Pre-seminar: Background:

I would like to work on an inter-active poster that my students can use as an information source and contribute information to. My vision is that students will be able to glean information about assessment (creating assessments, technical vocabulary about assessments, reflecting on the appropriate time and ways to assess, and resource articles that will add to their knowledge). I then want students to create a digital portfolio that can be added to the poster for others to learn from.

In this course I encounter the challenge of a large research proposal. Many of my students have not written research papers in a while. Although this knowledge is important, it is also important that they learn how to create and assess multiple assessment measures for their use as classroom teachers. 

Week One: Learning Goals: What skills or competencies do you want students to acquire as a result of this activity or portion of the course you will redesign?

• Students will deeply think about how to organize the level of difficuly of the questions they will ask on assessments according to Bloom's Taxonomy.
• Students will organize questions realating to their subject area according to the Alabama Course of Study.
• Students will develop excellent questions (true-false, multiple-chioce, short answer, essay) that show rigor and thought, as well as clarity.
• Students will finish this course and be comfortable  putting assessment skills into practice in thier own classrooms.

Week Two:

Project Influences:

It seems to me that a common thread among all of the posters is that we "the teachers" are trying to foster real life experiences for our students. We are preparing them for how our content will be addressed outside of the college setting and in their work fields.

Some posters are much more savy in technology with moving graphics and increadible links to visit. I think these items are often inviting to students. I particlularly saw this in the poster on games. This has inspired me to look for some of the same items for my students.

Evidence Questions

1. What question or goal will be the focus of my initial inquiry on this project?

How can perspective teachers learn to use appropriate assessment techniques in their classroom?

2. What is one concrete way that I will gather student evidence of learning related to that question/goal?

Week Four:  Describe how you will use the CA concepts of modeling, scaffolding, and coaching in relation to your activity.  How would technology support you in implementing these concepts?

What does the language of Cognitive Apprentiship mean to me in my teaching?

Modeling - To show examples of actual items that will be created by students for their portfolios and discussing the thinking that needs to occur in order for them to make these products themselves. It may also include locating websites during class and showing them how to use that technology in the class forum.

Scaffolding - To break down the items that students need to create into digestible steps.

Coaching - To give feedback on student progress and guide them through their steps of learning. Coaching may be oral feedback in class or written feedback on drafts. It may also include answering student questions and guiding them in the right direction through class discussion.

View table that shows modeling, scaffolding, and coaching in detail by pressing link.

 

Post-Seminar:

Examples of Student Evidence 

Below are links to students' actual projects.

Sample Portfolio One

Sample Portfolio Two

Post-Seminar:

Reflections on Evidence Gathered: How do you know that students reached your intended goals?

I examined three areas to insure that students reached their intended goals. First I looked at the original evidence that I expected students to produce to prove knowledge. Students were able to produce a copy of the Alabama Course of Study. They were able to easily transfer these standards into learning target for their students. The more challenging portion of the portfolio was to examine and select appropriate formative and summative assessments and use that information to create a blueprint of an assessment considering the levels of thinking that they expected of their students and then translating that to questions. This required quite a bit of modeling and coaching. However, I would literally see it click or the proverbial light bulb go on over students' heads. They did a good job creating sound questions. However they did still struggle with making those questions meet the levels of thinking that they selected. This is something that I think seasoned teachers struggle with as well.

The second area that I examined was the actual student product. By looking at the students' product I could see excellent models for them to take with them on their journey of teaching. They showed appropriate examples of plans and tests for students. (You can view examples in my evidence box.)

Lastly, I asked students to evaluate their own learning. Students were asked to voluntarily answer three questions about the project. After examining student responses, I realized that I got much more than I bargained for. My concern at the beginning of the project was that students took the assessment half of the class as seriously as the research half. However, students far surpassed my expectations. They learned not only about how to complete sound assessment for students, but also gained insight about what it takes to be a good teacher and how planning and organizing makes them much more capable.

View student responses in this link: