Elementary Group (Jennifer Turner and Chalice Tillis)

Inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge.

1.4.1 Monitor own information-seeking processes for effectiveness and progress, and adapt as necessary.

1.4.2 Use interaction with and feedback from teachers and peers to guide own inquiry process.

1.4.3 Monitor gathered information, and assess for gaps or weaknesses.

1.4.4 See appropriate help when it is needed.

Ideas/Strategy

The librarian can interview students by observing and questioning students to get a better idea of their attitudes, thinking processes, level of understanding, ability to make connections, or ability to communicate or apply concepts.

Resources or activities/ Structured Interview

Evaluation Purposes:

• They are effective at diagnosing both strengths and needs.
• They encourage students to reflect upon their own thinking.
• They provide additional information on exceptional students.

Thoughts:

• Interviews can occur formally or informally. Use tools or manipulatives
• Ask the student to do a task and to explain what they are doing and why as they work, or you can do the task yourself and have the student tell what s/he thinks you are doing and why (valuable for at-risk students).
• Keep records with either a video/audio recorder, rubric or anecdotal notes.
• Not all students need to be interviewed on a given set of tasks.
• Allow plenty of wait time so that the student can give thoughtful responses. Refrain from teaching or asking leading questions.
• Ask students to describe their thought processes while they are solving problems (use think/talk techniques).

Questioning Suggestions:

Ask questions that will help you better understand student behavior and understanding:

• What did you do first?
• Why?
• Can you describe your solution?
• Will you explain what you are doing?
• What should you do next?
• Can you describe any patterns you see?

Websites

http://www.eed.state.ak.us/tls/Frameworks/mathsci/ms5_2as1.htm

aasl.ala.org/aaslstandindtf/images/f/fa/5Self-Assessment.doc

www.howtoanalyzeinformation.com

www.eed.state.ak.us/tls/Frameworks/mathsci/ms5_2as1.htm

Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge.

2.4 Self-Assessment Strategies

2.4.1Determine how to act on information (accept, reject, modify).

 2.4.2Reflect on systematic process, and assess for completeness of investigation.

2.4.3Recognize new knowledge and understanding.

2.4.4Develop directions for future investigations.

Journals (or learning logs) are on-going written records, including graphics, which help you assess how students organize, formulate, internalize, explain and evaluate concepts and processes. Writing sends a message to students that the communications of their scientific and mathematical thoughts are important.

Students learn self-assessment through a combination of teaching strategies.  Direct instruction is appropriate at any time, especially when students are learning a new self-assessment strategy, like reflective note taking.  Librarians might teach, for example, students to ask themselves questions during note taking as they interact with text (Is this true?; How does this fit with what I already know?; Is there another viewpoint on this issue?; What other questions do I have?).  Rather than teaching specific strategies, librarians and teachers may choose to provide models of exemplary performance to enable students to internalize a solid understanding of the expectations and compare their performance with the model.  Finally, librarians and teachers may guide students’ self-assessment by providing scaffolding. 

Reflection logs – Students write in a journal or log on a regular basis about their research experience.  They may indicate simply what they tried and what they accomplished each day, what frustrations or barriers they are experiencing, what they plan to do next, what questions they have about the subject or process, or what they want to remember later when creating their final product.  Librarians and teachers may scaffold attention to specific items or provoke continued progress by offering a prompt for the reflection-log writing (e.g., What was the most important idea you learned today?  Why?; What new question has emerged from your research and how do you think you will find the answer?; What’s the best online source you’ve found?  Why?).  Although the librarian or teacher will want to review and respond to the logs occasionally, their main value lies in the students thinking about their own work.

Process folios – Process folios are strategic collections of the process work of learning, just as portfolios are strategic collections of the products of learning.  Students begin with a reflection on their whole research process, looking at the barriers and successes along the way.  Students then document and reflect on the phases of their learning experience, which might include their initial topic selection, development of questions, search strategy, evaluation of sources, evaluation of information, reflective note taking, and organization of final product. 

Reflective note taking – Many teachers and librarians teach students to do two- or three-column note taking.  This structure leads students to think about the notes while they are taking them because the right column is usually for student reactions to the ideas in the notes.  Librarians and teachers may provide prompts for the reflections column or they may leave it up to students to react however they feel is appropriate.  The result of using reflective note taking is that students have already made sense of the information before they try to draw conclusions and organize and create their final product.

