Assessment..

First of all I have no experience with assessing students reading, or writing for that matter. I am not a teacher yet so I don't have any experience even assessing students in general. Plus, since I am going to teach Physical Education, we don't really talk much about assessing literacy or any kind of written work. But after reading the articles it makes me think back to when I was in school.

From the first article Literacy Assessment techniques, I really like the responses to literature. It really shows what the student's took from what they read, and how it made them think while they were reading. As opposed to summarizing what you read. Anyone can do that. If you can put together what you read with your own experiences or thoughts then we know you really understand the material.

I think interest inventories are a good idea. I think if my teachers created instruction and lesson plans based on my interests I would have definitely paid attention more as a student. And I always think back and regret that I didn't pay attention as much in Reading class. I wish I could just sit down and fly through books like my friends do, and I wish I understood some of the things that go along with reading more difficult books. I feel it all stems from me having a lack of interest back then and now I can't change that. If only there were topics of interest maybe I would have learned to like it more.

What really stood out to me from the second article..I agree that assessment should be a collaborative effort and that it should be done reflectively. I feel that teachers, students and parents all learn from each other and should help the student reflect on his or her own work and assess it that way. I think this really helps it sink in, it is more conversational and two-way, since you can discuss why you did something or why you don’t understand something. This is actually all demonstrated in the article about Mrs. Rodriguez' class. I think she did a good job involving the students in the assessment progress and I think they will surely benefit more in the 5th grade having had a teacher like this.