Routman begins this chapter with the quote “Assessments
should bring about benefits for children, or should not be collected at all.” I completely agree with this statement. However, this is not always as easy as it
sounds. Sometimes, I think the
definition of assessment varies from teacher to teacher. Some may believe that an assessment must be
tied to a grade. But really, teachers
are assessing their students every day. If
we aren’t using assessment to inform our instruction, we are doing a disservice
to both our students and ourselves.
While reading this chapter, I reflected on the ways I
assessed my students’ reading in the past when I taught reading. I did not use independent reading
conferencing as a form of assessment.
Instead, I used literature response journals. I spent hours upon hours responding in writing to
students’ thinking each week, but had very few “in person” conversations with
them about their reading. In hindsight,
I see how easy it could have been to replace some of those responses with
reading conferences. I believe I could
have gotten just as much, if not more information about my students in a
shorter amount of time. Now that I only
teach math and science, this makes me think about how I can assess my students’
math understanding in a way similar to reading conferences.
Math instruction in my room follows the model of Daily 5 in
reading. During this time, I meet with
small groups of students based the needs that arise from ongoing
assessment. While reading Routman’s
section on conducting informal reading conferences, I thought, “Why can’t I do
the same thing with math?” Instead of
pulling 3-4 small groups each day, I am going to try spending some of that time
having individual “math conferences”.
During this time, the students can explain their thinking about math
problems they are working on. This is
something I often ask them to do, but seldom have time to assess. I think this would give me valuable
information on the way my students’ “math minds” work and allow me to better be
able to meet their individual needs.
You are right, Jinger! Formative assessments should be the assessments driving our instruction bus! These should be to gather information, and not to give a "grade." Summative assessments should be given with the goal of measuring and judging the learning at the end of a unit and should be graded. This year, I heard an analogy that really drove this home to me. In baseball, the score is taken during the GAME, not during PRACTICE!
ReplyDeleteI would love to hear how your math conferences go. I know this will help you meet the needs of each student in your room in a way even a small group cannot!
Hi Jinger,
ReplyDeleteI agree with 100% that our formative assessments are extremely important, not just in assigning grades but informing our instruction. I appreciate you implementing conferences into your math instruction! Sincerely, Dawn