Using Feedback from Others

Rubric or checklist – Students may provide valuable feedback to their peers by using a rubric or checklist to look at the work and providing comments for suggested revisions.  Peer feedback is most useful in the skills area.  Embedded within the latter part of this document are Levels of Proficiency for many of the 21^st century learning skills in these standards.  These may easily be extracted and combined to provide a rubric for the skills being addressed during a particular learning experience.

Checklists offer a quicker way for peers to offer feedback.  The items on the checklist should correspond with the skills being emphasized during that learning experience.   The following chart is a brief example of a checklist for Standard 3:  Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society.

Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society.

Websites

aasl.ala.org/aaslstandindtf/images/f/fa/5Self-Assessment.doc

www.eed.state.ak.us/tls/Frameworks/mathsci/ms5_2as1.htm

www.scribd.com/doc/4662920/Assessment-for-Learning-Peer-and-Self-Assessment-Strategies-Teacher-Notes

3.4 Self-Assessment Strategies

3.4.1, 3.4.2, 3.4.3 Assess the processes by which learning was achieved in order to revise strategies and learn more effectively in the future. Assess the quality and effectiveness of the learning product. Assess own ability to work with others in a group setting by evaluating varied roles, leadership, and demonstrations of respect for other viewpoints.

Involving students in the assessment and evaluation process is an essential part of balanced assessment. When students become partners in the learning process, they gain a better sense of themselves as readers, writers, and thinkers. As students reflect on what they have learned and on how they learn, they develop the tools to become more effective learners. Students need to examine their work and think about what they do well and in which areas they still need help. To guide students in understanding the process of self-evaluation, you may want to have them complete a Self-Reflection/Self-Assessment sheet of your own.

In group work a range of relevant skills are employed in the process of producing the group product. As well as the ability to work with others, these include self management and organizational skills, research skills, communication and intellectual skills. There is therefore a strong case to assess the performance of individual group members during the process formally, thereby providing the opportunity to produce different marks for individual members of the group.

Librarians can have the students to use a wiki or a blog to do projects on. Their peers can go on the wiki or blog and and evaluate their peers work. The wiki or blog can be used to stimulate and enhance the students learning skills.

Websites

aasl.ala.org/aaslstandindtf/images/f/fa/5Self-Assessment.doc

www.scribd.com/doc/4662920/Assessment-for-Learning-Peer-and-Self-Assessment-Strategies-Teacher-Notes

www.ukcle.ac.uk/resources/assessment/group.html

Pursue personal and aesthetic growth.

4.4 Self-Assessment Strategies

4.4.1 4.4.2 4.4.3 4.4.4 4.4.5 4.4.6 Identify own areas of interest. Recognize the limits of own personal knowledge. Recognize how to focus efforts in personal learning. Interpret new information based on cultural and social context. Develop personal criteria for gauging how effectively own ideas are expressed. Evaluate own ability to select resources that are engaging and appropriate for personal interests and needs.

Self-Questioning

Student self-assessment may be most effective when students learn to question themselves throughout the learning process.  Teachers and librarian can scaffold self-questioning by providing questions that are specifically designed around the targeted skills, responsibilities, and dispositions for each learning experience.  The following generic examples are provided for all four of the standards in Standards for the 21^st-Century Learner.

Students are asked to reflect on, make a judgment about, and then report on their own or a peer's behavior and performance. The responses may be used to evaluate both performance and attitude. Typical evaluation tools could include sentence completion, Likert scales, checklists, or holistic scales.

Evaluation Purposes:

• Self and peer evaluations help us gain information on how students view their own performance and/or how peers view their performance.
• They provide data on student or group attitudes, feelings, opinions, and views.
• They encourage reflection and communication about desirable performance criteria.

Thoughts:

• It is common for students to have difficulty when they are first asked to report their feelings, beliefs, intentions, or thinking processes. It is even more difficult to report on their peers' performance. Make the process safer by using it for formative rather than summative purposes.
• Model evaluating your own performance, or provide examples. Another strategy is to introduce constructive feedback. Models help students develop their sense of standards for their own performance.
• Work on constructive feedback between students. Do a lot of modeling first, and then make one positive statement and one area for improvement. The students then will pick another classmate to make a positive and an improvement comment as well.
• Let students do a private self-assessment that no one else sees. This allows for an honest sense of their own level of understanding and performance.
• Self-assessment and peer assessment can sometimes be combined onto one checklist format; however, one set of responses may influence the other.

Websites

http://www.eed.state.ak.us/tls/Frameworks/mathsci/ms5_2as1.htm

aasl.ala.org/aaslstandindtf/images/f/fa/5Self-Assessment.doc