blogging my journey module 5

How do I assess student learning?

Mostly I assess students' writing when I assess learning. Through the draft process students can refine their ideas and make sense of whatever topic we are discussing. I need to assess more speaking activities but need to come up with a good method of recording voices before I delve farther into that. Assessing speaking is very time consuming and allows me to work with only one student at a time. If I could get the students to record their voices and post their recordings things would probably go a lot smoother.

How do I involve students in the assessment process?

I think it is really important to share the learning goals up front with students and also to share rubrics and checklists from the start. Reviewing rubrics and checklists continually throughout a project or unit helps students to see where they are at. In the past I have had students help me create rubrics for projects and I would like to start doing that again-asking the question: What would make this exemplary? Students are capable of determining excellence, it is just that we so rarely ask them to think about what makes something excellent.

blogging my journey module 4

How can technology be used most effectively to support and assess student learning?

Now that I have totally revamped my unit plan and switched gears entirely (from fruit to philosophy!), and now that I have started my student sample...I think technology is going to work very effectively for the unit. I chose to develop blogs for the student products and with the magic of Google reader, I can instantly check updated blogs and leave comments for my students. This is why I love the tech part: it's so fast. I am the type who likes feedback right away and that can only happen if the person giving me feedback is fully engaged in what I have presented. The blogs allow me to see immediately what work has been accomplished and to give immediate feedback.

I am still toying with the "final: blog--I think it may be a blogspot with team members, so everyone can post to one place. I also need to nail down exactly what is in the final blog--bilingual entries? Photos? Video? Audio? It's a lot to think about. I think the blog can handle it though.