B2+FIAE+Chapter+4


 * 1) [[image:cropped FIAE 4 wordle.png width="800" height="391"]]

Abstract
Chapter four in FIAE focused on three forms of assessment: portfolio, rubrics, and self-assessment. They are important in the process of teaching and learning for their own reasons.

Portfolios are a form of summative assessment, which is an assessment of learning. They are authentic assessments comprised of cumulative evidence. They act as photo albums which record students’ growth over a period of time, both in the subject matter and as individuals. Portfolios could be assembled by the students, teacher or both parties. Students’ autonomy on choice of evidence to include in the portfolio could be empowering and rewarding, and the teacher could also add evidence from his/her observation. Because of their longitudinal properties, portfolios give the teacher a fuller picture of the student as a learner. Portfolios could include a range of evidence of students’ achievements, such as homework, projects, presentation, photos of art work, video or tape recording.

Rubrics are great assessments for both students and the teacher. It is a fair standard that the teacher can hold for all students, and students can design and pre-assess their products knowing the rubric standard. Designing an effective rubric is complex and takes practice.

Self-assessment takes many forms and it could be assessment for learning or assessment of learning. Making the first and last assessment the same for one unit is a form of assessment of learning. Reading notations, learning logs, and interactive notebooks are all creative ways to assess for learning. Self-assessment means self-reflecting and questioning.

Synthesis
From all the reading reflections I can see that some of us didn’t mention one form or the other of the assessment. Some of us are certain about implementing these assessments, others are a little reserved or have preconceptions. Like what Tyler said about self-assessment, “In my opinion, if the teacher doesn’t give strict instructions on these types of things, it will turn into just busy work and nothing productive will be gained from it.” I was glad to see that Tyler raised the point of a teacher’s role in students’ self-assessment throughout the learning experience. Students’ self-assessment is not intended to be just for the students, it’s meant to be a tool for responsive teaching. Students keep track and reflect on their own learning, while teachers’ feedback and support are supposed to facilitate students’ further understanding. Students’ self-assessment is an interactive instrument that engages both students and teachers to ensure students growth. Most of us agree on the use of rubrics because it sets clear standards for the product, and students can plan and adjust to meet the standards. Andrew mentioned that a rubric is never perfect and it is okay to change it from time to time. On the other hand, Jackson thought that the “analytic rubrics are more biased by the person who is grading, it allows for a large grey area which means there could be multiple ways of succeeding in an area of the rubric.” Jackson noted that the holistic rubrics are less biased. All in all, we agreed that we would use these three kinds of assessment in our classrooms.

--Meng H.

**Andrew C**
Chapter four provided useful information on how to put together a rubric for assessments, along with many great examples of how to use a rubric and how it can be adapted. One of the most important things I took from this chapter about rubrics was that there is never the perfect rubric, so always be looking for mistakes and be sure to change them from use to use. The author really pointed out the importance of being aware of your rubrics and knowing that it is okay to change things. I also liked how the author touched upon the different types of rubrics. It is unfortunate that the analytical version is very time consuming, but I do think that I will use that in my classroom as a teacher. I will definitely use the analytical rubric on summative assessments because it is important to get the fullest understanding of our students. It is extremely important to have student self-assessment in the classroom. Reflecting one ones self is one of the most beneficial assessment techniques. I find that some very beneficial ways for students to do this is in blogs (such as this one) and in journals. I used journals for the majority of my classes until I reached college. Now I find myself using more blogs. I would use both of them in my classroom, but I would be more likely to do it differently. I think hat I would use blogs for personal reflection on daily assignments and I would have the journal be just a one time a day thing and reflect on the school day as a whole not just one specific assignment that way they touch upon other classes and hopefully make connections between the classes.

**Ali P**
This chapter taught us about the three most important types of assessment. They were portfolios, self assessment, and rubrics. I had to laugh when I was reading this chapter because Dr Theresa uses all three for every single assignment. The great thing about Dr Theresa’s class is that I have never once been confused about what she expects from me or what I need to do. The use of these three assessments, especially when used together, is extremely useful for both the students and the teacher. A portfolio shows us progression. If it is the student creating the portfolio, then they are able to pick out their best __#|work__. Self assessment requires the student to reflect on their work and figure out how it could be better. With self assessment the teacher is able to hear the students opinion on the work and read about the work they put into it. Using rubrics is great because the student knows exactly what is required of them and how to form their projects. While forming assignments I hope to use all three. If I use all three I feel that my grading will be fair and the students will have a fair chance to do well. Last week in Dr Theresa’s class we worked together as a class to actually make a rubric for the project we were doing. I thought this was a cool idea because the students actually had say in what was required of them and what their projects would focus on. I think it is important for teachers to set standards, but having the students participate is a great idea. I hope to combine setting my own standards for projects and having my students help me as well.

