On October 14, 2014 I had the privilege to observe a sophomore English

teacher, Teresa Long, at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart High School in Moon, PA. The
students in Ms. Longs class are students who struggle with English and require
additional assistance. Her classroom only had eight students, in which the students
acted as a team. Through observing Ms. Long, many forms of assessment were
evident throughout the class period.
The sophomores in Ms. Longs English class were reading and summarizing
Night by Elie Wiesel. During my observation, the students were assessed formally
and informally. In the beginning of the class they students began reading chapters
four and five out loud. Ms. Long stated that because students vary on confidence
level when it comes to reading aloud, the students have the autonomic decision to
read for however long they choose. The catch is, during the reading period Ms. Long
randomly stops and asks someone to summarize what was just read or asks
someone a question out of the text. This strategy is Ms. Longs informal assessment.
Having students stop and describe what is going on in the text helps her realize
whether the student was distracted, grasps the concept, or is struggling with
deciphering the context. Although students are actively engaged and randomly
caused on, the students are not humiliated. If Ms. Long is anticipating the question
to be a difficult one she asks the question first then asks for a volunteer to answer
the question, rather than randomly picking. This activity was how Ms. Long
informally assessed her students, through questions and answering and
observation.

After reading and dissecting the print, Ms. Long gave her class a short quiz.
The quiz was five open-ended questions about their interpretation of the test. The
students fill out the quiz in pencil. After everyone completed the quiz Ms. Long
collected the quiz and assigned each student to read chapter six. During that time
period, Ms. Long corrected each quiz and passed them back out to students. The
class went over the quiz and students were permitted to fill in the answer with ink,
rather than pencil, to get full credit on the quiz. Ms. Long stated that this strategy of
checking and then rechecking allows the students to see immediately why or why
not their answers were correct, as well as takes pressure off of the students during
test taking. The quiz was a formal assessment that was turned into an informal
assessment by allowing students to recheck their work. By checking the quiz first,
Ms. Long was capable of deciphering who fully mastered the concept and who did
not fully master the concept. She explained to me that those results will be shown in
how she groups her students for the next assignment as well as where her students
are seated.