C4T Project # 1

     I read and commented on two of Tom Schimmer's posts. The first post was titled, "Kickin' It Old School," and was posted on July 13, 2011. The second post was posted on September 5, 2011, and was titled, "Function Over Format."
     "Kickin' It Old School" talked about attending conferences and their benefits. Mr. Schimmer had just finished the Peterson ATI Summer Conference and was reflecting on the positive energy within the conference. He enjoyed meeting people from all over the United States and Canada. He felt that people left excited, motivated and ready to create a new or improved plan for their classroom. He realized that, although technology is important in education, he saw the value in face-to-face conferences and hoped that they continued. In my comments to him regarding his post, I agreed with him in that I hope face-to-face conferences do not end. I have recently attended several conferences as part of my certificate renewal requirements and have enjoyed the educational and networking benefits they have provided.
     "Function Over Format" was posted on September 5, 2011. It is a discussion of the value of the two types of assessments: formative and summative. Mr. Schimmer described each of these types of evaluations, and he also took the time to caution teachers that the function, or purpose, of the evaluation had to be concentrated on, rather than the format. In formative evaluations, the students set their own learning goals and monitor their progress. There is no grade recorded in the grade book. The results are used as feedback to note areas of need. In summative assessments, the results count and grades are recorded. In my comments to Mr. Schimmer, I appreciated the details he gave to explain the differences between summative and formative evaluations. I agreed that the purpose of the evaluation is important. Students need to be able to perform a self-assessment to determine for themselves what academic areas need improvement. However, students also need to know that they will be held accountable for their work, and that a grade will be given for their efforts. I believe that both of these evaluations have worth and can be utilized in the classroom to help students become the best student they possibly can.