"Ultimately, assessment helps us figure out answers to what may be the most critical question we can ask ourselves: What do I teach this child?" -Carl Anderson

I'm back! 

Yes, I took two weeks off from my blog for a much needed spring break. Honestly, I did miss it. I have realized just how much my blog has offered me as a person. It has been my personal place to vent, learn, and explore about how I am feeling about specific topics within literacy education. This blog has been a special place for me because the writing can be informal therefore I feel my writing has a more natural flow here than anywhere else. I have truly been able to reflect on my thoughts and generate new ideas because of it. I love it! I really hope this is something I can keep up in the future, especially for when I finally have my own classroom. I think it would be really cool to be able to reflect about my experiences in my school and to use it as a way to communicate with my family about what I have been up to. (I already do the communicate with my family part, hi family! It has been really nice to be able to put my thoughts in a light where they can understand all the things I am learning about in terms of literacy education). 

Back to the point of this post....

The quote/ title of the blog I chose this week may seem similar to the quotes I have chosen in the past but this one is actually a little more unique. This quote from Carl Anderson is actually from a text I am reading for my Literacy Learning and Teaching III class called, Assessing Writers. I'll admit, my inner education nerd came out as soon as I saw we where reading this book. It was because I am actually very intrigued about the idea of assessing writing... it can be SO controversial! How in the world are teachers supposed to fairly assess every student in the class on their writing?! I have no idea and frankly the idea scares me. So far in my teacher education program I have learned that writing is supposed to be a time for a student to learn and grow. I feel like when teachers want students to have an experience such as this one you cannot put a grade on that. Each student is an individual with their own thoughts and ideas they want to express. How can I say that someones ideas are not as good as someone else's? Or that one student missed the idea of what the paper was supposed to be about while another student hit it right on? That seems so unfair. (Even though I have had teachers do the same to me in my early schooling, especially middle school... no wonder I struggled so much in my early years of writing). 

The quote I titled my blog with was "Ultimately, assessment helps us figure out answers to what may be the most critical question we can ask ourselves: What do I teach this child?"(Anderson, page 3). 

Think about that. Assessment is not about producing grades. Assessment is about learning where our students are at and thinking about how we can help them move on from there and continue to grow in the direction they are heading. Teachers should be using assessment for good, not for evil. Assessment shouldn't bring someone down... it should be what builds them up and guides them to the next point in their learning experience. 

I guess this is where I realize that it is so much easier for an educator to want to do these things than to actually be doing these things. 

Something I especially enjoy about this quote was the exact quote was a more general statement about assessment. Yes, it was in a book and in the context of writing but when I pull the quote out and have it alone it is just a quote about education. I feel like this quote represents one of the most essential things I have learned as a teacher education program student. Assessment is made to be apart of a learning plan for a student. 

The word assessment according to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary (www.merriam-webster.com) assessment is defined in this way...

Assessment
1. The act of making a judgement about something: the act of assessing something
2. An idea or opinion about something
3. An amount that a person is officially required to pay especially as a tax

I find this incredibly interesting (minus the third definition which is not applicable to this context). The word assessment literally means to make judgment about something and to have an opinion about something. Isn't that how teachers plan their 'next move' in terms of teaching? Isn't that why we teach...To think about where our students are at, making a judgment about it, and plan the next move?

My Literacy Learning and Teaching III (along with Literacy Learning and Teaching I and II) class has taught me that in terms of reading and writing, teachers are supposed to help students find their places in these subjects. Teachers are supposed to help students find their interests and passions for reading and writing. Never once have I had a Literacy Learning and Teaching professor who told me that I need to be worried about the grade I am giving my student because truly that is not what assessment is about. 

Assessment can be beneficial to both the student and teacher. The student because now the student has an idea of where they can go now. They won't progress in their learning unless a teacher provides them a direction and gives them quality, meaningful feedback. Assessment can be beneficial to the teacher because it is a point for them to reflect on what they are teaching, how they are teaching it, and most importantly, why they are teaching it. This is a life long lesson I have learned while becoming a teacher in my Literacy Learning and Teaching classes. 

In my future classroom I plan to use assessment in terms of writing based on growth. I would want my students to leave my classroom a better writer than when they came into it. I do not believe I can give more of a description other than that because I do not know my students yet! I would look at each student as an individual and consider where they are and figure out where they personally need to go. The grade I would need to put down in the grade book would be based on growth with some effort. As long as I can see the student trying to explore and move on from the point they are currently at, while taking in some of the feedback and advice from myself and their peers.... that's an A in my book. What more can a teacher ask for? 

Assessment will always be that buzz word in education that can bring up so many controversial ideas. It's also something every educator will need to deal with along with every student, parent, principal, resource teacher, superintendent, etc. School is based around the idea of being taught something and then being assessed on it to prove the students competency on that specific topic. It will be up to that teacher of those students to decide the best and most productive way to assess their students. 

I believe as long as I keep my students growth in the fore-front of my mind, I'll make it through this crazy, complicated world of assessment within education. 

