Capstone lesson planning is a necessary tool for every educator as it acts as a guide to on how and when to make the required adjustments and enhancements to meet every diversified student’s needs. A formative and summative assessment represents the pinnacle of an effective educator’s course (Parkes and Zimmaro, 2017). The ability to adjust the lesson plan to meet the needs of disparate student’s needs should be exquisite. Formative and summative assessment provides results that indicate a student’s development and identify the strengths and weaknesses for evaluation.
The main difference between the two assessments is that Formative assessment is done during the learning period and continually monitors the student’s learning and performance, while summative, derived from the name, is an assessment at the end of every learning period.
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The formative assessment strategies are Index Card Summaries, Hand Signal, One Minute Essays, Misconception Check, Student Conferences, and so many more (Lorraine M. Baron, 2016) . However, the most efficient strategy that has been used by my predecessors and that I will use is Observation; this requires an educator to directly observe every student at least twice or thrice every study period by judging their ability to respond to questions, how they think and reason with the rest, how well they express themselves and solve problems.
Even though it is quite subjective to observe all the students, data can be collected by choosing a formula of how to select the students to be observed per season to avoid an arbitrary selection. To obtain more efficient results, observations are often unannounced. The feedback is immediate and helps the educator make quick adjustments on the teaching styles if need be. The data obtained acts as a guide for monitoring learning. The feedback obtained shall be used to guide me improve my teaching as well as improve the learning process of my students.
Summative assessment, on the other hand, is more reliable as the appraisal is conducted to evaluate what the student has learned at the end of the learning period. It assesses what the student knows or do not know, can do or cannot or what he or she can express or articulate. All these are proved at the end of a period. This type of assessment acts as an accountability measure for both the educator and the students (Kettler, Reddy, Glover & Kurz, 2017) . Standardized tests, such as SAT and Common Core Tests, have been used widely as a summative assessment strategy in comparison to other approaches such as projects, mid-term, and final tests.
Standardized tests are more appropriate, as the same questions or tests, selected from a series of questions from different sections are given to all students in a consistent way, done at the same time ("Standardized test," 2019) . Use of standardized tests shall help me to relatively make a comparison of the individual performance of a group of students. Standardized tests are in various forms nut the multiple-choice, and essay questions are widely used. The data gleaned from every student’s performance acts a gauge. I will, therefore, use the information to help me make a good lesson plan to be used in my next study period, emphasizing on the areas or sections that I feel most students did not perform well. The lesson plan development shall incorporate such poorly done areas.
Satisfaction survey improves the quality of teaching as it provides feedback on the course and programs that the educator needs to work on more than the other; this improves the efficiency of teaching as it is easier to identify the sections that every student’s weaknesses and strengths. Satisfaction survey helps the instructor to obtain the necessary information without causing the students to be anxious. The survey administered to students could include questions about their learning environment, asking the students to evaluate other teachers, asking them about the workload given to them by teachers, the pace used and maybe the structure of the institution or class.
Surveys are conducted to understand the students and focus on their areas of needs. Instructor’s satisfaction survey should bring out the identified areas of weaknesses and strengths and reinforce the necessary measures to be embraced.
Data gleaned from the instructor satisfaction survey will help me augment a result-oriented perspective on the students. The survey provides a meaningful insight based on the teachers ‘performance and the level of educational investment needed fortified. Priorities needed to be put in place to fill the gap created by the actual teaching experience and the real teaching experience gained.
Use of portfolio as a survey method is also another effective method of ensuring success in my teaching practice. It might include the exchange of teaching materials with other colleagues, soliciting information from both colleagues and students, use of assignments, hand-outs and constant review of the syllabus could be another method of survey. I will be at ease to identify the areas of weaknesses and strengths, as an educator, point out the interesting parts of the experience, and identify the most frustrating situations and the measures on how to cope with such frustrations, to avoid relaying the same to my students. The survey shall help me appreciate my colleagues, learn from them and rectify any misunderstanding arising, and find out how different they work from me and as a team, work towards meeting the needs of every diverse student for successful education development.
References
Standardized test. (2019). Retrieved 28 July 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standardized_test
Kettler, R., Reddy, L., Glover, T., & Kurz, A. (2017). Bridging the Gap: Classroom Strategies Assessment System–Observer Form. Assessment for Effective Intervention , 44 (2), 120-122. doi: 10.1177/1534508417747391
Parkes, J., & Zimmaro, D. (2017). Formative and Summative Assessments. The College Classroom Assessment Compendium,89-91. doi:10.4324/9781315283852-25
