Sunday, April 7, 2013
Meaningful Assessments
We live in a data driven world where it often seems like we all we do is assess our students. For given purposes, assessments are ultimately necessary. They provide us with a lot of information about what a student knows. It also drives our instruction. A major factor when talking about assessments are our state standardized tests. These tests measure how the student is progressing, but rarely is used to improve instruction. This is why teachers need to be knowledgeable about assessments. We want to make sure that assessing our students actually allows us to see where they are excelling and struggling. One way to do this is by using a rubric. A rubric is an evaluation tool that is a lot like a checklist. It is a guideline of what the students work should include. Rubrics can be holistic (scoring the work as a whole) or analytic (scoring the work criteria by criteria).
Here are a few guidelines for creating and using rubrics:
-Rubrics should be child friendly
-They should not limit creativity
-Don’t always use rubrics; children should be writing often without always being assessed
-Keep your focus on effective writing.
Check out this site:
http://www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/strategy-guides/shared-writing-30686.html
“No rubric or progression of steps captures the full range of what writers actually do.”
-Regie Routman
Engaging Students: Our Ultimate Goal
What is our ultimate goal? This is something that every teacher should consider for every lesson. I want students to learn. I want students to be proud of what they produce. I want students to write with passion and ease.
We need to find a way to engage our students and create an intrinsic motivation.
When thinking about my young students, I consistently recall occasions when they get excited about writing; but what exactly were they writing about? That is just the right question. They were writing about what was most important to them. They were also writing about a topic they had sufficient background knowledge in.
Students should be allowed ample opportunities to write about things that interest them. While this differs from “free writing” they should be allowed to choose their own topics from time to time.
Always remember to allow students chances to “show-off” their writing. Increasing pride, increases results.
The Power of Shared Writing
According to Routman (2005), “Social context is crucial for learning, and shared writing provides the safe, collaborative setting that promotes cohesive writing” (p.85). For the last 3 years I have taught in a low income school where 90% of my students are English language learners. They often struggle with sharing their ideas orally, not to mention writing them. While they are motivated and engaged they often lack language skills to produce writing with appropriate voice and grammar. Using shared writing is so powerful. When my students share their ideas, we write together, which is ideal for all my students. They can be proud of what we produce together. Shared writing also promotes all of the language arts. Students speak, listen, communicate and read. Often times shared writing can be directly connected to a guided reading lesson or other shared reading task.
One important aspect of shared writing is in its name; “shared.” To be effective, the students and teacher should share the marker. Students should be encouraged to write words that they can, while teachers write the rest. The teacher should say the words as they are written and move quickly to keep students engaged. Just like shared reading, shared writing allows you to model and discuss strategies good writers use. Afterwards, numerous literacy activities can be done with this writing; such as cutting up the sentences and re-building them. These skills will pay off in a student’s independent writing!
Check out this link:
Conferencing with Students
What is a conference?
-A conference is a meeting to discuss a student’s work
-Conference to celebrate, validate, encourage, nudge, teach, assess, or set goals
-Conversations about how students are doing and how the child can be a better writer
-Can be a sharing time with the whole group
-Can be peer directed and centered
-Can be quick or a longer one-on-one format
When do you have a one?
-Conferencing is ongoing, can be done as a whole group, with peers, or in quick time
-Only when the writer is sure the piece is in “good shape” and has re-read their writing
-When the student has followed directions
-When a student is stuck
-When a student needs help with organization
-When a student is ready to publish
What does it look like?
-Focus on students’ strengths
-Listening without reading first
-Use only encouraging language
-Affirm students’ efforts
-Prepare conference forms so students know what to expect
-Focus on 1 or 2 major points
-Don’t write on the writer’s paper
-Have the writer say back what he did, said, and will do.
Writing in Today's Classroom
Teaching today is vastly different from decades ago. We are so focused on raising student achievement, we often times stop and think about what our students are taking away from each lesson, other than a passing test score.
Teachers may wonder things like “How can I get my students to revise, spell correctly, and use appropriate grammar?” or “How can I get my student test scores up?” When we simplify our instructional practices, and put our students first, we can achieve our instructional goals!
Using a “workshop” format is a very popular trend these days. This format should include a minimum of 4 components; a mini-lesson, independent writing, conferencing, and sharing. I have used this format in my own classroom, and I have seen student achievement soar! Using this format helps move instruction from testing achievement to lifetime achievement. Many teachers have found that by using this format they are able to spend time teaching exactly what their students need. While I recommend using a “Writer’s Workshop” format. this newsletter focuses on simplifying these lessons and raising results!
Check out the video below!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)