"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together." -Vincent Van Gogh

The quote title of this weeks blog post is so powerful to me. I almost think it can define my teaching philosophy in more simple terms. "Great things are done by a series of small things brought together." Wow. 

I believe that teaching and learning is a process of little things which eventually turn into bigger things which in return are great things. Everyday a child is in school they are building on things they have learned from that morning, yesterday, last week, last year, etc. 

We never stop learning, everyday is a new experience. The only way people can process these new experiences is by comparing them or adding them to prior experiences. 

My time working in a kindergarten classroom has taught me so much about the foundation of schooling. In kindergarten we are taking the most simple concepts and stretching them out in a way that the experience is memorable for the students. Lets start with something such as writing a sentence. When my students write a sentence and space their words they consciously think about the fact that their words should be one finger apart. They will finish one word, lay their finger down next to it and then start writing the next word. Wouldn't it be hilarious if college students or professionals did this?! The point is WE DON'T DO IT BECAUSE IT IS SECOND NATURE. I bet you haven't thought about the way you spaced your words since you were.... well... in kindergarten. But I'll also bet you forgot that at some point in your life you had to learn how to do certain things. 

Take thinking about a text you are reading. This blog post for instance! While you are reading this you might be thinking about what I have written, asking yourself questions, disagreeing with my thoughts, changing your opinions because of my thoughts, wondering why I bold some phrases and underline others, considering other aspects about the education system, etc. I'm sure you're not stopping yourself and saying "hmm it's been a while since I considered how this blog post compares to my thoughts on teaching, I should stop and reflect." This is because you are... as we say in kindergarten... a 'good reader'. You naturally use strategies to keep yourself focused and engaged in the text at hand. 

This past week I had the awesome opportunity of teaching my students reading strategies by performing a 'think aloud' with them. The idea of a think aloud is just as simple as it sounds. This is about teaching students to be active readers and fully engage themselves in a text but instead of keeping these thoughts in your head, during a think aloud you say them out loud! During my think aloud I was working with two students, one boy and one girl. They were both at very similar reading levels. We did our think aloud in a conference room, away from all distractions. I chose to do a 'talk through' form of think aloud. I chose this because in a talk through the teacher reads the book and the students only handle the questions part of the think aloud. I thought this would make the experience less stressful for my students because all they had to do was listen and respond when they felt the need to. My goals for my students was to use specific reading strategies we had discussed prior to the actual think aloud. 

First what we did was talk about what a think aloud was. We then brain stormed things 'good readers' do while they read. My students and I came up with the following list... 

-Ask questions

-Look up words

-Use the pictures

-Picture yourself in the story

-Make predictions 

After we made this list we discussed how we could use these strategies while we reading. I then explained that during this special instance instead of keeping these thoughts in our head we would say them out loud so we could help each other understand the story. 

I then read a short story called King's Job to my students and told them just to listen while I read the story. While I was reading, I periodically stopped and engaged in a think aloud. I asked myself about the cover of the book, questioned what I thought the dogs job was, I predicted that the dog was going to run away when he saw another dog, I talked about my experiences with my own dogs, etc. Once I got to the last few pages of the story I invited my students into the think aloud to contribute when they felt the need to. They both jumped right in and asked questions and made predictions! I was very impressed. 

Essentially I modeled the process before asking my students to do it themselves. This way they could see how this process looked. I invited them in to think aloud with me towards the end of the story to give them a guided practice (practicing with my assistance and prompting). After we finished that story we discussed how strategies from our list came up during the think aloud. 

Next, I read the book Watch Me to my students. I told them that this was their turn to participate in a think aloud with each other (independent practice). I was going to read the book and they were allowed to stop me whenever to express their thoughts. For the purpose of working with chatty kindergarteners I actually told them they were to stop me at the end of the page when they wanted to speak. 

THEY DID A FANTASTIC JOB! I was beyond impressed with the level of questions, predications, and relating they did to the story. WOW! One of my favorite moments was when there was a picture of a character with a towel looking thing wrapped around its head. Student L said she was not sure why that was on his head. Student J said it may have been because the character crashed its bike. Student L then said he was probably right and that must be a bandage. Student J then said how he always wears a helmet when he rides his bike so that doesn't happen to his head. WOW! I was one happy teacher after watching this happen... without my help! They did this on their own! 

I was beyond satisfied with the outcome of my think aloud lesson. 

I learned from this experience how powerful modeling is while teaching anything. If I had just verbally explained what my students were to do, I highly doubt they would have been as successful. Learning is such a visual process. In the words of my classroom management teacher, "If you don't have time to model something, when do you think you will have time to teach it?"

Next time, I would choose a more interesting book. The books I used were short and part of a series that the district is asking this school to use. Therefore the book wasn't all that interesting.... my students still did a fantastic job using it! Next time I would love to pick a book from Chris Van Allsburg. He has some incredible stories with beautiful illustrations. This could have given our think aloud more substance.  He was one of my favorite authors I learned about during my Children's Literature class. 

