Field Experience at Wildwood and Ernest Manning
My cohort of ten was assigned to visit two schools over a two-week period with a full week dedicated to each location. The two schools were Wildwood elementary and Ernest Manning high school and while their relative closeness to one another would suggest that some Wildwood students may eventually be at Ernest Manning, they are opposites in terms of their status, how they carry themselves, and what they believe to be most important for students. Wildwood elementary is an old school as observed from its small and outdated architecture. Classes are small and at times claustrophobic, especially when packed with 20-25 of the nearly 600 students making it difficult if not impossible to navigate the …show more content…
The first is to act as an indicator or milestone of how far a student has advanced or improved while the second is to act as warning signs for the instructor pointing out when it’s time to transition from foundation building lectures to more complex themes and concepts or vice versa (p. 29). Consequently, based on my field experience assessments were used as described above yet both schools treated assessments in vastly different ways. While at Wildwood I had the opportunity to act as a scribe for multiple students as they wrote their student learning assessments or SLA’s. It was interesting to note that many of the instructors were dismayed at the difficulties students were having with the exam suggesting that at the very least the teachers were aware and using assessments as a milestone to assess student progress, however there appeared to be very little done to help students such as making changes to lessons. I say this not to suggest that the Wildwood teachers are inept, but more to suggest that perhaps assessments have lesser value in the earlier grades especially when literacy is the focus. On the other hand, Ernest Manning high school not only understood the importance of assessment, but also took the next major step to ensure assessments are as effective as possible. As explained by the Protocol for Collaboration in Basic Education (2006), assessments have the most strength when they are immediate and constructive (p. 33). Consequently, there was one common element in all the classes at Ernest Manning, and it was the immediate and useful feedback students got from assessments, from unit exams and essays that were returned within two days of completion. Furthermore, the school uses a form of student-self assessment that allows students to re-attempt completed work including, essays, exams, and even whole units. Initially
My cohort of ten was assigned to visit two schools over a two-week period with a full week dedicated to each location. The two schools were Wildwood elementary and Ernest Manning high school and while their relative closeness to one another would suggest that some Wildwood students may eventually be at Ernest Manning, they are opposites in terms of their status, how they carry themselves, and what they believe to be most important for students. Wildwood elementary is an old school as observed from its small and outdated architecture. Classes are small and at times claustrophobic, especially when packed with 20-25 of the nearly 600 students making it difficult if not impossible to navigate the …show more content…
The first is to act as an indicator or milestone of how far a student has advanced or improved while the second is to act as warning signs for the instructor pointing out when it’s time to transition from foundation building lectures to more complex themes and concepts or vice versa (p. 29). Consequently, based on my field experience assessments were used as described above yet both schools treated assessments in vastly different ways. While at Wildwood I had the opportunity to act as a scribe for multiple students as they wrote their student learning assessments or SLA’s. It was interesting to note that many of the instructors were dismayed at the difficulties students were having with the exam suggesting that at the very least the teachers were aware and using assessments as a milestone to assess student progress, however there appeared to be very little done to help students such as making changes to lessons. I say this not to suggest that the Wildwood teachers are inept, but more to suggest that perhaps assessments have lesser value in the earlier grades especially when literacy is the focus. On the other hand, Ernest Manning high school not only understood the importance of assessment, but also took the next major step to ensure assessments are as effective as possible. As explained by the Protocol for Collaboration in Basic Education (2006), assessments have the most strength when they are immediate and constructive (p. 33). Consequently, there was one common element in all the classes at Ernest Manning, and it was the immediate and useful feedback students got from assessments, from unit exams and essays that were returned within two days of completion. Furthermore, the school uses a form of student-self assessment that allows students to re-attempt completed work including, essays, exams, and even whole units. Initially