Chapter 7b & 7c: Assessing and Reporting Student Achievement

7b
At this point in our education we should have all taken, critiqued, and created our own assessments. A lot of work goes into all three of these. I think that if you want to get an educator or anyone who thinks they know anything about education worked up all you have to do is mention standardized testing. Its like lighting a match. When we talk about assessment nowadays I personally feel like standardized testing is the first thing that comes to mind and, oh boy, will it get people all worked up. Assessment is an essential part of teaching and we wouldn't be able to monitor students progress without it, but I think that kids are being attacked by so many different assessments, day in and day out, when are they ever actually supposed to learn anything. In my own classroom I intend to make assessment as beneficial as possible. It is meant to help you as an educator and your students grow and progress. Although we have to deal with standardized testing as part of assessment I will not teach to the test like I have seen so many teachers do, because it is easier and they don't know how else to do things.

7c
The third portion of chapter 7 begins by talking about all the types of assessment items that can be used to assess students. These include: arrangement, completion drawing, completion statement, correction, essay, grouping, identification, matching, multiple choice, performance, short explanation, and true-false. I have worked with many of these when creating my own assessments. I think that it is very important to use a combination of many different types of these questions on your assessments because it helps to get a better understanding of the student knowledge. This portion of chapter 7 also touches on grades and parent involvement. Grades can be another touchy subject, particularly with parents. If a parent doesn't think that their child is receiving a proper grade from something their child did, then sometimes parents will come in to see you with a lot to say. This is why it is important as educators to have a strong understanding and reasoning for why we do things the way that we do. We must be confident and strong individuals. These are all qualities I will have to have when managing my own classroom and dealing with parents one day.

Chapter 6a, 6b, & 6c: Preparing an Instructional Plan

6a
This portion of that chapter covers the components of a unit plan, the methods of teaching your lessons, and it also talks a lot about learning style and modes of your students. I think that the components to a unit are very standard. They are the same things we have been learning since we started to learn how to write lesson plans. The only difference is that units cover a larger chunk of time and they include multiple lesson plans and sometimes cover multiple integrated subjects. This section talks a lot about differentiating instruction. It uses the terms "hands-on" and "minds-on" learning. I think that it is important to keep the students engaged and to mix up the mode of instruction to the best of your ability. However, as much as the traditional method of teaching gets bashed I think that in some situations it is very difficult if not impossible to get information across to students without using the teacher-centered lecture. With that being said, using the traditional teacher-centered lecture format in your classroom will drive your students crazy. They will get antsy and most likely won't get much if anything out of the lecture at all, especially when overused. We are collecting ways throughout our education to keep students moving and engaged while they are learning. At the middle school level students are really trying to figure themselves out. If the content they are learning is connected or relevant to the things going on in their life  they will be more engaged as well.

6b
The second portion of Chapter six talks about lesson planning. Especially as a beginning teacher lesson planning will take a major chunk of your time. It is important to be well prepared for the presentation of each and every lesson. I think that the more prepared you are the better your students will receive and respect you as a teacher and a role model. If you get up in front of the class and have no idea where you are going with your lesson students won't take you seriously. If you don't put the time and effort into creating your lesson plans than how can you expect your students to spend their time and effort trying to learn the material? I know from personal experience the more prepared I feel for a lesson the less nervous I am when teaching it. If I know precisely what I want to cover and how I want to do it then the unexpected isn't as scary. The book also talks about over planning in your lessons. I think that it is important to the whole classroom atmosphere that your students always have something to do that is productive and beneficial to them. If they don't then that always leaves room for chaos and something to go wrong in your classroom. I will definitely prepare plenty of material in each lesson to ensure that students don't have time to get themselves in trouble. No matter what the grade level they are, students will always be mischievous, but particularly in the middle school grades because they are testing their boundaries and seeing how far they can push.

6c
The third portion of chapter six is all about the actual set up of a lesson plan. Throughout my college career I have had set up lesson plans so many different formats. To me it seems as though no format makes any difference to the actual performance of the lesson. As long as you are organized in your lessons and they contain all of the pertinent information than your lesson should be effectively taught. As you develop as an educator you will develop your very own format for your lesson plans. You will discover what works best for you and which format is easiest for you to follow when teaching your students. It's all about making things easier on yourself in order to best benefit your students.