Making Reading Assessments Student Centered

This fall our school transitioned back to a balanced literacy model that I was thrilled about. We were asked to assess students using the Benchmark Assessment System (BAS). I looked forward to being able to spend time with individual students, discussing things within the text, beyond the text, and about the text.

I initially did a word list check to determine which short text to use with individual students. Fluency and comprehension skills were assessed, following the directions in the teacher guide. This helped me better understand students as readers and plan mini lessons to meet their needs.

Four months later our reading stations are in full swing. Students are loving that they have time to read a book of their own choice, meet with me for small literature discussions, and engage in hyperdocs with our former Reading Street program.

They are developing a passion for books and the adventures you can go on throughout the pages. They are also doing a deep dive into genre study, gaining skills and strategies needed to read various types of texts.

We were told we could optionally give the BAS in the winter, and I decided to assess every student. There was no word list to determine which book to use. Instead I decided to make this assessment student centered.

I gave each child three books to choose from at what I thought to be around their independent or instructional reading level. Students took choosing the book seriously. 22 out of 23 students chose a book that was at their independent or instructional level. One student opted to read one that I felt would be too easy, so I suggested he choose a more challenging book to show me his reading growth. He was glad I made that suggestion.

The conversations I had with students were far more engaging than the fall, and they were able to share insights and use higher level thinking to discuss the book. I was able to see their growth and share where I saw success and room for improvement. Most students told me they enjoyed these conversations better than the fall because they took ownership of the book they read.

None of them know what the letter level on the book means. Instead they are proud they read a nonfiction book of interest and could chat in an informal way. Many students passionately told me the big message in their book and how it could apply to their own life.

All of them were able to identify the genre and explain the features of nonfiction. They were also all about to summarize the book with details, which is always something we are working on. When I asked why this book chat was more successful I was told simply You let us choose a book we felt confident about reading with you.  

The Image Factor

One of our 5^th grade must read aloud books is a story about the life of Jackie Robinson. Engaging students in nonfiction can be a challenging task, but our students really involved themselves in Jackie’s life and daily struggles. They asked great questions about the reality he lived in, trying to understand why he was treated so poorly. Students had rich discussions, showing empathy and compassion for Jackie.

I began to read a chapter that explained the country’s state at the time Jackie was an adult. Words like prejudice and discrimination were discussed, as many students were unsure of what the word prejudice meant. Using the Google Home the words were defined and discussed. However, as we got into the chapter the word lynching came off the pages. I suggested our Googler of the Day ask the Google Home what lynching meant.

The definition came out of the speaker. Gasps about how could this happen in real life were heard. This led to courageous conversations about how I felt reading the book and how students felt listening to the story. We interacted with the text as a community.

That night as I was prepping for our #FETC presentation on data privacy and personal assistants in education, I happened to reflect on our usage that day. It dawned on me that had I asked a student to Google the word lynching on one of the classroom computers the student would see the definition and have the option of seeing images or a video feed of lynching.

Not every parent is ready for their child to see these images, and I was glad the Google Home was a protection for our 5^th grade students. Using this tool allowed us to have dialogue around the word and how it made us feel versus seeing it in action. Sometimes we need to consider the image factor when allowing our younger students to use Google for searching. This is one of those times I was grateful the personal assistant was available to allow us to have a developmentally appropriate conversation.

Our Reactions Speak Volumes

Our Reactions Speak Volumes

Guest blog post on Craig Klement's blog.

Continuing the Conversation

Okay Google! I want to have a conversation. Imagine the possibilities of being able to have a conversation with a personal assistant device because this setting is now available. This morning my FETC co presenter on data privacy and using personal assistants in the school setting, Eileen Belatock, sent me an article with the question Have you seen this?

The title How to Enable Continued Conversations for Google Assistants struck a chord as I immediately began to wonder what having a conversation with the Google Home could mean. I read the article, which talks about this excellent feature and how easy it is to change the settings. I wondered if this was really an excellent feature for a classroom or to use with students.

My mind was racing as I began to ponder what this actually meant, so I decided to do some investigating. I followed the instructions of how to enable the conversation view to see what would happen, but as soon as I got to the toggle option to turn continued conversation on, I found my answer.

Wait a minute! Is it excellent that the mic will be turned back on after every response for the Google Home to listen? Do we want it to listen to us after we immediately ask it a question? Our class worked hard to develop a RUP and guidelines for the Google Home use in the classroom, and by turning this feature on we actually violate our own policy. We turn off the mic and unplug it after a question is answered. I asked Eileen what her tech director advice was, and she confirmed my own thinking. She said, “NO!” we should not be turning this option on.

I discussed this feature with students to gather their thoughts.

Owen shared we have no idea who can see our responses on Google’s end so we should not turn this feature on. Jacob did not think we should turn it on because it will hear other people talking around you and record that while it is waiting for a response. He felt it does not have the right to hear other conversations. Ava added that the Google Home should not be listening to us all the time. Chase also thought we should not turn it on because it could pick up questions students ask to the teacher. They are not asking the Google Home the follow up question, so it should not be recording. Jenny added one of our guidelines is to unplug it when we are done with it, so turning it on would not follow that rule. Emmeline asked why we even need it since we are asking one question. We do not ask multiple questions. The class voted and decided we do not need this feature. However, they felt some people might find it to be an excellent feature but here in school it is not one we want to use.

Therefore, our class will not be using this feature that I did not find excellent. Before you turn on a new feature, I always suggest doing some research, talking to people, and making sure it is a safe practice to use with students. I will leave you with a question. How much data do we need the Google Home to collect?