Evaluating What Matters Most in Student Learning

Transcript

Kris  0:00  

Welcome to the Learning Loop Podcast, your best source for educational insights and trends. I’m Kris, your host. Today’s special guest is Erin. Erin is a kindergarten teacher at Thorson Elementary School in Wisconsin. Erin is a veteran teacher who enjoys blogging on the side. During today’s episode, Erin will share how she uses powerful assessments to meet the needs of every learner in her classroom. Erin, welcome to the show.

Erin (00:32)

Hi, thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited to be here, thank you.

Kris (00:36)

We are so excited you are here too. We’ll start with a basic question here. What role do assessments play in your classroom?

Erin (00:45)

Oh my gosh, they’re so huge. Like we are constantly using them all the time. Like as you mentioned, I teach kindergarten.

So we’re constantly getting those baseline assessments to see where they’re at, those formative assessments along the way. Right now that we were just checking to see what letter sounds that they know, and then we can pull them into little groups if needed. We are constantly checking to see how they’re writing their numbers, how they’re counting, and then we get that data, and then we pull them into small group time. We’re really lucky at our school to have a special time for,

like ELA flex time, which is like the pullout groups. And then we also have in separate time of the day for math groups, so, which is amazing. This is our first year of being able to do that. We’re still trying to figure out the kinks, you know, it’s only day 20 in kindergarten. So we’re working really hard on it. But yeah, we use assessments all the time, whether it be formal or informal assessments. We’re constantly, you know, walking around with those little clipboards, walking around with our little charts. So yeah, huge, huge for sure.

Kris (01:50)

Awesome, awesome. I love how you’re actioning that too. Like you’re taking that information, you’re putting it right into practice and really just delivering what these students really need to help move them forward. Love that.

Erin (01:54)

Yeah.

Erin (01:59)

Definitely, definitely. Yeah, for sure.

Kris (02:03)

I’m gonna ask a question kind of related to what you just hinted at is like, how do you balance your traditional forms of assessment, like using your clipboard, with things like digital forms of assessment? How do you find that balance? And really, if you could share what works for you and your classroom also, that just really helps to provide some insight.

Erin (02:18)

Yeah, so we love seesaw at our school. I mean, it’s a seesaw thing. But so I created, like during the pandemic, we had to put like everything for our little buddies up on seesaw in there. Thank goodness that they were used to it. So then I started making those assessments to be able to go on seesaw, and then we just continued on with it. So a lot of our exit tickets for math are on there. So for every lesson we have, we have a little quick exit ticket.

I’m able to get it really fast and then I pull them on over and be like, hey buddy, I noticed that you didn’t get this and I can put the…

the, what we worked on together, like right on the screen and right with them. And then parents, I’m ready to comment at the bottom. So parents are able to see, oh, the teacher had to sit with them or they’re not understanding this concept. So parents are able to see that in real time. So we have those type of assessments. And then I also have like those one-on-one conversation ones. So more of like, I would say like our formative or summative assessments are kind of like one-on-one, especially at kindergarten, those formative assessments,

quick exit tickets, those quick other things that I can do digitally, which is great, that I can quick pull them on over and be like, hey buddy, this is just not working for you today, so let’s do this right now. Or we do that with our phonics as well, that we can see the things that are going and then same thing, I can share to the parents and then they’re like, oh, they’re not quite getting this. So this is something that we can do at home. So.

Erin (03:56)

Try to do a little bit of both throughout the day and just kind of what kind of works for us and the things that we’ve created before and then things that like, oh, this really is working. So we’re continuing to create other ones too. So yeah, a little bit of both that’s happening right now in our room.

Kris (04:01)

Yeah.

Kris (04:12)

For sure. Yeah, and I love too how many moments you have for that. I mean, you shared many examples of how it happens throughout the day, whether it’s right after a lesson or whether it’s something that’s end of the week or even end of a unit. Having that amount of check-ins must provide you guys with so much information to be able to deliver for your students. Yeah, that’s awesome.

Erin (04:31)

Oh my gosh, so much information. Yeah, we definitely take that information then to like our PLT meetings, our professional learning communities, and then we talk about with each other, with our team and say like, oh, this really works, this didn’t work, and like looking at assessments and forming groups across the grade level. So we also get information from each other too. So it was, it’s huge. Like, you know, like there’s like so much, I mean, there’s so much assessing, but I think that.

