Thoughts on chapter 15

After nine years in a pre-school environment where the director has reminded us always to keep current our entries to children's log books which are used at the end of the year to evaluate, this chapter was to say the least enlightening. First of all I have often found myself scrambling to really get a handle on the children and where they stand at the end of a year or even earlier in November when we conduct our parent conferences. I relaize now as I reflect on this chapter, that perhaps my assessment and evaluation of some children may not have always been as "meaningful" as it should have been. As I started the chapter I thought this sounds great but the reality is it is for older children, and yet many of the examples cited were from classes as young as early kindergarten. Although I still am a big advocate of decoding and starting the practice as early as possible, I am starting to think about the many other practices mentioned that can be helpful in truly assessing the student of reading including retellings of stories, shared reading, listening activities and the many other suggestions. As I have said before, I am not a purist in that I do not fully follow one theory, and although I really do believe in Maria Montessori's philosophy on educating the young child, I am willing to accept alot of the practices that are being offered in chapter 15.

The whole concept of portfolios is a new one for me. I think now that how unrealistic is it to asssess the child without seeing any of their work in front of me and basically only going on my most recent encounter with the child to write an assessment. I started journal writing a few years ago after having seen it at another school during and observation, and the children delighted in sharing their stories. However, this still only appealed to a few students, but what I should have done was searched through trial and error to find some way of connecting with these children and engaging them in reading.This chapter was extremely helpful in suggesting the many other ways I can invove the students in participating in their own learning process.

The idea of self evaluation is a new concept for me in relation to students but I was certainly acquainted with it as an employee in the business world 15 to 20 years ago. I actually had a real problem with this idea and always was suspicious that their was some other motive for asking me to evaluste myself. I truly do beleive that students will be honest when evaluating themselves and can benefit from this exercise. I observed a 4th grade class in a small Newark elementary school a few months ago who were preparing constanly for the standaized tests. That was the unfortunate aspect of this observation, however, on a positive note, the students evaluated each other as they took turns reading their pieces that they had written in class. CLearly, this worked really well.

Far more radical than any thought in this capter was the idea of having children attend their own conferences that were traditionally held between teacher and parent. I think this is a fabulous idea and removes all the mystery around this meeting for all involved. I know my 13 year would love to attend these meetings than patiently await in fear of what is going to be communicated. As a parent I personally hate conferences where I sit before 5 teachers and have them rattle off a few comments and then rush me out before I ask questions. I guess these really are not conferences because there is no two way communication.

I appreciated how the author dealt with the issues of standars in that she comes right out saying, "standards are here to stay, so we need to understand what they are, and how best to deal with them.' There is much media coverage and literature out today about the poblems with educational standards, however, this chapter looks at it from a different angle. It examines what the standars are and provides concrete practices on how to meet these standards while still making the ducation process and enriching one for the students.

I appreciated the opportunity to read the story of Ms. Rodriguez and her class, It encouraged me to jump in and try these methods. It was nice to see the theory being put into practice and implemented with great success.

Overall, this selection of readings gave me a whole new way of looking at the practice of evalustion and assessment. Once again I was brought back to my teaching roots founded in Montessori philosophy which outlines in itsguidelines for teachers the need to respect the child or student first and foremost. The elements of evaluation and assessment descibed in this chapter not only has evolved into a tool of teaching that empowers the student and helps them develop not only the specific skills being addressed by the subjects they are learning but also develops important quality characteristics important in life. They are learning responsibility, accountability, independence and many more beautiful traits. Along with these qualities students are hopefully able to learn in a more enriching environment.