Brancati 1

Victor Brancati
Katie Rasmussen
LS 2000.1
5 September 2016
Reflective Essay 1
As an aspiring teacher, I have had opportunities to work with children in many different
age groups. Recently, I volunteered at Venetia Valley School in a classroom with students who
were mentally disabled. The teacher had one class with students whose ages ranged from fifth to
eighth grade. Each student was a different level for learning so when it came to teaching, most of
the time they each had their own work to do. This made me realize how each of them learned in a
different way, and now I realize that the teacher was actively integrating formative assessment in
her class. In fact, when one student was having trouble on something, another student would
come to help teach them or assist them in what they were doing. In the article Linking Formative
Assessment to Scaffolding by Lorie A. Shepard, formative assessment is identified as essentially
the same thing as instructional scaffolding, and is defined as a dynamic process in which
supportive adults or classmates help learners move from what they already know to what they
are able to do next, using the zone of proximal development (Shepard 128). Of the four
strategies for implementing formative assessment that were mentioned in this article, eliciting
prior knowledge, providing effective feedback, and teaching for transfer of knowledge can
all be implemented effectively in K-5, but the last strategy, teaching students how to self
assess, is not applicable in K-5.
The three strategies eliciting prior knowledge, providing effective feedback, and
teaching for transfer of knowledge are helpful to teachers of grades K-5. They encourage that

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the students start learning right where they get confused, help the students improve by giving
feedback they can use, and make sure the students can use what they learn in different situations.
One thing that is really beneficial to everyone is the eliciting prior knowledge strategy. The
idea is making sure not to teach the students what they already know, but rather focusing on what
they do not know. This benefits both the students and the teachers. In the class at Venetia Valley,
the teacher had an opportunity to give each student their own work for that benefit, but in other
regular classes the teacher might not be able to accommodate each student like that. When I was
in fourth grade my teacher split our math class into two separate groups, one regular and one
advanced. This helped everyone get the right speed that they needed to learn best. Another
important part for a teacher is providing feedback that the students can actually learn from. The
article mentioned feedback and being specific for both positive and negative comments. Instead
of just saying good job, the teacher should point out exactly what they did a good job on, and the
same thing with negatives, except with an addition of how to fix it. Lastly, an important part of
teaching is being able to test the students and see that they know how to use what they learned.
This can be as simple as giving a different math problem, or it could be more complex like being
able to say setting, plot, etcetera of a story. These three strategies are all very important for a
teacher to keep in mind because they can improve the students learning.
The fourth strategy that the article mentioned, teaching students how to self-assess
would not be a good strategy in K-5 because children at that age are not able to assess
themselves like a high school student would. In the article, the strategy is described as selfcritique and it is said that students were more successful because of it. In the K-5 grades the
students will be able to tell you if there is a good answer or not, but they are not old enough yet

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to think of how to fix a mistake or change something so it is better. This strategy would be better
for students who are a little bit older.
Overall, the article Linking Formative Assessment to Scaffolding gave good perspective
on formative assessment. Of the four strategies for implementing formative assessment that
were mentioned in this article, eliciting prior knowledge, providing effective feedback, and
teaching for transfer of knowledge can all be implemented effectively in K-5, but the last
strategy, teaching students how to self assess, is not applicable in K-5. It was good to read an
article that mentions these different strategies because they are all important. A lot of times we
just skip past those ideas and parts of teaching, but if we are more aware, the strategies can help
us a lot in the classroom.