Reflective Journal #8

“Why are formative assessments so important for the teacher and student?” Post your initial response by Day 3 (Wednesday) at 11:59 PM EST.

Describe:

“A formative evaluation is designed to tell teachers whether additional instruction is needed and to tell students whether additional learning is needed”.  (Slavin, 410).  These are assessments that are used every day and constantly throughout instruction.  Teachers can use these assessments Slavin describes these assessments as ways to “discover strengths and weaknesses in learning”. (Slavin, 410).  When teachers notice these types of characteristics in learning during instruction they can re-teach or help those students who are not understanding or grasping the content. 

Formative assessments can take several different types of formats.  Formative assessments can be as simple as questioning students through discussion formats.  They can also take the form of short written assessments, quizzes, and more.  They do not have to be formal and are sometimes done without even being realized by the students.  Students input can give teachers insight to how well they understand what the teacher is trying to help them learn. 

Analyze:

In my experience formative assessments are very useful.  There are many times that I have restructured my week’s plans because of results from formative assessments.  Sometimes students may appear to understand what you are teaching through questioning and discussion, but when given short quizzes to check their understanding the results may show differently.  During these times, formative assessments can serve as detours to what the teacher’s plans originally were.  Although these may seem as a negative thing, they are actually positive because they are catching potential problems in the future. 

Reflect:

This concept has very important meaning to me.  I use it every day during my instruction periods to gauge whether the students understand what I am teaching.  I have taught many lessons before thinking that my students were following what I was teaching, when in fact; there were several students that were struggling. I had asked questions during the instructional period, but apparently had only asked a few students.  It is important that every student is involved in the formative assessment. 

I think that this concept is very significant to any classroom.  Teachers must use formative assessment in teaching so that they can re-teach, re-word, or re-structure their lessons.  By doing this, it will keep the course of study on track as teachers are able to find the holes in student’s learning before it is too late. 

I will use what I learned from this chapter in my classroom to help guide my lessons and to make sure that my students needs are met.  I will use them daily during instruction and will vary the types of formative assessments used so that students do not get bogged down with multiple quizzes or other assessments. 

Chapter 11 Blog Post/Reflective Journal

Describe:

This chapter was a big help for me as a newer teacher trying to figure out what classroom management strategies work best for me and my classroom.  One important aspect of classroom management is “Starting Out the Year Right”.  Slavin states, “They found that the first days of school are critical in establishing classroom order”.  (Slavin, page 316).  This is something I have heard several times throughout undergraduate school and from my peer teachers.  After two years of teaching, I can truly say that this is so right. My first year I came in teaching late in the year after a teacher had resigned.  They had been used to a strict middle aged male teacher, and I was a young excited new teacher.  I made some mistakes of not being as strict as I should, but because he had set that foundation I was able to stick to his rules and classroom management style.  My second year was a little different; this was my first year as a teacher from the beginning of the year to the end.  I thought I was starting off rather strict, but realized later that I had not been strict enough and that the students had learned who the “fun” teachers were and who the “strict” teachers were.  I was in the “fun” category. 

Another strategy that the chapter describes is “Setting Class Rules”.  Slavin states that three things should be present in this process. “First, class rules should be few in number”.  (Slavin, page 317). This means that students should not be bombarded with a class rule list with thirty rules on it.  This can be overwhelming and tedious.  “Second, they should make sense and be seen as fair by students”. (Slavin, 317).  One way to ensure that they make sense and seem fair is to include students in the rule making process. They then can take ownership and clearly understand them.  “Third, they should be clearly explained and deliberately taught to students”.  This means that teachers should take time to explain them and practice them every day. 

There are also strategies to help misbehavior that already is taking place during class. “The Principle of Least Intervention” is a strategy that Slavin explains.  This means using the “simplest intervention that will work”.  (Slavin, 329).  This means not to make the redirection or punishment a big extravagant event, but instead make it something more direct and to the point.  This will help it from being a distraction to the rest of the class. 

“Prevention” is another strategy that Slavin lists as a way to handle misbehavior.  If the misbehavior never takes place, then there is no problem or behavior to fix.  Ways to prevent misbehavior are, “presenting interesting and lively lessons, making class rules and procedures clear, keeping students busy on meaningful tasks, and using other effective techniques of basic classroom management”.  This can be done by mixing up what type of teaching techniques you use or having the students up and moving around in your lesson. 

Analyze:

The strategies listed above are all excellent ways to help with classroom management strategies in the classroom.  By setting the pace at the beginning of the year for how strict a teacher is going to be is essential in establishing appropriate behavior from students throughout the entire year.  You can always let up as the year goes on if necessary, but it is impossible to go back and try to be stricter once the students have already seen you act otherwise. 

Also, prevention is a great strategy for preventing those behaviors from occurring that are undesirable.  This will work for most students in most situations.  However, in my experience there are always those students who are going to find ways to misbehave. These students have other issues and are acting out for your attention and the attention of their peers.  Many other strategies may help alleviate some of the issues, but some of these students are going to act out no matter what.  We just have to keep finding different strategies to try until they respond.

