Chapter 4

It has been stated many times before that most people learn through experience.  I believe that teachers should allow their students to learn through experiences they have in the classroom as well as out of the classroom.  We as teachers need to implement the things that are going on in our students lives outside of school in our curriculum so they will be aware of the knowledge they are consuming through interactions with others, activities, and even television.  Through these experiences, we can give our students the opportunity to be living in an ongoing assessment.  Also, teachers should be aware of the ongoing change in each of their students lives to provide the diversity in the classroom and assessment as needed.  Through the experiences students have in and out of the classroom, teachers should create new and inventive ways to informally assess their students literacy and understanding.

Personal assessments is one of the many ways to provide the ongoing assessment for the students in a classroom.  Through interviews, conversations, surveys, and observations, a teacher can gain a better understanding of what is going on in the students life in and outside of school.  Also, when gaining this information, the teacher can informally quiz or test the student(s) by helping them realize what they have learned through their experiences.  For each student, the things the teacher does could be different.  The teacher can have the students bring their prior knowledge into the lessons to make connections between their lives and the information they are gaining in the classroom.

Authentic test are a great way for teachers to realize the knowledge and understanding students have of particular topics or subjects.  Through authentic assessments, the book explains that students are engaging in writing and literacies for real purposes.  This is extremely important because through these real life situations students are excited about learning, they are driven through positive motivation and the teachers are able to assess their learning using these motivators.  Really and truly, anything teachers can bring in the classroom that is authentic to the students is better for them in the long run.  It helps the teachers with ongoing assessment as well as helping the students understand the material and motivating them in their learning.