Join us for conversations that inspire, recognize, and encourage innovation and best practices in the education profession.
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more.
Teaching Reading: K-2 Workshop
Watch the Video | Using Assessment To Guide Instruction
Lecture
In this section, you will watch Dr. Paratore’s lecture on using assessment to guide instruction.
Print Dr. Paratore’s Assessment Lecture Poster (PDF). Use the poster to take notes on the lecture.
In this video segment, Dr. Paratore presents the principles of effective classroom assessment. The lecture emphasizes the importance of ongoing assessment to plan instruction and to address the needs of all students. The workshop participants develop a semantic map that relates the assessment principles to their own practices.
An accompanying lecture transcript (PDF) is also available.
Video Segment – Dr. Paratore’s Lecture
Find this segment approximately 2 minutes and 55 seconds after the beginning of the video. Watch for about 12 1/2 minutes.
After watching the lecture, review your notes and consider these questions:
- What do you want to know about your students’ reading and writing?
- How do you obtain and document this information throughout the year?
- How do you use the results of your assessments to plan subsequent instruction?
- What are the difficulties or challenges in assessing during instruction?
Now return to your Assessment Semantic Map and add any new ideas that have come from watching the video segment.
Classroom Excerpts
In this section, you will relate Dr. Paratore’s lecture and your readings to assessment practices in classroom excerpts.
Now you will observe teachers in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade as they assess their students’ reading. As you watch, note the different instructional contexts and classroom routines that allowed the teachers to assess individual student performance.
Video Segment – Student Assessment Classroom Excerpts
Find this segment approximately 15 minutes and 15 seconds after the begining of the video. Watch for about 6 1/2 minutes.
After watching the classroom excerpts, consider these questions:
- How did each teacher use classroom routines to assess student performance?
- What did each teacher learn about the student she was assessing?
- How was this information documented?
- How could this information be used to plan instruction?
- How would you apply what you viewed to your own teaching?
Discussion
In this section, you will watch the workshop participants discuss the classroom excerpts.
Following the classroom excerpts, the workshop participants discuss the lessons. Compare your ideas with theirs.
Video Segment – Discussion
Find this segment approximately 21 minutes and 40 seconds after the beginning of the video. Watch for about 10 minutes.
After watching the workshop participants’ discussion, consider these questions:
- Several workshop participants commented on the integration of assessment with daily classroom routines. Which routines were most effective in supporting the assessment practices seen in these classroom excerpts? What other instructional routines would provide time for assessing students’ reading and writing?
- First-grade teacher Robin Peterson and first- and second-grade teacher Marcy Prager commented on how difficult it is to keep other students working independently while they assess an individual child’s reading and writing. Do you agree? What routines or assignments would you put in place to assure an uninterrupted time for individual assessment?
- At the end of the workshop participants’ discussion, second-grade teacher Adrienne Bradshaw asks three important questions: How much do you assess? When do you assess? and When do you find time to assess? How would you respond to these questions based on your own classroom assessment practices?
More Classroom Excerpts
In this section, you will relate Dr. Paratore’s lecture and your readings to assessment practices in classroom excerpts.
Now watch first-grade teacher Hildi Perez as she assesses one student in the beginning of the year and then four months later. She uses both formal and informal assessment practices to learn and document information about this child’s reading. As you watch, note the classroom contexts Ms. Perez uses for her assessments and the information she obtains from each assessment.
Video Segment – Ms. Perez’s Classroom Assessment
Find this segment approximately 31 minutes and 35 seconds after the beginning of the video. Watch for about 7 minutes.
After watching the classroom excerpts, consider these questions:
- At the beginning of the school year Ms. Perez stated, “I need to know what skills they bring to the classroom, what they know already, what they still need to learn…. So, where do I need to begin with every single child?” What do you want to know about your students when they first come to your classroom? What assessment practices help you to obtain this information?
- What classroom contexts did Ms. Perez use to assess Cassandra’s reading in the beginning of the year? What classroom contexts were used to assess Cassandra’s reading four months later? What were the purposes for her assessment at both times of the year?
- What did you learn about Cassandra’s reading progress from the assessments in the beginning and middle of the year?
- What instruction would you plan based on the results of these assessments?
- How else would you assess Cassandra’s literacy development?
Optional Viewing
You may want to watch the workshop participants discuss Ms. Perez’s assessment practices. Find this segment approximately 38 minutes and 25 seconds after the beginning of the video. Watch for about 8 minutes.