Jackie B.
This chapter begins by talking about portfolios. We read about how it can be useful in a sense that we can track and watch our growth over an extended period of time. Another thought I had when reading about portfolios was that they can be extended outside of the classroom walls. That’s the great thing about portfolio’s, you can use them for everything. Artists use them to keep track of their work, writers keep a portfolio of their writing, scientists can keep track of their work and see how far they’ve progressed from start to finish. I plan to use them in my classroom in place of tests from time to time. I know there are students out there who aren’t test takers. They just don’t like taking tests and I think creating a portfolio for a unit instead of taking a unit test at the end would be a great way to mix up my assessments and let the students be a little creative and have fun all while showing me what they learned. The chapter then goes on to discuss rubrics and how they can be designed. Rubrics will be adjusted over the years. When I was in high school I would talk to the classes below me and talk about old assignments. They would mention something that I hadn’t been required to do and I would think to myself, ‘Oh man they’re lucky. This part of the rubric had been so hard but I’m glad the teacher had taken our suggestions at the end of the unit and changed what had given us all trouble’. I think it’s really important for teachers to listen to their students when tweaking their rubric. It’s good to hear feedback on what I as a teacher can do to make this lesson/unit/project better.

Brittany R.
This chapter focused on three important ways to assess students; portfolios, rubrics and self-assessment. As I had stated in my response to MI Chapter 1, I think using a portfolio would be a large asset to student learning. They allow students to see their progress as well as sharing their achievements with others. I would love to use portfolios in my class so students can share their work with people they care about and have proof that they learned information. I think rubrics are extremely helpful as well. They provide clear standards and expectations for students, which is something I have always appreciated from my teachers. It allows for students to know ahead of time what their work should consist of and if a standard isn’t met they can’t turn around and blame someone else for it. They are responsible for their own success. The chapter broke down very well how a rubric should be built for students and left room for generalization. Finally, self-assessment was talked about in the chapter. I think this would be a great idea so students have a chance to get a second try at their work instead of a teacher just informing them that their work wasn’t correct and that being it. It allows students to see where they made a mistake and hopefully be able to fix those mistakes for work they will be doing in the future. In math classes I have had in the past, my teachers would hand back tests with our score and give us a chance to fix our answers. From there we could go back and fix our work and then earn half the points back. I think I would like to use this approach in my classroom.

Cameron B.
The chapter opens up by discussing the idea of teachers building portfolios with each of their students. The reason why this is important is because it makes it easier for the teacher to determine if the student has mastered a content area. If the student is showing growth over time the portfolio will reflect on that. This is also good for the students to have because it allows them to track their own progress as well. Next the concept of rubrics is discussed. Rubrics are a must for teachers when designing lessons. It is important for the students to know exactly what is expected of them in order to succeed. Without clear expectations student’s grades may suffer and they may not understand why. I personally plan on using rubrics frequently. I found that they were helpful on assignments because I knew exactly what I was shooting for in order to achieve a good grade. It allows to me plan out everything I will need to do which gives me more structure and ensures that I am hitting the key concepts my teacher wants me to. Sometimes there is no better guidance than a well-designed rubric. The last section in the chapter talks about student self-assessment. This is important because it allows students to see their own growth even through one lesson. A good idea is to have the first and last assignment of a lesson being exactly the same. After they do the final assessment return their original one from the beginning of the lesson and allow them to see how much they have learned and mastered. This will help students build confidence as well.

Emily H.
In this chapter the focus is on the three major types of assessments that can be done to gage how much your students have been learning. The first mentioned is portfolios. Portfolios are something that I always enjoyed doing. I like seeing my work laid out in an organized way and feeling accomplished when it came to my portfolio. Sharing it with others is something I like doing with my portfolios because it gives the person looking at it a clear understanding of the work you’ve been doing. Portfolios are definitely something I want to do with my students. Not only do I as the teacher gets to reflect on the students work, but students can reflect on there own and their peers. The second important assessment is a rubric. Rubrics are not something I personally like. I have a hard time understand them, which is the opposite of what they are supposed to do. I know when I was in school rubrics were something I really didn’t bother reading when I was working on a project. Rubrics are something that I will just have to learn to use in a more effective why then the teachers I had did. The last is student self-assessment. This when students take a look at their own work and give feedback to themselves and the teacher. I would use this in my classroom because students can reflect on their work in a response form. The students could either come up with their own questions to respond to or I would give them options to respond and reflect on.

