Reflection 4: Informal Assessment

Overall, Id say you can really tell by the way students are interacting with me (the
teacher) and each other (their behavior), whether or not they are participating in learning
sincerely contemplating and engaging in the learning process. If students are whispering to each
other or if they are paying attention to you, but not quite being part of the discussions, then you
need to create a focal point for the studentskeep students busy and on task, not passively
absorbing information. One of my students actively disrupts the classan obvious behavior that
conveys that he or she isnt learningby blowing raspberries. Another student passively disrupts
his/her own learning by doodling anime charactersless obvious but just as disruptive to her/his
own learning. This indicates that I have been talking too long or that the lesson isnt compelling
or activeand therefore is at that moment, ineffective. I need to switch up the pace, the medium,
the flow. I need to keep them engaged and busy with explicit tasks where each person has a
specific role.
I use these focus activities as an informal assessment, check points throughout the lesson
and at the end of the class. For instance, in my most recent lesson, when I had students think of
different ways they have heard about washing their hands throughout their lives, I could have
just relied on the few kids paying attention/willing to talk in whole group discussion, to carry the
conversation to move the lesson along. Instead, I took the opportunity to physically make sure
each student was following along and engaging in the thinking process but having them write 3
examples in their journalrequiring participation and paying attention through a measureable
task with specific outcomes. As I make my way around to check their progress and encourage
collaboration, I am also getting an informal assessment to build the lesson off of to meet the
needs of the students and their variety of experiences. I saw that most of the students wrote:
Mom, dad, and hospital, for example, when I thought for sure one of the students would
mention the signs in the bathrooma segue into Public Service Announcements posted around
the schoolin which they were the target audience. I informally assessed the students
background knowledge from here and altered my lesson to take a little detourexploring the
signs around the schoolbefore moving forward.
I have also been using Exit Tickets as an informal assessment. As the discussion develops
in the classroom around the topic, I will write a question on the board (usually inferential or
critical, not literal) as a focus question as we continue to explore concepts in the lesson
something we keep referring back to and answering indifferent ways depending on the context or
gathering of new information. Then, students must write an answer for me on a slip of paper
with their namesto exit the class. I dont do this for every lesson, usually just the first or
second on in the unit. For example, a question I used with the 7th grade Global Issues class was
How has globalization impacted nations around the world?. Then as students did their jigsaw
with different Case Study stories and shared with the class, we answered this question for each
story: India, Poland, and Greece. As and Exit Ticket, the students had to synthesize information
from multiple sources to cultivate a general response. In India, globalization has both good
(higher employment rates and more money circulation) and bad (working conditions dangerous
and wages are low) effects from globalization. Its a complex issue and so this questionboth
related to the natural discourse of the class and the learning objective for the lessonkeeps
students focused, on task and allows for informal assessment.
 Free Response

I had my first observation by my supervisor this past week. I introduced the concept of a
Public Service Announcement to my ELL support 6th grade class. Some of the feedback Mr. Ben
had for me included the following, which I will take the time to reflect on and respond to in
italics:
-Model the proper titling of journals. This is something I forget to develop or set a
standard for with my 6th grade students. Mr. Ben pointed out to me that some students
were taking very effective notes and some were taking less effective notes. I need to do a
mini-lesson at the beginning or end of the next class, where I set aside time to
standardize how the journal entries should looktitle, date, name, underlining
vocabulary words, etc. Create a model and practice using it throughout the semester
supporting the students organizational and note-taking abilities as a way to learn about
Global Issues.
- Consider a more graphical approach to note-taking (e.g. a flowchart for the
process of creating a Public Service Announcement). Mr. Ben recommended that I
create a graphic organizer for students to fill in and paste in their journals (instead of
drawing it in) to help organize and develop thoughts a little better too. ELLs need the
support of graphic organizers more than the general class does as well and I need to
scaffold the ELLs concepts as we create new pathways.
- Consider a table-format for the listening task students need more purpose (and
structure) with listening tasks. [The intern commented that this had been considered, but
students would spend too long creating the table in their journals. The intern suggested
the use of cut and stick tables to alleviate this potential issue]. For this bullet, I am
embarrassed. I usually create some sort of task that requires responsibility for students to
convey are focus learning during listening and video instructiona question hand out, a
graphic organizer. As Mr. Ben pointed out, while I created a dialogue with the students,
there was little incentive to listen with purpose that could have easily been integrated
into the lesson plan.
- Allow for more thinking time and a safe environment for sharing answers.
With regards the latter, always incorporate peer shares prior to opening up for class
discussions (especially in listening tasks). This gives less-confident students more
confidence prior to sharing their answers in an open forum. This would also prevent the
more confident students from dominating class discussions. Something I have been
working on as a teacher is the response wait timeI move quickly through lessons, units,
etc. My most consistent feedback has been to slow down, Im working to break down the
lessons and curriculum into smaller, more manageable tasks that allow deeper learning
in nuanced situations. I see the forest before the trees and need to create lessons that
have smaller objectives. Part of this includes the wait time. As Mr. Ben said to me, its
not about the answer or the right answer, its about the skills and exploring the concepts.
In order for students to be able to do that, they need time with their peers to create a safe
and comfortable environment with a wait timemore pacing around the students.
- Carefully consider your board planning within the constraints of the classroom/
task (e.g. was the use of the side white-board with the group work task questions an
effective use of space? Could these questions have perhaps been incorporated as a single
slide on the projector, potentially freeing up the side white-board for student-led note-
taking/ table filling/ class discussion points etc.? Yesto all of this. I could have. I
prefer writing the homework on the board for consistencys sake, but putting the note
format for the students to copy/use as a model could have been done. I can think more
about the procedures and not just the content when I am creating the PowerPoints (which
I prefer because it helps me plan and organize how to build the concepts and the time)
- Depending on the length of this particular unit, consider the techniques of
making a public service announcement (e.g. start power, strong imagery, persuasion etc.)
as a separate class focus (e.g. persuasive writing techniques). After my meeting with Mr.
Ben, I focused my next PSA lesson on persuasion by having kids persuade their
parents to buy them the new iPhone. I struggled with this part of the lesson because, as I
am working with my Lead Teacher, I am finding it difficult to team teach with two very
different styles. Mr. Terry teaches 100% by the book. If the book says to do a PSA, the
students do a PSA. This isnt quite how I was taught to design lessons/units/curriculum at
UNR. So when I was told, now you are doing a PSA, it wasnt because I thought What
skills do I want the students to use to present their learning? Writing? Performance task?
Should it be argumentative? Persuasive? Instead I was just given a task that I felt like I
was obliged to complete. I didnt look at the value of the task, because I typically think of
the objectives then select a task. So when Mr. Ben questioned me about the PSA, I said I
dont know how in depth to go because we arent going to use a PSA as a performance
task again. He responded Well some elements of a PSA can be applied to other writing
and communication. Focus on those areas. I immediately thoughtwow, how could I
have now realized that on my own. I need to use the curriculum given to me to its fullest
and quick just checking off boxes. Hence, why I did a mini-lesson on persuasion after
that!
 Answering Questions:

