My last semester of course work!

I have been waiting on this semester for a long time it seems. I can't believe it's finally here. This past month has been great. I have been able to make great relationships with my CE and my students. I truly love what I do and I'm so excited that I get to do this for the rest of my life.
Teaching 3rd grade comes with a lot of challenges. This is the first year that my students will take a summative assessment at the end of the year to determine what they have learned. This can put a lot of pressure on students. We also have to test them a lot at the beginning of the year to see what they need and where they need to grow. This has taught me a lot. There were many times that I felt sorry for always handing them a test because I felt like they never caught a break. This really made me think about how I assess them in the classroom.
We talked a lot about assessment in previous education classes. We learned so many alternatives to assessing our students instead of just testing them. Learning about it is one thing, but seeing it is a whole other. It really opens your eyes and lets you realize that we can't always just test these students because they get enough of that from the state. I had learned many different strategies for assessing learning, so I wanted to take that into action. I am teaching a chapter and lesson in Charlotte's Web this week and I researched ways that I could assess them on this chapter. I found a great assignment where the students can pretend to be a character. This allows them to pretend to be a character, write a persuasive letter, and practice their writing skills. I can't wait to see how it goes!
My learning this month relates to NCTCS Standard 5: Teachers reflect on their practice. Seeing all this testing really made me stop and reflect on what I wanted for my students. I don't want to constantly feel that pressure of being tested. I want them to have fun and learn. I want them to have a wide range of experiences and things they can keep that show what they have learned. Testing is something that has to happen at the beginning, middle, and end of the year, but it doesn't have to be all I do throughout the entire school year. We learn so much from interacting with our students, talking with them, watching them, and listening to them.
In my future classroom, which is now in the near future, I want to make sure I assess my students in ways that truly show their learning and growth. I will strive to find new ways to engage my students in their learning and allow them to have a say in how they show me what they know.