Toolkit Stage Two

What are ethical grading practices in you estimation?

In my estimation, ethical grading practices are ones that report student learning accurately and fairly. When grading is connected to attaining learning goals, and applied fairly to each student, then accurate reporting of student progress can be made.

What is your new approach to differentiating assessment?

My new approach to differentiating assessment will begin with “putting students at the center of planning and responding specifically to their needs” (Heacox, 2009). By putting the needs of my students at the center of instruction, it follows that all aspects of assessment will need to be examined to determine if more differentiation is needed. This process will not be easy nor happen overnight; however, if I want to be fair to ALL of my students, it must be done.

Secondary school teacher, Ellen Berg commented that most teachers in her school who share the responsibility of success with their students seem to be the most successful. She further states, “if what we’re doing isn’t getting us the desired results, doing the same thing over and over and expecting something different is not only nonproductive, it creates stress and unhappiness in our lives” (Wormeli, 2006).

This year, I will concentrate on differentiating pre-assessments and summative assessments, primarily because these areas need the most work. Instead of assuming students have the necessary foundation skills for a particular lesson or unit, I will use a variety of pre-assessment activities to identify skills needing remediation. Before administering summative assessments, I will evaluate them to see if they can be differentiated to meet the needs of my students. By making these changes to my approach to differentiating assessment, students will experience more success and achieve the learning goals presented to them.

There are many different strategies for implementing differentiated assessment into the classroom. Entrance Tickets and KWL Charts are two types of pre-assessment that I will use this year. These two assessments will allow me to quickly assess students’ previous understanding. The two assessments I will add for formative assessment are Think-Pair-Share and Step by Step Charts. Both will allow students to share what they have learned, while allowing me to correct any misunderstandings they may have. A new concept for me will be differentiating summative assessment. I have chosen Carousel Brainstorming and Tic-Tac-Toe for this. Both types of assessment allow students a choice as well as an opportunity to demonstrate what they’ve learned.

Carol Ann Tomlinson said it best when she said that a successful classroom teacher is one that supports classroom success, knows where students need to end up, knows where students are on the way to the end, and adjusts teaching to make sure each student reaches the destination. As classroom teachers, shouldn’t we all strive to be successful?!

Bibliography

Heacox, D. (2009). Making Differentiation a Habit. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing Inc.

Wormeli, R. (2006). Fair Isn’t Always Equal: Assessing and Grading in the Differentiated Classroom. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Entrance Ticket– Quick way of assessing whether students have an understanding of the topic being presented.

KWL Charts– Charts used to let the teacher know what students know already, what they want to know about the topic, and what they’re learning about.

Think-Pair-Share– Teacher poses a question and students take a few moments to think about it (think). Using designated partners, students pair up and discuss their ideas, deciding on best response (pair). Each pair shares their thoughts with the rest of the class and teacher records responses on the board (share).

Step by Step Charts– Allows students to organize their thoughts and give reasons for each step in the thought process. Allows the teacher to check for flow in understanding and make corrections as needed.

Carousel Brainstorming– A good way for students to organize their thoughts on what they’ve learned. Charts are posted around the room with topics/questions on them. Students rotate in groups between the charts. As they stop at each chart, they brainstorm views and ideas on the topic. A recorder fills in the chart with the groups’ ideas. A signal is given at a predetermined time and groups rotate to the next chart. When all charts have been visited and commented on, the last group at each chart reports the information to the class.

Tic-Tac-Toe- Allows students to have a choice in the method of assessment by having them pick three categories either in a row or diagonally.

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One Response to Toolkit Stage Two

  1. Nancy says:

    Debbie, this is excellent, both the response to the prompt and your choice of artifacts. I couldn’t open you entry slip link, but we won’t worry about it. I would have liked to have had an example of what if “fair,” per grading, in your estimation.

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