PLANNING FOR LEARNING • PSI

Inquiry Question Related TQS Strategies Resources/Support Evidence of Success Timeline

Required
- Interconnection – learning
In what ways does 1. Fostering Effective - I have learned that the community; Having a - Evidence of success for - Each lesson
formative Relationships principal of my school conversation with Shea myself is I will recognize plan will
assessment - providing culturally Shea Mellow is excellent Mellow, literacy what students’ incorporate
enrichment figures, &
determine where a appropriate and at assessments. I plan to improvement looks like new ideas
councillor (Collin).
student’s current meaningful ask her to meet to pick within reading. Once I can for
literacy skills are? opportunities for her brain. - Embedded Formative recognize where students’ formative
students and for Assessment by Dylan current skills are, seeing assessment.
Goal: My goal is to parents/guardians, as - Learn strategies from my Wiliam improvement by the end of
determine my partners in education, teacher associate. the five weeks will be a
student’s current to support student - A Guide to the Reading success.
literacy skills and learning. Workshop – Primary - Embedding formative
what strategies I can Grades by Lucy Calkins assessment within lesson
use to 3. Demonstrating a plans. Determine how
improve/support Professional Body of - The Nuts and Bolts of you're going to see if kids
Teaching Writing by Lucy
them. Knowledge understand.
Calkins
- applying student - Ex. Can students
assessment and - Launching the Writing
come to class and
evaluation practices Workshop by Lucy Calkins be prepared?
that: support the use - Ex. Overview of
of reasoned judgment - Language and Literacy by what the day
about the evidence Tompkins, Bright, & Winsor looked like.
used to determine and
report the level of - 50 Literacy Strategies by
student learning. Gail E. Tompkins
Reflection Goal #1: At the beginning of my practicum, I was unsure of my ability to determine students’ reading and reading comprehension levels.
I was curious to learn how to assess where students are with their reading and what I could do to help my students improve their reading skills. I
quickly learned that my grade one class was very eager to practice reading and comprehension to improve.
To help keep track of students’ reading skills, I created a formative assessment sheet with a space at the top for the activity and the students’
names on the side. This assessment sheet effectively allowed me to take notes on my students’ reading skills and reading comprehension levels. I
was able to do this again later to see the transition in my student’s work.
My TA had individual book boxes for each student containing books with their reading level to prevent it from being apparent to others where their
reading level was. During reading time, my TA mixed up how students can read to prevent students from comparing themselves to others. There
would be individual reading time, reading with the teacher individually, reading with a partner at any reading level, and reading in groups where
students do have the same group book.
Each student has a writing book to write sentences and draw pictures to improve writing skills, reading skills, and comprehension skills. Students
will write a sentence and draw a picture each day. This book allows teachers, students, and parents to witness students’ transition during the year.
My TA taught the importance of repetition with sight words and used this to create her lessons. I also learned the importance of memorizing these
sight words rather than sounding them out, as not all sight words follow phonetic rules. If students are sounding out sight words rather than
memorizing, I learned it could prevent their reading skills. Each week there would be a list of chosen sight words introduced to the students. I
helped listen to each student pronounce the new sight words and kept track of which ones they knew. My TA and I would assess students at the
midway mark for these specific sight words again. Once the students were able to pronounce each word correctly, the student would be able to
move on to the next set of sight words. This sight word list is a perfect strategy for differentiation within the classroom as students may be at
different places within their literacy journey. To improve students reading for the week’s sight words, students have a word workbook with varying
games for writing. Additionally, students would have a word sort where they must sort, pronounce, and write the words.
I met with the school principal, Shea Mellow, to discuss the importance of assessment. Shea highlighted the importance of working backwards from
the end goal. We discussed the importance of teachers identifying the end goal for their students first and then creating the path for how students
will get there. This discussion was extremely beneficial for me and contributed immensely towards building my knowledge of how to formulate
assessments to benefit my students.