Standard 8

Artifact: Introduction to engineering design test Artifact Description This is a test I created in my pre student teaching class for my 9th grade Intro to engineering design. The curriculum was provided by my cooperating teacher, which he obtained from the Project Lead the Way curriculum. My cooperating teacher required me to create a test over the unit information. I decided to implement a variety of testing strategies into one test to get a better understanding of what the students comprehended. Wisconsin Standard Teaching Alignment: This experience best aligns with standard eight of the Wisconsin Teacher Development and Licensure Standards which states: The teacher understands and uses formal and informal assessment strategies to evaluate and ensure the continuous intellectual, social, and physical development of the pupil. Throughout my time of pre-student teaching, I realized the importance of evaluating student development in a classroom. I tried to make my instruction less concrete in order to stimulate their intellectual development. I gave them basic guidelines on what they had to create and other than that, they were allowed to create whatever they wanted. I wanted the students to have to use their brains and dig a little deeper for information on their project. If I would have just handed them a sheet with step by step instructions they more than likely would have forgotten what they did the moment they completed the class. While helping students with their project I would ask question the students if I noticed that they were not doing the project the correct way. The informal questions required the student to think of real world examples outside of the classroom and think about what they were doing and make them question themselves on if it was the best way, instead of having somebody tell them they were doing it wrong. To formally test my students I created a test over the design process, as well as technical sketching. This test had a variety of different methods of evaluation. The students had to match terms with the correct definition, fill in the blank questions, and a few multiple choice questions. By administering the test I was able to evaluate every one of my students and direct the next lesson around what needed more clarification. UWP Knowledge, Skill, and Disposition Standard Alignment: This artifact best aligns with KSD1.a Demonstrates Knowledge of Content and Pedagogy which states: The candidate displays extensive content knowledge of his/her subject areas and demonstrates a continuing search for new content knowledge, resources, and best instructional practices, while understanding student diversity and student misconceptions and misunderstandings as a key to the teaching process.

Through this experience, it was essential that I provided feedback to my students while I was evaluating them. It is important that both the students and the teacher be on the same page before moving forward. While evaluating the students informally, I provided verbal feedback when they answered my questions immediately after responding. This helped them get an understanding on where they were intellectually as well as leading the discussion for other responses from other students. The quiz I wrote was given at the end of the unit to see if the students were able to move on to the next lesson. It was important that I graded it, evaluated them, and returned them to the students as fast as possible. This quality formal feedback allows the students to see what they understand, as well as what they need to study more. Providing timely, high quality feedback for my students is crucial for their success in learning. The sooner the reinforcement is presented the more helpful it is to the student. Secondary Alignment: KSD1.b. Demonstrates Knowledge of Students KSD1.f. Assesses Student Learning KSD3.d. Provides Feedback to Students KSD4.b.Maintains Accurate Records What I learned about Teaching/Learning: I gained an understanding of how students should be evaluated, and examples of good ways to evaluate them from this experience. From this I have found that it is very important to choose many different ways to evaluate and assess your students success and this can be done through participation, applied knowledge, demonstrations, or formal tests. As a future educator it is important to be able to informally and formally assess students to make sure that they are on track and are constantly learning. Each student learns at a different pace and understands concepts in a different way. By evaluating them, I not only get to see what they know or understand, but also if my teaching style is effective or not. By carefully evaluating my students, I gain valuable information helping me ensure the continuous learning of each student. What I learned about myself as a prospective educator from this experience: What I learned about myself as a prospective educator from this experience is that both formal and informal assessment is very important for me as the teacher as well as the student to see what they comprehend. Evaluating my students will tell me if I need to go back and explain something more clearly, or if I can move on to the next lesson. I realized that making my own test allowed me to base many different questions around the content that was presented to the students. I was able to think about my questions ahead of time creating simple questions, as well as higher order questions. By doing this, I am gaining a better understanding of what each child actually knows and what I need to do make the information more clear for the students as well as helping myself make decisions on how to help individual students.