Week 4 Intellegence

1) Emotional intelligence involves a few things. Children need to understand what they are feeling and what has happened that they feel that way. We would discuss different emotions that they may have and what makes them feel that way. Many times problems are caused because they don't know how to respond to others so, we would talk about acceptable responses for different situations. I would help them to learn to communicate their emotions. Communication is a great tool. On the other side it is also important for them to understand how others feel, o be able to put themselves in their place and feel for them. I think that it is also important that the children learn to respect themselves and love themselves, it is hard to respect others if you do not respect yourself.

2) From What I have seen of both Gardner and Sternberg's theories I think that Gardner's would be the most helpful as a teacher. Gardner goes into detail about different sorts of intelligence and this can be very helpful as a teacher to understand. If you know what kind of things motivate each child and what they are particularly good at you can know how to motivate them but also see in what areas you can help them to improve.

3) I personally am not a fan of IQ tests. There are problems with them. It is only valid under certain circumstances. If the person being tested is a second language learner and they have little experience in the language being tested the test becomes bias. The test is only useful up to a certain age as well. I think that they do hold a place in education but that it is a very small one. It can be used to see if a child may have learning disabilities.

Week 3 Assessment

1) A formative assessment is for both the teacher and the student. This assessment is generally more informal but it can be formal too. it helps the teacher to check for understanding and make adjustments to help the student improve their learning. The informal method of assessment involves more observation while the formal method is based more in tests and homework. The summative assessment is a bit more long term. This generally involves a collection of the student's work over a term or grading period. Formative assessments can be used to help compile the summative assessment. The summative assessment is more formal and is made up of tests, homework, writing assignments, etc.

2) An aptitude test is a test to predict the performance of a student and how well they should do. It is a test to measure the potential of a student. This test seems like it might be criterion referenced because they seem they seem to have a bar that they measure it by. An achievement test is a test to measure how much a student has learned or what their current knowledge is. I think that this test is probably norm based because generally an achievement test is used to measure whether a student is measuring up to the norm.

3) I think that Alexandria should be concerned but I don't think it is a matter of undue concern. Test statistics are a hard thing to read. I think they should look at making improvements, that should always be the focus whether you did well the year before or not, but they are just below the norm and they are improving. The year before this one they were at the 46th percentile they have gained to the 48th percentile which indicates improvement. You have to also account for outliers in the scoring but I think, overall, they just need to look at ways to continue to improve, not necessarily re-write everything. Something i don't like about these sorts of test is they don't gauge the amount of progress that the students individually have made over the year. You might get a student in your room that is way behind on reading but at the end of the year has made significant progress but is still not quite up to the level he needs to be. When he takes a test like that all it shows it that he is a failure. It does not take into account what he has accomplished throughout the year.

4) It is very important both as a teacher and as a parent to understand assessment and the kinds of tests that your children will be taking and what the criterion for them are. You will be able to follow the child and find out what kind of progress they are making personally and as judged against the rest of their age level.

Week 2 Assessment

1) Bloom's Taxonomy is six categories of cognitive skills or rather six ways that students can demonstrate their knowledge.
1) Remember: Students recall or recognize information, ideas, or principles. It is basic memorization and regurgitation but in the same form in which it was given.
2) Understand: Students make sense of information based on prior learning. This information is taken a step further, the student can regurgitated it too but in their own words and give explanations if need be.
3) Apply: Students use data and principles to solve problems
4) Analyze: Students are able to break things down and classify them as well as make assumptions and hypothesis.
5)Evaluate: Students judge the value of materials methods and ideas. They are able to critique information.
6) Create: Students combine ideas into a plan. This goes beyond regurgitation.

2) Validity is the degree in which a test measures what it is supposed to be measuring. Like if you study Africa the test should be on Africa and not Asia. A valid test gives questions about what was talked about in class and covers the topic broadly. So if African animals were studied the test would not just be on the zebra. To be valid a test must also be understandable. The test and its parts must be clear both in appearance and phrasing. That sort of leads into reliability. Reliability refers to the consistency of a test. A test might be unreliable because of the test layout. If directions are unclear in a test it might cause confusion and if the test is taken multiple times cause a varied outcome. a reliable test should receive the same outcome after the test is taken a second or third time without additional instruction. Both of these are important in administering a fair and reliable test. With out them a child's skills knowledge and understanding cannot be reliably assessed.

3) A process performance assessment would be for a teacher to observe a student playing an instrument and grading and commenting on the performance. A product performance assessment would be for a student to create a scale model of a castle for art class and to be grades on the final product.

4) Three different ways to evaluate performance are:
1) Portfolios: a portfolio is a collection of students work from a variaty of subject. (I took a statistics class in high school and the teacher had us do a portfolio every 9 weeks. We had to write a paper on something...I don't remember what right now...we had to do a piece of art work like a comic strip or cartoon, a mathamatician trading card, poetry, and so on but it was all related to statistics.
2) Presentations: The students can demonstrate skills and knowledge they have gained. Create an experiment where they can plan, conduct and interpret the results of their own research (This doesn't work however if the parent conducts the experiment for them. He he he!!! JK). They can do an oral presentation such as a speech, debate, or play. Students can also put on a public performance like or exhibition like a concert or spelling bee.
3) Projects: A project is a long term activity that results in a product of some kind like a dioramo or a map.

5) It is important I think, especially in an elementery school setting because the students are so young. When a teacher becomes bias they lose some of their vision and are not able to see what theri students need and can ultimately harm the students.

My first post

I hope I can do this...