3d. Using assessment in instruction
Positive reinforcement is critical in the development of young minds. To help affirm and reinforce positive behaviors I create hand drawn sketches for students. I hand these to students that I observe on task, working hard, fulfilling requirements, or when I think a little encouragements is needed.
Tessellation Lesson -This is a student project sample.
This is one example of the assessment given to students on the unit of Tessellations.
Elements of Component 3d are:
Indicators include:
Component 3d: Artifact List
- Assessment Criteria: It is essential that students know the criteria for assessment. At its highest level, students themselves have had a hand in articulating the criteria for, for example, a clear oral presentation.
- Monitoring of student learning: A teacher's skill in eliciting evidence of student understanding is one of the true marks of expertise. This is not a hit-or-miss effort, but is planned carefully in advance. But even after carefully planning, monitoring of student learning must be woven seamlessly into the lesson, using a variety of techniques.
- Feedback to students: Feedback on learning is an essential element of a rich instructional environment; without it, students are constantly guessing as to how they are doing, and how their work can be improved. Valuable feedback must be timely, constructive, and substantive, and provide students the guidance they need to improve their performance.
- Student self-assessment and monitoring of progress: The culmination of student assumption of responsibility for their learning is when they monitor their own learning, and take appropriate action. Of course, they can only do this if the criteria for learning are clear and if they have been taught the skills of checking their work against clear criteria.
Indicators include:
- Teacher paying close attention to evidence of student understanding
- Teacher posing specifically-created questions to elicit evidence of student understanding
- Teacher circulating to monitor student learning and to offer feedback
- Students assessing their own work against established criteria
Component 3d: Artifact List
- Instructional artifact sheet
- Samples of written feedback to students
- Samples of graded work