Week 4 Types of Assessments

After speaking with my cooperating teacher regarding assessment she informed me that due to the fact they receive so much assessment in class via DRAs (3x a year) she really tries not to over do it in her sessions with them as they need motivation and time to express themselves without being judged.

The ESL teacher is also going to need to begin preparing them for their annual NYSESLAT test in Spring which consists of 4 modules.

She did express that she does informal assessments using Dolch site words and constantly changes them. Ms. Miniero stated, "The more site words they know the more space frees up in their brains to learn and comprehend more."

The ESL teacher was hired by the state and goes back and forth between two schools. She sees her students 5x a week.

The girl I am observing is in 2nd grade. Her name is Shelley and she is first generation. There is no English spoken in the home and her parents have very little involvement. She is very outgoing in her ESL instruction but I am told in class she is mute and barely speaks a word to the teacher. She is identified as slightly mute.

She is rated a level 12 based on her last school assessment and should be a 24, reading chapter books at Level L. She is reading with comprehension at this point at midgrade 1. According to Fountas & Pinnell she is at a level G.

The day's lesson consisted of a writing workshop using I am not, and they filled in the blank with an animal word or another word from their recent word list. They also had a chance to write in their weekly journal which is targeted to their parents on what they enjoyed and learned in school that week. It appeared that Shelley really enjoyed that and is making great strides in her writing.