Read Blog Week 2

Erica Scully
The chapters assigned for this reading this week was very
insightful considering it was our first week in our practicum placements
for the semester. Both chapter 11 in Classrooms that Work and
Chapter 2 in Words Their Way both focused specifically on assessment,
which is something that has always scared me as both a student and a
future teacher. The readings highlighted the three main types of
assessment that are used in classrooms to determine individual
reading levels which eased some of my worries because I now
understand the different strategies that teachers can implement to
track growth in literacy development. Diagnostic Assessment is used to
establish an individual student reading level, which caters more to the
struggling readers because you can target specific needs. Summative
assessments are not about measuring the effectiveness of instruction,
but rather to show evidence of student growth. I have realized that this
is the type of assessment that I am used to because my elementary
school experience was a lot of standardized tests and pop quizzes. The
type of assessment that struck me the most while reading is formative
assessment because it reflects on both student comprehension and
instructional effectiveness.
When I was in practicum this week I asked my cooperating
teacher what type of assessment she generally used to track reading
and writing growth in her third grade classroom. Although I watched as
she administered many PALS tests throughout the day, she made it
clear that she tries to focus on formative assessments in every subject
such as an exit ticket or group projects because she feels it is what
measures student success the most accurately. Another connection I
made from practicum to this weeks reading was the term Reversals
that Words Their Way highlighted as a common mistake in writing
development. I noticed that many students wrote b as d, and vice
versa. It was extremely interesting to be able to relate the information I
learned in these chapters to real life experiences in my third grade
practicum classroom. I am excited to see growth in the students
reading and writing skills throughout the semester.