Literacy #7

This chapter on assessment seems oddly familiar. It seems like we talk about this all the time in all of our classes. I am starting to pay less attention to the importance of it because it is overly emphasized. BUT, that is not to say that I don't think that it is important. It has been the part of the lesson I have struggled with from the beginning. I have to learn to keep in mind that this lesson is not for me. It doesn't matter if I feel like I have done a good job with the lesson or have come up with something new and creative. It only matters that the students take something away, and how else can I know that except through assessment?!? So we test them and test them and test them. Something that I have really started to get on board with is letting them assess themselves some, too. I have heard some great ideas recently on how to make this work. Here they are in bullet form so they are a little more accessible...

- Have them tape record themselves reading aloud, then later in the year let them come back to the recordings and analyze how they have grown, record again, how can they continue to grow?
- (from the LEARN NC guy) have them create a rubric for you to grade them with on rubistar. This gives them the power as to what they are being graded on and lets them know what they need to work on. Also, let them grade themselves on this same rubric to give you an idea of how they feel they are doing.
- Every 9 weeks (or more frequently) have them fill out an evaluation for themselves. What is their favorite part of reading? What do they not like to do? How can they improve? What are they best at doing? What is their goal for the next 9 weeks? etc.

Any other ideas as to how they can assess themselves?