1. EDU 645 Learning & Assessment for the 21 st Century Josh Bess

2. Hi, my name is… Josh Bess and I’m from San Diego, California where I currently reside. I graduated from Point Loma Nazarene University with a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies and a concentration in science. Hobbies: surfing, all sports, Tolkien fan, art, music, traveling, and eating!

3. Teaching I have taught 1 st, 2 nd, 3 rd, 5 th grade and am currently teaching 4 th grade. In the past, I’ve been an IMPACT teacher, Impact Coordinator, aide for autism, and am now the English Language Coordinator at my school site. It’s been a busy 7 seven years since I’ve entered into the teaching profession and I’m looking forward to the adventures ahead!

4. Learning Outcome The number one program learning outcome of the MAED program for me is listed as: Identify and apply components of differentiated instruction within the classroom in delivering core content to multiple learning needs. I find this to be the core of what we do as teachers. Our job is to deliver high quality instruction to our learners who walk in to the classroom with various needs and I believe that it’s through differentiated instruction that we accomplish this goal.

5. Assessments Assessments are a critical component in our profession as educators. To me, assessments are not only used to measure student success, but more importantly as a tool to drive instruction. There are three types of assessment: pre-assessment, formative assessment, and summative assessment. Pre-assessment and summative assessments have an important role when assessing students, but I find formative assessment to be the most essential as it provides a platform for you (the teacher) to scaffold and support the students during the learning process. I view formative assessments as the “bridge” to take a student where they are and take them where they need to go.