SSED Week Six

     This week, I feel like I am beginning to understand the components of the unit and how each one of them is important to the other.  Through discussion with classmates and watching videos I have also deepened my understanding of the three types of assessment we have been discussing.  To further my understanding of these three types of assessment, I decided to do a little research on my own, and found an effective powerpoint presentation.
    My mind is beginning to organize the assessment of learning, for learning, and as learning by how they will be used throughout my unit plan.  We had breakout rooms during our Zoom meeting this week and I was placed with Kelly.  It was really nice to bounce ideas back and forth and help one another understand our own personal view of the three words regarding assessment.  We talked about which parts of our unit plans are for learning (the learning experiences) and which ones are of learning (performance tasks).  We also came up with an interesting question.  We thought that is could be possible for some of these words to overlap.  When we asked Dr. Parker about this, he explained that what type of assessment it is depends solely on the way the teacher is using the information he or she is receiving from the assessment.  That, alone, was enough to give me a huge "Aha!" moment in respect to this topic.
     Through my own research, I found an effective powerpoint online.  My favorite part about this powerpoint was that it really dug into the teachers' roles in each kind of assessment, which brought drastic clarification to several of my questions.  Throughout the powerpoint there were also tidbits called "reflection" that each presented a few questions to think about as I am creating or planning assessments as, for, and of learning.  In order to create an atmosphere where my students can grow and succeed, proper formative and summative assessment MUST be present.  As a teacher, I will make it my goal to assess my students along every step of their journey in order to set up lessons and learning experiences that are fit for where they are along the learning process.
     My favorite thing that I saw in my clinical observations this week, was what my CE did at the very end of the day.  This was the first week I had been in her classroom in the afternoon rather than the morning.  Before students left her classroom, she had each of them open their planners, review what they had done that day, and decide what they needed to do that night to be better tomorrow.  She then (and this is my favorite part!) walked around to each student and wrote something (some much more than others) and asked for their parents to read what was written, respond if they needed to, and sign it that night.  Collaboration with parents or guardians is SUCH an effective tool and SO important to the students' success.  I plan to keep an open line of communication with the parents in my future classroom, because it will make all the difference to my students' success.