Standard+8

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Standard 8: // Assessment of Student Learning // The teacher understands and uses formal and informal assessment strategies to evaluate and ensure the continuous intellectual, social, and physical development of the pupil.


 * Evidence**

The explorer PowerPoint was created to give students an opportunity to complete a research project while using multimedia that they were familiar with. Also, this type of multimedia lends itself to a kid friendly way to present the information to the class. I had tried research papers along with other types of projects in the past but often the quality wasn’t what I envisioned. In my second year of using PowerPoint for research on early American explorers I found most students produced high quality slide shows. Throughout the process I realized how important it was for both me and students to have a clearly written and detailed rubric that is given before students start the project. Students had a clear understanding of what I expected and thus I could accurately assess and evaluate their development under early American explorers. What I also appreciated was having the opportunity to informally assess their knowledge of the topic through questions during their presentation. I found that many students could create a good presentation but didn’t really understand what they had written. I know that one assessment is not enough to adequately assess or evaluate a skill or concept but a combination of assessment strategies serves students best.
 * Rationale**


 * KSD:**

The explorer PowerPoint rubric shows my understanding that there can be issues with all types of assessments by not only using a rubric to evaluate a students understanding of the topic but an informal assessment during their presentation. Today students can copy information from a variety of places so creating multiple ways to assess their knowledge is important to make sure what you are grading is truly what they know, not somebody else’s knowledge.
 * 8.K.3 The teacher understands measurement theory and assessment-related issues, such as validity, reliability, bias, and scoring concerns.**

Using multiple assessments like I did in the explorer PowerPoint project gives me more accurate feedback and a chance for better reflection. During this past year’s group of projects I noticed many students did not get some important details from when exploration first started in Europe. I was able to use my assessments to modify instruction going forward and recover parts of history that students missed the first time through.
 * 8.S.5 The teacher monitors his or her own teaching strategies and behaviors in relation to student success, modifying plans and instructional approaches accordingly.**

Through the opportunity to see presentations and grade information on explorers I was able to identify particular students with strengths in multimedia creation and summarizing main ideas learned through research. Because of this I gave these specific students, who I observed could handle a similar but more difficult project, the opportunity to create a short video to report information instead of creating a newsletter. I wanted to give these students an opportunity to go further in exploring other forms of multimedia.
 * 8.D.2 The teacher is committed to using assessment to identify student strengths and promote student growth rather than to deny students access to learning opportunities.**