Assessment

Brown says testing is a “method of measuring a person’s ability or knowledge in a given domain.” He also clarifies assessment as an “ongoing process that encompasses a much wider domain.” I found his explanations helpful. He was able to make clear distinctions between the two, which are commonly used interchangeably.  Teachers are constantly assessing and testing for knowledge. At times it is overwhelming how much “testing” is imposed upon students. However, I can appreciate an assessment that is used to drive and inform instruction. Brown discusses practicality of tests. I found that section interesting. It reminded me of the ACCESS test we give students once a year to measure their progress in their English language development. I find that the test, which takes an entire week, is extremely long but yields extremely important and informative data. It gives me information to help in determining proficiency levels in specific domains and it helps me in planning for instruction. According to Brown, the time it takes to complete is impractical (which I agree). I do believe it is reliable, and valid. My only problem is that there is a social studies portion where students must identify symbol of the U.S. and for that portion I believe it is a bit unreliable. Are they measuring listening comprehension or knowledge of culture? They know this test is being taken by CLD students who are probably from different cultures. I would expect questions to be of subject matter that all would already be familiar with. As far as classroom assessments I tend to make my own. I ensure reliability I tend to use rubrics. I also use digital portfolios, conference notes, self assessments, traditional tests, observations, and many informal observations. I think what is most important though is that your assessment informs your instruction. If you give assessments and tests for the sake of testing it is a waste of everyone’s time, especially if it is not a valid, reliable, or authentic assessment.

Curriculum, lessons, & materials

This weeks reading really got into the in-depth thought processes that go into what you do in a classroom. I felt that Brown did not speak enough about assessment. I think that is a very important aspect of curriculum design that helps to inform your future instruction. It deems more of a focus especially with CLD students. You have to be careful if your assessment will measure their mastery of the content or their language. I felt the lesson plan example was good for a basic universal lesson plan. Something I always have to seriously consider is the range of proficiency levels in my classroom and how to reach each one. It requires some serious thought for instruction and assessment. And being a teacher in a bilingual program, we have to create our own materials all of the time because if you don’t take a critical look at what the district provides you may miss that it is not appropriate. Many of us have found after evaluating our textbooks that there is a lack of diversity, it is not authentic; language is a direct translation and may not make sense. So, I have spent a lot of time making my own material. However, the great thing is I put my stuff out there for others and many others have created materials and are willing to share. I have gotten some great ideas by collaborating with others on blogs and websites.

Research Progress Report

My original question I wanted to answer through research was...Do skills from L1 transfer to L2? Which do? Which do not? What about interference? After consulting with Dr. Seloni I took her feedback and changed my question to... How do teachers teach literature skills in L1 and L2 in content based classrooms? I will look into teacher training, 3-4 main issues or key arguments, and debunking some myths. Being completle honest, I have not acheived much yet. However I have found some relevant articles/references. One is as article from Language Learning and Technology entitled Computer Assisted Second Language Vocabulary Acquistion by Peter J.M. Groot. I specifically refers to what transfers to a certain degree in it's beginning. Another article is the Transfer of Comprehension Skills from native to Second Language by James M Royer and Maria S Carlo. It is taken from the IRA's Journal of Reading from March 1991 volume 36 no.6. It speaks directly towards what I am interested in looking at. And lastly I found Reading-Writing Relationships in first and second language by Joan Eistherhold Carlson and Patricia Carrell in TESOL Quarterly V.24 Issue 2 p. 246-266 from the SUmmer 1990. It seems a little off topic but may be helpful. I wonder if I can find anyone who is a member of the IRA and has access to the professional articles because they have many great ones but I would need to pay to access them and the ERIC database seems to be experiencing difficulty.

Social Responsibility and Releveance

This chapter began with one of my favorite quotes by Gandhi, "You must be the change you want to see in the world." This is so trueand as a teacher you have the opportunity to be an agent for change and to pass on these crucial words of wisdom to live by. There are many reasons people go into teaching and this was mine. Everyday I strive to be the change I want to see in the world and hopefully be a good role model of this for the students I have every year. I hope they in turn apply this and can make a positive impact in the world. To do this though, you have to have the ability to think critically and question the status quo when appropriate, so you can be that change. In terms of education and educational reform, I always ask myself, "Whose interests are being served?" And when I think of the Common Core State Standards, I know it is the private sectors interest being served under the mirage of a few good reasons. Teachers as a whole have not risen and questioned who came up with these and what philosophies of education do they fall in line with. No, the majority of teachers have merely taken them and started blindly implementing them. This ties in very nicely to Chapter 11 of Kumar, "The insistence of English only in the classroom 'rests on unexamined assumptions, it originates in the political agenda of dominant groups, and serves to reinforce existing relations of power." (p.254) Our classroom mirrors society and we must prepare students to be critical thinkners and to realize the impact they can make. I will end my reflection with another excerpt I loved from Brown, "You are not merely alanguage teacher. YOu are much more than that. You're an agent for change in a world in desperate need of change." (p.520) My question is how can we as teachers be agents for change in educational reform or policies within the districts in which we work? For example, in a district wide meeting Friday, they discussed implementing standardized quarterly testing, which does not account for our CLD students and matching the differentiated instruction they recieve to the assessment. I voiced my opinion in a room full of monolingual first grade teachers. I was met with silence and confusion as to why I was opposed to this and didn't just go with the flow. What are the right avenues to take when we want to make a change in our schools?