Questioning and Assessment Strategies - Essay Example

Questioning and Assessment Strategies Selection of oral questioning strategies During the learning process, students will require oral evaluation in the course of the lessons to engage them accordingly in the lesson. Therefore, this advocates of establishing oral strategies for evaluating the progress of the students in content delivery effectiveness. The first strategy is the use of visual support for students. Since the class entails young students in the 3rd grade, it is imperative to engage oral methodology with which they relate easily and accordingly. Most of these young people watch television and are prone to visual learning as they are still developing their bank of knowledge . Additionally, their perception of images is fascinating, thus, the use of visual support will engage them accordingly, for instance while handling the unit on plants, I can use visual support for questioning, where I will facilitate drawings of the entire plant or parts of the plant. Then, I will tell them to say the name of the part that I point. Therefore, this strategy will allow the engagement of the student in the process, is I will use it for both individual student and the group learning. Secondly, the learning process is repetitive in nature, thus, as a teacher engaging young students, I will engage oral repetition of the content to the students in the form of a question (Gavriel, 2013). Thus, after every sub-unit covered in class, at the end of the lessons, I will randomly ask questions repeatedly in the context of the class, to allow students to synthesize the information gained, as well as, evaluate their understanding and grasping power on the sub unit covered. For instance, engaging the plant part of leaf, I can ask questions such as what color is a leaf, the parts of the leaf and function of the leaf on the plant. With such oral questions, I will evaluate their understanding of the content through oral questioning. The use of total physical response strategy is also applicable in orally questioning the students on the unit content. This strategy includes demonstration, where I can request a student to act out the function of a certain plant part and others to name that part. Moreover, I can also dramatize the function of the plant part we study and ask them to name that part. This strategy will prove effective as drama is always enjoyable and fascinating to the young people. Thus, as my students, I will engage them orally efficiently. Methods to demonstrate culturally responsive questioning with culturally and linguistically diverse students In a 3rd grade class with students with diverse cultural and language backgrounds, it is essential for the lesson strategies to cater for diversity in the class. Therefore, in addressing the factor of diversity n the classroom, the first strategic point of action is for me to acknowledge that there is diversity, and not all students are same in capability and learning ability. Therefore, to address this diversity, the method I employ is to ensure that I meet students at the summit of their special need. Thus, I will ensure I identify with my students, and adapt to the challenges that face the student due to their cultural or language background, then addressing this need for that student at a personal level. This factor will ensure equality within the classroom setting and the learning process, eliminating room for discrimination against other students (Kratzke & Bertolo, 2013). Thus, facilitating equality, the questioning will be fair for all students irrespective of the culture and language barriers. Secondly, to facilitate effective culturally and linguistically responsive questing, I will engage students in a learning process that allows them to engage popular cultural texts, making them realize the need for integration and acceptance of each other. This will allow me to refer to various cross-cultural inferences to ask questions as they relate to all students in fairness (Kratzke & Bertolo, 2013). I will use written assessment questioning in driving the content to the students for their synthesis and understanding from that personal cultural perspective. Thus, they will not feel ridiculed or forced to speak in the classroom context, thus, appreciating themselves and developing confidence gradually. Lastly, in a cross-cultural and multi language endowed class as mine, I will engage the use of oral learning and questioning, where I teach by speaking and repeating the content to the learner in an approach that they can relate. Then, after the class content, I will employ oral questioning, asking the students oral questioning and allowing them to express their thoughts and answers voluntarily (Kratzke & Bertolo, 2013). This will create the environment they expect as students to learning without feeling alienated or ridiculed in class. Therefore, they will appreciate themselves and their culture and language and not allow it to affect their earning. Three methods to use for assessing students on the content To assess students in the content gained I will first engage the students on the unit before starting the study by establishing the content they have on the unit. For instance, in the unit of plants, before starting to teach, I will facilitate them through some oral questing on parts of the plant, uses and importance of plants among other questions. This assessment strategy will help me to establish the base content the students have in the unit, and then incorporate this information in