JennaM+Journal+2

I was hesitant when the class was told that we had to write assessment journals about testing in the classroom since I am observing in the first grade. Little did I know, there are many ways of testing in the first grade, it just varies compared to a fifth grade class, for example. In the first grade, much of the assessments are based on observing the student’s class work and homework that they bring in every day. But I have learned that students in the first grade are tested, just not as much as I had thought. For this assessment journal, I observed my cooperating teacher testing the students on their phonemic awareness, literacy, and fluency in reading a book. The students had to read a book called, “No running,” in front of the teacher. There were four to five students at a time at my teacher’s desk. The students were situated around the teacher in a round table so the teacher can listen thoroughly to each student read his or her book. First, the students had to read the book out loud at the same time. Once all the students were done reading the book, one student read a page and then the student to their left read the next, and so on and so forth. Along the way, the teacher corrected the students and helped those who had trouble with a certain word. This way, the teacher let the students do their work and she was considered to be “back up” for them. When the students were all done reading, my teacher would ask questions like, “Did you enjoy the book?”, “What did the character do when…”, and “How did the character solve so-and-so problem?” By doing this, my teacher saw if her students truly understood the book that they read. This assessment was given for my teacher to build on her student’s progress reports on reading and to figure out what she must do from here to help those who are struggling and what work to give those students who are well-off in their reading skills. I tried to think of a way I would change this assessment, but if I did change it, then there would not be enough time in the day to teach my students every subject I would like. This test would be much to time consuming, considering that she assesses the students only four or five at a time. I thought the assessment is given in the best way possible for a first grade teacher and first grade students. I liked how the assessment tested every student in their reading capabilities, especially when reading in front of their peers. My cooperating teacher took her progress report notes as the students read in front of her so she didn’t forget how each student performed. This type of assessment is crucial in the first grade and I feel like cooperating teacher did a good job in doing so.