EDUC 5013Q Final Thoughts

You can't judge your students by their first impression

Every student has a unique background and circumstances

Students with challenging behaviours are often reflecting something deeper (ex. family issues, instability, depression, bullying...)

Get to know your students! When you know about their life outside of the classroom, you can understand them and find ways to address the behaviours

I experienced this first-hand in my third practicum - there were several children in my class with challenging behaviours. At first glance, you would assume they were being defiant and it could be very difficult to understand why they were behaving in that way. However, my associate teacher had many of them in her class the year before and knew them and their families quite well. When she explained their family situations, their actions become justified. For example, one boy was very attention-seeking and disruptive. It turned out that his younger brother had autism and was quite high on the spectrum. As a result, the boy received very little attention at home and was often sleep-deprived because his little brother would have outbursts during the night. After knowing this, it put many things into perspective and we were able to address the behaviours effectively (ex. giving him special jobs to do to make him feel acknowledged).

Grading DON'Ts

Don't give zeros

Rarely effects the learning done by the student - use a 5 point scale instead

Exit ticket: this point surprised me because I have always had classes where getting a zero was possible. However, it makes sense because when a child (who likely is already struggling to keep up) is given a zero, it's only going to discourage them and make them want to care even less.

Don't combine attitude and effort with achievement

Should not reflect amount student has tried - should reflect how close a student comes to meeting the learning target

When combined, it is called "score pollution"

Don't apply late marks

Create a culture of responsibility - students won't do the work if you deduct their grade

Don't base grades on unclear targets

Students need success criteria or it is unfair to test them

Don't give bonus marks

If it is worthy of extra credit than it is worthy of learning and should be evaluated on its’ own merit

Don't determine a grade from ALL evidence collected over time

Use several sources to collect evidence (observations, conversations, and student products)

Use most recent and consistent grades (parachute packing example)

Don't give marks for homework or practice

Homework is to to reinforce learning and to help students with skill mastery. It should be checked/assessed but not given a score.

Areas we assess

Application

Requires students to choose the appropriate tool or get necessary information

Knowledge

This knowledge has to be applicable in context

Meaningful and significant

Communication

Thinking

Reasoning

Use multiple tools and sequence them

Ontario Student Record (OSR)

IEPs, previous report cards, references

Exit ticket: How can it support your teaching practice? It outlines core skills to look for prior to assessing students to ensure that they are meeting grade expectations.

Fairness

Fairness in assessment and evaluation is grounded in the belief that all students should be able to demonstrate their learning regardless of their socio-economic status, ethnicity, gender, geographic location, learning style, and/or need for special services (Volante, p. 34).

I think that this is a difficult concept for people to grasp, because they think that it is UNFAIR to accommodate students (for example, by letting them present their work in a different way or to complete less questions). However, we must remember - how does this impact the other students? Why should it matter to anyone else? The students who are stronger will not be affected in any way if struggling students are helped along the way.

Criteria should support student learning

Make accommodations

Achievement Chart

Helps plan instruction

Encompasses all curriculum expectations

Helps with giving consistent and meaningful feedback

Guides assessment tasks and tools

The Kindergarten Program

Play-based learning

Teacher's role is to plan what the children will interact with, and get down and engage with them and the centers

Inquiry

Young children are capable of complex thinking

Co-construct learning - you provide the environment and children manipulate it to further their learning

Learning environment is the third teacher

Imaginative play builds social, cognitive and language skills

I haven't had a placement in FDK yet, but I observed play-based learning in my Grade 1 placement. Every Friday, the students were able to play freely for the last block of the day. During this time, I saw students developing social, cognitive and language skills as they interacted with each other. Some would play 'house', others would pretend to be teachers with a classroom, and others would build with blocks. This imaginative play required a lot of interpersonal skill such as communicating the rules of the game, taking suggestions from peers and sharing. It demonstrated to me that young students should always have opportunities for play in the classroom to develop such important skills.

Child makes sense of their world

Importance of relationships

With students, parents and teaching partner

Keep lines of communication open

Invite parents and community members to visit

Four frames

Belonging and contributing

Demonstrating literacy and math behaviours

Problem-solving and innovating

Self-regulation and well-being

Documentation of learning

Artifacts and representation

Student portfolios

Digital recordings

Observational notes

"The whole pleasure in being a human is being stupid but learning to be less stupid together." - John Green

"You are special and you have been chosen for a special mission that has been denied to 99.9% of all humans ever."

