Standard 8 Assessment

Title of Artifact: Fourth Grade Lesson Plan

Description of Artifact:
I developed a lesson plan for a fourth grade class that I taught during my student
teaching at Neal Wilkins Elementary in Platteville, WI in the spring of 2005. My
cooperating teacher was Mrs. Feldman. This artifact is a lesson plan that dealt
with each students assessment of word recognition and also reading.
Alignment:
The standard that was met was standard 8. Standard 8 is Assessment. The teacher
understands and uses formal and informal assessment strategies to evaluate and
ensure the continuous intellectual, social, and physical development of the pupil.
This lesson plan assessed the childs progress of reading through the use of a Venn
Diagram that they had to fill out. I believe this experience aligns with this standard
because it shows that I am able to assess the students through the lesson that I
taught, and use the assessment to test for student progress. Using the assessment, I
was able to determine where each childs educational growth was, regarding the
comprehension of word recognition and also reading.
As an educator, I will use both formal and informal assessment strategies. In
formal instruction I will assess students through testing. For example, after
completing a four week theme, I will want to know how well students have learned
the skills and concepts. I will give the students a test in which students read,
answer questions, and write about the theme. This type of assessment will allow
me to evaluate the students formally. In informal instruction I will assess the
students through activities such as group or individual projects, experiments,
demonstrations, journals, reading logs, etc. I will need to keep notes or checklists
to record my observations from informal classroom assessment.
UW-Platteville School of Education Knowledge, Skills, and Disposition
Alignment:
KS4.a: Reflects on Teaching

Explain what you learned about teaching from this experience:

I learned that as a teacher you have to constantly assess your students overall
development. Using formal and informal assessment strategies is key for a
teacher. I learned that as a teacher you always need to be prepared. You also
need to prepare lessons that are educational, yet interesting for the students, and
most importantly to have fun with learning.

Explain what you learned about yourself as a prospective educator:

As a prospective educator, I will know and understand the curriculum that I am
teaching. Doing so, I will be an effective teacher. I will develop an understanding
of what students know and need to learn, and then challenge and support them to
learn the material well. I will also provide many experiences that my students can
learn from.