Description

Artifact 1 is a fully developed ELA pre-assessment with ESL accommodations set in my base group for the PGMT course EDIS 5820: Assessment Of and For Learning, Fall 2021. The plan shows the item, type, UKD alignment, rationales, level of thinking, and ESL considerations and accommodations. The first part of the document shows sample items for prerequisite knowledge or skills that assess the learning targets, possible misconceptions, background knowledge or prior experiences, interest, and learning preferences. Pre-assessment is highlighted in yellow at the end of the artifact.

Artifact 2 is the fully developed product for Formative Assessments submitted by my base group in the fall assessment course. The actual formative assessment is highlighted in yellow at the end of the artifact. Artifact 3 is a simple exit ticket I used after a complex 50-minute lesson introducing the theme of being an immigrant in the U.S. The lesson covered immigrant themes, history, symbols, culture, and ideas connected to the American Dream. I tried to convey the idea that the American dream is not about becoming rich, famous, or living a life of luxury. Prosperity comes with responsibility. We pursue our goals and make impactful choices about our lives and futures with our freedoms.

The exit ticket was designed to trigger the recall of historical data and other parts of an ambitious albeit compelling lesson. Artifact 4 is an assessment strategy I devised on the fly to check how well students were listening to instructions. As the artifact shows, I could see which students understood my spoken English and paid attention to details. Through my observations, I have noticed that some ELLs lose focus when they cannot understand a fast-talking teacher from one or all of the subject areas. When ELLs don’t understand their teachers, they tend to tune out.

Analytic

I selected this evidence because it demonstrates my proficiency in using various assessment strategies. The artifacts show that I can employ effective assessment strategies aligned with learning targets and instruction. The assessments retrieve meaningful data that enable me to measure student understanding. The selected evidence reflects systems integrating students into the assessment cycle by routinizing assessment and not simply evaluating student performance. The goal is to design and deliver assessments that inform teaching and help the instructor continually improve the assessment process.

The examples show how I can use assessment as an opportunity to be a better planner and designer and advocate for my ELLs. In my next teaching assignment, ideally, I will have access to a lab where I can configure a system for the daily assessment of content targets and language objectives. I would work with the subject area teachers to align the ESL language objectives with the subject areas. I would use a media-enhanced system and workflow to efficiently and routinely collect daily assessments for measuring language and content understanding through brief listening, speaking, reading, and writing quizzes that are easily archivable and retrievable.

Reflective

Formative assessment should be integrated in every K-12 lesson at the instructional design level. I prefer to implement summative assessments toward the back end of a unit plan in the form of task-based projects using performance tasks rubrics. Assessment strategies should be front-loaded to achieve the desired results to measure student understanding and the effectiveness of the instructional design. I used the power of observation and my iPhone to document significant observations with voice recordings, notes, and images.

I realized I was making significant observations daily and needed to record them. My cell phone was the most efficient way to collect data because it was always with me. I depersonalize data to the extent that I can, and since the data is not for publication, I will destroy it when the internship ends. I mention this because I understand the sensitive nature of student data, whether a test score, grade, voice recording, etc.