In
350 this week, the thing that really stuck out to me was the Academic
Interventions Pyramid that was introduced to us by Dr. Elizabeth Mitcham. Our
seminar this week in 410 was about formative assessment and how often we should
do it, which was led by Megan and she did an awesome job!
For
my outside learning this week, I didn’t necessarily research another article to
read. I wanted to take the information we had already been given and critically
think about how I could relate the academic intervention pyramid and how often we
should formatively assess in our classroom. With this thinking, I made a strong
connection and learned some important information. The academic interventions
pyramid lets a teacher decide where a student needs to be. The bottom part of
the pyramid represents the general curriculum that all students are taught. If
a student doesn’t understand it, then they are moved to tier 2 where they are
taught it again. If learning is still not taking place, they move to tier 3. For
this to be effective and for students to be where they need to be, formative assessment
needs to take place often. If we don’t formatively assess our students as often
as we can, without it becoming over-whelming, we will never know if they are in
the right tier that accommodates their learning.
I
feel that this learning relates to Standard 5 in the NCTCS, Teachers reflect on
their practice. Assessing our students and determining where they are on the
academic pyramid is a small piece that makes up the entire process of reflecting
on our practice as teachers.
In
my future classroom, I will formatively assess as much as possible. As I
mentioned in seminar this afternoon, I don’t want my students to know that I’m
assessing them as much as I plan to because that can be intimidating for some students.
They may become so focused on being assessed that they forget to listen to the
whole lesson. However, I do want to formatively assess my students as often as
possible so that I can accurately determine where they are in the learning
process.
350: You did a good job retelling what Dr. Mitcham told us about the tiers and MTSS. I was really glad that she explained that to us, because this was something that I had been confused about for a long time.
ReplyDelete410: I am glad that you pointed this out: "As I mentioned in seminar this afternoon, I don’t want my students to know that I’m assessing them as much as I plan to because that can be intimidating for some students" When it comes to test anxiety or any type of assessment anxiety for students, the struggle is real! The less they know that we are secretly and formatively assessing them, the better. This is something that every teacher needs to remember!
I completely agree that the information from 350 and 410 connected this week. Formative assessment is essential in order to make sure that you know where students are, and therefore which tier of the Academic Intervention Pyramid they should be in. It is our job, as educators, to provide for our students as best we can, and this is done through this pyramid. Without formative assessments, we wouldn't know soon enough that our student may need extra help, and this may cause the student to fall farther behind.
ReplyDeleteI like the connections you made as well. I feel like you really explained the concepts well and I learned a lot from reading your blog.
ReplyDeleteI felt like the pyramid was very helpful. I understand MTSS so much better after meeting with her. I also really enjoyed the videos she showed us as well.
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