Teachers plan, assess, and report for effective learning
I believe that planning for learning is key to the engagement, understanding and achievement of students. Without thorough planning, assessment and evaluation, lessons will be incoherent, lack the necessary links to learning outcomes and goals, and lack the meaning needed to build understanding. I believe that assessing and reporting are essential elements in the classroom that will help me evaluate my work as a teacher, but more importantly give vital feedback to the students and parents about how they are working towards and fulfilling learning outcomes.
In my practicums I have undertaken the planning of learning experiences that are effective and engaging for my students. In all of my planned learning experiences, I have been able to articulate and identify clear and appropriate learning goals for the students I teach based on their prior knowledge, content of the syllabus and concepts to be investigated. The included unit preparation for mathematics (appendix ??) shows that I have been able to identify the key goals for the lesson unit, both in the area of my own teaching goals, and the learning goals for my students. The goals are both clear and appropriate to the stage.
I have also been able to plan successful lesson sequences that were logical in their progression and sequencing and meaningful to the students. Lessons reports (appendix ???) from my supervising teacher show that my lessons were designed to engage and motivate the students through the use of the innovative, appropriate and interesting resources. They also highlight that I have been able to select and organise content clearly linked to the syllabus that is sequenced in a way to build on and address student outcomes.
I have also designed and taken part in the assessment of students achievement of the learning outcomes on many occasions. During my last practicum as part of a sequence of twenty grammar lessons, I planned a series of assessments, both formal and informal that, that assessed the students understanding of the topic and helped to build their knowledge. I was able to plan for, write and have students take part in the assessment, and following its completion, mark the students based on the learning criteria. The assessment plan for the unit (appendix ???) shows the varied range of strategies used to assess, that linked directly to the lesson goals and outcomes. The assessment sheet also shows methods used to feedback the students on their progress, understanding, weaknesses and strengths.
On my next practicum, I will investigate some of the methods of keeping accurate and clear records that monitor students’ progress, and the ways that these can be used to report to students and parents. I will also need to think through how my program evaluations are influenced by my students’ assessment results.
I need to look at the South Australian Assessment and Reporting site, and research the BOS Assessment Resource Centre for some of the principles and guidelines on assessing and reporting.
I need also to work through my assessment records from my previous practicum and evaluate how their result would change my lessons and units of work.