Dyana_Journal+2

Dyana Brown Assessment Journal # 2 Today, my cooperating teacher gave her first grade students a Pre-assessment. She was starting a new science lesson about plants, bulbs, roots, and seeds, and needed to know how the students depicted these topics. Each student was given a worksheet where on one side of the worksheet had a box for drawing and the other side, the right side, had lines for writing. The students were asked, as a class, to write at least three sentences describing what they know about plants. Then, they were asked to draw what they think looks a plant looks like. The students were all sitting at the rug area while the teacher introduces the topic of plants asking students about their experiences with plants. Then the teacher gives the students the instructions for the worksheet. After the teacher gave the students the instructions, they dispersed from the rug to their seats to begin working on their sentences. They were all instructed to finish their sentences before they started their drawings. The teacher walked around the classroom, observing the students’ sentences, helping different groups when they asked for help. After the teacher saw that the students finished their required sentences, they could then begin their drawings using their individual crayon boxes from their desks. After completing the task, students placed the worksheets into the finished task basket, where the teacher would collect the worksheets and have a chance to look over the students’ background knowledge of plants. This gives her a sense not only of the topic of plants, but also how their writing is progressing and how their drawing is becoming more detailed. Eventually, my cooperating teacher plans on making a journal of their progression with the writing and knowledge about the plants. She is able to see the strengths of each of her students and what some of her students still need to work on, by looking at the journals. These journals consist of the same worksheet format as the pre-assessment worksheet, except the students’ writings and pictures are more elaborate. This is a great assessment because the pre-assessment allows the teacher to see what she needs to focus the most on. This opening assessment also allows my cooperating teacher to incorporate more types of assessment such as the journal assessments, writing, and even creative drawing assessments. The lesson overall, is also effective because the format of the lesson about plants makes it easy to see each individual student’s progression in the classroom. My teacher can assess their knowledge about plants and also their writing and spelling. She knows which student uses the word board for spelling and which students know the words without looking. Yet, again, I am unsure as to whether or not the format of the lesson is effective. Are students truly learning the words and sentence structures, or are they copying their friends’ sitting next to them in their group. Other than this, I honestly believe that I wouldn’t change anything about this assessment because of the topic that the assessment is about: science. I think starting out with a pre-assessment with the intentions of keeping a journal for this type of activity and topic is the most effective; especially, since you can incorporate different forms of assessments and even different lessons.