ASSESSMENTS!!  This week, we are discussing the importance of assessments. I love the definition I found, "to sit beside". That is exactly what we are doing. Helping our students succeed. To do this we must make the time to sit with them, see what is going on, and guide them as needed. An assessment goal is to increase the quality of their work, by an on-going process of looking, asking, answering, encouraging, leading, helping to move in a better direction. We can't do that from our desk. We MUST sit beside them. Stand with them. Push them. Pull them. Walk with them until a goal has been achieved in the best way that student can do. One of my favorite assessments is to give my students a quick 5-10 question quiz. Then I have them share their answers with a partner. They must look at each other's answers. Is one right and the other Wrong? Who is right and why. Who is wrong and why. Can they both be right? In ASL both can be right. They can be expressing something, using a different choice of signs, and still be signing correctly. They must prove this to each other, or go to a third person and compare again. The vocabulary around the room is encouraging.
My instructions are to make sure their answers are correct before they turn in their paper. I then go over the answers and different choices with the class. A growing experience for all of them.