Reading Reflection 9

1. Description of a method of understanding prior-knowledge of students
By finding out what students understand prior to the lesson, you as a teacher have a general idea of what objectives take the most importance over others. You know what areas of study will need to be addressed the most and what areas only need to be fine tuned.

2. Discussion on the importance of establishing anchors for a project
Students won’t all be in the same place learning wise at the end of the lesson. Just like they weren’t all in the same place at the beginning of the lesson. Anchors help you gain a sense of where students are starting and how far they are going as they work to meet learning goals. At the end of the lesson, you also have a better understanding of where every student is.

3. Description of several ways to assess what students learned during the project
Some ways to assess what students learned include tests, asking what they learned, creating something new, model real world assessments, and submitting work for publication or contests. A test is the most traditional way to assess students’ knowledge after a project. Asking students what they learned offers less pressure on the students and acts like a simple talk. But modeling real world assessments is the best way, I believe, because they are used in the real world. The more students get a better understanding of how they’ll be assessed in the real world, the more they’ll be prepared.

4. Discussion on how concepts in this chapter relate to your topic/project
We’ve looked at the different ways to assess what the students learned. This is difficult because each student learns at a different pace and probably learned something different than their partner. Finding the right assessment is key to growth for the next project.