Blog Entry #4

• What clerical and preparation responsibilities have you participated in?

           I've mostly done some preparation stuff. Most of the time the teacher will take care of the clerical work and I will do prep. A lot of the time it's like a preparation for the next time by cleaning up, like sorting through crayons and reorganizing flash cards or games so they are all set for the next use. A lot of prep that I've done has been for exceptional students. So I will go through and get a set of things for them to do that isn't the same as what the rest of the class is doing. 

           Specific things I've done for preparation are finding the right worksheets that will be used, getting out props, games, books, or other things that they will use after recess, and just little things like that. Also we will double check the schedule for the next couple hours just to make sure we are on track with things. I have graded some math quizzes, actually. They were just easy times tables ones, so that wasn't too bad. But yeah, I've noticed that teachers do a TON of preparing for the day and the week. 

• How does this teacher manage assessment? 

          So far I've spent time in a couple different classrooms, and the teachers all handle assessment pretty similarly. First they have to record what the student knows initially. This can mean asking verbal questions, having them write something down, or just observing what they know. Most of the teachers I've seen assess students will have them take a test. Or some sort of written work-- it's easier to keep track of I think. Then they can just refer to those later. After that, they will do lessons to help the students learn more. From what I've seen, teachers don't really keep track super tightly of how the students are doing during a lesson. I mean, they give more attention to students that need it, but don't really write as much down.

           The last part of assessment is to test how much they've learned. I've given one of the tests where I read a sentence to the student and they had to write down their spelling words. The teacher would look at these after and be able to tell how much progress each student made, comparing it to the first tests they took. The biggest thing I've seen that causes successful assessments is being organized. Teachers have a lot on their plate, and a lot of students to keep track of. Being organized not only with the actual assessments but with your time will make things a lot easier on you.