**Jackson F.**
Portfolios are used to show growth of a student over time. They are great tools to keep track of students work. A portfolio can be used for a single year or multiple years. This form of assessing a student is important because it keeps all the work a student has ever done. Taking some time to go through the portfolio with the student or his/her parents is a great way to show the growth of the student and also touch upon the areas the student may need to work on a bit more. Rubrics are used to assess students work; they come in two forms holistic and analytic. Analytic rubrics are more biased by the person who is grading, it allows for a large grey area which means there could be multiple ways of succeeding in an area of the rubric. In a holistic rubric there is not as much grey area and makes the rubric more black and white. This type of rubric takes out the bias portion of rubrics, although not as much feedback is given back to the student. Self-assessments are important because it gets students to think about their strengths and weaknesses. This is also a chance to give direct feedback on what the student could work on. I remember receiving my portfolio after middle school; it is amazing to see where I started and comparing it to where I am now. I like looking at some of the old work I have done and thinking about how I have grown as a student now. Portfolios will be a tool I use in my classroom, at some point I hope my students will look back on what they did and evaluate themselves. Self-assessments are also another tool which I believe I will use because I realize the toughest critique is yourself and self-assessing is a great way to evaluate yourself as a student.

Joe S.
This chapter presents three methods of assessing students. Each method is described and exemplified, and the audience is instructed on how to properly design each. The three methods of assessment are portfolios, rubrics, and student self-assessment. The author provides broad examples of how each may be used in a classroom, and explains that each have been used effectively in many differentiated-style classrooms. For example, portfolios give students “opportunities to reflect on their own progress when they are asked to choose works to include in their portfolios and to explain their rationale for those inclusions.” Students are instructed to reflect on how the work came to be, and what is says about their understanding. Rubrics are discussed next, and I see these as the most utilized method of assessment in a math classroom. Rubrics must be incredibly well thought-out, as flaws confuse students and may not account for all necessary information needed for student mastery. The chapter illustrates the steps taken to design a rubric, which include identifying essential content, determining acceptable evidence, describing the highest performance possible, deciding whether students should be holistic or analytic, deciding on a scale, and testing the rubric. It also gives examples. The last method of assessment is a student self-assessment. This method gives students opportunities to critically analyze their own work, as well as taking responsibility for their learning. This works well on two fronts, as students are taught to be fair in judging quality of work, while stepping into a teacher’s role and learning that grading is not as easy as they might have thought. Overall, these methods of assessment have places in a differentiated-style classroom, and each can be utilized to help develop student understanding and mastery of concepts.

Clayton P.
This chapter entitled “Three Important Types of Assessment,” details exactly what it suggests: three types of assessment that are important in a differentiated classroom. Each method of assessment offers distinct advantages over one another. The first method mentioned is portfolios. Portfolios are important because they accumulate various work created by a student over a period of time. It’s the variety of work throughout the year that enables the instructor to determine the student’s strong points as well as track the student’s progress in the class. Students also get the chance to reflect on their own work through the use of a portfolio. The second method of assessment mentioned is rubrics. Rubrics are essential for not only telling the students what you’ll be grading them on, but also giving the students the chance to understand exactly what it is you want them to do. This prevents the students from failing to meet certain expectations for an assignment simply because it was too vague. The final method discussed in the chapter is student self-assessment. This is probably the most invaluable resource available for a student when it comes to judging their own performance. Not only do you get to hear their opinions of their performance, but you also get to discover how they prefer to learn and what their strengths and weaknesses are. This enables you to give the students even more differentiated instruction. This chapter was invaluable for the resources it gives us to better assess our future classrooms. All three of these methods are familiar to me from my years at school, and I know from being a student that they work. I am now positive that these are going to be methods of assessment that I will use as a teacher.

