forsythem

Forsy the, Matt, Assessment Strategies

Hi my name is Matt Forsythe. I am here in Beautiful Ashland, Oregon and this will be my tenth year in Oregon. I have lived almost half my life on each coast and i have a hard time answering people when they ask "where are you from?" I moved here from Greenville, North Carolina and although I associate much of my life from my Southern upbringing I consider myself an Oregonian.

I graduated from Southern Oregon University in 2011 with a Bachelors in History and a minor in Political Science. The Americas were my main focus with especial attention to revolutions. I am in the MAT program at SOU at the moment and I plan to finish my education with a Doctoral degree somewhere down the line in education. I want to be a teacher for as long as I can and later use that experience to help the education system to become even better.

Being around friends and family brings me joy. I belonged to a tight knit community before I moved to Oregon and I have always lived so far from my extended family that those times together were rare so that community became my family. Living here i have found another tight knit group of friends who have become my family and being with them is when I am my happiest. Eating together was culturally an event in the South and I still enjoy the act and community of eating. I like eating and trying new foods and making it a social time.

My greatest fear is that I will leave someone behind. That there will be a student who I cannot reach and I will not be able to give them the help that they need. I want all of my future students to succeed and help them realize the potential in themselves. It is those that are left behind that I fear will not be able to do this.

Math was always my bane of existence and still plays a prominent role in making my life harder to this day.Geometry especially was the hardest for me in school. My mind could not wrap itself around the equations and the angels and all of that math stuff. It made me feel as if i would never pass the class and I felt that geometry was something that I should know. I was a good student in most subjects but this made me feel as if it was impossible. I once had to retake the same tests seven times before I passed. I know students do not all learn the same or know the same material. Looking back on this I can visualize the ways to help make the problem a solution. I know how the students are feeling and why they are reacting in such a manor. If i can relate to their problem I believe I can help find a way to help.  I want to gain a knowledge of inclusion strategies and help learn how to better assess students to their needs.  __Topic: Assessment Strategies __ __**Relevance**__ Assessment strategies are something that I believe we need more information about. Assessing students is half of our job as teachers if not more. With so many debates about evaluating and assessing teacher performance, assessing student’s performance is overlooked in many ways. Short cuts and easy grading can damage student success as much as a teachers. I want to know more about how I can effectively assess students and learn strategies to fit every type of student. Assessment is more than just grading it is about giving the students skills to propel them forward and give students feedback that they can use to benefit them further.
 * __What I learned.__**
 * 1) Student involvement in their own assessment is much more important than I previously thought.
 * 2) Rubrics are important to maintain accurate assessment. There are five key elements: Levels of mastery, dimensions of quality, organizational groupings, commentator, and description of consequences.
 * 3) There are five major learning assessment strategies: Teachers role in knowing where the learner is, constant questioning, giving feedback that moves the learners forward, making sure that everyone is clear on the expectations, peer assessment, and student self-assessment.
 * 4) Assessment can be evaluated in many different ways; Formal, Diagnostic, Summative and Surveys. The main goal is to move the students forward in their skills.
 * 5) Assessment is different for each individual, fair is not always equal.

__**Sources**__

__**The Best Resources**__

__Facultyfocus.com- (5 out of 5)__ This website focuses on publishing articles on effective teaching strategies. Its main purpose is directed towards college classrooms but many of the articles can be related to K-12. It publishes its own free e-newsletter. It also offers online professional development classes and has links to job boards. It produces a wide array of resources in article form that pertain to assessment and how it affects students and teachers. For articles pertaining to assessment and assessment strategies this is the website I would offer as being the most valuable.

__**Additional Resources**__

__Department of Education- (5 out of 5)__ The Department of Education website offers a variety of information on all forms of educational thought. For assessment if offers letters of policy, standards and any information that is related to assessment and government standards. Offers tools and articles for dropout prevention, special education, civil rights, ESL and specific subject matter. Within these subheadings, the Department of Education gives resources for implementation.

__Edutopia.org- (4 out of 5)__ This is the website for the George Lucas Educational Foundation, there mission is to improve K-12 learning process. This website pulls heavily towards project-based learning and using new technology in schools, integrated studies, teacher development, social and emotional learning and comprehensive assessment, they wish to change the education system. It offers videos and blogs and examples of classrooms that have benefited from their vision. For assessment strategies their staff offers a variety of assessment ideas and breakdown the types of assessment and how they can and should be used. They offer a video with many of these articles that help show the process in action as well as interviews.

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[|www.rmcdenver.com/useguide/assesment]- (3 out of 5) This website is for teachers in Texas teaching to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills standards. It provides lessons and assessments in order to help teachers by a step-by-step process in teaching these skills. In the assessment category, it contains five steps in order to effectively assess. In each category it breaks down different strategies for making this possible. It also offers self-reflection questions to consider before and after you implement the strategies. This step process allows teachers to review their work, follow guidelines and keep organized. It teachers how to follow State Standards, using rubrics and how to adapt to the different categories of assessment.

__web.mac.com/stevedecker- (4 out of 5)__ This is a wonderful two part podcast. It is an interview with Steve Decker who talks about his book Fair is not Equal. It is about assessment in schools using real life situations. He talks about how assessment should be reformed based upon student performance vs. state standards. He remarks on the role of assessment and how it needs to be changed to more students centered. Assessment is not the same for everyone and although students may need to read and recall certain forms of information based on what the state says, it is the skills and the knowledge that really needs to be assessed. It isn’t the ability to know the information but if the student understands how to acquire the information on their own. It is a great podcast for a different view on assessment, Steve Decker takes a more alternative constructivist view of assessment and he provides insights on how to get at the heart of what needs to be known.

