A Final Thought

Prior to the beginning of class, I was nervous about administering assessments. I had only informal experience with these tests. In September, I received my student’s scores from the end of second grade. My school uses the Stanford Reading Evaluation as an assessment tool. If I had not had the last, I might not have looked twice at the assessments. I was never fully explained what to make of these results and a bit overwhelmed. But this class has truly taught me a lot. I had once viewed literacy assessments as something that was given a few times a year and never utilized by the teachers. But, I quickly changed my attitude as I grew as an assessor.

My favorite assessment was the writing assessment. It was amazing how valuable and useful, the 6-Trait Writing Assessment was. As I was going over my writing sample, I felt confident in dissecting my student’s writing. These traits can be applied directly to a rubric for evaluating writing samples. In my own classroom, my third graders have been writing a lot more and I found this assessment useful in everyday class business. For me, this is the true value of an assessment. I have been collecting samples of my student’s writing and this is a great way to keep track of their growth and needs.

As a result, I am more curious how to create better writing techniques. My students still struggle with the concept of indenting! I am eager to learn how elicit as much information from a student as possible from a student. I plan on using the 6-Trait Writing Tool as a way to explain to parents about how students need to improve their writing skills.After interpreting the results, the next step is to plan for the student’s literacy development. There are so many different types of instruction; it really can be a daunting task for a teacher to determine what will work best with the student. After determining my student’s strengths and weakness, I was successfully able to return to the readings and map out a plan of instruction.

One of the most interesting aspects of the case study was seeing how every assessment relates to one another. In order to truly understand a student’s thinking, you need a collection of assessments. I found it really interesting how if a student struggles with phonics, it can affect one’s entire literacy growth and development. My student’s were similar across the assessments as he struggled with short vowel sounds. As a product of the New York Public School system, I was not as deeply entrenched in phonics as my student’s are today. I am curious if I would have developed differently as a reader and writer if I had a stronger background in phonics.

I truly have every intent to utilize these newfound skills in my classroom. I would love to assess my student’s on all of the different tests. On the day I was administering the Z-Test, a few of my more gifted students saw the Z cards on my test. It was really interesting to see their reactions to the test. Without explaining any directions to them (except to return to their seats, of course!), they assumed they had to fix the mistakes. I was impressed with their automatic decoding skills and their ability to create new words. This got me to wonder about how often children who are on or above grade level are tested for literacy assessments. I think it just as important to ensure that these children are being looked at in the same detailed light as the struggling readers.

Finally, I have one major question on literacy assessments. How can a single classroom teacher successfully and accurately assess every one of her students? In many of the clips we viewed throughout the semester, there was a study being conducted with or without the teacher. If we can assume that all teachers are dedicated to her students, how can they find the time? I understand that these assessments are meant to be done in a rapid fashion. I feel there needs to be a better system in place in order to help the classroom teacher give out and interpret assessments. Furthermore, no child thinks or learns in the same way. After the teacher gages the results, they must form class plans to fit the needs of these diverse learners. We are constantly learned about how to modify the classroom for diverse learners whether they are IEP learners, ESL, Visual Learners, and so on, but where do we find the time to fit in a needs based curriculum. These are the tough questions that need to be answered!

Overall, this has been a positive experience. I have gained a deeper understanding into the work of a child’s mind. I find myself relating back to the different assessments as I examine my students' work. Literacy assessments are a powerful and revealing indicator to mark the process of a young and developing reader. The assessments are a valuable resource and I plan to use them as much as I can in my own career as an educator.