It’s really valuable data so that we can really help those kids where they need to be and keep moving them forward. And for a lot of times when it’s on the computer, the kids don’t think it’s an assessment. They think it’s just like a fun little game that they’re doing. Yeah.

Kris (05:07)

Absolutely. Yeah.

Absolutely, for sure. And you could make the argument too that kindergartners, especially in the beginning of the year, change a ton. And so having multiple check-ins is so important for you to know.

Erin (05:18)

Oh my gosh, so much. You have to. Yeah, you have to. You have to have a lot of check-ins in kindergarten.

Kris (05:26)

Yeah, absolutely love it. So continuing off of assessing and ensuring where students are, this question has to do with feedback. So how do you provide quick feedback for students in your classroom, potentially even extending that over to your families as they’re connected within your specific tools?

Erin (05:47)

Yeah, so with our CESA ones, like I said before, we write the comments at the bottom if the child wasn’t getting it or if they did get it, we just like it and stars and hooray. And so parents are able to see that in real time. Also in our classrooms, throughout our kindergarten team, we have little data binders. So then we have the graphs that you see, this is how many we get now, and then they see themselves growing over time. And the kiddos are, when they look back on it, they’re like, oh my gosh, I only knew three letters.

Yes, you only knew three. And so then when it comes to like parent-teacher conferences, the parents are able to see that binder. They’re able to see like the assessments that we did. They’re able to see those graphs, truth, like, you know, bumping on up. We’re able to make goals together like as a team. You know, the kindergartner and I will sit down and we’ll say, oh, look at you were able to do this many. How many do you think you can do next time? And they’re like, oh, I can get five more. Like, I know you can. So we will write it down

later and we’ll also tell you know those parents to like look their goal was to do this what can we do together as a team to help them out on that and then we talked together as a team you know the parents and I and about that so I mean there’s a lot of communication I mean especially at kindergarten I mean I know across every grade level that there’s tons and we also you know have those conversations on phones or email or you know all those things that teachers do to you know get that information out but the parents have

Kris (07:01)

Thanks.

Erin (07:17)

really loved those data binders and have like the previous year or the next year’s teachers that we can share it with them or when a kid’s moved to grade, they move schools, like I’ll send it along with them and that teacher’s able to just quick pick it on up and they’re like, oh yeah, they do know, you know, these things. It’s already here for me. So, yeah.

Kris (07:36)

I love how all that information is being so transparent for everybody. I think that, you know, that just allows there not to be anything that will catch people off guard, but also more moments to celebrate successes as students continue to grow and change and, you know, expand their learning throughout the year. So I think that’s an awesome practice just to provide that transparency for everybody, not only parents, but the students and then extending beyond that the next year’s teachers transfers to. I think that’s awesome.

Erin (07:42)

Yes. Definitely.

Erin (08:07)

Yeah, yeah, the kids just, they get so excited. They’re like, my chart went to the top. And you’re like, yes, it did, buddy, because of all of your hard work. So we always put it back on them. It’s because you are working so hard because we want them to feel that intrinsically, like, yes, I’m doing all this work. I can achieve all these things too. Like there’s people that are helping me, but I have to also help out a little bit too.

Kris (08:30)

Yeah, absolutely. I love that. That’s so awesome. We’ll go on to our next question here. And I just really want you to continue to just share one success story that you’ve seen that has to do with a student assessment or how that connected directly with learning. Do you have anything that you’ve seen in the past or experienced of just a moment where an assessment or the learning just really blossomed because of something you put into practice?

Erin (08:56)

Yeah, there was a little boy that came to my classroom last year. And you know, those, we always have that little buddy that comes in, like not knowing all the letters of his name. He didn’t know how to write his letters. Like those sounds were just, they just weren’t there. And you could tell that he was feeling really defeated on that. And he, so he needs to be in an own little group with me. Like it’s best friend time. We’re going to be best friends and we’re going to work on this together.

