Chapter 7- Assessing Student Achievement

All of the lingo associated with the topic of assessment is mind-boggling!  I can safely say, that even though I have been working in a school for 17 years, I have never heard of the terms:  formative, summative, criterion-referenced, norm-referenced, and validity vs. reliability in assessment. I find the last two to be very confusing.

 The Kellough text refers to validity as, "The degree to which a measuring instrument actually measures that which it is intended to measure (Kellough, 272)." Reliability is defined as, "The accuracy with which a technique consistently measures that which it is meant to gauge (Kellough, 273)." I have chosen to think of a valid assessment as being accurate and a reliable one to be consistent. A good example is to imagine a bathroom scale that consistently tells me that I only weigh 100 lbs.  (I actually weigh 120 lbs.) That scale gives a reliable measurement, but it is not valid.

In my job, I use AimsWeb to assess my RtI students on their reading and math skills.  The assessments are always reliable but not always valid. The assessments are generated by AimsWeb and are scored according to grade level and time period and represent a reliable tool.  The scores, however, are not always valid.  Students do not consistently try to do their best job while taking the assessments.  If a student is sleepy, crabby, unmotivated, or just being ornery, his score can be much lower than if he tried to do his best. If an ADD student did not take his medicine that morning, his score will be lower than it should be.  The AimsWeb assessments give consistently reliable results but with a few scores that may not be valid.  We correct this problem by assessing students more frequently so that we have several data points to work with.

Kellough, Richard D. and N. Kellough. (2008). Teaching Young Adolescents:  Methods and Resources for Middle Grades Teaching. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Chapter 6 - Instructional Planning

Preparing detailed, written lesson plans will be very essential for me as a first-year teacher.  Lesson planning will allow me to be prepared for my students before they enter the classroom and I will be able to fill every precious minute of the class period.  Since we now have the ability to save documents on a computer, lesson plans can easily be revised from year-to-year. The lesson plan can be a place to keep a list of learning activities, assessments, and resources.

Chapter 6 of our textbook mentions the importance of "anchor activities."  I have never heard of this term, but  I am aware of the importance of not allowing middle school students to be left with unstructured time. An anchor activity is something that is always in place for the students to work on.  The teacher might fall back on an anchor activity if the planned lesson does not take up the entire lesson time or if she has to expectantly leave before the end of the class period.  Examples of anchor activities are:

• journal writing
• project
• portfolio
• review of taught material
• learning center
• homework (Kellough, 244)

More anchor activities not mentioned in our text are:

• Read a book that is part of an interdisciplinary thematic unit
• Create a study guide that goes along with the unit
• Work on a teacher-provided study guide
• Work with a group to plan a lesson to teach to the class
• Research a topic that the student wants to learn about and that fits in with the unit

Kellough, Richard D. and Kellough N. (2008). Teaching Young Adolescents:  Methods and Resources   for Middle Grades Teaching. Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Pearson Education, Inc.

Chapter 5 - The Standards

My certificate is in secondary science and I am taking this class in order to obtain my middle school endorsement in science. For Reading Assignment 5, I evaluated the National Science Education Standards.  I found them to be very comprehensive, easy to follow, and out-of-date.  They were put into place in 1996, similar to the Illinois Learning Standards for Science, which were adopted in July 1997. There have been many changes in science since I graduated from high school.  A few of those changes are:

• Archaea, a new domain was added to our classification system
• The Human Genome has been completely mapped.
• Mammals have been cloned.
• Gene therapy has been used in humans (Mader, 2004).

In order to keep up with our ever-changing world a new set of science standards have been adopted by 26 states. In addition to keeping up with change, the standards have been carefully designed to prepare our students for high school, college, and careers in science. The new standards have been named, The Next Generation Science Standards, and include connections to engineering and technology. They also include connections to the Common Core Standards for English and Math.  

