I'm always anxious around midterm and report card time regarding my reading grades. I never feel I have adequately assessed my students independent reading. That's why I selected this chapter for post #3. Routman tells us to make assessments and evaluation a daily routine and gives us two methods of doing this: an informal reading conference framework and a reading rubric.
I really like the informal reading conference guideline. I've always struggled with what I need to say when meeting with a student. Usually it's been a general question such as "What is your book about?" or "Have you enjoyed reading this book? Why or why not?" Therefore, the author's example conference form on p. 109 is a life saver. In fact, I've already recreated it for use in my classroom next year. The child-friendly reading goals (p. 106-107) have been added to my form. I plan to show these to and use them with my students so they know what strategies to use to become better readers. They need a list of things to think about as they read a book. This brings me to another point Routman makes in this chapter - teach intentionally. The evaluations she shares should be used for needs-based teaching. "What's most important to teach at this moment for this child to move him/her forward?" I haven't been very good with goal setting in reading other than using a page count for students to meet by a set date.
The other assessment mentioned here is a reading rubric. I became aware of reading rubrics when Katrina Hankins taught a Social Studies unit in my classroom on the Dust Bowl. She showed these to me then and used them as assessment points for both the teacher and the student. At the end of the unit, each student was given a rubric and asked to rate themselves. The teacher also completed a rubric for each student. The grade given was a combination of the two rubrics. I've used a reading rubric one other time since then. This is definitely a method of assessment I want to continue using. I didn't send any of these rubrics home this year but I do want to include them next year in weekly graded packets. I think parents need to see these as much as the students do.
This has been a very helpful chapter to me and I'm so glad I chose it. These two assessments will be greatly beneficial for me in the coming months and years.
I'm so glad that you liked the use of rubrics. To me, rubrics are a way to assess the progress of the student and move them forward. We as teachers are always learning and growing, therefore we need to provide the same for our students.
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