Brittney_Journals

Assessment Journal #1 (2/11/09) Last week in my practicum placement, the students were required to take a science test to assess their knowledge of electricity. This was a multiple choice test with twenty questions. Most of the students did well on these test, however there were a few students that did very poorly. I don’t believe that this type of assessment is very effective for several reasons. First, it is not authentic and it does not relate to real world tasks. Second, the students may have stored the material in their short term memory rather than their long term memory, because they just memorized the material for the test and are likely to forget it shortly after, which means that they truly don’t understand the material. Third, students could have guessed on most, if not all of the questions, because even if they have no idea of what the answer is, they have a 25% chance of getting the correct answer by just circling any answer. Because of this, a student could have guessed on all of the answers and received a good grade, which shows the teacher that he/she understands the material, when in fact they do not. Finally, with this type of assessment, the student is only likely to receive a grade, with no descriptive feedback. So, the students who do poorly may go on never understanding the concept of electricity.

Assessment Journal #2 (2/27/09) During science in my practicum placement, the students were experimenting with electromagnets. Their task was to try and figure out a way to electrify the metal rod, so that it would pick up the metal washers. While the students were experimenting, the teacher walked around to each group and observed what they were doing and the teacher would ask the students in each group what they were doing and if it was working as well as asking other questions about the experiment. All of the students were actively engaged in the experiment, so it was easy for the teacher to observe what each of the groups were doing. Most of the students also answered the teacher's questions when she asked them. The teacher was able to observe the many different ways in which the students were trying to electrify their electromagnets. I believe that this particular assessment was somewhat effective, because the teacher was able to go around the different groups to observe how they were using the tools that they were given to slolve the problem in front of them and to use their background knowledge about electricity and magnets to electrify the metal rod. However, I don't believe that it was fully effective, because the teacher didn't record the observations she made or which students answered which questions. Because of this, she most likely will not know if each individual student gained an understanding about electromagnets. She won't know if each student measures up to the standards by using this type of assessment. However, I believe that if she did record her observations, this would be a great type of assessment, because she would know whether or not each student was understanind the content and how well each student worked in groups.

Assessment Journal #3 (3/3/09) During math in my practicum, the students were doing multiplication. To assess the students, the teacher wrote several multiplication problems on the board. She then asked the calss for volunteers to come up to the board to solve the problems. When the teacher saw that one of the students got the answer correct, that student was allowed to sit down. On the other hand, when a student was having trouble thinking about what to do next in the multiplication problem or they didn't know the product of two numbers that had to multiplied together, the teacher would intervene. When the student was having trouble thinking of what came next in the multiplication process, the teacher would walk the student through the next step. When a student wasn't sure of the answer when two numbers had to be multiplied together, the teacher would ask the students to raise their hands if they knew the answer and she would call on them to answer. After several problems were done on the board, the teacher told the students to do several problems in their textbooks. While they worked, she walked around and helped any of the student that were struggling. When the students were asked to volunteer to come to the board to do one of the problems, most of them raised their hands and were enthusiastic to come to the board. However, a few of the students never raised their hands to come to the board. This assessment was somewhat effective, because the teacher had a chance to see which students were confident enough to come to the board to do a problem. Then she had a chance to observe if each student that came to the board solved the problem correctly and help them if they were having trouble. However, this method of assessment wasn't fully effective, because not all of the students had a chance to do a problem at the board. Some students that didn't raise their hands may know exacly how to solve multiplication problems, but they may have been too shy to come do the problem at the board. Some of the students who also didn't raise their hands may just be confused with how to solve the problems. In addition, some students who did raise their hands were never called on to come up to do a problem, because the teacher only put so many problems on the board. However, the students who didn't have a chance to come up to the board, had a chance to observe how their peers were solving the problems and the correct way to do the process of multiplication.

Journal #4 (3/17/09)