So each day we were constantly working on a letter and a letter sound and then we would review it and then do those quick check-ins and then he was able to see his little chart and his things grow and grow and grow. And eventually my little buddy went from not knowing any of the letters of his name to be able to read, because we were doing fontus and panell at the time, able to read a level D by the end of the kindergarten year, which is just like, oh my gosh.

amazing because we were able to take where he was at and then just really celebrate those things and then keep building it on over and over and over throughout the year and we were really lucky enough that I have like an amazing team to work with and you know from our you know reading interventionists to other ladies that are on my team that helping me out and get all that information and help me to get those tools and you know really using those

to grow and also to like, his parents were lucky enough that they were on board and willing to help out with that too. So yeah, just, we always get those moments where like those kids just blossom and grow and you’re like, oh my gosh, like he did it, he did it. Like you’re just like the proudest thing. And so now, he’s now in first grade and I’ll see him and like, oh, my best friend, I missed your time, missed our time together. Even though.

You know, sometimes you drive me crazy, but like all kids do, but it was really, it’s really sweet that we now we have that really good connection too, cause we took that time together and he was being goofy. I’m like, come on buddy. And he would totally, you know, turn around. We had that time together. So I would say that was like a huge, huge success story.

Kris (11:16)

Absolutely. I mean, going from knowing as little as this kiddo did to where they were, I mean, that’s at or beyond grade level, depending on what you’re measuring. And so I think that’s such an amazing growth that can happen.

Erin (11:27)

Yes. It’s huge.

Kris (11:31)

So huge. And the way too that you’ve been talking about how you’re keeping tracks of all those things, how you’re checking in, how you’re making sure that everybody’s moving forward, that really helps that accountability that you were talking to earlier and helps more students really get to get to this type of learning, this expansive learning to get that much done. So what an awesome story and what a success that you can carry for the rest of your time too. I’m sure this child will come back like as a fifth grader.

Erin (11:50)

Yeah, I know, I know. Hopefully, hopefully, remember that time when we were best friends and we did stuff together every day and um we’ll see like he can be a stinker sometimes but like no I won’t remember you like yes you will.

Kris (12:01)

to be like, hey, remember all this time? Yeah. Hey, for sure. Yep. No. Yes, you will. Yes, you will.

So awesome. I have just a couple more questions left here. I wanna just kind of ask you about like self-assessment in your classroom. I know these are kindergartners. I know that they’re pretty young, but is there anything that you do in your classroom around self-assessment and how students track their own learning? Like what parts have you passed to them and what parts do you always hang on to?

Erin (12:39)

A lot of the parts that I usually hang on to are those big data binders that I hold on to. So, but they also we have always a conversation about, you know, where they were at, how they want to grow. They’re kind of like looking at those, you know, throughout things. And then just throughout the day any of like the little assessments or little things that we do in the classroom always, you know, like those little worksheets or the little projects that we’re doing, they always go home with them with some sort of, you know, work on it. And or we also just did today.

we were doing some new things with phonics and just a quick like How are you feeling about that? Like were you feeling really comfortable? Give me a thumbs up if you’re not feeling super confident about you like give me a middle thumb and laugh and like I don’t get it. We always talk about in a room like it’s okay if you don’t know it right now I’m learning it you’re learning it. We’re all learning it together. We’ll eventually get there There’s we always say a lot of times. There’s lots of days in kindergarten

all gonna, we’ll all get, we’ll all grow, we’ll all get to be something different than we were. So they’re very excited about that. We, I’m really, really lucky to teach, I have a co-teacher, Michelle Neville, and I are really like also loving the CESA as well. So there you go, yay shout out. But Michelle and I co-teach, so there’s 39 kindergartners, so all in one room.

Kris (13:58)

Awesome.

Erin (14:04)

Can you imagine? But it works out really well, because there’s two teachers in there at all times, so we can, so she can pull a small group if someone’s not getting it while I’m teaching whole group, or then I can pull a small group, or sit by those kids that need that extra time and doing those assessments with them too. So, yeah, I remember I was busy, so. Yeah.

Kris (14:05)

Yeah. That’s good though.

Kris (14:26)

for sure. But that’s good though. I mean, I think you’ve struck the perfect balance of what you can actually hand off to a kindergartner and what you can’t. So I think that there’s a cap there.

Erin (14:33)

Yeah, yeah, you can’t really. There’s a yeah, I can see it more like in the older. And as we like right now, my brain is still like beginning of the year stuff. But I do know as the year goes on, we will spread more things and send more things and have them be a little more responsible for their things. But they’re also five and six. So they’re just little buddies. There’s so much they can do, but they can do a lot.

Kris (14:41)

Absolutely.

