Constant Assessment Is Best

                  Several aspects and attributes are needed to be an effective teacher. You need to know your students, be able to create an inclusive environment, be able to engage students in critical thinking through lesson plans that grab their attention. What is often overlooked when it comes to key aspects to be an effective teacher is being effective at assessment. The OEM document Growing Success is the end all be all when it comes to how educators should structure how they assess their students. I always viewed assessment as its basic form, taking notes of students work, collecting their work and assigning letter grades and commenting on their performance in regards to the achievement chart. That type of learning is what Growing Success and many other educational sources deem as Assessment of Learning. What was relatively new to me is the notion that educators must actively think about incorporating Assessment as Learning within their lesson plan and assessment moves. I was aware that as a teacher, I would want to promote more and more self-regulation and editing for my students. Assessment as Learning is now something that I really want to focus on as a junior/intermediate teacher, especially if I am able to teach grade 8’s. I think focusing on teaching students at that age to self-regulate and continually assess their own works will do dividends for them as they continue to secondary school where there is much less teacher intervention when it comes to checking up on students doing work.

A great example of assessing a student with a detailed rubric but also incorporating personal feedback  that bolsters assessment as learning. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/2gFlGhH.

                   In regards to math, assessment can be easy at times, but also very hard. It is very easy for a teacher to collect work pages, quizzes and tests and come up with a grade based on quantitative data. However, just basing your assessment on those sources is not at all being close to being an effective teacher. In the text, Making Math Meaningful to Canadian Students, K-8, they state that in order to be a good assessor,  I must be able to gather information about students’ knowledge and abilities not only from a variety of sources, but on many occasions to ensure that the information is reliable and valid. The text provides a guide on how to be a good assessor in math, via 8 key paths. I think one of the most important ways the text identifies as areas to focus on is to ensure your assessment is fair to all students. In order for me to do that, I need to ensure that I am able to create strong bonds with all my students, especially students who have accommodations or individual plans that alter their learning. It is key to understand that if the way you teach needs to differ for some students that you allow students to be assessed differently too. Another interesting tactic the text presented was the idea that students benefit greatly when teachers “set high, yet realistic, expectations for students”.  The text argues, based on research that was done, that students respond well when they are presented with high expectations because teachers who do not expect a lot of their students may embrace a more negative attitude in the classroom.

                My ability to be able to create a number of different ways for students to be assessed is crucial to my future if I am presented with the opportunity to teach math. It is easy to base marks only on tests and quizzes in math, but that does not accommodate the various learning styles students have. I must not only commit to being able to different my instruction, but be able to differentiate my assessment, I believe this will result in higher achievement for both me and my students in the classroom.