The public is investing in students' education because they believe they are better off in a well-educated society

Data collection

Using data usually falls into 4 areas:

1. Change your instruction

2. Make decisions to support student options/placements

3. To help think about program choices and policy

4. To ensure accountability

"They cram information in our heads, force-feeding us, and then you throw it up on the page."

In my placement in a grade 6 class, there was a student who struggled with reading and writing and became easily frustrated. When he was forced to sit and fill out a worksheet, I would see his anger building until he broke his pencil in two and ran out of the classroom. Some teachers would assume that he wasn't trying hard enough or that he wasn't listening to the lessons. However, when I spoke with him one-on-one, he was brilliant in so many ways. He knew more than I did about the solar system and was passionate about the constellations. When we expect all students to learn and demonstrate their learning in the same way, we are being unfair to so many. I feel that if he was given the appropriate accommodations (such as a speech-to-text program), he could have expressed himself in a way that didn't leave him feeling so discouraged.

Self-care needs to be made a priority - skills to address depression, anxiety, bullying...

School isn't what opens doors - it's how we bring out our potentials

We shouldn't be teaching students to get high test scores

There is a difference between people who are smart and people who score better

Students feel like they are coming out of school with useless knowledge

Teachers aren't teaching the necessary skills to do the work that they are assigning (ex. time management)

Formative assessment

Feedback vs. Feedforward

Feedback

Affirms what the student already knows, points out problems, is nice, doesn't offer a plan, is top-down

Exit ticket -2.00 thought on feedback:
"Feedback is essential to let students know where they are, where they should be and how to close the gap."

Feedforward

Uses talent, provides "what if"s, is focused, authentic, prompts a step-by-step plan

10 principles

1.Help students understand the role of formative assessment

Success = sustained effort and mindful attention to progress

Students may not focus on the feedback as much as the grade they are given – students should be guided into the appropriate use of feedback and be given the opportunity take the required action

2. Begin with clear knowledge, understanding, and dos

What matters most for student success?

3. Make room for student differences

Be flexible about how students show what they can do

4. Provide instructive feedback

No "good job"s or "nice work"

5. Make feedback user-friendly.

Should result in a student thinking about how to improve

6. Assess persistently

"A great teacher is a habitual student of his or her students."

Observe, look for clues, ask for input

7. Engage students with formative assessment.

Rather than being in the driver's seat, give students autonomy in their learning

To build self-regulation, students need opportunities for self-monitoring and the judging of progression

Shape feedback more as dialogue rather than as information transmission – student has the opportunity to engage the teacher in discussion about that feedback

8. Look for patterns

Find patterns that point the way to planning classroom instruction that is manageable and progresses students

9. Plan instruction around content requirements and student needs

You can't teach the class as a whole - know similarities and differences of students

10. Repeat the process

Assessment allows for planning of the next learning experience

The bridge between today's lesson and tomorrow's

Anecdotal notes

Short, objective description

Identifies strengths and challenges

Ongoing and holistic

Checklists

Focused diagnostic tool

Can chart progress over time

Can list actions, descriptions, skills, concepts, processes, and/or attitudes

Data collection

Markbook

Provides a clear picture of students’ strengths, challenges and next steps

Allows teacher to make sound programming decisions

Provides evidence for reporting purposes

Feedback

Provides students with a description of their learning

Tells student what they did well, what they need to work on, and what to do in order to get there

Effective feedback begins by saying what the learner has done well, progresses to areas the learner could have done better and ends on a positive note

"Where am I going, where am I now, and how can I close the gap?"

Ensure that students are given adequate time to improve their work based on the feedback they are given

Rubrics

A scoring scale that consists of a set of achievement criteria and descriptions of levels of achievement

Effective and consistent means of assessment

Self/Peer Assessment

Recognize, describe and apply success criteria

Use criteria to monitor their progress towards achieving the learning goals

Allows students to make individual learning goals, increases responsibility for own learning

Exit ticket: Apps such as Flipgrid can be used for students to self-assess their learning (ex. what they think they did well and areas they could improve). This would be an effective way for students who dislike reading/writing to represent their learning.

Be mindful of bias in student's marking

Important to model to students how to assess another person’s or their own work