Tori's+Journal+2

On Wednesday, February 11, 2009 I visited my third grade class once again in Cranston’s Stadium Elementary. Today my cooperating teacher was not their, and I and the substitute teacher worked together to create an effective use of class time. Upon arrival students went into their neighboring third grade classroom to receive for writing workshop instructed by the school’s literacy specialist. After the writing workshop we returned to class and worked with students in their reading groups. The class is broken down into three groups based on ability. Each week, students receive a new short book of all different genres to read together. When they finish the book they are expected to work on “skill sheets” which assess students understanding of the story and writing elements within the story. This particular day, I took the lower group; the students had already finished their book and were expected to complete their skill sheet. Their book discussed how animals have special senses and can feel and act differently when a natural disaster is coming. The literacy element students were learning about was comparing and contrasting. The skill sheet was used to evaluate their understanding of both the concepts in the story itself and the elements of comparing/contrasting language. The worksheets were arranged in degree of difficulty. The first question asked dealt with students’ ability to retrieve information from the text. (i.e how do dogs act, how do cats act, how do bees act) They were then expected to build on this to make comparative and contrasting statements of animal behavior. I believe this tool of assessment is both good and bad. I believe that the way the questions were scaffold with the easiest first, and more difficult to follow set up children for success. Students could see how to gather facts first, then compare or contrast bits of information. The step-by-step instruction was useful to students of this lower ability for it encouraged them to deal with only one task at a time rather than jump to the end product of making comparisons. Although I believe this “skill sheet” can be an effective use to guide students I wonder its authenticity. Is there a more authentic way to have students show their comprehension of a text or ability to compare? Comprehension takes place everyday in the real world and as a good reader it’s difficult for me to see how comprehension can be more authentic. Also with this activity I wonder its validity for its students who have difficulty writing. If we are assessing students ability to comprehend reading and not writing then maybe a discussion form of assessment would be more effective. This opportunity to observe and partake in assessment of reading comprehension was though provoking.

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