I noticed that my students had so many good ideas about reading strategies. One that had never occurred to me was placing yourself in the story. Student J told me when he reads Curious George he thinks about what would happen if he was in the story with George. What a great idea and an awesome way to help yourself stay engaged! 

Overall, I learned that reading is a lifelong learning process. People learn how to become better readers by reading more. Sometimes we need to be told about strategies that might be helpful to use when we read and sometimes we come up with these strategies on our own based on what we have experienced. Therefore if I were to keep working with these students, I would continue to challenge them and stretch their reading strategies even further. I think the best way I could do this would be by providing them with a more difficult text. This way they could exhibit some higher thinking because of the complexity. I do not believe that because they are in kindergarten they couldn't handle this, it is always good to be challenged. We learn from difficult experiences. As a teacher, I learned how open-ended the process of teaching reading can be. There is no wrong or right way to teach a student how to read. Although there is a wrong and right way to provide the tools a student needs to be successful in reading. A teacher should be motivating and offer every strategy they can, while showing students how to use that strategy. In the end it is up to the student to explore and figure out what is working best for them. As a teacher, all we can do is guide them in a direction that we believe they will be most successful in. It is important to let the student mostly be the guide because who knows them better than themselves? Again, "Great things are done by a series of small things brought together." -Vincent Van Gogh 

"If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got." -Albert Einstein

Pinterest. Such an interesting place to learn new things and expand ideas you already had. I know personally when I think of Pinterest I immediately think of all of my friends who have 'planned their weddings' or   'decorated their future classrooms'. I can admit, I did have a Pinterest before this class required me to have one but I never really loved it in the way my others friends seemed to. I guess I just never saw the point and I'm already not a very crafty person. So why would Pinterest be for me? 

Well, I was wrong. Pinterest isn't really about all of that! Sure it does give you plenty of crafty ideas for decorating, cooking, baking, etc. But what I have learned in the past few weeks is that Pinterest is really an awesome source for learning and collaborating. Isn't this one of the best ways to learn? by collaborating?  I think so. 

In the words of Albert Einstein, "If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got." Pinterest can assist with this! If something isn't working you shouldn't keep slaving away trying to force it to work. 

Lets say in a classroom you have a system for helping your students positively express their feelings but your students don't seem to be catching onto this method. Clearly you need a new system, not to tweak the one you have. On Pinterest you can type 'attitudes K-3' into the search bar and have endless related pins pop up to answer your questions. The best thing about this is that anyone can post on Pinterest! You now have ideas from parents, teachers, psychologists, camp counselors, etc.

I've heard that education isn't about reinventing the wheel. Education is about collaboration, negotiation, and communication. Pinterest can provide you with just that. 

For my Pinterest Inquiry project my partner and I are exploring the idea of making ideas learned in the classroom come to life in the real world. I think this is such an important concept to sell to your students. Anything is much more believable when you think you will use it in your life. For example, students often struggle with the idea of learning about social studies. It's pretty easy to see how a student would find this subject useless. I firmly believe it is the teacher's main job to make school useful and relatable to real life. I know this is a big task, trust me. I've thought a lot about it. On the other side, I've committed myself to helping my students find joy and passion in school. I know they won't love everything I teach but I do hope they find something that changes their mind about learning. I believe the best way to do this is to make learning believable and realistic. 

So here we go, Pinterest! Lets do it. I've started searching random topics in Pinterest to see what kinds of pins I can find. So far it has been going decently well but I am noticing that this topic is oddly specific and I will need to start broadening my search. I think the best way to do this will be to build off of the pins I have already pinned. It is pretty cool that most pins lead you to a link where the original product was found. Finding reliable sources with many different forms of media will be very helpful for this project. 

Another source to tap into would be to follow other teachers on Pinterest. This website has a Twitter-like system in which you can follow other peoples boards. When I find a board that seems to be education focused I should follow them and see who else is pinning from that board. Pinterest makes it super easy to find a common interest among others. 

Lastly, I should also tap into the school teachers I am working with this semester and other educators I have worked with in the past. I'm sure all of them have had very different classrooms and experiences. Using other people to give you ideas is also helpful, especially within education, because no classroom is the exact same and not one method always works for teaching. 

In Literacy and Learning III class this semester we have been focusing on the idea of education not being a 'one size fits all' type of situation. All students are unique and vary in their interests in abilities. This is why I believe it is important to keep your classroom fresh. By fresh I mean fresh with ideas, plans, decorations, activities, tools, resources, etc. Pinterest is a way to look into ideas you currently use in your classroom and find a way to freshen them up. Keeping a classroom healthy and alive is so important to teaching because it creates an exciting atmosphere that promotes exploration and learning. There is no shame in taking advantage of what others have done to help you in your own classroom. 

I can now say I understand Pinterest in a new way. Yes, it has many great tools to help you in your personal life but the deeper you dig the more resources you can find to help you in your professional life. In the case of a future teacher, I believe that Pinterest has the potential to bring so much to my career beyond my classroom design.