Reflection 11: Assessments

In today’s education more and more focus and effort is put into student assessments. Therefore, teachers need to be mindful about the various state assessments given to their students and develop strategies to prepare students for those assessments. I found Bean, Baldwin, and Readence’s chapter on test preparation strategies to be very useful. The Mirror Assessment strategy, that utilizes practicing examinations in a format that is similar or reflects what students will encounter on the state assessment, I feel that this is a very utilized strategy. I remember teachers using a similar strategy when I was a student in middle school and high school. I did find the term “testwiseness” to be a little concerning. It’s not that I disagree with the definitions and skills Bean, Baldwin, and Readence associate with the word. It is that I do not believe that some of my students have those abilities. Then I thought of how I could strengthen or teach students those skills such as “apply logic, common sense, and good organization in test taking situations (PG 71.)”

A think aloud may be a fun activity to try and teach these skills to my students. In a think aloud I would model my thinking as I go through various test scenarios I believe my students could benefit from seeing how various people with more test taking experience tackle various questions that they would see. This does not have to be limited to a reading assessment, but could be applied to all core subjects and even more elective subjects. I was not a strong test taker when I was younger, it was not until I was older that I began to succeed in assessments. When I was a student, I would have loved the chance to hear how a teacher thinks through a question and how they come to a solution to the problem. Teachers need to prepare their students in order for them to succeed, not only in their class and in whatever important state assessment they may be taking, but also in life.