Reflect:

Being a new teacher, I have had several learning experiences already in how I can do better in managing the classroom in the future. My very first year teaching, believe it or not I did not have any major issues. When the children would talk too much or too loudly I could easily get them back on task and they would continue to work quietly for the remainder of the period. However, this past school year, the amount of talking and the frequency of it was a big problem in my classroom as well as on the rest of my team. Our students were very talkative, and when reminded that they should be working instead of talking, they would be quiet for a few minutes, and then begin their own personal conversations again. Even when doing group work, the level of noise in the classroom would get entirely too loud and even off task. I tried several strategies from after school detentions, lunch detentions, etc. None of these seemed to work for a majority of the students. Even the "good" students were participating too much in the chatter.

After reading this chapter, I learned several techniques I can use this upcoming school year. First, instead of having students read through the rules on my syllabus and never seeing them again, I am going to make posted rules in the classroom and go over them frequently. The rules may not be specific but they will cover a variety of issues. One rule the author of the book gives as an example is "Respect others' property". As Slavin states, "this simple rule can be invoked to cover such obvious misbehaviors as stealing or destroying materials, but also gives a reason for putting materials away, cleaning up litter, and refraining from marking in textbooks". (Slavin, page 317).

Another technique I learned from the chapter and have read a lot about this semester is using positive reinforcement instead of negative punishments. I was using detentions and write ups before, but now I am going to implement praising good behaviors, and giving incentives. This will encourage students to do better, and it is preventing the behavior from happening in the first place.

Blog #6

Describe:

At-risk learners and learners with special needs are students that can definitely benefit greatly from a great relationship with their teacher. At risk learners may vary, ""students who come from impoverished or single-parent homes, those who have marked developmental delays, or those who exhibit aggressive or withdrawn behavior are more likely to experience problems in school than are other students". (Slavin, page 263) Many at-risk learners are also at-risk because they do not have the parental involvement at home to motivate them or to teach them the importance of education. With children like this the first thing I would do to develop a rapport is just to show them I care about them individually. I could show interest in something that they are interested in, make eye contact throughout the class, and speak to them in and outside of class (in the hallways, lunchroom, etc.) This will let the student know that I care and that I want him/her to do well in and outside of the classroom.

As we mentioned above a reason a child may be at risk is because of poverty. If the child is hungry or barely making ends meet at home, they are likely to care very little about what goes on in the classroom. One place to start is to make sure the child is on free/reduced lunch. You would be surprised how much better child does when they are properly fed. Keeping small snacks in the room may also benefit some children who do not eat much at home.

Another way a teacher can help their students is by assigning a peer tutor or a cross-age tutor to help the at-risk student.  A peer tutor is a student in the classroom that knows the material well and has leadership skills necessary for helping others.  A cross-age tutor can sometimes be more beneficial because they are older.  The student can look up to them and the cross-age tutor may know content more in depth than a same age peer-tutor. 

Title-I" is federal services to schools with a large number of low-income students. This program is set up so that schools cannot abuse the privilege or use it to increase teacher salaries. The program is set up so that the funds used go directly to benefit the students. For instance, Title I money can be used to fund a summer school program or an after school program.  This helps at-risk learners because they have somewhere safe to be after school, where they also can receive extra assistance on schoolwork, and be around positive role models.  “Head start” preschool programs are for students from low-income families to help prepare them for school."   (Slavin, 2012)

Analyze: 

In my opinion the schools that receive Title I program can be very effective.  Schools that have after-school programs not only give a student a place to receive extra tutoring in subjects that they struggle in, but it also gives them a chance to be in a safe environment, probably have a snack that they may not get at home, and most importantly be around positive role models that can mean a lot to them.  The money that the government provides for these programs helps many students out that may otherwise be at home in bad situations with no one to count on.  Also, it gives students whose parents work late a chance to get some homework done with qualified professionals.  I think the after-school programs are a positive impact on at-risk learners. 

Another strategy for at-risk learners that is simple, yet profound is the cross-age tutors.  Some students need an older child to look up to who cares about school and is smart. Sometimes all it takes is an older child showing them how much they like school and learning, to encourage the at-risk learner to try harder.  These relationships can build up the child’s self-esteem as well as their grades.

Reflect: 

I have a special place in my heart for at-risk learners if you could not already tell by my “analyze” section.  These children come into the world just like the rest of us do, they are babies.  They do not choose the situation they grow up in or the parents that may or may not even care about their education or even them at all.  These students so desperately need positive role models and for someone to be their advocate.  Some people think that it is the teachers number one job to teach the students content, but there are so many other aspects of teaching that are just as if not more important. 

This chapter has re-motivated to work harder with these at-risk learners. Sometimes, we get new students in our class and we also get with them their reputation.  We do not give them the fresh start they deserve and skip the whole relationship building stage.  I will definitely approach these situations differently.  I will take time to build a foundation with the student so that they respect me and know that I respect them.  This will let the child know I care, and they too may care more about their grades.

I feel these techniques are very important to learn and to stress to educators because we often get bombarded with teaching standards and preparing for standardized tests.  We have to remember that these students come first, as well as their individual needs.