Friday, February 21, 2014

Strategies for Communicating with Families

  1. Web site or blog – If you are tech savvy, and you know that the families of your students have access to the internet to view updates online, this is a great way to keep families up-to-date on activities going on in your classroom as well as home support expectations.
  2. Email messages – Again, if you know the families have access to email, regular updates via email are useful for all.
  3. Newsletter – A class or grade level newsletter (paper or digital) sent home on a monthly basis (or perhaps at the start of each new unit of study) is a great way to keep families connected. 
  4. Agenda messages – Last minute reminders and requests can be sent home in students' agendas. Keep in mind how reliable this method is in cases where the parents don't regularly look at the agenda.
  5. Face-to-face meetings – This is a time consuming method of communication that should probably be saved for extenuating circumstances and when the other methods of communication fail.
Now it's your turn. What have I missed? Please help me expand this list by adding to the comments below. 

Three Types of Assessment

Click on the links provided to view a list of possible assessments you can use for each type. It's important to remember that specific assessment activities can be used for any type of assessment. The most important thing is to ensure that the assessments you use are getting you the information you need.
  • Diagnostic – Use this type of assessment to determine what you students can do before you start teaching them. This is assessment for learning, which means it helps you understand where your starting point is before you implement learning experiences. 
  • Formative – Use this ongoing assessment to monitor the progress of your students as you implement learning experiences. This is assessment for learning, which means it helps you keep your finger on the pulse of your students' progress. Formative assessments can also be used for assessment as learning, which means students get engaged in goal setting and assessing their own progress. 
  • Summative – Use this type of assessment when you have finished providing learning experiences and you need to give your students an opportunity to show you what they learned. This assessment of learning generally happens at the end of a teaching cycle.


Thursday, February 20, 2014

Diagnostic Assessments for Reading

  1. Running records
  2. PM Benchmarks
  3. Diagnostic Reading Assessment (DRA)
  4. Sound Start
  5. Previous year's summative assessments
  6. Survey of interests/attitudes
  7. KWL charts
  8. Class discussions
  9. Conferences
  10. Guided reading
  11. Debates
  12. Student posed inquiry questions
Now it's your turn. What have I missed? Please help me expand this list by adding to the comments below. 

Formative Assessments for Reading

  1. Conferences
  2. Descriptive feedback
  3. Checklists
  4. Anecdotal notes
  5. Reading response journals
  6. Guided reading
  7. Oral retells
  8. Feedback
  9. Running records
  10. Exit passes
  11. Self-assessments based on success criteria or personal goals
  12. Peer-assessments based on success criteria
Now it's your turn. What have I missed? Please help me expand this list by adding to the comments below. 

Summative Assessments for Reading

  1. PM Benchmarks
  2. Checklists
  3. Rubrics/success criteria
  4. Anecdotal notes
  5. Achievement of learning goals
  6. Conferences
  7. Written responses
  8. Reading portfolios
  9. Tests
  10. Projects
  11. Oral retell
Now it's your turn. What have I missed? Please help me expand this list by adding to the comments below. 

Implementing Reading Assessment in Your Classroom

There are three types of assessment that you must consider as you plan your Reading program. Before you implement a unit of study, you should know what your assessments will entail. Here's a checklist to ensure you cover all your bases as you prepare the assessments for a unit of study.
  • Think about what you want your students to be able to say and do after each of the learning experiences and at the end of the unit of study. This becomes the basis for your assessments.
  • Work backwards from here to create authentic learning experiences. Ensure your assessments are purposeful. It's a waste of time to administer assessments without a clear reason for doing so. 
  • Take some time to review the three types of assessment and their three purposes.
  • It's important to remember that your students need to know what they are being assessed on and why. If you create the assessments, ensure they are documented and understood by the students. They will definitely ask you if the assessment counts toward their report card, so it's important to be explicit about your purpose. 
  • When you administer diagnostic assessments to find your starting point, be prepared for the result to show a variety of reading levels and a variety of strategies that are being used. You should expect to teach to students representing two or more grade levels. 
  • If possible, include the students in the process of creating their assessments. If their voices are represented in a list of success criteria or a rubric, for example, they will be more invested in the outcome. 
  • In the spirit of representing the students' voices in the assessments, think about how you will use self-assessments or peer assessments. Goal setting and following up on the achievement of those goals is a great example of this.  
  • When you introduce a summative assessment, use success criteria and exemplars to ensure your students know exactly what is expected of them.
  • Communicate with the families of your students to let them know what will be expected of their children over the course of the unit of study. Review some sample strategies for communicating with families if you need some ideas.
Now it's your turn. What have I missed? Please help me expand this list by adding to the comments below.