After talking to a couple of administrators, I came to realize that if I get a science teaching position, I will be required to use the NGSS. Dr. Cantu graciously allowed me to use the NGSS for Reading Assignment 6, instead of the Illinois Learning Standards. Completing the assignment allowed me to obtain a small understanding of what the standards entail.  I will need to allow time in the future to study them completely before I will be able to implement them.

Mader, Sylvia S. (2004). Biology. Boston:  McGraw Hill.

Next Generation Science Standards. (2013). http://www.nextgenscience.org/next-generation-science-standards

Chapter 4- Classroom Management

     When I started thinking about pursuing a degree in Teacher Education, I wondered if I would ever be able to handle a classroom of high school students. I have learned since that there are very few discipline problems in a well managed classroom. I believe that the key to a well managed classroom is to start on the first day of school with clear classroom procedures and practice them with your students.
     "Get to know your students as people,"  is stated by Kellough in chapter 4.  I think that teachers who develop relationships with their students are more likely to have students who are motivated to learn. I don't think that we should exchange phone numbers, or become Facebook friends with our students, but sharing a little bit of ourselves can be beneficial to the learning environment.

Chapter 3 - Mnemonic Devices

     I am interested in the different types of mnemonic devices, mentioned at the end of Dr. C's powerpoint. I had never heard of image-name or loci, so I did a little research.  To create an image-name, a student should visualize a picture and connect it to a concept.  This would work well for visual learners.  For example, to remember the word numismatist, the student should visualize a mist over a beach made of coins (Congos, 2005).
     The loci method of mnemonic was used by ancient orators who had to remember long speeches.  A student using this method would visualize a familiar place, such as his house, and place items in different areas of the house.  For example, if a student needed to memorize cell organelles, he would picture them in different areas in his house.  Then, he would take a mental walk through the house and pick up the organelles as he remembered their names (Mnemonic, 2006).


Congos, D. (2005).  "9 Types of Mnemonics for Better Memory." Retrieved at http://www.learningassistance.com/2006/january/mnemonics.html

"Mnemonic Devices". (2006). Retrieved at http://www.usu.edu/arc/idea_sheets/pdf/mnemonic_dev.pdf

Chapter 2--Praise vs. Encouragement

I was very surprised to read the following statement in our text:  "Probably no statement in this resource guide raises more eyebrows than the statement that praise for most children beyond primary years has little or no value as a form of positive reinforcement" (Kellough, 63). I have been a believer that praising students is a way to foster their intrinsic motivation to learn.  Perhaps the Kellough statement applies to the more mature 7th and 8th grade middle school students.  Middle school students exist at all levels of maturity.  I have seen 6th graders who act like 3rd graders and 8th graders who resemble young adults.  I believe that both praise and encouragement are valuable to use with 6th grade middle school students as well as immature 7th and 8th graders.

Chapter 1-Junior High v. Middle School

Chapter 1:  Until reading this chapter, I did not know that there are so many differences between middle schools and junior high schools.  I thought a junior high included only grades 7 and 8 and a middle school consisted of grades 7-8 or 6-8.

 

The slide in Dr. C’s Power Point, titled “Middle School v. Junior High” states the differences, according to the National Middle School Association.  In summary, it states that a junior high is a very structured environment that prepares students academically for high school.  A middle school allows students the freedom to learn in a comfortable, creative setting.

I have worked at a junior high school for 17 years that includes grades 6-8.  I believe that my school exhibits qualities of both a middle school and a junior high school. We follow an eight period day and subjects are offered for one semester or one year.  Some of our teachers teach strictly from a textbook but others teach by inquiry and exploration.

I was most surprised and puzzled by Statement #2: “MS fosters collaboration and empowerment of teachers and students—JH fosters competition and empowerment of administrators.” I assume it means that middle schools encourage the use of cross-curricular projects.  I am not sure what the second part of the statement refers to.  Do junior high teachers typically compete with other administrators within their districts?  Can anyone explain this statement to me?