How often do you give assessments?

<b> Forum for the discussion of assessment and testing of ESL/EFL students </b>

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MelissaQ
Posts: 14
Joined: Fri May 04, 2012 4:12 am

How often do you give assessments?

Post by MelissaQ » Tue May 29, 2012 4:44 am

I am in the process of not only getting certified to become an ESL teacher, but I am going to get my standard teaching certificate as well. My background is not in the field of education, so please excuse my lack of knowledge if the answer to this question is obvious. I was just wondering how often students are assessed. I understand that all lessons do not have to include a formal test or even a quiz. When they do not, how does one know if students learned the lesson? Without a formal assessment, how does one measure the success of their students? Also, how would one know to make appropriate adjustments in the lesson plans that follow if an assessment was not done?

birdy
Posts: 18
Joined: Fri May 04, 2012 10:47 am

Post by birdy » Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:59 am

When I was teaching English as a Foreign Language the book provided 4 tests (reading, writing, listening and speaking) to every chapter. I never did all the tests that the book provided. In addition the book had self-check exercises for students. I think it is important to have a good relationship with students, so you as a teacher can go around the classroom and look, read, and listen to whatever they have to work on, without them being intimidated. I just try to focus on a few students with observation goals everytime, to not overwhelm myself. I think through this observation you will notice if the lesson objectives are being met. I also take a minute after class to write down what I noticed in class. Whenever I teach something that I think is really important or a chapter is finished, I assess the students on it. Assessment does not necessary mean test. There are many other ways, like journals, portfolios, conferences, observation or peer- and self- assessment.

smantrach
Posts: 14
Joined: Thu May 03, 2012 7:06 pm

How Often do you Give Assessment?

Post by smantrach » Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:14 pm

There are different ways of testing your children’s understanding after you teach them a lesson or lessons. Aside from testing or quizzing your children to measure their understanding on the subject taught, you can assess them informally. This is done by asking your students’ questions on a specific subject: you can ask them questions on the new vocabulary words learned (they can use them in a sentence when answering your questions). When they are doing written work or hands on activity when doing a large or small group discussion/activity (if they can’t do the activity you will know they didn’t fully understand what you taught them). You can also assess the students’ learning by giving them a group project where they will work cooperatively. All your activities will tie in together when you are teaching a lesson, so you will be assessing their knowledge constantly. As for the adjustments, once you will start teaching your students at the beginning of the year, you will get to know them. You will notice all the multiple intelligences that you have in your class. Some students need extra time when doing an assignment, others will need that you retell them the directions individually after you finished giving instructions, and others might just need that you go over the lesson with them. Remember, all students are not the same and do not learn at the same pace. I hope this helps. I am sure you will do great once you start teaching.

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