Competency Area 4

Competency Area IV: ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION
Teachers apply technology to facilitate a variety of effective assessment and evaluation strategies. Teachers:

Sub-Competency A:

Apply technology in assessing student learning of subject matter using a variety of assessment techniques.

Evidence: Spreadsheet Grade book This is a spreadsheet which Microsoft Excel for recording, averaging, and giving feedback on student achievement as reported through student grades.

Reflection:

This spreadsheet that was done using Microsoft Excel was an excellent tool to use for averaging student grades. This program allowed me to quickly and efficiently enter student grades into pre-formulated cells. All that teachers have to do is enter the new grade into the pre-formulated cell and the grade changes to reflect the new score. This allows the teacher to stay current with his or her students’ grades. This in turn allows the teacher to keep their students and their parents up-to-date with the most up-to-date grades possible. In the time that it takes for the teacher to work out the calculations that the computer does instantaneously, the teacher can be interacting with the students on important subject matter. This use of a spreadsheet for student assessment of learning is an efficient and time-saving practice.

Sub-Competency B:

Use technology resources to collect and analyze data, interpret results, and communicate findings to improve instructional practice and maximize student learning.

Evidence: Spreadsheet Grade book using Microsoft Excel to collect, analyze, and interpret student learning.

Reflection:

Using a spreadsheet as a grade book allows teachers to quickly input data from the many sources of student work. This may include daily grades such as worksheets, quizzes, writing samples, and homework sets. It also allows teachers to quickly and efficiently input test scores right after the tests have been checked and scored and receive immediate feedback on where the student stands in the class. This is due to the pre-formulated cells within the spreadsheets. All teachers have to do in insert the new scores into the appropriate cells and they have an instant corrected average to reflect the addition of that new score. These instant scores give the teacher the opportunity to analyze where each student stands in his or her class and interpret what those scores mean for the best interest of that child. A spreadsheet grade book enables the teacher to give quicker and more accurate feedback to the student and that student's parents. Spreadsheet grade books also allow the teacher to have a better overall picture of what is going on in a child's academic life and intervene quicker and more efficiently.

Evidence Student Information Spreadsheet using Microsoft Excel to collect, analyze, and interpret student learning with the Mail Merge (Mail Merge filename) operation of Microsoft Word to communicate findings. These things put together will improve instructional practice and maximize student learning.

Reflection:
Using a spreadsheet like as you would a database also allows you as a teacher to collect grades as you would in a grade book. Teachers can also collect other kinds of data about students, such as phone numbers and end of term comments from the teacher. This information can then be easily communicated to parents/guardians for verification through a Mail Merge program in Microsoft Word. Teacher's time is precious. Programs that work together such as these do are time-savers and allow teachers to transfer the information and allow the program to plug the information into one main letter and print it out for each student. This allows the teacher to focus her time on more pressing needs such as other duties with her students or with other faculty. Database programs such as these also allow students to create their own databases that might correspond with whatever the current content of the time may be. For example , if the class was studying biomes, the class may create a database with information on temperature, rainfall, soil type, vegetation type, and animal types. This would maximize student learning by allowing them to then search their findings and filter out the unwanted information to find the desired information and communicate that information with the rest of the class.

Sub-Competency C:

Apply multiple methods of evaluation to determine students' appropriate use of technology resources for learning, communication, and productivity.

Evidence: Mrs. Wright's Social Studies World Studies Project (Cullowhee Valley 6th Grade)
                    Country PowerPoint
                    Country Tri-fold Board

Addressed the following technology standards: (NC Standard Course of Study)
Competency Goal 1: The learner will understand important issues of a technology-based society and will exhibit ethical behavior in the use of computer and other technologies.
    1.07 Cite sources of information used in content area databases.
    1.10 Demonstrate appropriate use of copyrighted materials in word processing documents used for
             content projects/assignments.

Competency Goal 3: The learner will use a variety of technologies to access, analyze, interpret, synthesize, apply, and communicate information.
3.12 Plan, collect, evaluate, interpret, and use information from a variety of resources to develop
assignments about the Eastern Hemisphere, Europe, and Former Soviet Republics.

Reflection:
Technology can be used in many ways, for many different assignments in the classroom. In the above two World Studies Projects, Internet research was used for both. Students were expected search the Internet for resources, pictures and information for their boards and PowerPoint, and put their their presentations together according to the expected guidelines. Student's use of the Internet and PowerPoint, along with content knowledge and effort was evaluated here. Some students may not have had enough background knowledge and experience to successfully navigate through PowerPoint. All student, by now, do know how to do basic searches on the Internet. That is why it is important to give students other ways to show their technological skills and evaluate them on those through projects that bring those skills out, such as the country tri-fold board that presented internet research. This shows other ways that students have learned and presented the same information.

Page Author: Kelley Haney
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