Week 1) So what do you think of all this tech? Were you surprised by the amount for the 6th/7th
graders? Do you expect you would find this in the US? Is this procedure easy or difficult to set
up? Would you rather be setting up anything else? Why do you think the 8th graders do not use
it? Do they miss it? How difficult has it been for you to learn?
In some ways I think the use of this tech is important. We dont integrate technology as a tool in
a meaningful way as much as I think students need to function with computer literacy in the
world for communication and careers. However, these eBooks have opened up their own avenue
of issues like having to constantly circulate to make sure students arent using the browser for
anything but reading. And, on many occasions, the technology has interrupted learning with
internet dropping, devices interacting with the eBook differently across different brands, one
student forgetting a device or their account not workingit really throws a wrench in the wheel.
Part of the issue in my opinion is that the students shouldnt have to use these books EVERY day
and for EVERY lesson. However, Mr. Terry does not use a variety of outside resourcesno
primary sources or articles with different perspectives, just the eBook. I think the procedure
could be easier to set up, but Mr. Terry wont allow students access to the same account.

No, I do not think the 8th graders miss the eBooks. They way they are used is still in need of
tweaking in my opinion. They like how much easier it is to use a textbookhowever they also
often forget their books and cannot access it through multiple mediums.

I picked up on the eBooks pretty easy. The technology itself is easy to navigate and I have used
the software (Vital Source Bookshelf) in college because it partners with Pearson. I will say
though that because each student has a separate accountand which aligns with an eBook in 1
of 3 levelsits hard to monitor the language each leveled group needs to work on because I
have to switch back and forth through 3 different student accountsthere is no teacher
accountto design whole group lessons.

Week 2) How are you feeling about all this??? Classroom management is one of the hardest
things to do, especially with this age group. What kind of feedback are you getting from the
teacher? On a scale of 1-5 1 being nothing and 5 being horrible, how hard is this? CM can
make a big dent in a teachers sense of self-efficacy. How are you going to keep it from getting
you down (if it is)?
Classroom management is difficult and I understand why some teachers dont want to work with
middle school students. I feel pretty okay though, overall. Id say some days are a 3 but never a 4
or 5. Its hard finding what motivates middle school students. I want to use both positive and
negative reinforcement. Ive been very strict about grades and some students really have
responded to it, but there are 8th grade students who do not care if they fail. So Ive been trying
to think about an incentive for productive participation. A strategy I used with the 7th graders
once was that if they worked all period on their Talk Show story boards and scripts that I would
let them watch a 10 min Jimmy Fallon Show clip (which is fun but also has to do with the
assignment they are doing). They were realllllyyy excited about it so I put up 5 points on the
board and told them if they kept their points above 2 that I would let them watch the show, but if
it got below that, then they lost their incentive. The kids really held themselves accountable and
when I took points off, they were genuinely upset because this was a goal they wantedI just
havent found that type of incentive for the 8th graders. Im thinking MAYBE a free day, once a
month. If everyone has turned in all of their assignments and they dont lose their class
participation points, I will give them a free day (which wont be 100% free but will probably
include a documentary and snacks with me being more lax on talking in class).