Baku_Sensei (Level 10)

Analyze your assessment results and think about possible explanations for why they turned out the way they did.  

1. Were you surprised by anything in the assessment results?  If so, what?  Why was that surprising? On thing that really surprised me was that I was missing a few assessments. Was it my fault? Did the students just not turn it in? I wasn't very surprised that most students were below standards. I could tell while I was teaching the lesson that the students weren't grasping what I was teaching them, but I didn't have time or another class in which I could expound on my lesson.
2. What conclusions do you draw about how well these students learned?  Be sure to refer to the assessment results to support your conclusion(s). I can see what a poor job I did in getting the information across. The lesson, which I could have maybe taught in a normal class period, should have been shorter; the fact that most students were below standards or missing is proof of this. They did not learn well enough, and it is easy to see that it wasn't their fault: it was mine.

3. Consider and comment about how each of the following might have affected these assessment results: a) the assessment instrument, b) the lesson, c) the students, d) other factors. The main thing that hampered the assessment results was the lesson. There was not enough information given to them for them to be successful. There was also too much information; as Paula said, "I'm having trouble remembering it all. It's a lot." I underestimated the time I would take trying to pass on the knowledge, and how much I would need to spend on each aspect of the sonnets.

Instructional Planning

Strengths of your planning and why those were effective: One thing I did when planning that I found to be essential to what small success I had is that I looked through every moment, and planned for what could have gone wrong. I am a bit of a worse case scenario person, so it is what I do naturally.

Areas for growth in planning, why, ideas for improvement: I should have practiced it more. I should have realized that what I was doing was too much for people who had little experience with sonnets before. The best thing I could do is get peer feedback on the lesson, and practice it beforehand more.

Thoughts/questions about instructional planning: I underestimated the importance of this step. I needed much more practice and preperation than I gave myself.

Teaching/Implementing

Strengths of teaching/implementing your lesson and why those were effective: According to the feedback I had gotten, I did grab students with my personality. I remember setting out to smile and seem happy through the lesson, though the video revealed that my nervousness got the best of me; I lost my smile. I would also say that my flexibility was fairly good. When the sound didn't work, I acted out the clip for the students. When the assessment wasn't completed, I offered ways to make up the grade, and tried to make the students not stressed out.

Areas for growth in teaching, why, ideas for improvement: Teaching in-depth enough. I touched the tip of all of the elements of a sonnet, but didn't get into those elements enough. This heavily impacted the student's understanding of the topic.

Thoughts/questions about teaching/implementation: Through this part of it, I have learned better to pay attention to the limitations of time.

Assessment of Student Learning

Strengths of your assessment and why those were effective: Had I taught the students well enough, I think that the summative assessment I had planned would have been a very good assessment. It allows students to put everything that they learn to use, and allows the teacher to make sure that they understand each of the elements of a sonnet.

Areas for growth in assessing student learning, why, ideas for improvement: I shouldn't have offered extra points. In my head, I figured it was simply a good way to get the students to work until the bell, but simply telling them that it would be great if they would keep going should have been enough. I will not offer extra credit again unless it's needed.

Thoughts/questions about assessment of student learning: Any learning problems that arose in my lesson were no one's fault other than my own.