Mod 5 Discussion: Formal and Informal Assessments

As a classroom teacher I taught Language Arts and reading and the form of I used rubrics.   This was successful because it allowed the students to their evaluate their level of understanding of their work.  I even used a visual support rubric for my level 3 students that had a green thumbs up to indicate they understood the assign a yellow thumb pointing to the side to indicate they understood the assignment but needed more help and a red thumbs down if they did not understand the assignment at all and they needed more help with that assignment. 

I also began my day with journals which promoted increased writing.  I encourage my students to write in journals. If they needed to clear their minds, wanted to write about their weekends or just had anything they needed to share with me they could write it in their journal.  They could also write secrets or things that were upsetting them in their journal, and they could tell me they did not want me to read it as well. I also used a word wall that we continued to build upon throughout the year. The students would actually find joy telling me when we learned a new word to add to the wall.

I love the OPTIC approach.  If I was still in the classroom or had plans to go back into a classroom, I would definitely use that approach because it ia a research-based approach that breaks everything down from the overview to the conclusion and if all of the steps are followed this appears to be a simplified approach for students to learn.