Something that will stay with me after todays class was the video we watched about the teacher conducting a lesson on Slavery in America and Black History Month. What struck me the most was the continuous formative assessment she did, saying “thumbs up if you’re thinking I kinda get what we’re talking about now.” Reflecting on my elementary education, I do not remember teachers doing as much formative assessment in the classroom. They did not know what we knew or were confused about until it was time to take the test and the student did not do well. My question is, is formative assessment a new strategy instilled in classrooms? Formative assessment has been encouraged when taking my elementary education classes for my minor, but before my career at UR I had not heard of it. Is formative assessment new to the education realm or was it something that teachers just ignored in the past? Something else the teacher in the video did that teachers did not do when I was in elementary school was sharing the learning targets with the students. My teachers would usually say “today we are going to learn about the Civil War.” But this teacher specifically told her students, “after todays lesson you will understand slavery in America and understand Harriet Tubman’s role.” When I have gone into Richmond public schools to complete my observation hours, I have also noticed how teachers write the learning objectives or “I can” statements on the board. Is this a new strategy implemented in elementary schools as well?
2 thoughts on “Class #5”
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Sophia,
I’m glad you noticed the constant use of formative assessment in Ms. Wickett’s lesson. I do think we place more emphasis on formative assessment than we did 15 or 20 years ago. There is a book that came out in 2011 called TOTAL PARTICIPATION TECHNIQUES that looked at how to keep students actively engaged during instruction. The book is basically one big collection of formative assessment strategies. Constantly checking in on students and making sure they understand what is happening is so important.
I can say the same thing about learning targets. With the advent of No Child Left Behind in 2001, we began to see a shift in instruction and an emphasis on writing objectives and sharing them with students. Writing them as learning targets or “I can” statements is fairly new, however.
Sophia, What I am glad to hear is that what you are seeing in classrooms in RPS are the things you are learning about in classes at UR. I am sure that makes you feel good too! Formative assessment is such an important tool for teachers to use, as you have experienced recently. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was an ironic name for a federal law that left a lot of children behind. The law was rigid and teachers had to teach a lot of content in a short amount of time. Students had to get it and move on. You were a part of that phenomenon! However, you are putting yourself in the driver’s seat to shift that way of teaching, learning, and assessment. Thank you for your reflection.