Reading Reflection #9

Lydia Harpe

3/29/2013

Reading Reflection #9

  

       Not all kids start at the same point coming into the same year; though they may have had the same teachers and been assigned the same homework in previous grades, your students are still coming from different backgrounds and learning styles. As a teacher, it is important to gain a sense of where each individual student is starting and how they can each meet the goals you have prepared. By establishing anchors, you can differentiate instruction so that all students have attainable goals that they can work towards throughout the school year.

       There are several different ways to assess students. Of course most teachers use tests and quizzes to assess students' knowledge, but you can also have honest conversations with students or even encourage them to blog about their learning journey. At the end of the year you might even encourage your students to work collaboratively to create something that embodies all the concepts they have learned through project-based learning.

       This chapter was very short but important: I think that time must be put aside to not only assess students for your own personal satisfaction and critique, but to let your students know that all of their work was not for nothing. I think that the final creation of a dessert cookbook will be a perfect way to assess my students and how they have prepared for this final embodiment of their hard work.