Welcome to my blog!  We are into the second week of class in EDU 410.  I am really enjoying this class and being able to start seeing how different aspects of teaching connect together.  This week I was able to learn and see how standards connect to assessments.  This connection was made through my reading of the article, "Why is Assessment Important."  I really enjoyed reading this article on assessments and the interview questions that were answered by Grant Wiggins.  I believe that assessments are a key part in the success of the students educational journeys.  Assessments are related to the North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards.  One example of this is located in standard four, where it states that "Teachers use a variety of methods to assess what each student has learned."  These could include the formative, summative, self-assessments, and assessment systems.  Another standard I found that related to assessments was located in standard five teachers reflect on their practice, and it stated that "Teachers analyze student learning."  The teacher uses this data to refine the school and classroom successfulness.  This to me shows how the teachers use the information they gather from the assessments of the students to improve their teaching rather it be teaching methods or material taught.  I really enjoyed the section in the article where Grant Wiggins discusses the importance for teachers to think about the assessment before they begin to develop their lessons.  I believe this aspect goes along with two of the standards one would be under standard three where it states that, "Teachers align their instruction with the North Carolina Standard Course of study."  This aspect also relates to the standard one where it says, "Teachers lead in their classrooms."  The teacher has to lead their class and consider the standards when planning their lessons and should think about what they want their students to know when they have finished the lesson.  By picturing the final product and seeing what will be learned through the lesson allows the teacher to stay on the right path in his/her teaching in order to effectively teach the content to students.  I also liked the section where Grant Wiggins talked about how some teachers claim that they do not have enough time to do performance-based assessments.  Grant Wiggins stated that "Its not inappropriate or a waste of time because you can't meet the standards without doing performance-basses assessments."  I believe that we can all relate to this in our everyday lives, if you don't do the work then you will never be successful in your goal.  For example, at my workplace, which is a daycare, I have been working with this two year old boy in my class and did not ever think we were going to be able to get him potty trained.  We all stayed consistent with taking him to the potty, this included me, my co-workers, and his parents.  We encouraged him and rewarded him with monster trucks when he would pee or poop on the potty.  By staying consistent and taking him to the bathroom, this week he is in underwear completely and has not had an accident in two days in a row.  So by working with him and doing the work we were able to reach our goal of having him potty trained.  Another, example would be when I finally learned to ride my bike after two years of trying, I never gave up.  In many aspects of life you have to work hard in order to be successful.
               For the remainder of this week we are too research the laws and policies that govern assessment.  I have found some of the laws and thought they were very interesting.  I am excited to learn more about the laws and policies that govern assessment throughout my research.  I was able to find an article that gave information on the state laws that affect teachers in the classroom in Texas.  There will be a link to the article below.  By reading over the article I was able to see that the state controlled the length of the school year and day, the class size, the teachers days of vacation, and etc.  I am interested to see how the North Carolina state laws differ from the state laws for Texas.  I definitely have been able to see how much control the state has on schools verses the federal laws and the county polices.
               For my future classroom I hope that I can incorporate all of the standards into my teaching so that my future students are receiving the best education possible.  I also hope that I can learn how to assess my future students efficiently to not only help them in their learning but also to help me know how to improve my teaching from the data collected.  Lastly, I hope to be able to know all of the laws and policies that govern assessments so that I am abiding by these laws and policies.  I would also like to make sure I stay up to date on the laws and am able to learn the changes that are made.

Links:
https://tcta.org/node/12025