EmilyKillea

Emily Killea

Assement Journal #1

The assessment that I observed in my second grade classroom this week was a spelling test. My teacher gave out ten spelling words related to science at the beginning of the week. The students learned these words and their meanings the previous week. She handed out the words, and had the students practice throughout the week in their journals the spellings of these words. They were given homework in which they had to write down the words ten times and learn also that week. The assessment was given on Friday and the students have amble practice at learning the words and practicing using them in sentences and learning the correct spelling. The test was given as a fill in the blank test where the students had to figure out which word went in which blank, and spell the word correctly. They were given fifteen minutes to complete this test of ten words. These weeks’ words were only ten because the words were harder, and a little longer than they usually are. The students worked at their desks indepentely and most of them finished before the time was up. Most of the students find these spelling tests useful because they get good grades on them due to all the practice they have. I believe that this is a good way to test the student’s knowledge of something they had previously learned. By giving them the fill in the blank they really have to know the meaning of the word along with the spelling. I like this way of doing a spelling test better than when I did it in elementary school and we just had to spell the words. It makes it more practical for the student’s to actually have to place them into a sentence. I think I would give maybe fifteen words because at second grade they should be learning more words; it is crucial to be learning more vocabulary at a young age.

Journal #2

The students have been learning about the solar system for about two weeks. The assessment that I observed was their unit test on the solar system. The students did very well on this test because they have been learning about it for so long. Also Mrs. Terluk would ask he students rapid fire questions daily about the solar system, that were close to the questions on the test. Also, the day of the test, right before it was handed out, Mrs. Terluk went over any questions the student’s had about the solar system, and also gave them more rapid fire questions. I believe the students found this helpful and it showed on their tests. The test was a true/false format with one extra credit. The extra credit was to label a diagram of the solar system putting the sun and all the planets in order from closest to the sun outward. Most of the questions were very similar to what she asked the students before the test, and in previous assignments so the students were very familiar with the questions. There were no questions that were not relevant, or that the students had not seen before. Almost all of the students got all of the questions right, and if they didn’t they made up for it in the extra credit. It really seemed that practicing the solar system and using acronyms like she did helped the students remember the order and the distance from the sun. This form of assessment was good for a second grade classroom because they students had an easier time figuring out what the teacher wanted. They were able to figure out what she was asking and answer correctly without feeling tricked. This form of assessment also may not show all that the student’s know because it is true/false. The students have a 50/50 shot at getting the answer correct even if they don’t know the correct answer. In second grade it is a lot easier to use this form of testing because since the students have so much practice they know the answers and normally don’t have to guess at the true/false. I believe for this class it was very effective and a great way to show what the student’s knew. Type in the content of your new page here.

Journal #3

The students have been learning different ways to express emotions. They have had vocabulary words on spelling test that include different expression words, and feelings. Mrs. Terluk is trying to have the students use different words to express themselves instead of just sad, happy, mad ECT. The student’s were given 10 sentences they had to draw what the expression might look like. This is an anecdotal record, because the children were showing they understood the meaning of the word by the picture that they drew. Each facile expression that they drew could only be used once, so the students had to come up with different ways to draw similar emotions. An example of one of the questions was: You would feel this when you received a present. One of the possible answers would be thrilled and the student could draw a face with a large smile and have its face be glowing with happiness. The students were graded on how neat their work was, how well the picture represented the definition, and if they completed the assignment. They received a 3 if they did it all a 2 if it was almost complete but missing a few things, 1 if it was sloppy and not complete. The student’s had a rubric a bottom of the worksheet, so they knew what they would be graded on. They also had the opportunity to grade themselves and write in what they think they deserved as a grade. I think this is a cleaver way to get the student’s using different vocabulary. It changed things up from the regular way of having them memorize words, because they already do that for spelling. By having them put a face to the word, I think it was easier for some of the student’s to remember the words and use them more often. Most of the student’s got 3’s on this activity, only a couple got 2’s for not paying attention to their neatness. I also liked the idea of having the student’s grade himself or herself. It allows them to own their education and partake in the grading process.

Journal #4

The student’s did a pre assessment today for their science lesson on weather. Mrs. Terluk had the student’s fill out a one sided piece of paper with all the information they knew about weather. She told them to write down any weather related words they already knew or had heard of before. The student’s took ten minutes to write down everything they knew, and handed it in. They were graded on if they handed in the piece of paper or if they did not. This pre assessment allowed Mrs. Terluk to know what she had to teach the student’s and information they already knew. She read some of the paper’s out loud that had similar information on them, and would ask student’s what they knew about that particular word. Then she would explain in her own words what the word meant, and would write down in her planer if she thought they already knew what that was and she didn’t have to spend a lot of time on it. This is a great way to see what student’s already know. There is no use in boring the student’s by teaching them information that they already know. By taking ten minutes out of the day to do pre assessment you could be saving days on the material that the student’s already know. I think this is a very effective teaching tool, and gets the student’s involved in what they are learning. If you don’t ask they what they know, then you may be reteaching them information they already have mastered. It is important to still cover the curriculum, but as a teacher you could spend less time on something the student’s already know. I believe this is a great activity to do with students before teaching any lesson. The student’s lie to show off what they know, and it allows you to gain useful information.

Journal #5 The students were learning about Black History month in my classroom. They were told to come up with a sentence for each letter in the word Black History. They has to relate these setneces to something they learned about Black History. They were given a piece of paper and told to free write, and handed them in. They then got the corrections back and the opportunity to rewrite it before they did their final copy. My teacher has a rubric at the bottom of the sheet, and the children had to check off each part as they finished it. The rubric included relating the sentences to things they had learned, spelling and grammar, and neatness. This was rated on a 1 to 3 scale 3 being that everything was correct. This assesment was a lot like an essay test because they had to come up with correct sentences and use the right format as well. The students all has the chance to rewrite before their final copy, and most of them has corrections to fix before they could move onto the final. The most common mistake was that they were being very repetivite instead of coming up with new ideas. The students seemed to really enjoy showing off what they learned, and it showed that they really has a chance to chose to write about what they learned. I liked this idea because it gave the children an opportunity to use their own knowledge to create their own unique Black History month paper. It allowed all different types of students to show off their learning skills, and had a clear cut way of grading. The students seemed to be engaged and it showed the teacher if they understood what they learned.

Journal #6

My students have been learning about measurement and to measure in inches, meters, and feet. They have had activities where they have measured different things around the classroom, their feet, their arm length and their friends. They have been connection this measurement lesson with other lessons like in social studies they measured how long it in feet it is to get to the library, and they used directions such as left and right to describe to a partner how to get to the library. They also used inches to help guide when they should turn. My teacher had them do a fill in the blank quiz figuring out how long certain items would be. The students were not allowed to measure these items, and some of them were not even available such as a truck. They would have to say what they unit they would use to measure this and how long they think it would be. They had gone over most of these items as a class before the quiz and practiced. This assessment was not as engaging as the activities that went along with the lessons that help teach it. I think that it was important to do an assesmesnt like this though so that the teacher could tell if the students were really grasping the material. I think it could have been more authentic then a worksheet, but it does allow her to figure out who is understanding what.