INTASC+8

INTASC 8

Reflection of INTASC 8: Assessment of Student Learning After considering the many specifications for our lessons, such as, how we incorporate specific student accommodations, how we make the material relevant, and how we motivate our students to learn, there is one specific part of the lesson that reflects on what our students have learned from our instruction. This reflection is within INTASC 8, the assessment of our student’s learning. Usually to the student, the assessment part of the lesson can be portrayed as the tedious review of what they have learned within an allotted period of time based upon specific content; however, there are more aspects that make student’s assessments more interesting. Assessments are now not only a good review of student learning, but they are also an opportunity for the students to be creative, engaged, and excited. Within the English classroom, we see many opportunities for short and extended response assessments. These types of assessments are very helpful to instructors for exploring the different writing styles and abilities within the classroom. Though there are also different ways to incorporate student learning within the English classroom. One specific example might be for students to create posters of their learning. This visual assessment not only allows students the opportunity to be creative with their assessment, but it also allows them to be more hands-on, engaged, and connect better with the material on a deeper level. Another example of a different form of assessment might be for students to create a storyboard of specific important events that might have occurred within a short story, poem, or novel. This too, allows for students to be more creative and it also gives them an opportunity to focus on important events that occurred and to illustrate these events the way they see them unfold within their minds. It is amazing just how engaged and motivated students can become when there is an opportunity to become creative in different ways in the classroom. There is always a place for formal, quiz, test, and essay assessments. These assessments are a quick judge for how students are understanding the material and whether or not they have completed the required amount of work to understand lessons to the best of their ability; though, there is now an inviting opportunity for students to dive into the material on a deeper, more creative light that can better prepare them for the basic and more advanced level of understanding for the material. Within any classroom, the assessment is a major aspect of the lesson that can not only serve as a reflection of what the students have learned, but it can also serve as a tool to look deeper into the material and the lesson. The idea of keeping students motivated and engaged is just as important as their performance on their assessments. In fact, the two go hand in hand.



Reflection A: "The teacher uses a variety of formal and informal assessments to evaluate and prove student learning."

For my Validated Practices Project, I provide many instances for formal and informal assessments. To begin my project, I created a formal assessment for myself to understand student prior knowledge of the material. This formal assessment was my pre-assessment. Within my first lesson, I had a very informal assessment based upon the knowledge of my students from the pre-assessments. As a class, my students and I walked through the Hero's Journey chart in reference to a summary of Batman Begins. The first portion of this chart was meant to be a model for students; however, the second and third portion were more student based. For the second portion, students were to complete a think pair share activity in order to come up with answers and for the third portion, students were to complete the activity alone as their formal assessment. This formal assessment wasn't graded heavily, but it did count as a classwork grade in Edline. For my second lesson, students had a classwork grade and an independent work grade. This incorporated both the informal and formal assessment. Their informal classwork was intended to help them comprehend the excerpt from The Odyssey. They completed this worksheet first as a class as a model, then in groups, and then independently. Next, as their formal assessment, students had to identify key components of Odysseus' Journey independently in order to provide understanding for both the excerpt from The Odyssey and the components of the Hero's Journey. Finally, in my third lesson, students were also given formal and informal assessments. First, students were instructed to identify which stage of the Hero's Journey was presented within the Spiderman comic strip projected on the board. This was their first informal assessment that was meant to gauge student understanding of the components of the Hero's Journey. Once they identified the stage correctly, I knew a review was unnecessary at this point in my lesson. My second informal assessment was to ask students to watch a Lion King YouTube clip in order to identify consequences for Simba leaving his home land. Students needed to inductively understand that there can be heavy consequences for the hero "Refusing their Call to Action." Finally, my formal assessment of this lesson was for students to complete an exit ticket where they needed to identify key positive and negative aspects of the "Refusal of the Call." These formal and informal assessments prove my mastery of INTASC 8 because I used these assessments to formulate my lessons. At the beginning of the unit, I had a pre- assessment that determined what I would review with my students and what I would need to go more in depth with for instruction. I was also demonstrating a mastery of this INTASC when I questioned my students about which stage of the Hero's Journey was represented within the Spiderman comic strip. I was able to see the strengths and weaknesses of my students and base my instruction on the results I received. My Validated Practices Project also reflected upon positive student learning in the fact that my students performed substantially well on their post- assessment in comparison to their pre-assessment. This Validated Practices Project had a great impact upon student learning. This project affected my students in a positive manner because I was able to clearly identify what allowed my students to become motivated and also what they lacked a solid understanding of for the material. I was able to narrow the focus of my lessons based upon this information. My Validated Practices Project also closely relates to the components of JPTARR because I was able to adjust my planning based upon my pre-assessments and also based upon my formal and informal assessments. I would leave room for misunderstandings in my lesson to better prepare my students for their post-assessment. Also, in order to complete this project to the best of its potential, I was able to plan ahead with a clear beginning, middle, and end result; therefore, I was able to set goals for myself with my planning for what my students should be able to understand by each point of the project. Teaching and learning were probably the two best components of this project hands down. I have learned from this project that when you can stay up passed your healthy amount of sleeping hours because you've caught onto a good idea for a lesson, then teaching is going to be a joy when the lesson is finally implemented. The students also catch on to this idea and it is evident in their learning for this project.

Reflection B: "The teacher analyzes the data from a variety of formal and informal assessments to increase the continuous achievement of ALL learners (e.g. modify plans, strategies)."

Also within my Validated Practices Project I prove a mastery of the INTASC 8 because of my student's increase in score from their pre-assessment to their post-assessment. I have found that my students received a steady growth in the understanding of the material. Although I would have liked to see more of a learning increase, I was happy, especially as a new teacher, to see a consistent increase in my student's learning based upon the implementation of my lessons and the overall understanding of my objectives. I have found that the increase in student learning, based upon the assessments was transferred from an initial 3.7 at the pre-assessment to a 5.7 at the post-assessment. This was a great reflection based upon my student's performance. I believe that this project truly demonstrates how I was able to modify plans, create strategies and implement learning within the classroom. This project also proved as a positive student learning showcase because students truly got a grasp on the material, as proven by the post assessment. Students showed me that they were interested in the material and motivated by the Batman Begins summary, the comic strips and YouTube clips. I have found that first 5 minutes of class is the most important for motivation and gaining their interest for the lessson. This project also influences my reflection upon the components of JPTARR. For planning instruction, I now have a basis for how I would like to plan my lessons. I have found that setting a clear, beginning, middle, and end to not only a lesson, but to a unit, is so incredibly beneficial for student learning. I have also taken note that this will also help with understanding what the essential components are for the focus of daily lessons. For the future, and based upon my reflection of this project, my teaching will become more student based. I have found that both teaching and learning occurs mostly with the students. The more they can help each other and can relate to the material, the more they build that solid connection to it and can retain the information.