Portfolio Evaluation Standard - Assessment (EDU 6160 bPortfolio Post October 30th)

Prompt: Discuss the relevance of essay tests to your grade level or subject

            In health and fitness, we definitely use essay tests and in a more similar ways to other subjects than one may think.  In both health and fitness, we use essay tests for content related assessment as well as self-reflection.  Also, teaching high school, essay tests are extremely important. 

            Content related assessments provide great insight into what the students have learned versus other test methods such as multiple choice.  Multiple choice allows students to guess with a potential of getting an answer right that they might not really know. With an essay test, it’s truly what the student knows and there isn’t a chance for them to guess based on answers provide during multiple choice.  It also requires the students to thoughtfully craft their answers in complete and accurate sentences, adding an additional layer of complexity to the test, which is important in health and fitness since we always want to be supporting literacy in any way that we can.

            Essay tests are also used in the form of self-reflection related to the material.  For example, in health if we are talking about stress, students can write about their own stress, reflecting and allowing me to see what has been learned from the unit.  Essay tests that involve student voice in the form of reflection is the one time students get to relate the material to themselves which is so valuable in learning. 

Finally, essay tests for high school students are so important to help them prepare for essays on college applications and their future careers.  Being able to write an essay is a valuable skilled that is needed throughout life and therefore practicing is crucial. 

EDU 6160 bPortfolio Post October 23th

Prompt: Describe a rubric used for a unit you might teach with attention to strengths and limitations

In our previous health unit, we did a health skills project. The students had to research a health skill and then create a poster with GoogleDraw or a PowToon to share their research.  The rubric in figure 1 is the rubric that was used.  However, I was not the one that used the rubric for grading, I had the students grade each other. 

Figure 1

            Some of the strengths of this rubric include being written in mainly kid friendly language and using multiple evaluative criteria.  The 9^th grade students were the ones using this rubric so it needed to be user friendly.  The rubric has the definition of each criterion next to the boxes for scoring.  This helps the students to understand what is expected of each score.  In addition to the four main criteria, there was also a fifth criterion of creativity for another evaluative criteria. 

            Some of the weaknesses that this rubric has is the language is not completely kid friendly.  Synthesized is used in every score for accuracy and if a student does not know what that word means, they would be unable to score accurately.   The second weakness is layout.  I think the layout is a little wordy and although the definition of each score is helpful, it may confuse other students. 

            Overall, I this rubric worked for our previous lesson and the students like grading each other’s work.  It gives them control over the class, which is extremely important in learning. 

EDU 6160 bPortfolio Post October 16th

Prompt: Discuss the formative and summative assessment plans for a unit presently being taught in your class

In freshman health class, my mentor and I just finished up a unit on wellness.  This is one of the OSPI health education core standards.  Throughout this unit we developed both informal and formal assessments to see where students were at with these core standards as we progressed through the unit.

We began this unit with a pre-assessment to test for prior knowledge.  By collecting this information and not giving a score, it gave us accurate information of where the students were at with wellness concepts.  Throughout the unit, we then had small informal assessments each class period, such as kahoot or exit tickets.  Meadowdale is on a block schedule therefore I only see the health class every Tuesday and Thursday, making the time we have very important.  Our other informal assessments included items like poster making to express as much knowledge as they can about a topic, allowing us to assess their current knowledge without assigning a point value to it.  These are some examples of formative assessments that were included in the unit to help monitor student progress and by doing so it provided us feedback to see how we should tailor the unit as we went along. 

We used summative assessment at the end of the unit by having the students take a unit test where the students received a score.  As the teachers, we are able to use this to assess knowledge compared to the pre-test.  This form of assessment also allowed us to see we covered well and what needs to be covered again before moving onto the next unit.   

Portfolio Evaluation Standard - Assessment (EDU 6160 bPortfolio Post October 9th)

Prompt: Ask a teacher his/her opinion of statewide testing

I would begin this by saying in PE we do not have to worry about standardized tests but that is not true as we are all teachers of literacy.  However, we do not have any statewide testing for PE.  We do have FitnessGram testing however that does not count towards their grade or passing/failing in any way.  It is strictly based on trying your best and doing the tests.  The fitness tests that are preformed in every PE class include the mile or PACER, push-ups, curl ups and sit and reach.  These tests are done multiple times a year from 3^rd grade to 12^th grade. 

When talking to my mentor about how he feels about statewide testing in terms of fitness testing; we found we have the same opinions.  Fitness testing is a great tool to allow kids to assess where they are currently with their physical fitness.  Where it gets a little controversial is how PE teachers administer and handle the results.  PE teachers tend to disagree with some of the fitness tests, such as the curl up and because of this, some teachers do not administer it correctly.  If teachers administer the test differently, it changes the testing data and does not give an accurate picture.  The results that you get are compared to a “standard.”  This is another issue PE teachers have with fitness testing is the standards.  Not every student will fit into that standard no matter how physically fit they are.  In this case, it depends on how the teacher handles that information.  Do they present it in that way, letting students know they don’t have to fit the mold?  Or do they make it seem like they need to increase their fitness to meet those standards?  It is important for fitness testing to be an assessment of current physical fitness without discouraging students. 

Overall, my mentor and I agree that fitness testing can be a wonderful tool if it is done correctly and handled well.