Have you ever had due dates for grades pop up on you and you hastily try to squeeze it all in the day before they are due?
Assessment Mistakes Teachers Make
1. You don’t have an assessing plan. Assessments should be part of your long range plans. Each quarter you need a plan to know what data you are collecting before you start. Having target dates for each of these assessments will help guide you through the quarter. Plan to have all requirements for Progress Reports and Report Cards done a week before the due dates. This will give you a little wiggle room for any reteaching and additional assessing.
2. You spend too much time grading classwork and homework. Find a way to have students help you grade. This is their work and they like to have ownership. Typically they are pretty honest. (Hey, aren’t we all our own worst critic?) But, if you want to be sure they are giving you honest feedback, then have them put pencils away and pass out a specific colored pencil for grading. If I am using this as a completion or participation grade, then I will have them grade using a smiley face on how they felt about their work. When I go back and review the papers, I focus on the frown face papers and the “straight” face papers. I use this info for creating small groups.
3. You don’t use a variety of assessments. Just like we have multiple learning styles students also have different styles of demonstrating their knowledge. Yes, we must prepare students for standardized testing, but in day to day grind it is important to let students demonstrate their knowledge. Is your grade book full or quizzes and tests? Can you add a project or performance assessment into the mix? Have you tried using Choice Boards and Menus?
Take me to more assessment ideas.
Do you want to be able to track learning all year long? These Test Ready resources include daily preview and review for testing. Data collection sheets are provided for documenting learning for reteaching, parent conferences, and intervention meetings. (Click the image to learn more)
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[…] moves forward. Having an assessment plan also helps you with planning your lessons. This article HERE will guide you through getting your assessment plan on […]