keri_journal3

 Keri Abramowicz Dr. Pete Adamy EDC 452 Assessment Journal #3

Short Answer Assessment

In my placement, I was able to see my cooperating teacher administer a short answer assessment that went along with a lesson that they did on penguins. Prior to the assessment, they read all about penguins and found out many interesting and fun facts about them, completed a little art project, and even did some compare/contrast charts on penguins vs. robins. They read a couple books about penguins and one was entitled __Mr. Popper’s Penguins__. For the assessment, my cooperating teacher compiled a few questions that the students were to answer in short answer/journal entry format. Some of the questions that the students were to answer included: How are penguins different from birds? How can penguins be birds and not fly? What do penguins eat? How do penguins keep warm—and cool? The students were to answer the questions in complete sentences, to the best of their ability. The students seemed to feel comfortable answering the questions because they had been so excited to learn about penguins, that it was easy for them to retain the information. As my cooperating teacher and I walked around as they were completing their assignment, a couple of the students had trouble spelling particular words and asked for our help. Other than that, the students seemed to answer the questions with ease. Not only was this test assessing them on the content that they had learned, but also their writing and fine motor skills. As a result of the assessment, the students did quite well. They understood and seemed to answer the questions fully and correctly. The only difficulties I noticed involved spelling and basic grammar, such as starting a sentence with a capital letter, and forming the letters properly. Overall, they got the gist and performed well.

I thought that the short answer assessment was a good tool for my cooperating teacher. She was able to read the students writing, not only to see if they knew the answers to her questions that reflected the lesson on penguins, but also was able to see their writing skills, if they were improving or having difficulty. As a result of this assessment, I have personally worked with a couple of students on their formation of letters, which I hope have improved with the extra help my cooperating teacher and I both provided.  <<Back to EDC 452 home page <<Section 2 <<Keri's Journals