Week Ten Assignment Three

What are the benefits of the assessment strategies Professor Ruiz proposes? 

            A writing portfolio helps students see progression over a period of time. Students are able to locate mistakes made in previous assignments and are able to make corrections so that they do not make the same mistake again. It also shows students that they are actively learning each day. When students see mistakes in assignments at the beginning of a year and look at a piece of work from the middle of the year they can compare how much they have progressed. I also like that students are given a choice about what they choose to write about. This allows students to experiment with the different styles of writing.

What benefits and challenges do portfolios present? 

            This question was answered in the response to the question above.

Describe your experience with more formal assessments such as the monthly writing assessment Professor Ruiz describes. What are the challenges of incorporating formal assessments into your curriculum? How might you address them? 

            I am not currently teaching yet so this question is difficult to answer. I would break my formal writing assignments into different parts so that my students can focus on the smaller ideas without being overwhelmed by the whole idea. As with any writing assignment I believe that the teacher is left up to judgment with word choice and syntax. One child can write a piece for one teacher that sounds flawless and another teacher might change a few words or rearrange some sentences. The ideas of grading written assignments become more of a personal preference at times in my opinion. In order to eliminate this type of bias judgment the teacher might show the student work to another colleague for their opinion.