__[]-(4 out of 5)__ This site is an Intel Educational Initiative project. It gives different strategies for assessment and over views of different types of assessment and its purpose. It also gives assessment plans for middle, high and higher secondary schools. This site is great for understanding assessment and how it can be used with technology. It gives a basic overview for assessment and how to grade and implement them.

__[|www.journeytoexcellence.org]-(3 out of 5)__ Journey to Excellence provides short videos by Dylan Wiliam about different educational issues. His videos about assessment strategies give insight to the five key assessment strategies and their connection. These connections are: Teachers role in knowing where the learner is, constant questioning, giving feedback that moves the learners forward, making sure that everyone is clear on the expectations, peer assessment, and student self-assessment. These steps in assessment connect to each other to form the basis of effective assessment.

__[|www.usdla.org]-(4 out of 5)__ This article is about Brent Muirhead D.Min., Ph.D. Relevant Assessment Strategies for Online Colleges and Universities. Muirhead relates the importance of assessment and focuses on the different aspects of assessment. This article focuses mainly on student-centered learning. He provides that it is a difficult and long process that requires more out of teachers but the gain is worth the effort. He also asserts the importance of dialogue between students and the importance of keeping students informed in the process. He also offers conflicting viewpoints to give more validity to his arguments.

__interventioncentral.org-(5 out of 5)__ This site helps teachers and educators with free resources and response to intervention help. It provides resources for a variety of subjects that help in assessment, especially with students with disabilities. It provides resources for producing math, fluency, reading, and writing worksheets. These tools can help aid in assessment and focus more on an individual basis. These can be made for individual students or an entire class. This can benefit assessment by making it more students focused and it gives the teacher more influence over what is being assessed.

 __Community Based Learning Project __  For my disabilities based community project I went to Jackson County Mental Health in Medford. I wanted to experience something different than the in-school resources. Particularly I wanted to understand what resources there were for individuals outside of the school setting. Jackson County Mental Health was a destination that I knew who served both adolescence and adults with mental disabilities. I was able to tour the facility and interview a few employees about their job and what JCMH has to offer. I was not able to sit in on any meetings or sessions but I was able to see where they took place and understand better how they were conducted. **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 10pt;">Facility: ** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: center;">The facility is not complex. It consists of a lobby, a records room and rooms for nurses, doctors, therapists and case workers. They are an out-patient facility that serves all ages. They offer a variety of resources including transportation, skills trainers, crisis teams, therapists and offer medication to severe patients, drug assistance programs and education training.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: center;">The employees have a client based system with a certain number of individuals assigned to nurses, doctors and case managers. They also accept walk in patients who need help at that moment or could become potential clients. For individuals there is an assessment process from which they are determined what level of resources are needed. Individuals will usually see a therapist and a nurse and if deemed necessary a physician who will determine whether or not they will become potential clients and the level of treatment. Individuals with mental disabilities who need these services will be able to receive the outside or inside resources if needed. They accept a variety of levels of mental disabilities, and are able to help with any problems individuals may have. I thought about my students and how I could help and the resources I could have for them. They see a variety of disabilities ranging from A.D.D. to dissociative disorder. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande','Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; text-align: center;">**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 10pt;">Interview: ** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: center;">I interviewed a case manager and asked her about some of the things she does. She advocates for the individual, she talks on their behalf and helps them acquire some of the resources. She sees many of the individuals with the severest mental disabilities, including delusions, severe schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. She recounted how the best way to get those resources and how to help individuals function better in their lives and community. She believed that her job was to help individuals to become as independent as possible. She does handle the individuals who have the most severe cases but reminds me that most individuals looking for resources are very high functioning and only need assistance with minor things. I had only interviewed employees who work with adults; I was not able to see any of those who worked with adolescence. She operates like a doctor’s office, where her clients come in and receive check-ups and she talks to them about how they are doing. She also makes one year assessments and treatment plans, which like IEPs, contain goals that the individual wants to meet each year. It was interesting to see that IEPs and what she was doing were somewhat similar. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Grande','Lucida Sans Unicode',sans-serif; text-align: center;">**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 10pt;">Reflection: ** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: center;">I have grown up volunteering at various organizations, mostly through St. Vincent De Paul, where I have worked with adult individuals with mental disabilities. However when I tour the facility and talked to many people I learned just how extensive the resources there were for people. As well as the various different levels of abilities and backgrounds. Many individuals who use JCMH are not born with the mental disability. Many have had them come on later in life and some have appeared because of abuse or drugs. There are so many factors that contribute it is a lot to handle. I keep thinking to my students who may have one of these disabilities and how I can make their school experience the best. What resources I can use and always remember the individual not the disability, a lesson for other students to understand. This is a great community based service center who individuals who need resources. The transition period for students can be a scary time, leaving school having to face the world without the help the school provides. This is a good place to help in that transition. I also found that they help both adults and children. I was disappointed I could not interview someone who worked with children but it was not in the part of the facility that I toured but they provided the same kinds of services and their assessment is much like IEPs. They even offer education classes for parents. Parents are usually highly involved with their children here, which I was glad to notice. This experienced showed me that I do want to be a better inclusive teacher. This facility only helps those with mental disabilities but there are so many more I need to learn about. I need to become more diverse in this knowledge and the skills to be a better inclusive teacher. Most importantly I learned to be better in tune with the individual.