The assessment I chose to review and evaluate was the Fountas & Pinnell comprehension assessment. What drew me to this assessment was learning more about a tool that I use at my school. My goal is to understand how the assessment was designed and research the effectiveness this assessment tool has on monitoring student comprehension levels.
As I examined the materials I was surprised to find all the tools available to the teacher in deciding how to place a student and where to begin choosing a text to determine a students instructional, frustration, and independent level of reading. As I mentioned in my team’s research a weakness of this assessment is the individual one-on-one time needed to accurately place a student to determine their frustration level, independent level, and instructional level in reading. A piece of the assessment I was unaware of before researching was all the tools available in the tool kit. I discovered tools to test letter recognition, early literacy behaviors, reading high-frequency words, and other optional assessments to determine where students are i...
Differentiated instruction caters to differences among students, how students learn, different learning styles, and the interest of each learner. Running records support differentiating lessons for each learner during guided reading. Running records are diagnostic tools designed to identify a student’s reading deficiencies and monitor progress. The implementation of running records allows the teacher to differentiate each child’s reading lesson and hone in on the child’s needs and abilities. It is the educator’s responsibility to fine-tune instructional needs so that classroom, small group, and one-to-one teaching occur when and for whom they are needed in a timely way and with the high quality every child deserves (Fountas & Pinnell, 2009). Each child enters a classroom with varying needs; differentiating guided reading lessons based on the results of running records will help meet the individual needs of each child. Kelly M. Anderson (2007) states, teachers who differentiate believe each child is unique, with differing learning styles and preferences. Teachers can differentiate based on students’ readiness by varying the level of difficulty of the material covered in class. Guided reading offers the opportunity to vary the children’s reading based on their reading level. Differentiating instruction is not lowering expectations for some students. Differentiating instruction is establishing high expectations for all students while varying the process to which each child learns the same concept. Differentiating involves addressing the individual needs of diverse learners. Watts-Taffe, et al. (2012) notes although differentiating instruction is not new; it has become increasingly i...
While the reading assessment will be different for all students I learned that I must be attentive to the student and what they say, also I learned that even if the student gets frustrated I should not aid in the reading that is in front of them. Instruction for the students should be clear and precise; I believe that every student should have their own Vocabulary Dictionaries in the classroom. I believe that this will aid the students so much in the way that they will be able to acquire harder words and each students will be different, they will be able to have fun with it as well as learn at the same
Performing Running Records is an effective way for teachers to monitor the progress student have made in reading and writing. They also analyze the students reading fluency, which is important for comprehension. More specifically, Running Records allow teachers to identify the strengths and weakness students have in reading and writing. Finding their strengths and weaknesses will aid the teacher to identify which literacy components to develop. Running Records also give students insight about what skills they have to develop to become effective and independent readers and writers. According to Tompkins (2009), running records are classroom assessment tools of “students’ oral reading to analyze their ability to solve reading problems” (p.33). Running Records, asses the students’ oral reading and their ability to decode unfamiliar words, use reading strategies,
RtI was designed to provide early intervention to students that are experiencing difficulties in developing literacy skills. Throughout RtI, assessment data is collected to monitor student progress, and is used to determine if the intervention should be continued or modified (Smetana 2010). A common consensus is that the RtI framework consists of three tiers: Tier I, Tier II, and Tier III. In Tier I, primary interventions are used that differentiate instruction, routines, and accommodations to the students that need little to no interventions. The students in this tier are often times classified with the color green.
Assessments should guide instruction and material selection. Any likely manner, assessments should measure student progress, as well as help, identify deficiencies in reading (Afflerback, 2012). One important indicator of reading deficiencies is spelling. Morris (2014), advocated the importance of administering a spelling assessment in order to have a better understanding of a student’s reading abilities. My school uses the Words Their Way spelling inventory to assess students’ reading abilities at the beginning of the year and throughout the reading year.
The running record assignment provided me with insight on how to effectively assess a student, analyzing and interpret data and consider strategies to address areas of need and/or strengths. The process of giving this assessment has allowed me to better understand and appreciate running records. I understand the value of using an assessment that evaluates a student’s reading ability. The data is vital information that influences instruction and planning.
