Keeley: Classroom Assessments

      This article, "Classroom Assessments," by Keeley discussed the different ways teachers should and should not asses their students in a classroom.  Even though it is typical to give a test at the end of a unit after everything is discussed and taught this is not something a teacher should do to assess their students every time.  Students should not just be assessed at the end of a unit by a test but during or before a unit to catch any misconceptions, or anyone who is struggling and needs more help.  Teachers need to find out before the beginning of a unit, what the students prior knowledge is about the subject and what kind of misconceptions they have about the topic.  Probes are a good tool for teachers to use to be able to tell what concepts the students know and don't know by asking them questions before the unit.  Probes will help the students be ready for the unit to come and start thinking about what the unit will actually be about.
     As a teacher,  I think it is very important to use probing because this article talks about how probe results give you a snapshot of what you should change in your instruction or curriculum for your students learning.  This article put probing as an helpful tool for teachers and students because it allows the teachers to assess their students before the unit begins and find out what their prior knowledge is about a certain topic. This will help the students because it allows them to start thinking about the current topic they will begin and get them thinking about their misconceptions if they had or have any about that topic.  I know it is very important to expand the students learning and help them think outside of the box and learn by understanding and not memorizing. This article also mentions the three purposes and stages of a classroom assessment which I think is very important to look at as a teacher.  The three types of classrooms assessments are: formative (pre instruction), formative (during instruction), and summative (a summary of the unit).  These three types of classroom assessments will help me as a teacher to plan accordingly and help my students out.
      This article does impact me as a teacher because it provides me with a different look and different side of the spectrum.  I know when I was in middle school or elementary school we would always take a unit test and never one before.  We would occasionally take quizzes throughout the lesson but they would not be very in depth.  As a teacher I want to help my students figure out the answer and understand how they got the answer not just telling them the answer.  I really want to help the students learn the material and not just sit back and memorize.  I think it is very important for a teacher to let the students make mistakes but correct them when something is wrong.  Learning by making mistakes is life.  In the article I noticed it mentioned something about always working in groups.  I do like working in groups but I would also really like the students to be able to work individually and become individuals.  Working in groups does help students but I would also let them work by themselves.  As a teacher I hope I can take these tips into my classroom to help students learn the material not only using assessments but several other probes to get the students to really understand and put the concepts in their knowledge.