Kris (14:55)

Yep. There’s only so much they can do.

They can do a lot, exactly. Awesome, we have two more questions. I’m gonna ask you now our loopy question. This is just a fun question that just is going to be a little bit fun for everybody to listen to. Would you rather go on a vacation in a house in the mountains or go on vacation in a house in the beach? Ha ha.

Erin (15:19)

House on the beach for sure. I would love, my husband and I go on a beach vacation every five years that we’ve been married. So we just got back from Aruba and that was amazing. So every, yeah, so a beach vacation, sit on the beach, be nice and warm and sunny and.

have a grown-up drink in your hand, reading a good book, and just feeling that sun and vitamin D. I mean, I live in Wisconsin, so it’s not always the very best weather, so getting that warm. So if anybody out there has good ideas of where to go on my next beach vacation, I’m sure they can find me somehow.

Kris (15:44)

Yep.

Kris (16:00)

Yep. First, or yeah, being a fellow Midwestern or two, the winter can be long. So I would agree that it’s a great time to go on a beach vacation and just get away and enjoy the sun as you can get it. We’ll do.

Erin (16:07)

It’s really long.

Erin (16:16)

Yes, yes, yes.

Kris (16:18)

One final question here to kind of close things up for anybody who’s listening, for anybody who’s tuned in so far, we wanna end with just some tips or tricks that you have found super helpful. So what advice would you give to another teacher who’s really looking to improve their assessment skills? What are two, three, four things that you would pass on to them that they could just take away and put in practice right away?

Erin (16:38)

I would definitely say start small, like start with like a quick exit ticket at the end of your lesson, like a one or two question one, because then you’re really able to see at the end of the lesson who was able to get it and who was not, and then you can quick pull those kids on over and be like, ooh buddies, you weren’t understanding this concept, let’s quick go over it. Like I’m lucky enough in our day that my kids will answer the question, then we do a little math workplaces, we do bridges at our school, so they’re doing workplaces, and then I can quick pull them over and be like,

this, let’s go fix it.” So I definitely say start off with a quick exit ticket, which I think was super helpful. When you’re feeling really confident, like just add maybe, now add like another subject and now keep you know keep on adding that and don’t feel like you have to do everything at once because I certainly did not do everything at once. It’s been a process over the years. I would also really encourage if they’re able to, because I know in is a little easier just to see the growth in, you know, like we have like those very concrete skills of counting and everything, is start to get out those data binders and keep them and making those charts so kindergartners are able to see that they grow because if you said, oh you knew five more, they’re like, I don’t know, but if they can see like the chart growing taller, that has been huge for them and they get really excited to like get to the top of their chart. They’re very happy

just basically be really patient with yourself because it is a lot and it is a lot of work but it just so pays off in the end because you are then able to know exactly where your students are and then how to be able to meet their needs and what you can do to help them grow. So I know it’s a lot but I know that there’s teachers out there that are looking for that and that and want to get those kids where they need to go. So again start off small and then just keep

Kris (18:32)

Yeah.

Erin (18:40)

growing throughout the time. And work with your team. And work with your team. Spread out the work. Sorry. Yeah, spread out the work for sure. Like maybe you can do this, you can do that, you can do this, and then get together. So hopefully everybody else out there has an amazing team like I do that we spread the workout.

Kris (18:43)

Absolutely. Love it. Those are super practical. Yeah, yea for sure. Love it. Super practical tips and ones that are also timely in a time when teachers have less time than ever before and they’re more packed in with more standards and things coming. I think that those are super awesome steps for anybody to take as they wanna think about how they can up their assessment game, how they can really deliver what their students need as individuals and start to get to that personalized instructional model in their classroom.

Erin (19:12)

Yes.

Kris (19:28)

Erin, I just want to say thank you so much for taking some time here today, being here to just share some amazing things with us. We so appreciate your time and you shared so many amazing things for people to just glean, put into practice. So we just want to say thank you for your time here today.

Erin (19:44)

Well, thank you for having me. And again, we love Seesaw. We are loving the new features of like the formative substance was also I realized in my head that we started, you know, dabbling with those. So that’s been super helpful. So check out, I know people have made those two on Seesaw. So, but thank you so much. And I so appreciate, you know, anyone that was listening and thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

Kris (20:07)

Not a problem, thank you, bye.

Erin (20:09)

Thank you, bye.