Nicole C.
This chapter (as its title so aptly implies) discusses three major types of assessment: portfolios. rubrics, and student self-assessment. As I have done many a portfolio in my day, I was glad to see just how much of an impact tLhey can have on assessing a students’ understanding of the unit’s important concepts. It’s good to know there was more of a point to them than just organization and creativity. Portfolios really are a neat tool, and as a future English teacher, I definitely plan to use them as midterms and finals if my school allows me to. They are perfect for English because they can showcase the various essays, activities, projects, and even discussions that we have had throughout the year, rather than just pulling vocab and dry questions about plot and theme for an end-of-unit test. Portfolios are fun, flexible ways in which students can demonstrate what they have learned without having to stress about studying for a cumulative exam. To truly differentiate, I will probably have both as an option, though. Another important assessment type is a rubric. It’s funny – I always thought of rubrics as assessment //guidelines// rather than the assessment itself. In any case, the book explained that rubrics are great ways to make sure the students know exactly what is being assessed, as well as provides the teacher with a powerful grading tool. The book gave some great sample rubrics that I will probably be checking out once I am in the field. Lastly, the chapter discussed the importance of student self-assessment. When students assess the work they have done, it helps them learn about themselves as learners and also points them to things they can work on in the future. The chapter gave a lot of good ideas on ways to have students self-reflect that I never even thought of before, such as having them keep a journal or log where they write their thoughts on their own work at the end of each day/week. All in all, these three types of assessment are essential to the differentiated classroom. I will certainly be using them all.

Phillip C.
Portfolios, rubrics, and student self-assessments were labeled as three important types of assessments in this chapter. I like how they explained portfolios as a way to see student development over time rather than looking at a snapshot of student understanding like a quiz or test. I never really thought of it that way before and really, what better way is there to see that students are advancing as learners in your classroom than by keeping portfolios to reflect on. I haven’t considered using them because of my thoughts that journals could perform a similar function; however, the ability to revisit old works and view areas that need improvement makes portfolios a tempting option. If I had them in my classroom I would probably make them electronic. I am definitely going to use rubrics in my classroom. I think that anyone who plans on using type two products or electronic media to show understanding of subject matter, some criteria needs to be set. I think the same would be true of poetry or song. The steps to building a good rubric were very helpful and remembering that all completed rubrics should be checked for content, clarity, practicality, and quality/fairness is a good way to check yourself. I was also a fan of letting the students create a rubric that they would be graded with as long as there was some guidance when needed. I think self-assessment is another key for student growth. I already had the idea for my lessons to have students do blogs about how similar they think they are to a plant, jellyfish, bird, and mammal at the beginning and end of the year as well as during. As their knowledge of cells and DNA increases their differences will seem smaller.

Meng H.
This chapter focused on three important types of assessment for differentiated classes. Portfolios are great for teachers and students to see students’ growth because of portfolios’ longitudinal character. Portfolios can be presented in so many different ways too, such as hardcopy or digital copy. Especially with digital copy and web sharing, the students can get really creative in the process; the teachers don’t need to keep students’ original artworks. Also, the portfolios could be peer-reviewed by classmates, and shared with distant relatives. Rubrics are a very logical way to assess students as long as the criteria are clear for the readers, and skills assessed are essential to content goals. I like to have the students have a rubric to work with on a project just to have a clear goal of the end product, and then students can self-assess with the rubric before they turn their work in as a way to check the product and also maybe adjust or improve. My favorite part of this chapter is self-assessment. This part is not just about the same assessment on the first and last day of the unit to see students’ growth, but also ways students can self-assess throughout the learning experience. I like the ideas of reading notations, journals and learning logs, especially interactive notebooks.

I will implement reading notations, interactive notebooks, portfolios and rubrics in my teaching. I understand there will be complexity in doing so, but this chapter provides reference on extra reading materials that I would check out.

Math class can get quite rigid, boring, and challenging. I hope to use interactive notebooks as a way to reflect on my teaching and communicate with student one on one.

Tyler R.
This chapter was very helpful in breaking down three different types of assessment. The portfolio portion focused on allowing the teacher and the student to see the student’s progress over the history of the class. However, I have a problem with portfolios. I’ve had teachers that just simply give you the portfolios more or less so that you get to keep the work and it will be your fault if it gets lost, not the teacher’s fault and that seems to be the only purpose. With portfolios in my future classroom, it will be important that student’s see the progress they have made and point it out to me in some sort of written or oral presentation. I learned a lot more about rubrics too. The most important thing I learned about a rubric is that they can literally be used on anything, but that they can also be very complex. As a student I have always found rubrics to be extremely helpful because it allows for students to know what the teacher expects of them. As a future teacher, I will most certainly implement rubrics into my assessments to that the student’s know exactly what I want from them. Finally, student self-assessment covers a lot of the same problems I have with the portfolios. They need to actually be productive in a way that will help both the student and the teacher see where improvement needs to be made. As a future teacher, I will make sure that this is possible in my classroom. In my opinion, if the teacher doesn’t give strict instructions on these types of things, it will turn into just busy work and nothing productive will be gained from it.