Results from the assessments:

After looking back on the students completing their weather journal entries, it appears

that most students had a pretty good understanding of the material that was being taught. The

students received a checklist when completing this assessment. Some of the students didn’t pay

close attention to the checklist and skipped over things that they thought they had included on

their weather journal entry but didn’t. Another thing I noticed when looking back at the results

was that students used the vocabulary words in their sentences, but some of them were not using

them in the correct context. So when looking back at the results from the science assessment, I

can tell that something that needs to be reviewed is how to properly look at and use checklists, as

well as trying new ways to learn the vocabulary words. I was able to work with students in small

groups the next day and go over these things with them. When working with the students in

small groups, I was able to explain how to look over the checklist in more detail. I was also able

to dive deeper into the meanings of the vocabulary words, and because it was in small groups the

students had more of a chance to participate in the discussion. I know that something else that I

could do when I am a future teacher and have more time in my own classroom, I can spend more

time reteaching a lesson or a certain part of it so students are able to grasp more of the material

they are learning. In the article “Vocabulary words: An evidence-based literacy strategy” by

Cheryl Lyon (n.d.) it says that “Word associations: Ask students, “What does the word delicate

make you think of? What other words go with "delicate?” Students can turn and talk with a

partner to come up with a response. Then invite pairs to share their responses with the rest of the

class” (p. 2). Teaching students vocabulary in a meaningful way where they need to make

connections to the word is so beneficial in helping them to remember it. After students had be

retaught and had gone over it a little bit more, they seemed much more confident. I would say
that the results of the science assessment are pretty accurate to how each student normally

performs and how I thought the class was going to perform as a whole. I think that if students

were to do their weather journal entries over after having received more instruction, they would

do even better.

After reviewing the data from the ELA/SS assessments, I was able to see that students did

very well on the SS portion and were able to identify if a certain human activity was good for the

environment or bad for the environment. Some of the students had a little bit more trouble on the

ELA portion but they still didn’t do terribly. What I would do the next day is go over the poem

response journal questions with the class and have a discussion about them. After having our

discussion, we would go over the words and phrases in the poem again such as beats, alliteration,

rhymes, and repeated lines so students are able to build up more knowledge on the material. In

the article “6 Most Effective Reteaching Strategies for the Post-Pandemic Classroom” by

Rachelle Dené Poth (2022) it says that “With reteaching, the idea is not to teach the same lesson

twice but to identify what aspects of a specific lesson students may be struggling with and focus

on those so that learning does keep going. Even in reteaching, we are still offering opportunities

for those students who have mastered the content to apply and amplify their skills by having

choices or being involved in the reteaching process” (p. 5). Going back over information that the

students have already learned is going to be beneficial for all of the students in some kind of

way. Students getting more practice with their learning will help them to better grasp the

material. Since pretty much all of the students did well on the SS portion of the assessment, I

would just do a quick review with students and have them just give me a quick informal thumbs

up or thumbs down to recheck for understanding. The results from the ELA/SS assessment

surprised me a little. I was expecting them to do well on the SS plickers game, which they did,
but I thought more of them would have done a little better on the poem response journals. I think

that if we would have spent a bit more time on really mastering beats, alliteration, rhymes, and

repeated lines then the students would have performed better on the ELA portion.

After reviewing the results from the math assessment and seeing how the students did, I

was not too surprised with the results. 19/23 of the students got perfect scores on the math exit

slips. The students that are normally a little lower are the ones who received below a 100% on

the assessment. The next day in class, I was able to work with the students who did not get a

100% on the assessment and give them more instruction on the topic. In the small group I had

the students explain their thought process to me when reading the time on an analog clock and

deciding if the time was A.M. or P.M. so I was able to see where they were going wrong. This

allowed for me to give them immediate feedback when they got the answer incorrect, as well as

provide them with more detailed instruction. In the article “Small Group Instruction: Kicking

Gaps to the Curb in AP” (n.d.) it says that “Small groups make differentiation possible, allowing

teachers a feasible way to adjust how they teach, how fast they go, and what they teach to fit

each student’s needs. This helps because every student learns differently, and it makes it easier

for them to understand tricky concepts” (p. 1). Being able to really see where students are

struggling and having the opportunity to give them that personalized feedback in a small group is

extremely helpful for their education. I was expecting these kinds of results from the students

after seeing how well they did during the lesson. Since the students did so well, I would consider

building on this lesson and making it more challenging for them, helping them to extend their

knowledge.

