My fact sheet dealt with Standard T: Knowledge of teachers
Teacher candidates positively impact student learning that is: Informed by standards-based assessment. All students benefit from learning that is systematically analyzed using multiple formative, summative, and self-assessment strategies.
My topic was: What is formative assessment and how can it improve learning in the classroom?
Formative assessment is a topic that came up during both the Introduction to Teaching and the General Teaching Methods classes. As a tool, formative assessment is something I can see myself using quite a bit during my teaching career. I can use formative assessments in any class to gauge lesson effectiveness, discover student preconceptions, or to guide a lesson in another direction if need be. Formative assessments can range from a class discussion to a quiz. The important point is that the results of the assessment be used by the teacher to guide student learning and adjust lessons if need be.
Some other fact sheets dealt with assessments also. Tim B’s paper discussed the relation of self assessment and gender. The tendency for girls to have a lower self-efficacy than boys in math and possibly science means I may need to use methods that will allow girls to see that they are just as capable as boys. Adrienne H’s paper discusses strategies for self assessment. By allowing students to critique their own work with a criteria or rubric allows them to see where their work is and where they may need improvements.
Through the course of my teaching career I hope to be able to incorporate some of the strategies promoted by my fellow students; from culturally responsive teaching, to the use of technology in the classroom, to trying to involve parents in student learning. Hopefully, if my teaching career is long enough, I will be able to develop strategies to answer the questions put forth by the other student teachers in this program.
