Standard #6: Assessment
The teacher understands and uses multiple methods
of assessment to engage learners in their own
growth, to document learner progress, and to guide
the teacher’s on-going planning and instruction.
The artifact shown below depicts the literacy profile I conducted on a kindergarten student. For the assignment, I was required to give the student various assessments to develop a knowledge of the students reading and literacy ability. The running record consisted of a reading attitude survey, a reading accuracy test, a comprehension assessment, and a spelling inventory.
This artifact demonstrates standard 6 of the Maine Common Core State Standards, as it provides evidence for my ability to use multiple assessment methods to document student progress, engage students in their own growth, and use the assessment for teacher planning and instruction. The artifact is evidence of standard six achievement because it shows four different types of student assessment. By knowing the students attitude toward reading and when they enjoy reading, it allows you to use their preferences during lessons and connections. She reading accuracy assessment allows you to see student deficits in reading, what types of words they struggle with, and where comprehension issues may be stemming from. The spelling inventory will also allow you to see what word sounds and letters that the student may be struggling with. By having this running record, the teacher will be able to see student strengths, weaknesses, deficits, and interests in order to help the student get back on track and teach to their interests.
Literacy Profile/Running Record:
Literacy Profile Reflection
During this assessment, I got to learn a few things about the kindergartner I worked with. This student is not in my usual field work classroom; another teacher suggested that I complete the assignment with her, as she reads at a second or third grade level. Right off the bat, I could tell that the student was very confident in her reading level and overall academic ability, which is a great strength to have. Due to her confidence and a love for reading, the student excitedly dove into the reading assessment task with me without hesitating. At first, this student expressed an interest in reading, but I found myself a little surprised at her responses to the reading inventory. When asked about how the student feels about reading during school or free time, she answered more toward the negative side of the scale. Although the student expressed a disinterest in the act of reading, she responded positively to questions that involved starting new books, reading various types of books, and reading aloud during class. I received many mixed messages about the students’ attitude toward reading throughout the inventory, but I believe this is because the student would focus on key words in the questions and was not fully comprehending what the question was asking.
Although the students confidence in her reading ability allowed her to attempt an upper level passage, I believe that this trait acted as a weakness during the spelling test. I explained that the spelling list would start out with simple words, but the difficulty would increase all the way up to a third grade level. I informed her that the test would stop when the words got challenging, as it was also designed for really big kids. The student was not at all intimidated by this test, which again,
is a strength of hers. As I noticed that she began to make mistakes in her spelling, I asked if she would like to stop and I reminded her to let me know when it got too hard; she always chose to continued. I stopped the spelling test at the word crawl, as she was unable to accurately spell the word and several of the words prior. The students confidence also became a weakness when she was not able to judge her spelling ability and did not actively sound out the words. Some words were much above her spelling level, but she was confident that she could spell the word and didn’t take the time to think and sound it out.
The student also presented her overall reading strength through the reading of the passage. She read through the upper second grade level passage carefully; she only made 8 errors and none were significant miscues! She made simple mistakes such as re-reading lines and taking pauses in the middle of words. The student typically corrected herself when she made these simple errors. Reading accuracy is definitely a big strength of hers!
Another weakness of the students would be her fluency (although that is expected for a five year old reading a second grade passage). The student read the passage very slow and was not smooth. Many of the pauses needed during punctuation were skipped.
From gathering information about this student through the attitude survey and the oral reading, I believe that this student enjoys learning through books and reading with others. It appears that the student does not like reading on her own, but enjoys using her advanced reading ability to learn and interact with others. This student should definitely be allowed and encouraged to read non fiction books with peers and complete reading activities with others. It seems that she enjoys showing off her reading skills to others; it would likely be beneficial to find creative ways for this student to do so in a positive and meaningful way.
The student also mentioned that she enjoys reading all types of books, although most kindergarten classrooms focus on fiction books. This student should be encouraged to read non fiction books, as many students dislike the genre. Giving her a wide range of books will help her interests grow and can also be a useful learning tool for her.
Through this assignment, I learned that it is important to get to know the student you are working with in order to differentiate and personalize content to fit their interests. A student’s strengths and interests can be discovered through the reading attitude survey, their reading accuracy, and through everyday conversation. After learning about a student, I can already see ways that assignments can be individualized to better fit a student.