Effective Feedback:
 I believe that the feedback I provided for my 2 specific students as well as the whole

class was effective for their learning in different content areas. During the science lesson, I

constantly provided the whole class with positive and constructive feedback. During the lesson I

guided my 2 specific students if necessary. For example, Student #1 sometimes has difficulty

staying focused and paying attention. When he would begin to lose focus and act up, I would

positively redirect him back to the lesson. All of the students received written feedback on their

weather journal entries. On each of the students' weather journal entries I gave them specific

feedback for what they did incorrectly. For example, Student #2 did not include all of the

vocabulary words in her paragraph, so I gave her written feedback on that and also had a

conference with her to help her better understand.

On the ELA/SS assessments, most of the students got a 100% on the plickers assessment

for SS. Some of the students struggled a bit more on the ELA portion where they needed to

complete their poem response journals. I gave students positive verbal feedback for the SS

plickers assessment. I told them that they did a very good job distinguishing between if

something was good for the environment or bad for the environment. I provided each of the

students with written feedback on their ELA poem response journals. I wrote extra and important

feedback on the students' poem response journals that had a little bit of a lower score. I wanted to

make sure that these students were understanding why they missed what they did and how they

can fix it. I also had one on one conferences with each of the students in the class so I could talk

about the feedback I had given them in more detail. The one on one conference was especially

good for Student #1 who sometimes does better when given their feedback verbally. During the

one on one conferences, students were able to understand why what they had done was wrong

and now knew how to do it correctly.

 I gave students written feedback on a child-friendly rubric for their math assessments. For

each student, I wrote personalized feedback about how they did, as well as give them tips for

how to do certain things differently in order to get the answer correct. Most of the students did

very well on this assessment, but there were about 4 students who had a bit of trouble on it.

When working with those 4 students in a small group who struggled, I was able to provide them

with immediate feedback as they explained their thought process to me. Student #2 was among

the 4 students who struggled so I was able to personalize verbal feedback for her to help her get a

better understanding of the concept. I think that this feedback was effective for the students

because they were able to explain why they gave an incorrect answer and also see where the

correct answer came from.

Ways to assist students use of feedback:

An effective way to help students remember the feedback that was given to them from the

science lesson is to have them set goals for themselves based upon the feedback that was given

to them in order to help it stick. Having each student create an individualized goal that they could

continue to strive for based on the feedback that I gave them would be very beneficial so they

would be able to remember what they needed to work on. Students would be able to use these

goals that they made for themselves and apply them when working on the next lesson, another

science lesson, or in any area they may need to. In the article “Why Goal Setting Is Important for

Students” by Jack Cao (n.d.) it says that “That personal, long-term goals can serve as the

motivation anchor to help them grind through the tough subjects, tests, and essays, giving them a

larger perspective focus on building themselves” (p. 3). When students have a goal to look

towards they are going to remember it and strive for it.

 An effective way to help students remember the feedback that was given to them for the

ELA/SS assessment was to have one on one conferences with each student. This worked really

well for the students and helped them to better understand why they got what they did incorrect

and how to fix it. Meeting with students one on one will be more memorable for them and help

them to better remember and understand the feedback that was given to them. Since they are

getting to hear about their individual needs rather than just general whole class feedback, they

will be more likely to remember it and apply it.

