Teaching and Assessing Language Arts Chapter 2

Assessing Students’ Learning  Should resemble real language use--authentic  Should be an important part of teaching and learning  Teachers should examine use of language arts and artifacts or products (projects, reading logs, etc.)

Authentic Assessment  Use appropriate assessment tools  Use a variety of assessment tools  Align instruction and assessment  Focus on what children can do  Consider processes and products  Guidelines – p. 53

Authentic Assessment  Five purposes To document milestones in students’ language and literacy development To identify students’ strengths to plan for instruction To document students’ language arts activities and projects To determine grades To help teachers learn more about how students become strategic readers and writers

Monitoring Students’ Progress  Classroom observations  Anecdotal notes  Conferences Types of Conferences – Figure 2-4 – p. 56  Checklists

Portfolios  Systematic and meaningful collections of artifacts documenting children’s learning and development over a period of time.  Students usually choose items to place in their portfolios within the guidelines the teacher provides.

Portfolios  Not all work in portfolio needs to be graded  Types of student work to include – p. 58  Showcase portfolios – “Portfolio Share Days”

Self-Assessment  Begins by teacher asking students about their language arts abilities in terms of contrast (book they liked the most/least)  Students identify what they do well in reading and what they need to improve  Conferences can involve self- assessment

Self-Assessment  Students write notes on items they choose for their portfolios Comments on Index cards Special comment sheets attached to portfolio items

Assigning Grades  Assignment checklists Examples – p. 61  Rubrics Examples – pp  General for any writing project  Specific to the assignment  Can also be used for self- assessment  Rubistar Rubistar

Assigning Grades  Use triangulation (3 viewpoints) Tests Observations Anecdotal records Conferences Portfolios Assignment checklists Rubrics