Sunday, October 31, 2010
Writing Assessments
I had a discussion with one of my fellow teachers about the writing assessments we do in Georgia. We have to pre-test and post-test a writing sample and then do six other writing assessments throughout the year. We were talking about rather or not Kindergarten should have to do these. As of now, they do. They have to write one sentence and then draw a picture of what they wrote. We both have mixed feelings about this. Yes, at the end of the year they should be able to do this, but at the beginning of the year they cannot even write their name. So, how can you assess a blank sheet of paper or fake writing? You will get great results, but the students in her class get very stressed out and upset about this process. Does anyone else's school district do this? If so, what do you think?
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I live in Battle Creek, MI and I was speaking to my Literacy coach about your dilemma there in Georgia and she said that for the most part things in Kindergarten don't get up and running until well into January. I guess the question would be what are they really assessing? All children come to us at different stages right? Their stage could be the scribble stage, so that then should drive the kindergarten teacher's next step as a teacher. It is too much pressure they are putting on these children. Developmentally most children aren't even ready. However if a child goes from scribble stage to two words, then there is growth. Thanks for sharing it is interesting to see what other states are doing.
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