I think a good concrete way to help students remember that feedback that is given to them

is to give each student a checklist that outlines the specific criteria and expectations for any

assignments or tasks the students may need to do. The students can refer back to these checklists

when they need to be reminded of the feedback they've received, highlighting areas where they

can focus on improvement. When students have something that they can constantly look back on

they are going to be more likely to remember the feedback and apply it. The students were given

this kind of checklist with their math assessment and it really helped them.

What I learned about assessments and feedback:

During lesson week, I learned the importance of assessments and feedback. I got a better

understanding of what exactly assessments and feedback can do for students. I now know how

valuable assessments can be to students, as well as how crucial it can be to them. In the article

“Why is Assessment Important?” (n.d.) it says that “Assessment pushes instruction by stressing

the importance of critical thinking, reasoning, and reflection thus creating a quality learning

environment. Many techniques may be used to assess student learning outcomes” (p. 1). Having

students complete assessments is beneficial to them and the teacher. For lesson week, we focused

on formative assessments. These allowed me as the teacher candidate to see what the students
were understanding, as well as what they were not understanding. The students worked so hard

during all of the lessons to ensure that they understood the material so they could do well on their

assessments. I was so proud of them. I have learned that assessment is very important in

education and is something that is necessary.

Something else that I learned is how important feedback is. During lesson week, I was

able to better understand how important feedback is, as well as what good feedback is. I now

know that feedback is something that students really need to understand in order to be able to

apply it. Students need to be able to have access to their feedback in an appropriate time manner

so they are able to apply the feedback and better their mistakes as soon as possible. In the article

“The Importance of Feedback” by Robert Holl (n.d.) it says that “Focused, specific feedback

helps students understand learning objectives, choose the best strategies for the task, make

course corrections throughout the learning process, monitor their own learning, and determine

where to go next” (p. 3). All of these things are so important for students in their learning

process. Feedback helps students get better and that is what we want for all of our students.

What I would have done differently:

There are definitely a few things that I would have done differently during lesson week.

When I was actually teaching my lessons, I realized that lessons I plan are not always going to

go exactly how I want them to. One thing I would have done differently during my science

lesson was make the weather journal entry shorter or not have them do as much for it. It took

them quite a while to do and took up a lot of time. I was able to see that sometimes not

everything works out exactly how you plan it to and that is okay. One thing I would have done

differently in the ELA/SS lesson is spend more time focusing on words and phrases in the poem.

Some of the students had a bit of a hard time understanding beats, alliterations, rhymes, and
repeated lines. I think if I would have spent more time on this the students would have done

better on their assessment. One thing I would have done differently on the math lesson is give

students a visual for A.M. and P.M. Some of the students struggled with A.M. and P.M. and I

think if they would have had a visual for it they would have been able to pick up on it better.

Planning these lessons and actually teaching them has been very beneficial for my teaching

career. I was able to see that things don’t always go as planned, as well as how to best help my

students in order for them to learn.

 References

6 most effective reteaching strategies for the post-pandemic classroom - K-20 blog. CYPHER

Learning. (n.d.). https://www.cypherlearning.com/blog/k-20/effective-reteaching-strategies

Cheryl Lyon, M. (n.d.). Vocabulary words: An evidence-based literacy strategy. Understood.

https://www.understood.org/en/articles/how-to-teach-vocabulary-words

Holl, R. (2019, August 1). The importance of feedback: Learning A. Z.

https://www.learninga-z.com/site/resources/breakroom-blog/importance-of-feedback

Sharmila. (2023, December 15). Small group instruction: Kicking gaps to the curb in AP®.

UWorld College Readiness.

https://collegereadiness.uworld.com/blog/benefits-of-small-group-instruction-in-high-school

Why goal setting is important for students. RSS. (n.d.).

https://www.habitify.me/blog/why-goal-setting-is-important-for-students

Why is assessment important?. CSUSB. (n.d.).

https://www.csusb.edu/student-research/student-success-graduation-retention/why-assessmen

t-important