the lesson plan. Secondly, after understanding the learner skills of the diverse students in the class, I will evaluate them from the observations of their characters. For instance, some students may struggle gaining new ideas or sharing their thought publicly (Carpenter & Pease, 2013). Thus, to assess the students from this perspective, I will use written closed question exam, where the students will write the exam individually. Additionally, I will also seek to understand the interest of the students while in the classroom context. Some children may like poems and songs while others may prefer art, drawing and constructing models. Thus, from this perspective, I will assess the students by giving them project work, where I will ask them to create recitation in song or poems, to draw or create models of the parts of plants. This is another methodology for assessing the students on their knowledge of content gained in class (Watts-Taffe, et al, 2012). The issues and benefits involved in preparing students for standardized tests Standardized tests remain a cornerstone of learning today. It has several benefits to the students and education as a sector. Among the benefits, include it holds the teachers and schools accountable as the results of students show the effective instruction programs. Thus, preparing for the tests properly rewards the student and teacher as well as school (Drits-Esser & Black, 2014). Another benefit is that the standardized testing comes with established standards of instructional framework, facilitating the teachers in developing their guidance plan for the students, such as what content to cover, for how long and at what time. Moreover, the standardized exams are objective compared to classroom grades given by a teacher who know the students; since, the standardized exam marking is by a computer or at the least, a person who does not know the student directly; thus preparing for standardized exam gives all students a fair and equal competing ground. Therefore, it facilitates the learning process as students gain confidence to compete with students from other schools when they prepare properly for their exam. However, controversies continue to rise on the preparation of students for the standardized tests. Firstly, the standardized test evaluates student on a single day. Thus, it does not incorporate the external factors that affect the student on that day (Drits-Esser & Black, 2014). Therefore, the standardized exam may not indicate the preparedness of student for the exam due to the uncertainty of external factors on that day of the exam. Additionally, due to the implications of standardized tests, teachers concentrate on teaching tests instead of covering content. This hinders the overall learning potential of student. Moreover, preparing the student for standardized test creates stress to both student and teacher causing them some to quit the activity. Thus, due to expectations and implications of preparing for standardized test efficiently, many students drop out before completing school while teachers quit their careers. Recommendations It is essential for teachers to ensure that they prepare their students for high-stake tests while maintaining instruction aligned to standards of teaching and their instructional program. Therefore, while preparing students for the final standardized exam; teachers first need to establish that the curriculum standards are in line with the instructional plan that they apply and make the necessary adjustments where needed. Preparing the students, they should employ the use of informal and continued assessments to monitor the progress of the students in grasping the content (Broekkamp & Van Hout-Wolters, 2007). This will help identify areas where students may need assistance to improve as they prepare for the standardized exam. Additionally, the teacher should explain the purpose of the tests and their implications on the life of student without causing the student anxiousness. This will give the student encouragement, and confidence to face the exam, after the teacher reassures them that the exam covers content that they already covered in class. Furthermore, the teacher should prepare students on the use of language as applied in these standardized exams so that the students know how to answer questions depending on their framing. Thus, with such preparation, the student is ready to take the standardized test. References Broekkamp, H., & Van Hout-Wolters, B. M. (2007). Students Adaptation of Study Strategies When Preparing for Classroom Test. Education Psychology Review, 19(4). 401-428. Doi: 10.1007/s10648-006-9025-0 Carpenter, J., & Pease, J. (2013). Preparing Students to Take Responsibility for Learning: The Role of Non-Curricular Learning Strategies. Journal of Curriculum & Instruction, 7(2), 38. Doi: 10.3776/joci.2013.v7n2p3855 Drits-Esser, D., & Black, M. (2014). Standardized Test Questions. Science Scope, 37(5), 68 Gavriel, J. (2013). Assessment for Learning: A Wider (classroom-reseacrhed) Perspective is Improtant for Formative Assessment and Self-directed Learning in General Practice. Eductaion For Primary Care, 24(2), 93-96 Kratzke, C., & Bertolo, M. (2013). ENHANCING STUDENTS’ CULTURAL COMPETENCE USING CROSS-CULTURAL EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 20(3), 107-111 Watts-Taffe, S., Laster, B., Broach, L., Marinak , B., McDonald Connor, C., & Walker-Dalhouse, D. (2012). Differentiated Instruction: Making Informed Decisions. Reading Teacher, 66(4), 303-314. DOI: 10.1002/TRTR.01126 Read More