Bresciani+Journal+7

This week in the classroom the children were instructed on the various formatting techniques that are required to write a postcard. After the teacher modeled these techniques on the board, she instructed the students to create their own homemade postcard to send to “Ratatouille”. Ratatouille is the classroom mouse that the teachers use as an object for students to practice writing with. In other words, students practice journal writing, friendly letters, and various other writing techniques by writing to “Ratatouille”. After the students were instructed to create their own postcard using the techniques demonstrated, students were encouraged to reread their work, and then pass it into the teacher.

The teacher reviewed their postcards and looked for the correct use of technique, neatness, and spelling. Students who had all three received a check plus, students who only successfully completed two of these aspects received a check, and those who did not successfully utilize any of the three aspects received a check minus. The students were able to make corrections to their post cards as they were going to be hung around the classroom. However, despite their opportunity to redo their postcard, the student’s grade was not changed.

As far as assessment, I would like to reflect on a few aspects. First, I do consider this assignment/assessment to be authentic as students learned and demonstrated a task that not only relates to real world situations but helps students acquire knowledge that they will use frequently. The students could have filled out a worksheet that required them to correctly label the aspects of a postcard, however, the students were asked to create their own and address an actual “source”. This in turn provided an authentic assessment. Although the teacher did not create a rubric that set clear guidelines for assessment from student to student, she used an organized method that kept the assessments consistent. Lastly, although the students were only graded on the first of their work, they were given a second opportunity to redo their work, and learn from their mistakes. This assignment provided both valuable feedback to the students and teacher and provided a decent authentic assessment for the students as well.