After taking the Personal Assessment Literacy Survey, I learned a lot about myself and what I do know about assessments, and what I don’t. This survey allowed me to reflect on the process that I take to plan, develop, and administer tests in my class and what I need to do with the results. When I went through the criteria of all of the topics in the survey, I honestly did not know what the survey was talking about or what it meant. This was really concerning to me because I like to think that I do a pretty good job when it comes to instruction of my class and how I assess their knowledge of the material. I learned from this survey that there are a lot of things I do well during assessments and that there is still a lot that I need to learn to be an effective classroom leader.
My sixteen week class in English 111. I was really nervous about this class. Because English has never been my strong point. This class has hard, but fun all at the same time. I learn a lot from this class. Meanwhile,the first day of class you handed a paper with a question on it. “The first thing I want to say to you who are students is that you must not think of being here to receive an education; instead, you will do much better to think of being here to claim one.” Even though putting my all in what I have learned, claiming my education with hard work because using the skills of the meal plan, as we write to different audiences and learning to be a Critically thinker as I start becoming a critically-Literate Citizenship.
During the early years, children go through crucial development stages, and continuous, quality early childhood education can have a lasting, valuable effect on the overall development of children. High-quality early childhood development programs that offer developmentally adequate curricula, allow children to formulate specified cognitive skills at the suitable age. Developmentally adequate curricula assist in the development of cognitive skills which help them acquire new skills and knowledge. Preschool provides children the opportunities to take part in activities they wouldn’t typically do at home such as arts and crafts, science activities, sand and water play and music and movement. These activities can enhance children's’ lives, increase their development and supply them with the tools they need for the future.
Through this semester, I have learned a lot of writing skills and techniques. The learning process of this course is not smooth, there are many difficulties and issues I have meet during this semester. However, in the meantime I also revived many benefits from this course. I think the skills and techniques I learned from this course not only make me able to pass this class, but also is valued for my future academic journey.
Assessments matter. They are a useful tool for teachers to use to inform daily literacy instruction. They provide clear pathways into what the child already controls, partially controls, and aren’t yet controlling in reading and writing. I am not just talking about any assessment tool, I am talking about the one that was reviewed and rated as a screening tool by the National Center for Response To Intervention, Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement (OS).
Informal Reading Inventories (IRIs) are a commercial test that teachers use to evaluate students’ reading performance. QRI-5’s are just one type of IRI that are available to teachers. These informal tests are often used as a screening instrument to determine whether or not a student is reading on or below grade level. Some of the other uses of IRIs are seeing where students are struggling in their reading; for example fluency versus comprehension, to help them recognize where students are showing signs of frustration, to help teachers set up reading groups or even help with picking out appropriate reading material for their students. While the information gained in these informal tests are vital sometimes the additional information gained
My life pictorial was really detailed in terms of trying to make the audience understand where I was coming from which made me feel confident that they would enjoy viewing the slideshow presentation. It also made me feel happy to share accomplishments that made me who I am today. I felt a bit overwhelmed with my decision to what I presented because I did not present anything with a tragic event because I felt that it was inappropriate from my perspective. Everyone presented something emotionally hard to process where as my presentation was more of the happy ending and a bit of relief to listen to so everyone would have a chance to settle down their emotions which made me feel at ease to be the relief. I chose to present events in my life that were impactful, like losing 30 pounds. This was something that positively influenced group member but I made it personal by showing my before and after’s which was extremely hard to do. I did feel vulnerable because I was not confident
This lesson is designed to review and reinforce a few important concepts about plants (e.g. Needs, parts, sequence of planting) and to also guide the students through applying a few scientific inquiry (e.g. Making observations, experimentation, discussion, reflection, reporting results etc.). The students have previously planted corn and bean seeds and today’s lesson has provided the students a chance to see the results of the planted corn and bean seeds. Additionally, seeds have been planted under and growing under the following conditions: without water, and without soil. The students see the results of these seeds planted under these conditions for the past week. Two plants in particular have already been grown their growth has been
In spite of the importance of assessment in education, few teachers receive proper training on how to design or analyze assessments. Due to this, when teachers are not provided with suitable assessments from their textbooks or instructional resources, teachers construct their own in an unsystematic manner. They create questions and essay prompts comparable to the ones that their teachers used, and they treat them as evaluations to administer when instructional activities are completed predominantly for allocating students' grades. In order to use assessments to improve instruction and student learning, teachers need to change their approach to assessments by making sure that they create sound assessments. To ensure that their assessments are sound they need include five basic indicators that can be used as steps to follow when creating assessments. The first of these indicators and the first step a teacher must take when creating a sound assessme...