Supporting Learner Development Through Assessment

Supporting Learner Development through Assessment Stefan Ritchie Grand Canyon University: SEED 4141. 1 April 6, 2013 Students flourish with the help of well-trained teachers who know how to clarify the learning objectives, assess the student, and make changes along the way that can support the maximum learning potential of each student. To do this one must carefully align the objectives with assessments to paint a true picture of student learning. The payoff for students who are given ample opportunities to “personalize their learning objectives” has been found to be more effective.

This comes through DOD peer feedback and real assessment that is ongoing by the teacher. “Providing students with opportunities to reflect on their own performance and exchange feedback with peers can help them become lifelong learners” (Dean, C. B. , et al. 2012) and aligning the objectives with the assessments is the first step in this process. CA Content Standards ELLA Grades 9-10: Writing Objective: Comprehension and Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text 2. 3 Generate relevant questions about readings on issues that can be researched.

Cooperative Learning To address this standard one would first assess the knowledge of the students wrought a class discussion establishing what students already know and finding ways to connect their past learning with this new experience. A quick hand-raising assessment will occur to establish familiarity with research of all types. Next there will be opportunity for open class discussion on topics of interest and students will be allowed to Join one of five different groups through self-selection and placing their names on giant posters hung in the classroom.

The students will work as teams over the next two weeks to research their topic and come up with a presentation for the lass. This can be in the form of a powering, audio-visual, brochure, verbal presentation with a poster board, or any other creative idea that is teacher approved in the first week of class. Formative assessment will occur throughout the unit as the teacher evaluates through a log book that each group will keep on how they feel they understand the process, what they still have questions on and any other issues that arise.

The class will spend 10 minutes per class period at the end of the class going over questions that come up in the logs. An important aspect of this unit will be canceling ten strategy AT listening. I nee teacher will model active listening Wendell conveying this knowledge to the class. In a study done in 2011 on listening strategies for students it was discovered that “Listening is an active information process ability’ whereby during this process “students receive and construct information. As a result, listening is actually more than hearing… Dents use different strategies during listening. Active students use their own strategies and passive ones apply their own strategies during listening”: active students were found to outperform the passive nest in this study (Teheran 2011). The assumptive assessment will be taken through a performance evaluation as well as log books being graded simply for being utilized appropriately. The students will have mastered this objective when they show they are able to take a text, find a topic to research and find relevant questions on the topic in order to conduct the research.

CA Content Standards ELLA Grades 9-10: Writing Objective: Literary Response and Analysis 3. 4 Determine characters’ traits by what the characters say about themselves in narration, dialogue, dramatic monologue, and soliloquy. Declarative Knowledge As a class introduction the teacher will identify words and phrases on posters including pictures that identify and describe each one, creating a nonlinguistic representation. A graphic organizer will be done as a worksheet in class and a short story will be covered that demonstrates the objective topics.

During this time the teacher will be evaluating what students know through open discussion, think-pair- share and walking around the room assessing the worksheets. Students will be required to find a book for the following class through self-selection or a list that is revived. The students will be taught the objective, how to meet it, and what strategies to employ to be successful. They will also be taught through an interactive session how to assess where they are with regards to the stated objective.

Research has proven through this process, “… Children discover the utility of reading strategies and that teachers convey strategy-utility information as well as information about when and where to use particular strategies” and the results showed “anticompetitive knowledge and self-regulated, insightful use of learning strategies predict math reference and reading comprehension in secondary school settings even after differences in intellectual abilities have been taken into account” (Schneider 2008).

Finally, the students will choose to put together a poster board that displays the character traits of their chosen character or present verbally through a personal representation of the character. The assumptive assessment will be determined by these presentations and through a check list that the teacher will maintain throughout the unit of objectives mastered. When the student can identify the harasser traits and key vocabulary listed in the objective, they will have mastered it. CA Content Standards ELLA Grades 9-10: Listening and Speaking: Speaking Applications (Genre and Their Characteristics) 2. Deliver persuasive arguments (including evaluation and analysis of problems and solutions and causes and effects): a. Structure ideas and arguments in a coherent, logical fashion. B. Use rhetorical devices to support assertions (e. G. , by appeal to logic through reasoning; by appeal to emotion or tentacle Dealer; Day use AT personal anecdote, case study, or analogy). C. Clarify and defend positions with precise and relevant evidence, including facts, expert opinions, quotations, expressions of commonly accepted beliefs, and logical reasoning. D. Anticipate and address the listener’s concerns and counterarguments.

Direct Instruction Through direct instruction the teacher will present the controversial topic of bullying and create a class campaign that focuses on it. There will be a game played where students role play in groups being victims and bullies. The students will be shown documentaries on bullying and a virtual tour of the museum of tolerance will be shown. Class discussion time will offer ample time for assessment and homework will be assigned where students must interview a family member or friend outside of the class and then honestly evaluate their feelings on the topic: this will be turned in for assessment.

Current events will be part of the homework assignments as well where the topic of bullying must be evident. Over the course of 4 weeks there will be debates and open forums where students are taught to respect each other’s opinions. A ballot box will be placed in the room during the unit to share anonymous stories of bullying through forum discussion. The students will be assigned different tasks to create a campaign and will present this in the cafeteria in the final week of the unit along with the teacher. Research shows that direct instruction is “… Powerful strategy with uses of varied examples, visual prompts, and demonstrations to mediate between concrete and abstract concepts” (Koura 2010). A assumptive assessment through a writing assignment will have the students address bullying and the things they learned within the unit via a term paper that will include a narrative area and a true and false 5 question survey. This will measure the objectives being mastered, along with a checklist that the teacher will keep throughout the course of the unit that indicates if a student has met all of the objectives.