Evaluating Characteristics of Diverse Learners (EDU-6330)

I recently completed the graduate class Evaluating Characteristics of Diverse Learners.  The guiding question for this class is: how can evaluating academic characteristics promote success in school?

As an educator, assessments are a huge piece of my teaching process.  I am constantly assessing students both formally and informally.  They inform my teaching by helping me get to know my students better.  I am able to see what my students understand and what we need to spend more time studying.  Assessments also give me information to share with my coworkers and with parents.  It is critical to have proof when speaking to parents about their child’s strengths and weaknesses.

A requirement of this class was to acquire strategies for developing individualized and measurable goals and objectives.  I found this activity to be beneficial as a future special educator and as a current first grade teacher.  I read many IEPs every year, and it gave me insight into the IEP process by having to create my own SMART goals and objectives.  As a future special educator, paperwork is a huge part of the job description.  It was helpful to start learning about writing IEPs in a small and manageable manner.

We were also required to learn the practices and procedures associated with the WJ-IV.  We were able to administer the WJ-IV to a peer within the class and actually take the test ourselves.  I found it valuable to experience both sides of the testing experience.  It helped me to become more familiar with the assessment and the experience helped me to identify with what my students might feel when they are asked to take the WJ-IV.  As an educator, it helped me to better understand the results of the WJ-IV when the students from my classroom are being evaluated.

It is clear the there is a symbiotic relationship between evaluation and teaching strategies.  Evaluations and assessments help educators to choose strategies that will best help specific students.  Also, knowing specific strategies that help certain students can give educators information that will be helpful when choosing the appropriate assessments for a student.  For example, if a student has high oral comprehension and high verbal skills but lower reading skills, a teacher may want to assess this student using an interview process.

Evaluating Characteristics of Diverse Learners was a great learning experience for me.  The class reaffirmed my belief in the importance of assessments in the classroom.  I also received new learning about how to write IEP goals and objectives and how to administer the WJ-IV.