IV. Assessment and Evaluation.
Teachers apply technology to facilitate a variety of effective assessment and evaluation strategies.Teachers:
- Apply technology in assessing student learning of subject matter using a variety of assessment techniques.
- Use technology resources to collect and analyze data, interpret results, and communicate findings to improve instructional practice and maximize student learning.
- Apply multiple methods of evaluation to determine students' appropriate use of technology resources for learning, communication, and productivity.
Standard IV:
Assessment analyzes, sets, and maintains various goals in methods of assessment to ensure that all children are enriched and challenged academically, socially, and physically. I promote teaching children to learn by using the proper learning method that fits them the best. I feel it is not possible for one educator to catch all 25-30 students by using one specific learning style in their teaching. I think that using a multitude of styles works the best, for example, using both cooperative group work and hands-on-learning to enrich a teaching activity. This way the children that need the kinesthetic hands-on interaction are given the opportunity to learn with it. Also, those that need cooperative group time and sharing of ideas with friends have the opportunity to learn that way. That is why there must be a constant practice of many varieties of instruction. In the same manner there must also be a variety of opportunity for children to to be evaluated. Students, as stated above, can not all be taught the same way; so in the same respect they can not be evaluated the same way. That is why I also believe that assessment must be offered in a multitude of different styles. In this section I will discuss the varieties of assessment that I offered the students for my animal unit plan and I will also include other assessment pieces that I have developed in my few years of teaching.
For the animal unit plan I offered many forms of assessment throughout the course of the project. After the initial introduction of the animal facts and information, I had the children work on determining different characteristics of animals by completing a Microsoft Word Template. The purpose of this template was to test their animal knowledge. To further prepare the children for the final project, I sent home a homework assignment with a parent letter that asked specifically the information that I expected to see in the final assignment. I also provided the students with a few rubrics, a PowerPoint presentation, and a brochure. With all of these resources and parental involvement, the children were set up to have nothing but success in completing their project.
Rubrics:
Templates:
The rubrics and templates served as a guide for the children to see exactly what my expectations were for the final project. Therefore, the children were comfortable and able to create the projects with success and accomplishment. In this particular animal unit plan we took the assessement a step farther and asked each student to talk about their project during a class PowerPoint show that I created. We projected the PowerPoint Presentation on the screen and videotaped the students while asking them brief questions about their specific animal. I then asked the students to fill out their own self-assessment on their performance. I then gave them the rubric I filled out illustrating the goals that met and the goals that needed futher development. Additional determination of the mastery of the goals could be witnessed by watching the videotapes and reviewing my notes taken during the lesson.
Throughout my years of teaching I have created other methods of assessement again I try to vary the forms of assessment to reach all children's learning styles:
Exhibits: