*** Reminder:
Please e-mail or bring Reading Logs to our next class! Also, the Portfolio is due next Tuesday, Aug.9th. You will need to bring it an envelope with your
address and enough postage if you plan to give me a paper copy of the Portfolio. Otherwise, I will send feedback by e-mail. I regret that I have to insist that you hand in
these assignments in on time. As you can
imagine, I have a lot of marking to do and I also have a deadline to turn in final grades. I would greatly appreciate your help in this. *********
1) Case
studies: Groups examine specific situations
with struggling students and brainstorm what the best plan of action is to help improve
their reading.
2) Lecture:
Assessment
From Chapter 9 (CMCM) Key points:
- Is
your assessment reliable and valid?
i. Is
it tried and true, can it be repeated fairly consistently?
Is it based on many observations or testings?
ii. Is
it not only what the students know, but also if they are able to apply the knowledge?
iii. Are
you testing them in “real” settings; for example, in the usual manner and
setting that they would normally read? “Authentic
assessment” involves using tasks that are typical of the kinds of reading and writing
that students do in school and out.
- How
to determine instructional reading levels:
i. IRI: Informal Reading Inventory – asking students
to attempt to read increasingly difficult passages.
(Benchmark books, leveled readers, etc.)
The child reads aloud and the teacher marks any “miscues”
(errors). Then the child closes the book and
“retells” the story to determine comprehension.
- Daily
Observation with Anecdotal records
i. Every
day the teacher has hundreds of opportunities to assess learning: SSR, literature discussions, journal responses,
comprehension lessons, graphic organizers, and so on.
ii. If
teachers do not record remarks frequently they will remember little of all they witness. As human beings, we may be drawn to some
personalities more than others. Records tend
to be more objective if certain skills are assessed.
There can be checklists for emergent literacy indicators – the child
has or has not shown the behavior. Spelling
is another good indicator of word decoding, while private conference reading can reveal
fluency. Because comprehension depends so
much on prior knowledge and interest, we need to check over a variety of topics and
strategies.
iii. In
assessing writing, the best time to start is on the first day. How well do they manipulate the pencil? Is it easy for them to find words for their ideas? Do they know many high frequency words? Can they find topics to write about easily? Once they begin, do they sustain writing easily?
iv. Be
sure to include students’ attitudes and interests about reading and writing. Note what kinds of reading material they are drawn
to and what raises their curiosity. What
kinds of reading material do they bring from home or choose from the library?
v. Product
vs. process: authentic assessment measure
process not the final product. Process
measures how the student learns and reveals what strategies might work best for that
individual. How do they prepare to read an
assignment? Do they monitor for meaning? How do they self-correct? Do they organize and connect to prior knowledge as
they read? When the teacher recognizes the
errors or lack of the right strategies, she can guide the student to more effective
strategies. Portfolios are a means of marking
progress for the individual, and are also a great source of pride to students, for it is a
record of their accomplishments. “Working
portfolios” are comprised of all the student’s work. “Showcase portfolios” are made up of
what the student feels is his best work. In
this manner they have choice and ownership over their own portfolio. Perhaps these are items that have been revised and
mark certain milestones. Teachers may create
a special day to show these portfolios, with other students or parents. Lastly, the “growth portfolio” is a
teacher selected collection that may be used to diagnose what problems may be occurring
and what may be done to fix the problem.
vi. The
problem with standardized tests: questions on
tests may be stated in one way and have one answer. Multiple
choice, true and false, fill in the blank, are all aimed at the majority. Test scores, therefore, may only indicate how
close or far away the child is from the median. They
tell us little about individual learners. The
more vast the exam, for example, nation-wide tests, provincial exams, the less reliable
they can be for the individual. The nature of
the “prompt” becomes vital to the student’s comprehension of the question. Years ago there was the example of inner city, low
income students indicating the color of a banana incorrectly. They mostly were familiar with brown, over-ripened
bananas. Also, setting up the importance of
big tests in the minds of students creates a variety of other physical and mental
barriers, such as nervousness, nausea, headaches, frustration, fear and so on. Lastly, some students have better test
“logic” than others, or know the “formula” expected in writing essays
for tests, and fare better than students who do better in authentic assessment situations.
3) Articles:
from Reading Teacher (full articles available electronically
through SFU library)
- Nathan: A
case study in reader response and retrospective miscue analysis"
By: Moore, Rita A., Brantingham, Karen L., Reading Teacher, 00340561,
Feb2003, Vol. 56, Issue 5
- They can read the
words, but they can't understand: Refining comprehension assessment By:
Dewitz, Peter, Dewitz, Pamela K., Reading Teacher, 00340561, Feb2003, Vol. 56,
Issue 5
