chapter 7

So here I am again trying to play catch up....I have been working and so when I get home I am exhausted. I have to say that this semeter was a tough one but thankfully it is almost over...Okay chapter 7. Chapter 7 covers how the formal and informal assessment tools help the teacher in the classroom and I do agree that they are needed. What gets me is the politics behind the testing. Why does everything come down to money? We talked in class about why there are so many different test out there. I agree with the book and Dr. Wilson that teachers do need an assessment tool kit. We know that not all students learn the same and it is evident from the discussions we have had in class. It is unfair sometimes to base what a child knows from one assessment and that is why we have to be able to look at the bigger picture. How else can we assess the student and use all those tools to decide. I found desagrigating (did I spell that right?) the test results to be very interesting too. I never knew you culd tell so much from a piece of paper. I guess I am a litttle torn as a teacher and then as a parent. As a parent I do want to know where my child is and if she is on track but at the same time I don't want one type of assessment to determine that. I have had teachers tell me in confrences not to pay attention to what the results are on the assessments because in reality she knows how my child is doing and that the results on paper from that assesment are nothing to worry about. I think that is where good teachers come in to play because I know that my child means something to her and that the teacher is doing her job. I don't know it is all confusing too!
The assessments are a good thing there is just too much of them. Plus not everyone learns in the same way or at the same speed so we have to take that information we get from those assessments and really look at the whole picture of the student.