Thinking Through Assessment

There are several talking points that I would like to point out. Here they are:

1) "...the kind of instruction that seems furthest from the test--what your teacher calls literacy for the 21st century and a flat world--does prepare stuents for the standardized test. Students who are able to comprehend on the literal, inferential, and critical levels will probably be able to figure out just what the test is asking..." (260)

2) "...assessment is always a means to an end, never an end unto itself." (261)

3) "It seems to me taht the most useful way to think about assessmen to support instruction is by asking, from the outset, two important questions: What is it I want my students to know and be able to do? and What would serve as evidence that students know and can do those things?" (266)

4) "Assessment is about the process and the product." (268)

Based on these thoughts, here are some questions to think about...

• How are our classroom assessments preparing students for both the real-world and standardized tests?
• How are we, as teachers, planning backwards--how do we start with a picture of what the end should look like and then figure out how they will get there?
• How are we assessing both the process and the product in our classes?

Enjoy your holidays!

Due December 12th!

Read chapter 6 and then apply your new knowledge to answer the following questions:

1) Look at my old English test. What did I do right and what did I do wrong? What would make it a more valid assessment?

2) Examine your own assessment. Find one question that would be considered a good question based on Wormelli's guidelines.

3) Find one of your questions that does not meet Wormelli's guidelines.

4) Tell me one way that this article could help you improve assessments in your classroom.

My favorite part of the article (and most interesting) was, “No one is too cool or too old to be touched by the magic of having someone read aloud to him or her.”

My primary object is to motivate my students to read or to enjoy read alouds. Sometimes they will say, “Oh no, you are not going to read again!” However, when I am reading, even if some have their heads down, most are listening. (Oh, I am not saying 100% of my students are listening, but I have the attention of most). Very seldom when I am finished a reading do they not have a question(s) and/or comment(s) about the content of the reading. A student will always ask when I am going to read again, and even though that question may be stated in a negative way, this tells me they are interested in the next chapter or another story I may have for them.

Interestingly, I did not enjoy read alouds in high school…I wanted to be the reader, the person who read who put feeling and passion into the story!! When my teachers read the pace was too slow for me and I became bored. I could not get “hooked” as compared to when I was reading, aloud or silently. Even before reading this article I thought about being in Mrs. Hartley’s class and she was reading The Bronx Masquerade to her class. I sat there and thought, “Now if only my teacher’s would have read with the enthusiasm and expression as Mrs. Hartley, I would have been sitting on the edge of my seat!!!! She keeps the story going at a good, steady pace, yet stops to ask the most pertinent questions, and then quickly moves on. Thanks, Donielle, because I have tried to pick up the pace when I am reading aloud to my students!!

Another good point in the article was; Students want what they do in school to matter; Isn’t this the bottom line with students? They want to see relevance, importance, and significance to what they are doing in school. Special Education students are infamous for asking, “Why do we have to do this?” “How is this going to help us after school?” I have a little dialogue I go through that explains why reading is important and how it does relate to the world after high school. I always put it in plain words and explain to them that reading is like a friend; someone you can spend time with in your leisure time. I want them to realize that reading can keep them keep up to date with what is going on in our world and from there, they will be able to form opinions, compare and contrast ideas and develop new insights into a range of topics. I always mention that reading, of course, increases your reading level skills and before you know it you have developed a like/love of reading.

Reading with Adolescents

"Literature can be the site of self-discovery and intellectual growth for adolescents if we, as their literature teachers, help create the spaces, both in the classroom and out, for them to flourish as readers and thinkers."



Appleman gives 6 pieces of advice to readers in this chapter. Which advice weighs heaviest on you and your personal beliefs about teaching reading to adolescents?



My favorite is, "No one is too cool or too old to be touched by the magic of having someone read aloud to him or her." The best way to hook a reader into a new book is with the first chapter. That's when they hook themselves, so it helps to do a few read alouds. Check out the first chapter of Shattering Glass, Water for Elephants, or Inexcusable. Fill your classroom with the wondrous words of these writers and watch your students fight over who gets to take the book with them. No one is beyond being read to. Not even high schoolers.

