Assesses Student Learning
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The knowledge of subject matter and students should come together in the assessment of what students known and can do. English teachers align assessments with content goals and plan backwards from summative assessments, while using formative assessments to guide instruction. All of the language arts should be integrated into assessments across the semester or year.
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The two documents above, a six-week thematic unit plan on "taking risk" and the corresponding calendar, demonstrates how I inform my day-to-day instruction by considering how my students will be assessed. I formulated the summative assessment and worked backwards from there in order to ensure that I would scaffold my instruction in a way that encourages that the necessary literacies will be developed.
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Informed by low standardized test scores, I have been previewing difficult vocabulary prior to engaging with our in-class readings. The intent is to expand student lexicon and to promote a whole understanding of the text. Near the end of each unit I would assess students my distributing a vocabulary test. Despite having the terms readily accessible on quizlet.com, students did poorly. Informed by their low assessment, I tweaked the format of my tests (note the word bank). These artifacts demonstrate my flexibility and willingness to alter my instructional practice in response to student assessment.
Above is an example of a summative assessment that I may give students at the end of a six-week thematic unit on "seeking justice, seeking peace". The teaching artifact illustrates the explicit way that I outline my expectations and how I incentivize students to adhere to Standard English writing parameters by offering objective yes/no points for following directions correctly.