Digital Blog Post # j Chapter 11

    Engaging students in performance assessment and reflecting learning is a great way to give students learning goals and help them to accomplish these goals throughout the year. Involving technology in performance assessment can help a student become more independent. Three concepts that i thought was interesting in this chapter was digital portfolios, Democratic schools and classrooms, and Pre-assessments.

   Digital portfolios in teacher education has become popular in the last few years. These portfolios helps teachers keep track of educational and professional materials in an electronic format. These portfolios help teachers to see their growth and development over time. It can contain copies of paper material, videos, PowerPoint,photographs and other materials. Its best to start a portfolio as soon as a teacher seeks a teaching license . Teachers can design their portfolio to represent them in many creative ways.Some elements of a portfolio are academics, teaching, talents, and accomplishments.

      Democratic schools and classroom was another interesting concept in chapter 11.  Teachers and students work together to  make substantive decisions about important aspects of educational operations from the curriculum to school climate and rules. The goal of democratic schools like this is to increase student involvement. Students don’t make all the decisions but they do have a say in things. Some people don’t agree with democratic schools or classroom thinking students will not want to learn but focus more on socializing. Democratic schools and classrooms require teacher input as well. The students and teachers have open honest discussions about how their classroom will be operated. The teachers are still in charge in the Democratic classroom and schools.

    Preassesments is one of my favorite concepts in chapter 11, I like preassesments because I feel their really needed in the classroom. Preassessments occur before introducing a new lesson in the classroom. They determine what a student knows before learning anything on the new lesson or topic a teacher will teach. Some examples of a preassessment would be a pretest, writing prompt, questions, or surveys. Preassesments are part of Prior Knowledge –based learning. Which is the idea that when teaching new material the teachers need to connect their lessons to what students already know or have taught.

     Involving technology when seeking a teachers license is something that I  will make sure to do. A digital portfolio is something that I’m going to look into because it is a great way to keep track of  my accomplishments and with a digital portfolio its allot easier to carry around. Democratic schools may not be for every school or classroom but its a neat idea to get students involved with decision making, or even discussing ideas with teachers. Preassessments are something I always like as a student and will continue to like as a teacher. I think its necessary to see what a student knows about a subject instead of assuming that they will know the material.