Kendall 14.1 and 14.2

14.1
My usual go to for a lesson plan example is World War II so I'll work with it. One of the most useful assessment strategies that my teachers used, especially when starting a new topic or unit, was using the beginning of the class to briefly ask students about what they knew, or thought they knew, on the topic. This was useful for the students because it got us talking and involved early in the lesson and it was useful for the teacher because it showed who had an understanding of some of the subject matter and who didn't. With a topic as complex as WWII it would be easy during the lesson to consistently question the students on the information as it is related. For example after establishing an understanding of Fascism ask the class why they think Hitler and Mussolini formed an alliance together.

During this lesson plan it would be helpful to the students to consistently scan the room to make sure that nobody in the class appears lost or confused. If it looks like students are struggling with comprehending the information then slowing down and repeating information or putting more emphasis on how one event relates to another might be helpful. When I was in high school many of my history teachers often gave us short quizzes composed of multiple choice and short answer questions after each section of a unit. They were not worth enough to break your grade if you performed poorly, but alerted you and the teacher that you didn't know the content very well. This made it an easy identifier for the teacher to speak with you one on one over the material and an easy identifier for you to study the topic more.

14.2
I would argue that there are advantages and disadvantages to both norm-referenced and criterion referenced assessments. Criterion referenced assessments are excellent for making sure that students are understanding the material within the curriculum which is important during this age of standardized testing. If they are scoring well on what they will need to know for an end-of-year or end-of-course test then they are in good shape and may not need as much extra attention as a student who is scoring poorly. Criterion referenced assessments also allows for teachers to tailor lesson plans that can be more individually focused. However this type of assessment can run into the trouble of students just knowing the material they're being taught for the test but doesn't measure if they are fully comprehending it. It becomes an issue of whether the information is just being repeated.

Norm-referenced assessment is good because it is an easy way to track a student's progress compared to other students in their grade or age bracket. It is also bad because it is a very easy way to track students into an academic curriculum that may not be a reflection of their actual intelligence or ability but is the result of an outside factor such as test anxiety or illness. It also may show that one student is not performing as well as his or her classmates, but neglect to show that as a whole the group is struggling with a certain concept or subject.