Assessment

=Assessment & Technology=

[|Polls Go Here]
===Assessment is a very important part of being an effective teacher. No longer is it ok to just assess at the end of the unit... teachers need to be assessing their students formatively all the time so they know what they understand, what they need help with, and how to adjust their teaching to meet student needs. An analogy: a basketball coach wouldn't only look at player skills on game day. A good coach looks at his/her player's skills every day, provides specific feedback on how to get better, and thinks about ways to make the team successful. Good teachers need to do the same things.===

===UD owns a polling program and clickers - Turning Point. This allows you to create ppt/pptx presentations with quizzes and questions built in. The education department owns a class set of clickers which can be checked out with Susie Scott. To create the slides, you need to use a computer with Turning Point installed. All of the education department laptops have this program.===

===Poll Everywhere is another polling program. This is a web-based program, and you do not need to have student clickers. Students can answer by texting with a cell phone or using a computer to go to a website. More features can be accessed if you purchase plans to use the polls. (This program is similar to American Idol voting, texting a code to a certain number).===

[|Socrative] is an online tool that can be used with computers, tablets, and even smartphones... you just need a web browser.

 * To Play: Room** 355060

Socrative is ideal for interaction within your classroom.

You can ask questions in the moment via Single Question Activities, or you can design a quiz beforehand and run it during class. Either way, you'll be able to visualize and measure student understanding in real time.

Students can respond from laptops, tablets, smart phones and other handheld devices.

Practice on your own:


 * Teacher: Log in by entering your email and password
 * Student: Open a second computer/smartphone and go to __m.socrative.com__
 * Student: Enter the Room Number. (The Room Number is reflected on the Teacher Dashboard)
 * Teacher: Ask a question out loud and press the Multiple Choice button
 * Student: Respond by selecting A, B, C, D or E
 * Teacher: See the results populate your screen in real time

You can run the Teacher Tool from an Android device, Apple device, Chrome book, computer, tablet or smartphone by going to __t.socrative.com__.

The main report is a class by class overview of student skills related to the MAP test. As a teacher, I use these scores for several things:
===1- Determine instruction based on skills using DesCartes. Our math and reading teachers use scores to determine who qualifies for intensive interventions and/or special education services.=== ===2- Individual Teacher Professional Development Plans (ITPDP). Career teachers (achieved standard license after 2 years) are required to create an ITPDP each year and submit it to their evaluator (principal). For my plan, I look at MAP scores as well as personal classroom assessments to determine how well my students did during the school year. ===

2- Focusing on reading scores:

 * ===Did this student show growth from fall to spring each year?===
 * ===Where does this student compare to the district RIT average?===
 * ===What is this student's RIT range for reading?===
 * ===What is this student's lexile range?===
 * ===Use the Lexile Framework link here to find two books that are within this student's lexile range?===
 * ===Using the normative data reference, and looking at this student's 7th grade scores, where is this student in relationship to the norm? Is the student above, on target, or below?===
 * ===Any other insights or interesting things you discovered by looking at the student reports?===

Online Gradebooks:
===You will likely teach in a school district that uses a computerized grading system. Dubuque Community School District and Holy Family Catholic use Power School. Western Dubuque uses Infinite Campus. However, there are other options online that are FREE and can be used for online grading.===

Ms. Weber's Teaching Portfolio
===I use wikispaces personally to build my evaluation portfolio. I built my portfolio under the Dubuque Schools wiki, so it is likely not accessible to you without a password from the dubuque school site.===

===Flip Snack - this is a flash-based program that allows you to upload pdf documents (up to 500 pages). It can be edited and added to over a period of time. Once uploaded, it becomes a virtual binder to collect student work.===