The words instructional planning are at the top five most important words in relation to teaching. I open with this statement because while instructional planning is crucial for the classroom to run smoothly, it is also difficult to do well everyday, every week and every month. I was introduced to instructional planning the summer of 2014, during a week long professional development session for Oakland math teachers. Before coming to the training, I worried about what I would teaching and how I would teach it. After a couple of hours, I learned that the district had curriculum for each grade level that had been written by a group of Oakland teachers and math specialists. As I enter my third year of teaching, I continue to use Oakland Unified’s …show more content…
When I first started teaching three years ago, I would have defined as assessment as either a quiz or a test, however as I gained more tools in my tool belt I learned that there are a variety of ways to assess students. One assessment that I particularly find useful in my classroom is an explanation quiz. Explanation quizzes are one of the strategies Oakland Unified math uses to push student understanding and collaborative learning. I used explanation quizzes before a quiz or end of unit assessment because the strategy allows me discuss misconceptions certain groups or individuals are having before students are asked to show what they have learned independently. Explanation quizzes assess groups verbally through a series of convergent questions, which check for understanding. Each group is given a task card that is broken into checkpoints. Students work collaboratively to answer the problems and when everyone in the group can explain how to do the problem the group raises their hand and I randomly pick a team member and ask them a handful of questions. Every student in the group is responsibly for being able to explain because everyone in the group will be receiving the same grade for their participation that day. Explanation …show more content…
The third bullet point expresses the importance of “Candidates understand [ing] how to manage the appropriate use of support personnel, including volunteers, when available, and create plans for these individuals to assist students in reaching instructional goals.” During my second year of teaching, I was lucky enough to be introduced to some volunteers from the community who showed interest in supporting in my classroom once a week. This year I have three volunteers who support in my classroom by asking students questions, listening in on group conversations, passing out and collecting papers and grading. While these tasks are all helpful, I believe that I could be using my volunteers more appropriately. What I mean by appropriately, is that I could be pulling out small groups of students who are struggling while my volunteer is checking in with the other students or vice versa. This would give my struggling students more one on one attention to review concepts that they will need to “reach instructional goals” and feel successful or even proud of themselves. For the next trimester, I would like to challenge myself to create plans to pull out students during the days when I have volunteers in my
An educator must have the ability to notice the value of extending planning and subject matter. In addition, educators need to be flexible enough to change the curriculum based upon state standards and the student’s ability to absorb information.
After taking the Personal Assessment Literacy Survey, I learned a lot about myself and what I do know about assessments, and what I don’t. This survey allowed me to reflect on the process that I take to plan, develop, and administer tests in my class and what I need to do with the results. When I went through the criteria of all of the topics in the survey, I honestly did not know what the survey was talking about or what it meant. This was really concerning to me because I like to think that I do a pretty good job when it comes to instruction of my class and how I assess their knowledge of the material. I learned from this survey that there are a lot of things I do well during assessments and that there is still a lot that I need to learn to be an effective classroom leader.
William, D., & Thompson, M. (2007). Integrating assessment with instruction: What will it take to
...ualized plan due to time constraints, it is reasonable to treat each student as they do have an individualized education. Teachers should know their students well enough to individualize the classroom activities so all students have strengths in each lesson. Through collaborative efforts, teachers can gain knowledge about the students and new ways to teach according to different learning styles. Working together, each student can receive an individualized education where their full potential is used.
Regular use of formative assessment improves student learning as instruction can be adjusted based on students’ progress and teachers are able to modify instructions to cater to students’ individual needs (Black & Wiliam, 2010; Taylor-Cox, & Oberdorf, 2013). Various forms of informal and formal formative assessment methods are conducted as learning takes place, continuously through teacher observations, questioning through individual interactions, group discussions and open-ended tasks (McMillan, 2011). tests can tell us a lot about students and be used to inform and guide teaching, rather than simply to determine grades. Teachers can learn a lot from test results if they analyse the data generated to inform their teaching and learning programs (Perso, 2009). However, high stakes tests may result in students becoming stressed, leading to misreading questions, careless working and incomplete answers (Booker et al., 2010).
What is pivotal in assessment is that it enhances teaching and learning; it is also the crucial link between learning outcomes, the content that is taught and learning activities. Furthermore, Sieborger (1998) states that assessment is a reciprocal process; as it is used by both learners and teachers to decide where the learners are at in their learning and where they need to go and how best to get there. The characteristics that Sieborger identifies to be contained in assessment are made up of: tasks, exercises, tests and exams, which are set and assessed by educators.
When one thinks of the term assessment, they will most likely think of a test. This is what we know as summative assessment. Summative assessment can be defined as evaluation of student learning at the end of a unit (Formative vs. Summative).
