Assessing students' knowledge on a particular subject will provide the teacher with information about what the students' already know, and what they might be struggling with, or not know at all. Not only does an assessment allow the teacher to see whether or not students are ready for a specific project, but depending on the assessment, it can also let the teacher know which areas need to be reviewed or taught with the students. Not all assessments need to be exams or quizzes. A teacher can gain prior-knowledge by holding a group discussion, doing a small activity with the students, or using a KWL chart. The type of upcoming project or topic that is being taught will determine what type of assessment would be the best fit.
2. The importance of establishing anchors for a project:
By establishing anchors for a project, we gain a sense of where students are starting and how far they are going as they work to meet learning goals. When we have a better sense of our students' prior-knowledge in a project-based classroom, we can expand the opportunities to differentiate instruction and help all learners be successful.
3. Several ways to assess what students learned during a project:
- Rubrics - if you developed a rubric when designing your project, this rubric can be used at the end of the project to assess students' progress toward key learning goals; in addition, you could always involve the students in the making of the rubric, helping them to understand how their work will be evaluated.
- Online Grade Books - an online grade book allows you to give students feedback across multiple categories for one class; this shows the students the specific areas where his strengths and weaknesses are, instead of just putting a letter grade on an assignment with no description.
- Project Tests - at the end of a unit, instead of having students take a traditional test, have them create a project to reflect what they've learned from the unit.
4. How concepts in this chapter relate to our topic/project:
As our students would be wrapping up their class project (the classroom dinner & cookbook), we need to consider how we would assess their learning progress. I think a rubric would be the most effective assessment in our case. I would like to design the rubric along with the students to see what they think are the most important elements of their project. I've found that when you give students the opportunity to grade themselves and their classmates, they'll often (not always) surprise you take the responsibility seriously.
I really like this reading reflection a lot! My favorite thing about it is how you organized your answer to question #3. I love that you used bullet points to neatly organize your answer. Another thing that sticks out to me is your mention of online grade books. I think this is an excellent resource for the very reason that you said, because it provides the students with feedback on their strengths and weaknesses in specific areas. Overall, this is a fantastic reflection. Great job!
ReplyDeleteYour reflection is well thought out and you covered each of topics thoroughly. I like that you included a lot of detail into your responses. I really like that you mention doing small group activities with students to activate prior knowledge. This is a fun way to figure out what your students do and do not know without them even knowing it; great example. Another thing that I like about your reflection is the fact that you have your students assessing themselves and each other. This gives students the chance to reflect on the overall project and what they feel they gained from the experience. You did a great job covering chapter 9!
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