I am a special education major wanting to teach in a high school setting. This is a blog about my educational psychology class and what I learn along the way. I've had a few difficulties with this blog so the first few blog posts can be found at emdodson.blogspot.com

Chapter 14

1.       Using the diagram on p. 505 of Ormrod’s text, consider three different types of assessment that you could use in your classroom.  Find examples of these assessments through a Google search, identify how you would use them, how they might need to be modified for your students, and what the assessments can tell you – or can’t - about student performance. 

             I think the way you assess your students is crucial to their learning and motivation.  It is easy for test to make students feel discouraged, pressured, or stressed. This should never be the affect. While grades do give students a reason to work hard, there are many different ways to assess their learning. One method I find very productive is Authentic- assessment. Authentic-assessment is a way of assessing that applies learning to real-world task. This is important to build motivating for students because they will see that what they are learning can be applied to the real world. It is easy to lose motivation when students feel like they will never use what they are learning again.

                Another form of assessing that I think I would use in my classroom is performance assessment. Testing students can go beyond just circling answers on a multiple choice test or filling in blanks. If the students have to perform their knowledge, you, as the teacher, are able to see the extent of how much they understand the material. It is not simply guessing the right answer, but applying what they know to their performance.

                One last form of assessment is the paper-pencil assessment. While I think that it is very important how you format the exam, sometimes you have to assess if they students know the facts. I do think it is important to follow up after the test. If students do not understand, do not just take points of and be done with the material. It is crucial in any assessment that the students understand the material thoroughly. If that means reteaching after a pencil- and paper test, then reteach. The format must be structured in a way that you can be sure that they students knowledge is assessed properly.

Chapter 15

1.       Turn to p.559 in Ormrod’s text.  Now, imagine that you are meeting with Ingrid’s grandmother today to explain her scores on the recent standardized achievement test pictures at the bottom of p. 559.  What will you tell her about Ingrid’s performance? Her strengths and weaknesses?  If grandmother asks you what she could be doing at home to strengthen Ingrid’s skills, what would you suggest? Make sure to include links to scholarly articles or other authoritative sources.

              Ingrids test scores explain several things about her strengths and weaknesses. It is clear that her highest scores were reading comprehension and science and social studies was not far behind. It is interesting that while her reading comprehension is high her spelling is much lower. It is clear that Ingrid understands the words but cannot create them on her own.  It is also clear that her math need improvement. Since her math concepts are higher than her math computations, this shows that there is a gap between what to do and how to apply it.

                To strengthen skills it is important to practice. Take problems from the classroom and rework them until they are understood. It is important to not just move on when you don’t understand something, but understand a concept and then move on. Ingrid could attend tutor sessions and give math extra reinforcement time everyday.