Anna Leiss
Science Teacher
Standard 6: Assessment
I demonstrate the ability to develop and utilize a variety of assessment tools and techniques designed to evaluate student learning and performance, provide feedback, and shape future lesson planning, programs, and curricula.
Assessment is an essential part of the learning cycle in a classroom. Assessment helps students understand where they need to be and where they are in their learning process and it helps me better understand my students and how I can improve my curriculum.
I do my best to incorporate frequent formative assessment. This reduces the need for high-stakes, large, stress-inducing, summative assessments, which then reduces the overall strain on myself and on my students. My intention is to frequently, informally, formatively assess all students each day so that my instruction is data-driven and modified accordingly. I have the ability to formatively assess in a variety of ways, including through educational technology. Technology has allowed me to quickly check for understanding of the whole class and makes analyzing that data easier. I often use the following to assess my students:
-
Quizlet
-
Google Forms
-
Edulastic
-
Kahoot!
-
MobyMax
When students are able to immediately see how their learning is progressing, then we can all better identify strengths and what areas need improvement.
When I design my units, I use backwards design to clearly establish where my students need to be so I can develop the most effective path for my students to reach that goal. Establishing clear objectives is key when creating high-quality assessments and evaluative measures. Once I thoroughly understand what I want my students to know by the end of the learning segment or unit, then I can can better create assessments that directly address the needs of all my students.
I use a variety of assessment strategies to evaluate my students' learning progress. This includes quick, online assessments, pre-and post-tests, reflective exit tickets, and rubrics for larger projects.
Artifacts
Students in 7th grade Life Science are instructed to create a "Wanted" poster for a cell organelle. They receive this rubric at the beginning of the project when it is unpacked, and this is what I will use to evaluate their work.
Content Area Reading Inventory
Biology is known for its vast amount of discipline-specific vocabulary. Students in my class need to be able to recognize, understand, and utilize the various tiers of vocabulary. This inventory would be used to assess student's interest in reading (including reading about science), science text reading comprehension, textbook familiarity skills, and this assessment also enforces the use of reading strategies.
Pre-Post Test
These pre- and post-assessments were given during my invertebrates unit in my first student teaching placement. This was used to determine prior knowledge and abilities related to the objectives that I set for the portion of the unit. The post-assessment was also used to determine prior knowledge and abilities leading into the following unit.