Reflection 9 (Allison Burt)

1. Description of a method of understanding prior-knowledge of students.

One method teachers can use to understand prior-knowledge of students is a K-W-L chart. The “K” assesses what the student already knows. The “W” is what the student wants to know. The “L” is what the student has learned, which is an important part to know for assessing. This helps the teacher understand where all their students are at before starting a new unit or concept. I used a K-W-L chart in my lesson plan about the 5 food groups.

2. Discussion on the importance of establishing anchors for a project.

It is important to establish anchors for a project to be able to identify where your students starting point is at and what distance they will go to meet their learning goals. It is important that you know all students will not start at the same point. Teachers need to figure out how they will measure individually all students’ progress.

3. Description of several ways to assess what students learned during the project.

Paul Curtis, a classroom teacher developed his own online grade book. This tool was used to assess his students and offer immediate feedback “across multiple categories” for a class. Curtis states, “A teacher might have one category about how well a student knows the content, another about written communication, another for critical thinking, and another for work ethic” (p. 141). This identifies the student’s abilities and achievements. The student’s parents also would have access to this tool for monitoring their child’s progress. Curtis had made a valid point that traditionally when students turn in a paper late you lose 10 points. This however, does not assess the student’s “achievement” of their work because they are getting marked off for lateness, not the quality and understanding of the paper. Another way to assess what students learned during the project is having videotaped interview with your students at the end of their project. This allows the teacher to receive feedback and insight of what the student actually learned. The student is also learning how to be reflective.

4. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project.

One concept that relates to our project is using a K-W-L to assess student learning prior to learning a new concept. Within my lesson plan, “Getting to Know the 5 Food Groups” I used a K-W-L to assess my students on what they already know about them. This helped me focus on parts of the concept that the students did not know. It also allows teachers to not waste their time on details students already have knowledge on. The “L” I did after the lesson was done to see the growth in my students. In the text it mentions the importance of asking students what they learned, which is an essential piece for assessing your students.