Professional Practice: Assess, provide feedback and report on students learning

Case
During my placement block I have had the opportunity partaking in completing various assessments
of students learning. In doing so it has prepared me for administering a wide range of pre-testing,
post-testing, self assessments, formal and informal assessments tasks to students.

I have involved students in a number of formal assessment, such as pre/post mathematics test, self
editing their work and reading conference checklists. In conjunction with this I have utilised a range
of informal assessments, such as recording anecdotal notes and writing brief comments in students
workbooks, asking students to volunteer in sharing their work with the class. I also encouraged
students to regularly reflect upon their progress in their journals. As a teacher, I believe good
feedback practice facilitates the development of self-assessment and reflection in learning (Owen
2016).
Commentary

Questions
Why is it important to assess students?
Why is feedback important?
How can I gain a good idea of students understanding?
How can I use this information towards my planning?
Action
In order to discern each students academic performance and further learning goals as accurately as
possible, it is essential to provide students with the opportunity to complete a diverse range of
assessments (formal, informal, self). Furthermore, an assessment task that one student may excel at
may be unfavored by another student.
I will aim to collate students results and data that they obtain in various assessments and will
engage students in the assessment tasks in which they participate in, for example, creating portfolios
and projects of students work. In doing so, students will develop a sense of owner ship for their
learning and actively display their achievements. Although, it is crucial to engage students in their
learning, it is also important to engage students in the assessments they partake in, in order to
ensure that each assessment is a representative of the individual students capabilities. As a teacher, I
believe good feedback practice facilitates the development of self-assessment and reflection in
learning (Owen 2016).
Reflection
After having administered these assessment tasks to students, I was provided with an indication of
students understanding of different topics and concepts. As a result, I was able to collect the data
and information I gathered from those assessment tasks to ensure that future lessons I planned took
into consideration each students abilities and which areas required further learning. I was, however
aware that the results gathered from a certain type of assessment tool may not necessarily be
conclusive, as each student has a different learning style therefore applying their learning
differently.

Professional Practice: Assess, provide feedback and report on students learning

Owen, L 2016, 'The Impact of Feedback as Formative Assessment on Student Performance',

International Journal Of Teaching & Learning In Higher Education, 28, 2, pp. 168-175, Education
Research Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 6 September 2016.