Chapter 15 Learning Log

This section of the class is basically an introduction to assessment. Being a senior in my last semester of classes, I have already had many lessons on assessment, most of which began with "you'll go over more of this in Educational Psychology". Therefore, I was prepared to hear about familiar terms like validity, authentic assessments, and formal vs. informal assessments.
The educational research was a good activity to help us prepare for this unit as well. I was able to think critically about how most of the legislative decisions are made on research conducted through tests- mainly standardized tests.
It was very helpful to go over the pros and cons of different forms of assessment.

The importance of assessment can not be over stated. If our instruction is to be aligned with our assessment, and our success as teachers is (sadly) largely measured by standardized assessment, and if the effectiveness of our instruction can only be visualized through some form of assessment, then what could be more important?

This lesson is really only an introduction to assessment, but yes, my future teaching will definitely be affected by the knowledge I've gained. Namely, I will make authentic assessment my top priority and I will constantly revise my forms of assessment to make it more valid, timely, consistent, and reliable.

Brain Learning Log

What?

This week we learned about the physical attributes of the brain, namely the different segments and their specific functions. Learning about our physical brains has always been strange to me and I find myself being very skeptical of the actual validity of the facts.

We were broken up into groups of 2 to learn about one of 12 parts of the brain, then we were put together to teach others about our portion of the brain. We found out that different functions of the brain are often exclusive to specific segments. I especially remembered the brain stem and how important it is. There are many functions that we think of as involuntary that are controlled by the brain. Not the least of which is the filtering of inputs. Otherwise, life would be total chaos.

So What?

The most important aspect of learning brain functions for me was that I was able to view it as an organ, similar to any other organ in our bodies. Just as everyone has a different heart, with varying levels of health, every brain has its own strengths and problems.

Now What?

In my future teaching, I will keep in consideration the fact that all brains are not created equal. I also want to learn strategies that will help my students know what to filter out, and what to place in their long term memory and how they can get knowledge to really stick.