Response to Reading #5/6

Chapter 13 discussed the basic elements as a model of classroom assessment. The first part is to instruct. It is the teacher’s responsibility to help student learn the important parts of different types of structure, introduce projects, engage students in the task, check their work and their final project. It is the teacher’s responsibility to provide the tools and teach their students to use them effectively. The second and third parts are to assess and evaluate. In assessing the teacher needs to collect indications that students are learning. In evaluating the teacher needs to interpret the indications. As a teacher I ask myself, did the student make progress? What do I need to do as an educator if my student has not made academic growth? Where was the misunderstanding? What is my next plan for instruction? Last is a completion of a report. Teachers need to be able to documents their students’ abilities. It is important to document student learning in order to make decisions about instruction. I also thought the part about rubrics was important (page 281). When I read that when teachers make writing genuine and engaging as possible, students are more successful. I think that it is so important to make assignments relevant and to give students a real reason to write. Providing models and using rubrics is a great way to express your expectations to students. This way what you are asking your students to do is clarified for them.

Chapter 14 discussed writing instruction for multilingual learners. I really liked all of the activities that were discussed in this chapter. I liked the Daily News activity because the teacher is modeling writing for the students. Students are able to see the print, hear the sounds within words, and match letters to sounds. The teacher uses comparisons of the students’ native language (Spanish) to the English language. She asks students to listen and identify sounds. They also read chorally. I especially liked the Dialogue journals. Here students are writing for a reason. They are communicating with someone else. They also can mostly choose what they want to write about. When they revert back to their native language the teacher is able to help them with the equivalent in English. They can also use their journal to look back if they forget a phrase or word in English.