Assessment Plan

February April June

Reading Running Record Observation
during Guided
reading
Comprehension
Questions
Justification Through careful
observation, reliable
scoring, and
thoughtful
interpretation the
teacher gain
significant insights
(Ministry of
Education, 2003, p.
59). Finding out
where the children
are at the beginning
of the year is
important, which is
why I have decided
to do a running
record as it will
show me what level
the children are at,
what strategies they
use while reading, if
they self correct and
if they take risks.
A great deal of
information
gathering occurs
naturally during
everyday
activities
(Ministry of
Education, 2003, p.
55). I want to see
how they read and
answer questions
about the text in a
group setting. It
will give me an
opportunity to see
if they rely on
others to read
words they dont
know, what
strategies they use,
and how they are
thinking about a
text as they read
compared to just
at the end
comprehension
questions in a
running record.
Conversations are
effective when they
focus on a specific
purpose (Ministry
of Education, 2003).
I will have a
conversation with
the children about
the meaning of the
text. I will get them
to read a book they
have already looked
at in guided reading
and get them to re-
read it and them
ask them questions
about it as they
read and also at the
end. This is to get
an understanding of
what they
understand when
they read a book,
what concepts and
ideas they pick up
or what they
predict might
happen, how they
relate it to their
own life.
Writing Writing Sample Writing sample Writing Sample
Justification
I will collect a sample of the childs writing that they have
worked on independently. I hope it find out how well they can
use finger spaces, capital letters, full stops and attempting
words, as well as expressing their ideas. A students writing
gives a clear indication of their grasp of vocabulary and sentence
patterns, of the range and depth of their ideas and of how well
they understand purpose and audience (Ministry of Education,
2003, p. 61). I have decided to use the same tool for all three as I
think at this age being able to accurately track their progress on
how they are writing is important. I want to be able to see their
thinking and the attempts they make.

Oral Sharing News Sharing News Talking about an
Image
Justification I will listen to and
record what the
child says when
presenting their
news to their table
group, as well as the
interactions they
have and any
questions they ask. I
have chosen to
listen to them in
table groups rather
than in front of the
class as it is less
formal. Through this
I hope to be able to
hear how they
structure their
sentences and ideas,
and how they act
when speaking e.g
eye contact or
fidgeting.
This is similar to
the February
observation except
this time I will not
sit myself with the
group when they
are sharing so that
I can get an idea of
how they act when
just when they are
with their peers as,
oral language is
best assessed in
authentic
contexts
(Ministry of
Education, 2009, p.
31). The focus will
more be on how
they structure
their ideas rather
than including
body language as
well.
It is important to
observe children in
different contexts
so for this sample I
will use a more
directed
conversation where
the students are
listening and
speaking with a
specific
purpose(Ministry
of Education, 2009,
p. 32). I will present
the children with an
set a images
(familiar objects or
topics) that they
can choose to talk
about. The focus is
to see how they talk
about something
they are not
prepared to talk
about and with
intent to inform
others. I am will be
looking at how they
structure their
thoughts etc.
















Assessment Plan Evaluation

When assessing reading I found that all the strategies and tools did provide me with
information about how the learners were reading in terms of the strategies they used
and what they understood from the text. However I did find that even though I planned
to take a running record of an unseen text, the children found this to be quite difficult
and through the instruction of my associate I also completed a running record on a seen
text, which gave a more accurate representation of their knowledge. The tools I used
were all very similar in that they all involved listening to the child read and then asking
them questions about the text. What changed was the context, running record are quite
formal and the child can see you recording as they read, where as in the guided reading
observation the children felt less pressured and you are able to see how they interact
with text given they have some support. In order to have a successful reading program
you need to use a range of assessment tools to gather data to guide your planning but
especially at the junior level you need to be aware of how they are reading and what
they are understanding which is why I did not use the tool of having just having a
conference. However I do think that when I am in the class full time that there would be
more time to also do this as well as the other tools and strategies, which would provide
a more well rounded profile of the child.

For assessing writing I only collected data through writing samples, as I believed that
this would be the best way to see how they conveyed ideas and used conventions of text.
I found this strategy to work well as I could see even the small ways they were
improving over the five-month period. Similar to the reading I would have liked to have
had a conference with them to find out their own attitudes to writing, which did happen
in June, but it might have been good to know this information earlier in the year so the
children could have an influence on their writing make sure that it is engaging for them.

Personally I found assessing oral language quite difficult and that unless I recorded it I
would often miss pieces as I was concentrating on listening about the topic. I found the
first strategy of watching, listening and taking notes (as well as recording to listen to
again later) while a child was speaking to be the most beneficial as I could not only hear
them but also see their body language when speaking to others. Being able to listen back
to the children speak really helped me gage their oral ability. When I gave the children
pictures to talk about it appeared to be more of a recall task, which I do not think
accurately represents their ability as they had to pause to think about what to say and
therefore could not organise their ideas and speak fluently.