Thursday, August 16, 2007

Assessment

Taking this class has helped me understand how to use the technology that is available in our school and how to create blogs and wiki's that I can use with the children as an alternate way of assessing to replace the boring paper and pencil days.
Currently we have a technology requirement that each grade level contributes to an individual portfolio. Second graders were required to have a minimum of two entries. They loved doing them! Since this was the first year it will be interesting to see how it evolves. I would love to look at how the students I had last year develop their portfolios.
We also use an online assessment called NWEA that allows children to take tests that have an enormous question base. If the student is answering the question correctly it jumps to a higher level question and the opposite also applies.
As a teacher the test scores are immediate and you can see where a child's strengths and weaknesses are. You can also see if all the children are weak in a certain area than you need to adjust your teaching.
I look forward to changing from traditional journaling in a book to creating blogs so the children can write their thoughts on their own blog page. I can already see how much better I am doing with connecting to different sites, it will be even more exciting to see the growth in the children.

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