Since then, Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction has been a standard reference for anyone working with curriculum development. Although not a strict how-to guide, the book shows how educators can critically approach curriculum planning, studying progress and retooling when needed. Its four sections focus on setting objectives, selecting learning experiences, organizing instruction, and evaluating progress. Readers will come away with a firm understanding of how to formulate educational objectives and how to analyze and adjust their plans so that students meet the objectives. Tyler also explains that curriculum planning is a continuous, cyclical process, an instrument of education that needs to be fine-tuned.
The lessons contained in this unit of instruction were based upon Madeline Hunter’s Seven Steps of Lesson Plan Formatting. This lesson plan format is a proven effective means for delivering instruction. When designing lessons, the teacher needs to consider these seven elements in a certain order since each element is derived from and has a relationship to previous elements. It should be noted that a lesson plan does not equal one class period. Throughout the course of the lesson, it may take multiple sessions before the student is ready to independently practice the skills learned. Anticipated lesson duration is included with each lesson plan provided in this instructional unit. Madeline Hunter’s Seven Steps of Instruction includes stating the objectives, anticipatory set, teacher input, modeling, checking for understanding, guided practice, and independent practice (Hunter, 2004). For the purpose of this instructional unit, input and modeling have been condensed into a streamlined event; as well has, checking for understanding and guided practice. This form of lesson planning is preferred within the Elkin City Schools district and lends itself to the creation of engaging lessons.
Demonstrating knowledge of content and pedagogy is important and must be embedded in planning, because in order to be a great teacher you need to know what you are teaching and the best way to teach it to your students. If an instructor does not possess a deep knowledge of what they are teaching it will be difficult to successfully engage students in discussion, promote questioning, and answer their questions. Teachers with a strong knowledge of the content they are teaching are able to present new information by linking it to previous information, address misconceptions, and plan activities and exercises to successfully engage students. They also understand that not all students learn the same way and have different pedagogical techniques planned.
It is important that teachers give children a fair chance to show their knowledge when assessing. “The purpose of assessment is to provide feedback that can be used to improve student performance” (Orange 2000). Teachers assess children to ensure that they are understanding the material, and to make sure they are learning. For young children, tests should never be the only criteria for assessment. Instructors should always make sure that their assessment is fair.
Through assessment students and teachers are able to determine the level of mastery a student has achieved with standards taught. Both formative and summative assessment should be purposeful and targeted to gain the most accurate data to drive further instruction (Ainsworth, 2010). While this syllabus does a good job of identifying the need for both formal and informal assessments, the way in which this is communicated does not provide enough detail for understanding. Simply listing assessment types does not give any insight into how these assessments fit in the learning process of this course. While some of the assessments mentioned could be common assessments chosen by the school or district to gain insight into the effectiveness of instruction, the inclusion of authentic assessments is most beneficial to students and demonstrates learning in a context closer to that of a work environment (Rovai, 2004). Unfortunately, this particular course, according to this syllabus, relies heavily on quizzes and traditional tests and essays to form the bulk of assessment opportunities. While other activities, such as formative assessments, journaling and discussions are mentioned as possible avenues for scoring, they are given a very low percentage of the overall grade. This shows that they are not valued for their ability to show progression and mastery. If this is indeed the case, this puts the students as a
In spite of the importance of assessment in education, few teachers receive proper training on how to design or analyze assessments. Due to this, when teachers are not provided with suitable assessments from their textbooks or instructional resources, teachers construct their own in an unsystematic manner. They create questions and essay prompts comparable to the ones that their teachers used, and they treat them as evaluations to administer when instructional activities are completed predominantly for allocating students' grades. In order to use assessments to improve instruction and student learning, teachers need to change their approach to assessments by making sure that they create sound assessments. To ensure that their assessments are sound they need include five basic indicators that can be used as steps to follow when creating assessments. The first of these indicators and the first step a teacher must take when creating a sound assessme...
I use assessments to assist me to identify and to develop their learning process. Assessment is not about the final grade, but the learning experience. I would rather have my students know how to look up information and apply knowledge than to memorize it and forget it ten minutes after the test. Learning is a life-long adventure and I want my students to know how to adjust and cope during their adventure. I want my students to have the skills for researching and finding the answer. It is not always that answer which demonstrates learning; it is in the process in which you find the answer that demonstrates learning.
In the process of completing this coursework, I have realised that every teacher should be all-rounded and equipped with adequate skills of educating others as well as self-learning. As a future educator, we need make sure that our knowledge is always up-to-date and applicable in the process of teaching and learning from time to time. With these skills, we will be able to improvise and improve the lesson and therefore boost the competency of pupils in the process of learning. In the process of planning a lesson, I have changed my perception on lesson planning from the student’s desk to the teacher’s desk. I have taken the responsibility as a teacher to plan a whole 60-minutes lesson with my group members. This coursework has given me an opportunity