Week 11: March 21-25

I really appreciate the layout and organization that we had this week, it was intriguing and different. To start everything off, we learned about the various different types of assessments-specifically informal and formal assessments. On a scale on the whiteboard, we classified countless different types of assessments ranging from each of these two main classifications of test types. It was interesting to see which assessments we placed in the dead center of the scale, especially those that we as educators can make informal or formal, depending on which type of assessment would be more effective and beneficial for our students. The assessments that we placed in the middle were:

• Progress Reports
• Portfolios
• Self-evaluation
• Formative 

Of course, there are both strengths and weaknesses for each assessment. The most important thing to do is analyze the type of students are in your classroom, including: age, grade level, ability level, and learning disabilities present. Synthesizing all this data about the students is how teachers can determine which type of assessment is the most effective and productive.  

The group project that was presented taught us about Emotional Disturbance. It was fascinating to think of what a large umbrella this topic truly is, because it has so many different directions and topics. I appreciated learning more especially about depression and anxiety, because it runs in both sides of my family and I've always wanted to learn and understand more.

As a group, we were assigned to each create a rubric, then compile all of our efforts to a handout and powerpoint slide. I specifically created the rubric requirements for a Summary of Each Unit. I created standards that students had to reach for a score of 5, 3, and 1. Surprisingly, I noticed that it was more difficult than I thought to create specific statements of each achievement in order to know what score to give each student to avoid grading with a bias or strong opinion.