Assessing Phonics
Assessing phonics is one of the most important tasks of an elementary school teacher. Identifying words and sounds are the foundation of reading. Phonics must be taken seriously because reading can affect a child's attitude towards learning. It is vital that I assess my students in various ways to give them multiple opportunities to show comprehension. I assess my students verbally, using magnet boards, using white boards, homework and unit tests. These ways of assessments fall under two categories: formative and summative assessments. I use the data from these assessments to put into my data spreadsheet. I track this spreadsheet to see how my students have grown. With this data I can adjust my methods of teaching during small group and whole group. In addition, I can re-teach a lesson or re-assess a skill.
Table of Contents
Formative Assessments
Formative assessment in phonics can be informal and formal. I assess informally by verbally assessing my students, using magnet boards and exit tickets. I formally assess my students with homework and classwork. I use the data from these assessments for whole group instruction mainly. Most of my students have trouble with phonics however, about forty percent have mastered phonics. This allows me to address the needs of my students quickly and re-teach a lesson.Moreover, formative assessment should prepare my students for the unit tests. The formative assessment allows my students to express their knowledge verbally and kinesthetically .
Verbally
My district assess my student's knowledge of phonics verbally using via a computer. The district assessments are called iReady and Text Reading Comprehension (TRC). During the assessment my students are to identify the sight word in under three seconds. This data is used to identify exactly what words my students struggle with such as multi-syllable, closed syllable or open syllable words. I try to assess my students that struggle with phonics which makes sixty-percent of my class.
I assess my students once a week using words we covered during the week. I use a curriculum called Fundations. Wilson Language Basics (2012) says "Fundations systematically and comprehensively instructs students in phonemic awareness and word study and contributes greatly to fluency, vocabulary development, and the applications of strategies for understanding text." In the picture shown on the right, I assessed my student with words with multi-syllables. This prepare my students for the fourth grade because prefixes and suffixes are emphasized in that grade. The images on the far right are words that come from the TRC assessment. Both prepare my students for the iReady assessment which prepares my students for the state test.
White Boards
I use white boards frequently to assess phonics. This is a kinesthetic method my kids can use to show me their understanding of a certain skill. While students are performing this skill I monitor their use of complete sentences, correct vowel use and blends.
The two pictures below are examples of my students completing a task during our Fundations lesson. The bottom left picture is an example of my students using the trick words which and witch in a sentence. The bottom right picture is an example of my students identifying the silent vowel sound.
Formative Classwork
Later in the week of Fundations, I assess my students with classwork to prepare them for the summative assessment. The classwork is scaffolded in way the builds on each skill. For instance, on Wednesday students will learn about closed syllable words. On Thursday, students will be able to identify closed syllable words. On Friday, student will be able to mark closed syllable word. The next week, students will be able to identify trick words that are closed syllable and eventually use them in a sentence. In the image below, my students have marked the closed syllable word and used that word in a sentence. This activity has prepared my students for the unit test.
Homework
My final formative assessment is a vital one, homework. In my opinion homework is important to learning because extra practice at home can prepare a student for instruction the next day.
Every week, I send home a homework packet that include standards we will cover throughout the week. In addition to the common core standards, I include Fundations assignments. The image to the right is an example of a Fundations homework activity that assess the markings of closed syllable words and identification of sound blends.
I use the results from the homework assignments in order to re-teach a skill or have a small group instruction for students that need extra support. Moreover, students do not struggle with homework because it aligns with daily instruction. However, there are some instances that student will struggle with Fundations homework.
Summative Assessment.
For a summative assessment, I use unit tests from the Fundations curriculum. I use the material from the unit test in order to create the unit test for my students. I prefer creating them myself because I want students to be able to write without scribe lines that guide them.
The unit test is dictated to the scholars. The dictation aligns with formative assessments and instruction so students will not be off guard when taking the summative assessments. The scholars will write the correct sound, word and use trick words in a sentence. I grade heavily on identifying the correct sounds because without letter sound identification a student will struggle reading. I use these unit test to have a small group instruction or use during coach class. I do not try to re-teach whole group Fundation lessons because the district is strict on moving forward with lessons. Moreover, this data will be recorded and addressed during small group instruction.
Samples of unit tests are provided below. Most students performed well on the unit test however, most student struggled with identifying trick sounds such as -tch and -ch. The words I dictated for those sounds were itch and chalk.
This student used the words no and know correctly in a sentence. However, she did not correspond the words with their definition correctly.
This students corresponded the correct words. However, the student did not use the word "no" correctly in a sentence.
Both students struggled with identifying the -tch sound correctly. However, the students marked the closed syllable word correctly.
Data Driven Instruction
Instruction after assessments are vital for academic growth. If aspects of weaknesses in learning are not emphasized usually, a scholar tends to continue to struggle in certain areas. For instance, my students struggled with recognizing phonemic words that change depending on the tense. I reinforced that area in the content by reviewing tense change in closed syllable words. In addition, I reviewed the proper way to mark these words. Below are examples of me reteaching after receiving summative data.
Here is my data from the Unit 2 Fundations summative assessment. Wilson Language Training Corporation (2012) says " For struggling students, make many one-syllable words with Magnetic Tiles and use questioning to determine if each is a 1-1-1 word. Have them add a vowel suffix to any word to that is a 1-1-1, using a blank tile. Lastly have them write the same word on their dry erase tablet and mark it up." I used the method offered by the company to help my struggling students who scored below an eighty percent on the assessment. Below are examples of this process.
Here is a student forming 1-1-1 words using the magnetic boards.
The data from the closed syllable formative assessment is shown to the left. The maximum amount of points a student could have scored was 24. The average score was 79%. 80% is mastery, so I used this data to re-teach the skill of identifying closed syllables and marking them in a small group setting. I re-taught in a small group setting because only seven students scored below mastery in this class. Below are examples from that small group instruction. Wilson Language Training Corporation (2012) says "Most of this unit is review. Be sure to note if any students are not yet automatic with these concepts. Provide additional review for these students in a small group setting."
We reviewed closed syllable words by defining the it first.
Reference
Fundations Teacher's Manual Level 3 (2nd ed., Vol. 1). (21012). Oxford, MA: Wilson Language Learning Corporation.
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