learning process, they reveal information about a students progress and needs that inform instructional adjustments and interventions to maintain positive trends. Formative practice entails embedding formative assessment into real-time instruction in order to refine and personalize instruction based on where students are challenged or progressing. In short, formative assessments provide feedback to the teacher about the effectiveness of their teaching. To be most effective (responsive), these assessments are administered over a relatively small time span --- for example, within a mini-lesson and corresponding activity, periodically through a series of graduated activities on one skill over the course of a few days, or periodically over the course of a unit. 

• What are some examples of informal and formal formative assessment practices that a teacher can engage in the classroom setting?

Formal Formative Assessment:

Peer Feedback in Flipgrid --- Student-to-Student Replies. 

Using Flipgrid as a peer feedback platform, a teacher utilizes student recordings as a formative assessment. Student-to-Student feedback is based on the idea that learning deepens when a student can explain their learning to a peer. Receiving and responding to peer feedback helps a student reflect on their understanding and application of the lesson. Students need to develop a realistic view of their work in order to accurately self-assess their progress and communicate or demonstrate this to their teacher. To ensure the feedback shared is specific, constructive and actionable, the students would apply the TAG method which can be established as a classroom routine.  (Tell your peer something they did well. Ask a thoughtful question. Give a constructive suggestion in positive language.)

 

Informal Formative Assessment:

Interview Assessments

Formative assessments are most effective when the student is involved as assessor of their own learning and as a resource to other students. What the teacher does with an assessment result is more important than the result itself with respect to maintaining a trusting and productive relationship between the student and teacher. The student-teacher collaboration is key to their respective success. Interview Assessments serve this dual purpose and are a good alternative for students who struggle to show what they know on tests.