Mancilla 1

Pamela Mancilla

EDU222

Dr. Dugi

April 6, 2019

Field Experience #3: Assessments

In my twenty hours of field experience in a special education classroom at Wilson

Elementary School, I have been exposed to countless forms of assessments. I am fortunate

enough to be observing an educator who not only has been teaching for quite a while, but he is

passionate about helping this specific population of students. Mr. Heuett, my mentor, teaches all

the core subjects in his classroom ranging from language arts to science, and math. Most of the

group of students, except for two, assigned to special education receive all instruction from my

mentor teacher. Therefore, I have identified similar forms of assessments across the subjects

taught, which are informal assessments, formal assessments, and cumulative assessments.

The most prevalent tool used to check for student understanding in this classroom are

interactive, informal assessments. What I find most unique about informal assessments is the

flexibility to create diverse ways to carry out these tests. One type of informal assessment carried

out during class time was verbally quizzing the group of students as they started on or reviewed

material covered in the previous class. For example, during language arts, students work out of a

textbook called ‘My Reader’ and they are often assigned to read at home to a parent or they read

as a group in class. Students start out a section in the book by reading a simplified version of a

body of text and as they progress, the same passage is presented in a more elaborate manner

often including more vocabulary and sentences. To assess for information retention as the class

progresses, Mr. Heuett asks for definitions to some of the words they have been covering. The
 Mancilla 2

students actively participate in answering the questions often with correct definitions to the

words. This verbal test continues as they move on to reading the elaborate passages and also in

subjects, like math, where previously learned material is vital to understanding the next.

Continuing with the subject of language arts, another type of informal assessment is presented as

interactive activities. Mr. Heuett created a system called ‘All Around the World’, which uses the

vocabulary words learned from the present and past reading passages. Using popsicle sticks with

the vocabulary words already written on them, one student is to stand next to the student beside

them and they compete against each other to see who gets the correct definition based on clues.

Through this interactive game, my mentor teacher assesses how well they understand the

vocabulary and context around it and students enjoy reviewing. Lastly, my mentor teacher also

utilizes technology to conduct informal assessments. He explained that students participate in

informal assessments given through online programs called, Xtra Math, Fast Math, Spelling

Classroom.com, and Explode the Code. These online programs provide students tools, for

example, videos, games, and tutoring that aid in moving the student along the lesson. As students

complete the activities, the program also gives my mentor teacher access to real time reports on

their progress and achievement on some of the content assessments. For example, Fast Math

presents brief lessons to students and it follows it with word problems for the students to solve.

Currently, students are touching on division. Students work through the word problems and that

gives my mentor teacher a clear image of what students have retained from his lessons and what

he can cover next. Observing the various examples of informal assessments, I have come to the

conclusion that they are real-time tests that can aid in presenting material.

Formal assessments are ways of measuring student understanding on a subject through

data-based methods. My mentor teacher has included formal assessments through pencil and
 Mancilla 3

paper tests derived from weekly or bi-weekly lessons in different subjects. For example, in my

previous visit to the classroom, the students took a test in their language arts class. At the time,

they had completed another section in their ‘My Reader’ textbook that reviewed the life of

Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone. The assessment tested the students on

some of the vocabulary introduced in the chapter, as well as, what passage evidence depicted a

character’s attitude. Similarly, textbook based quizzes are also present in the student’s math

class/ period. When students finalize a topic, short quizzes are assigned to students and then

turned in to my mentor teacher for review and scoring. Compared to the informal assessments

used by Mr. Heuett, formal assessments have a more strict and structured way of measuring

student learning. He can have a clearer picture of what each individual has understood so far.

The cumulative testing in Mr. Heuett’s class come in two different forms. The first type

are worksheet type quizzes given about every week or two, depending on how fast the material is

covered. This type of exam is the same as the one described above in the section on formal

assessments. I categorized them as cumulative assessments as well because these quizzes finalize

a topic covered in a subject. The structure of these quizzes is formulated to have some multiple-

choice questions and a section left for the student to answer in writing. This type of test

construction is used in the quizzes given in language arts, math, and science as well.

Additionally, the structure gets students prepared for state standardized testing called AzMerits,

which assesses students on all material covered throughout the school-year. Another type of

cumulative assessment are small projects that students are responsible for creating. In some

occasions a skill and understanding are much better measured through work that the own student

formed. The following is an example of how these projects take place in my current practicum

classroom. In my mentor teacher’s language arts class, when the students were finished with the
 Mancilla 4

lesson on point of view, they were given the task to create their own fictional stories told in first

person. The students started out by completing a story outline and based on feedback by their

peers and teacher, they were to then start formulating sentences that captured every event in the

story. Currently, they have already completed their first drafts of their stories and are getting

another session of teacher and paraprofessional feedback. Their stories show great character

development and use of first-person point of view thus far. This method of cumulative testing

gives students the opportunity to demonstrate understanding through work they were in charge of

piecing together.

My time in Mr. Heuett’s class has showed me diverse ways of creating and presenting

assessments that often drive teaching. Before encountering this experience, I never considered

how useful some online tools can be. As a student, I never realized that by having me answer

questions through interactive games that it would be a tool to my instructor in any way. On the

other hand, now that I’m observing my mentor and his methods, I’m able to see their value. This

can be applied to the other various forms of assessments used in the classroom. Having time to

reflect on these tools increases my knowledge as well. I enjoyed observing real-time use of these

methods and I know they will be great inspiration for my future classroom.