video

In this session these lifelong
learners were working collaboratively to discuss different forms of assessments
that they use in their own classrooms and to comment on another teachers work.
These teachers seemed to have a vast number of ideas that they implement in
their classrooms many of which pertained to reading at home.

This session has taught me that
collaboration with other teachers and coworkers is key in helping to discover
ways in which might best help us to assess our students.  The most significant piece of advice that this
session offered was the need for getting the parents involved. Not only does
this reinforce and expand the knowledge learned in the classroom but can be
used as an assessment tool as well. We can build that parent teacher relationship
and ask our students parents to reflect on their child's reading and writing
capabilities that they show at home and anything that they seem to be
struggling with so we can center our force on their needs.

 Personally in the classroom the
assessments that I have been witness to have been more streamline and book
based. As in assessments for student reading levels, comprehension, memory,
fluency etc. One particular assessment I felt was affective was in a third
grade classroom where the students were preparing for the listening portion of
their ELA exam. The teacher would read a passage to the class twice and then
the students would listen the first time take notes the  second and when complete they would have to
write a short essay answering the questions. What was so effective about this
activity was the fact that the teacher would choose books that the students
would enjoy many times and relate to making the learning experience enjoyable
and take the stress away from the dreaded exam.