(14.1) Think of a lesson plan from your licensure area. Knowing that assessment is an integral part of teaching, explain at least four informal and formal assessments that you will use in your lesson plan to provide you with feedback and involve the students in assessing their own learning.
My example lesson plan is going to focus on the solar system in a fourth grade class. Since the solar system is a big topic and covers a whole chapter it would take up about a weeks worth of science time at least. On the first day I would start out my lesson with an informal assessment by asking them about what they already know about the solar system. This will help me to guide my teaching about the solar system to them. After we have went over the chapter and I have taught them about the solar system I will use another informal assessment on day two and check to see how we'll they are understanding the material by asking questions to the whole class. If they are doing well with it I will tell them that we are having a quiz the next day. The quiz will be a formal assessment that will let me know how well each individual student is understanding the material. On day four I will attempt to clear up any misunderstandings I have noticed on the quiz and instruct them to get in groups and create models of the solar system. This will be another way for me to assess how well they are receiving the material. Finally on the fifth day I will give the students a formal assessment, probably in the form of a test with a few different types of questions, to shoe their mastery of the content. Along the way they will have had chances to see where they needed more understanding of the solar system and I will have had time to look at all assessments and clear up anything they are struggling with earlier in the week.
(14.2) Consider norm referenced assessment and criterion referenced assessment. Are there advantages to both? Are there disadvantages?
Criterion referenced assessments tell us exactly what a student knows in comparison to a predetermined set of goals or standards. Norm referenced assessments use questions and scoring to compare a students performance with that of his or her peers. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. Criterion referenced assessments are really good in that they show how well an individual student is mastering content and shows exactly where they are doing well on and where they still need improvement. Criterion referenced scores can also be used to compare students. A disadvantage of criterion referenced assessments is that they do not show different levels of mastery, and do not show students that are way above or way under average in the same way that norm referenced does. Norm referenced assessments are good in that they compare a students to one another and allow for great differences in scores with varying difficulty of questions. A disadvantage to norm referenced assessments is that they do not show the exact areas or questions that a student misses.
I really liked your solar system lesson plan! One interactive activity you could have one day is to have the students mock the rotations of the planets and how the orbit the sun. So one student could be the sun, then you could have students turn around the sun and also orbit in the direction that they go in. For larger planets like Jupiter, you could have several students in a circle holding hands to simulate. Since the solar system is such a large space of area and it's really hard for young children to conceptualize, this could be a fun activity.
ReplyDeleteTyler is really enjoyed your solar system lesson plan. I like how you had each day planned out and let the students know ahead of time that they would be quizzed. I feel like that gives them time to look over the information once again and be prepared, eliminating some quiz anxiety and encouraging a mastery of the material. I also found Chelsey's comment to be a fun suggestion to this activity should you ever implement it in your classroom
ReplyDelete