Can we read today?

If you had to pick one, what would be your all time favorite book? Why that book?


And, two, how can you share your life as a reader with your students?

Transcending Bias Through Reader Response

"Rosenblatt's theory may have been developed to assist students to become more active readers and participants in their learning, but the theory does not end with the students. For teachers, reader response continues to run deep. ... It reminds us that...we are agents of change and, to be successful facilitators, we too must create change in our lives."

I was moved by the story of Erik and his response to the novel. It showcases reader response and the powerful effects it can have on readers. I doubt that in the public education classroom we can have such a revelation---if it did happen, it would only happen after a solid year of trust and community building. But other small revelations can occur in responses to literature. Our relationships with the characters can bring us to share with our classmates and it can most defintely aid in our comprehension of the text.

This is reader response. This is what Rosenblatt meant. What we get out of a text is dependent of what we bring to it. Erik's response to the novel was stronger because of the way he related to Eric, the main character. Even with this article, I knew the story and brought that with me. It aided in my comprehension and made the reading of the article richer.

On Reading, Learning to Read, and Effective Reading Instruction

There are several statements in this article from NCTE that ring critical and true with me. The first is, "Learning to read is a life-long process." I think of how I have changed as a reader over many years. My habits have changed, my tastes have changed, and my abilities have changed. I am more able to comprehend complex text than I was as a younger student. My abilities have matured.

The second statement is, "The more children interact with spoken and written language, the better readers they become." Studies have shown how many words the average student comes across depending on the amount of time that he/she reads. It is vital that, as high school teachers, we work to make up some of the time that they have missed. Yet, I think back on my classes that I taught, and I'm not sure how much reading was going on. Were my students playing the same game I did and waiting for me to tell them? How are we encouraging reading habits and text interactions? How are we exposing our children to more words?

Lastly, the word "authentic" is most important to me. As I read more, as I study more, and as I work in more classrooms, I see that we have to relate everything to our students' lives and those lives are changing more and more every day. The world that these students live in does not look anything like the world that I grew up in and I can only imagine how different it is from my parents' generation.

What lines from the article hit home most with you? Do you agree or disagree? Why? How are we implementing the policies that promote learning to read at our school and in our classes?

Remember to post prior to our next class meeting, October 20th.

Welcome, study group members!

This year, the professional reading blog will be used for responses to study group readings. I look forward to reading your ideas!

Final Survey

I just want some information about the process of blogging--since this is our first experiment with it. You can post your responses or place them in my mailbox--whichever you are most comfortable with.

1) We have used book clubs in the past at NHS for professional development. How would you compare and rate this one? Did you prefer the blog or would you rather meet face to face?

2) Would you be willing to participate in a blog again?

3) What topics would you like to see addressed in book clubs?

4) Would you be willing to lead a blog book study?

Ch. 9 Leadership in the PLC

I guess I'll start with Chapter 9, too. I think an important topic was when the author talked about the "learning-centered principal." We are often too focused on the teaching aspect and maybe we overlook the learning, not just for the students but for us as teachers as well. This principal realized the value of learning and told the teachers to focus on the most essential standards. I do think thats a good idea in practice but when our students are tested on the standards, it's hard to overlook a "non-essential" standard. We are having EOC testing now and if you teach an EOC, how can you overlook a standard and then be criticized if your students don't perform well on the EOC? As it stated in the book, it would be great if we could create our own EOC but that's not the case for us so until that happens, I don't see any teacher being able to teach "only the essential standards" because they are all essential since they are all on the EOC.
As for learning, we as teachers can also learn from each other. In the first part of the book, we all read about how we teach with closed doors and don't welcome others into the classroom. But, if we do observe and we do have the PLCs and we do utilize common planning, we all can learn. We want our students to learn... so just as we model SSR, we can model learning.