ObservATIONS & aSSESSMENTS OF sTUDENT lEARNING
In my assessment of student learning, I am able to draw upon the following sources:
- Students’ graphic organizers
- These provided a mixed impression of student success. On the one hand, each pair had at least two organizers (1, 2, 3, 4) that were unique and accurate, and based on my informal observations, these were filled out to some extent collaboratively (though one student served as scribe for both). On the other hand, each pair had one food chain described inaccurately, meaning those students were not carefully using the text (in one case, a student admitted to me that he had used a picture rather than the text) (5, 6). (I am pretty sure, though not positive, that there were other graphic organizers which I do not have scanned – either I misplaced them or the students kept them). Therefore, it seems that, while students are developing these skills, they are not yet comfortable with them and could use opportunities for further practice.
- Observations/informal assessments from myself, Kate, and my Penn Mentor (my notes from our discussion linked here, apologies for handwriting; notes from my Penn Mentor linked here).
- Students effectively used skimming as a strategy for finding potentially relevant content; for example, in the video clip below, some of the students who have only just opened a book quickly discover one of the words we’d written on the board, and sure enough, it leads them to find a food chain.
- Not only did students effectively skim for specific words, but at least one student understood the principle well enough to suggest a new word to skim for after the lesson had begun (also in the below video clip. Apologies for video quality!). This was in addition to the group contributions when we were collectively generating words that could be useful in finding food chains – most of which were useful (“eating,” “food,” “animals”), while others were less-so but on the right track (“chewing”).
3. My Penn Mentor, who was able to observe some partner conversations that I did not, felt strongly that students had demonstrated learning, writing in her notes that “using questions as a tool for comprehension and identifying textual evidence was accomplished.”
4. Student questions at the end did not provide a clear opportunity for assessment; on the one hand, many of the questions (“What do whales [/penguins, etc.] eat?”) were answered in their texts, so they were accurately defining questions that their texts could answer; on the other hand, they could probably have generated these questions just by looking at the pictures, so these are not conclusive data. Another student question was fascinatingly nuanced (“Does grass eat the soil?”) and a great opportunity for follow-up inquiry, though again I can’t draw any assessments from it regarding the objectives of the lesson.
5. I provided some brief reminders to the pair with the biggest book about how to use the index; they were quickly successful at finding a relevant page in the text.
4. Student questions at the end did not provide a clear opportunity for assessment; on the one hand, many of the questions (“What do whales [/penguins, etc.] eat?”) were answered in their texts, so they were accurately defining questions that their texts could answer; on the other hand, they could probably have generated these questions just by looking at the pictures, so these are not conclusive data. Another student question was fascinatingly nuanced (“Does grass eat the soil?”) and a great opportunity for follow-up inquiry, though again I can’t draw any assessments from it regarding the objectives of the lesson.
5. I provided some brief reminders to the pair with the biggest book about how to use the index; they were quickly successful at finding a relevant page in the text.