Want your students thinking about their progress?

Want your students to take notice of their own learning? 

Here's a little something I've done for years, and it never fails!

Get started with a monthly self-assessment. 

I use these Monthly Check-Ins for my monthly assessment. The children LOVE them and look forward to them each month. Since the questions are similar each month, they anticipate what will be coming and will start to plan ahead! "I think this will be my favorite book for the month," or "I'm proud of how well I did with my life cycle project, that will go on the next monthly check-in!"

I often make a list of the main events of the past month before giving them the new month's check-in. Younger students, in particular, need that organization. 

That list might look something like this:

The children reflect on the individual questions and write their very best answers. Sometimes, I'll let them make a final draft and decorate it to make it special. I don't correct any mistakes, but I'm hoping that as the months go by, they'll realize those mistakes and recognize that they are getting smarter!

Save in a binder as a collection of the year's growth. 

I keep a binder for each child (I usually let them pick their own color at the beginning of the year.) When they're done with their newest entry, we place it in the binder. 

When the children share their latest entries with me, I find the time to sit with each child and discuss what they should work on in the coming month. It's tough to find time to meet with each individual, but it's totally worth it!

Not only do the children LOVE to share, but here's where a lot of the learning happens! These are rich conversations and have a lot of value. I hear things like, "I loved learning about the life cycle of the bat, I had no idea their babies were called pups!" or "I can't believe I didn't know how to spell firefighters last month. Now I do!" or even, "My handwriting was so sloppy back then, I can write much more neatly now!"

These monthly check-in binders are great to share with families at conferences and open houses. Parents LOVE to see their children's growth.

Even when the changes are subtle, growth should certainly be celebrated!

How do you celebrate their learning?

Assessing Reading Difficulties

How do you find out what the children need for Reading RTI (Response to Intervention) time?

Our district gives the DIBELS three times a year:  In September, January, and May.  As long as the children are working at grade level and showing growth, there is no need for additional assessments. If the children are working below level, or are not showing adequate growth in reading skills, they are followed more closely by Progress Monitoring, accompanied by additional instruction or alternative instruction.

DIBELS will help figure out which kids need help.  Then what?

A Quick Phonics Screener can help you find a deficiency in decoding skills more quickly and more specifically than DIBELS or other assessment tools. It's a one on one assessment, and can be done in a couple of minutes. (Google Quick Phonics Screener! There are several low priced options.)

I would prefer QPS used nonsense words, but I'm unable to find a copy online. This gives a true measurement of how the child does at "sounding out" the words without relying on the visual memory.  (I've known more than one reading deficit that was masked by a strong visual memory!)

I keep my QPS materials in a folder with the child's copy laminated and plenty of record sheets in the pockets.  If I notice a kid is not showing the desired growth, I'll find a couple of minutes to pull the child and guide them through the screening.  There is no "set way" to record what the child does, but generally I try to write something so I'll remember the mistakes the child made. (That's often a key for teaching!)

Looking closer, you'll see the order of subtests is in a logical order:  letter ID, letter sounds, cvc words, cvc words with blends, cvce words, r controlled vowels, cvc with digraphs, vowel pairs, words with prefixes or suffixes, two syllable words, and multisyllabic  words. The QPS suggests if a child misses 5 or more in a section, that's the skill needed.

Quite often, the teacher is already aware that the child has a specific reading issue, since we read with our children daily. But this is a way to record what's going on and drive instruction.