JennaM+Journal+1

Considering that I am currently placed in a first grade class room, there are no never any tests similar to fill-in-the-blank tests or multiple choice tests. Children at this grade are still learning how to read and gradually becoming familiar with phonemic awareness and literacy. In lieu of the assessments given in my classroom, I have more observation and performance assessments, which I find to be most interesting because this type of testing allows me to discover the student’s potential and learn about each student uniquely through various methods of testing. The first assessment I observed was a spelling test that was given to the class after reviewing twenty words for about two weeks. I was surprised to see a spelling test at a first grade level, but the students were not graded based upon the words they got right or wrong. They were scored based upon their efforts and improvement in their performance throughout the two week period. The assessment was intended to prove to my cooperating teacher where the students were in regards to recognizing words and the sounds that make up those words (phonemic awareness). The spelling test was arranged for students with a single piece of paper on their tables with a pencil. The teacher first told the students to write their name on the top left corner and to number their paper on the red guided line from one to ten. She even counted with the class as she looked around to each student’s paper to make sure that the students were numbering their papers correctly. I believe the teacher prepared the test in a very clear and fluid manner. For example, my cooperating teacher would introduce a word by saying, “Bed. I was tired, so my parents tucked me into bed. /B/, /e/, /d/. Bed.” She gave this type of example for each word that she assessed the students. After each word, the teacher would make sure she indicated the number she was on for students to know where they should be on the paper. I think this method for a spelling test was clever and well planned. The teacher says the word for the students to hear first, puts the word into a sentence to give it meaning, then breaks the word down into sounds, and then repeats the word for the students one last time. Of course, a teacher giving a spelling test to a fourth or fifth grade class, for example, would not depict the word so much because students at this age have (or should) have the ability to break down a word in order to figure out what letters make up that word. In a first grade class, students are learning this at first hand, so my cooperating teacher is helping her students to hear a word and how each letter sounds in a word for them to write down what they believe the word is. There is nothing about this assessment that I would change. I believe my teacher arranged the test in regards to the students rather than strictly testing the way she would like. She is very much aware of how each student learns and therefore, modifies her teaching techniques to accommodate to each student’s learning skills. As thoughtful and clever as my cooperating teacher is, she felt short in her instructions before the assessment was given. She handed out the paper to the students and told the students to get a pencil from the pencil box. After the students were assembled at their desks, my cooperating teacher informed the students that they were going to have a spelling test on the words they had been learning. But the students were not surprised because the teacher has let the students know consistently that they will have a spelling test on the words. After reviewing the results of the test, I noticed that most students did very well on their spelling test (an average of seven words right).I was curious, however, as to why a few of the students’ papers had a noticeable amount of erasing on it. I had thought about the way the test was designed and could not think of how the students got confused. The one problem I found was not about the way the test was assessed, but the direction that the teacher gave prior to the assessment. I think my cooperating teacher, in a way, assumed that the students would catch on with what the teacher wanted the students to write down. The students who erased a lot on their papers got confused as to whether they should write down the word, the sentence, or the letters of the words they heard. So if I were to change one aspect of this test, it would be to give more explicit instruction in order for the students to understand more about what exactly they are doing and when. I would give the students an example of what I would say during the test so the students can become familiar with the test before taking it. In an overall sense, I was fortunate to have written this journal about a spelling test so I can learn from other teacher’s mistakes and accomplishments to better myself as a teacher. I learned to examine and implement tests that students can become accustomed to and have the ability to understand according to the grade level the students are in.