Week 4 INVENTORIES

1. Hallmark #1: A strong link between assessment and instruction: assessment and instruction are inseparably connected...
The two inventories on page 100-103 in Fullfilling the Promise.. are two great ways to begin a year and to assess were many students are coming from and what interests they may have in different topics or activities. The first inventory is a student profile survey. I would use this survey to help me to understand what my students feel strongly about in their learning styles and what learning styles or activities they do not like. I would make two more columns that said "a little like me" and "a little different than me." I think these additional columns would be valuable to me as a teacher so that I could understand other learning possibilities that may fit, alongside the absolutes that are stated in the "like me" and "not like me" columns.
The secong inventory is a Student interest survey. This survey asks a bunch of questions that help the teacher understand where each student is coming from and their learning preferences. I would probably ask more specific questions on what the students want to learn about in each of the subjects (#8). This would allow me to get a clearer picture of what they already know and want to know, as well as giving them a heads up for the upcoming curriculum.

2. From the File of Inventories and index of inventories..
I liked a lot of these inventories because the idea of the inventory was to gather information about each student, observe them, and allow them to speak to the teacher about their ideas, worries, concerns, and strenths through the many different content areas. Some similarities that i observed were the constant student assessments and response. I felt that asking the students what they like and what they don't feel comfortable with is one of the most important ways to pre-assess what to teach them and how to differentiate each lesson for your students. I liked that there are a lot of anecdotal notes that teachers can use that have different focus questions to help the teacher observe and assess student learning and understanding. Another thing that I liked about these pre-assessments is that many of them were very low key and avoided stress (opposite to a test). The questions say things like, do your best, show me as much as you know about this, how do you feel about this topic etc...

What I am beginning to learn about differentiation content, or process or product for readiness or learning profile, or interest is that it takes communication and observation that is low stress, asks questions, profides accurate feedback, and involves a teacher/student understanding toward the feelings and attitudes attached to specific areas of study. Teachers must understand what level the child is coming from and what level they feel they are at in order to decide how to differentiate for their needs. These inventories provide great ways to aid the teacher in discovering student needs and uncovering the important skills that have yet to be taught and mastered.