The student teacher observed ESOL classes at Holmes Middle School in Virginia as part of their training program. The classes followed a consistent daily structure with repeating activities that varied in content. The mentor teacher practiced daily assessment and used student portfolios to track progress over time. Different assessment methods were observed, including student self-assessment, peer assessment, and assessment based on standards communicated to students.

1. Field Experience: Assessment Observation/Report
As part of the training program at George Mason University, the TEA student-teachers
have been performing some observation and teaching practice at different public
schools in the state of Virginia. In my case, I can refer to Holmes Middle School, which
is the school I have been attending, and in more detail, to the ESOL class, levels 1 and
2.
What I have noticed is that the classes I have observed are very dynamic and there is a
structure in the process of each period. Students always perform certain procedures in
the same order, which might sound boring but is actually very helpful for them to keep
their minds organized and to know what to expect. Besides, the order of the activities is
the same, but the activities themselves vary; for example, the second activity for each
class is what they call “sound and spelling”, but every day there’s a different activity to
complete so they practice a particular phonics or spelling content.
Regarding the assessment practice in the classrooms observed, I can say that my
mentor teacher practices a daily assessment at the end of her class, as part of what I
understand is an authentic assessment in terms of the teacher observations, not only
because she keeps track of her students’ progress but also because by doing this, she
helps them understand their own progressi. Besides, she helps students organize their
work and keep track of their learning process by the use of a portfolio, which she checks
herself every once in a while. In this case, the students’ portfolio really is “a purposeful
collection of student work that is intended to show progress over time”, it includes the
students’ work “purposefully and systematically […] to reflect learning with regard to
instructional objectives”ii On the other hand, this is an excellent tool as an alternative to
traditional assessment at the school level and it helps with the students who need to
fulfill empirical evidence regarding their learning process, in case they need to transfer,
and it can provide follow-on teachers with concrete evidence of what they have
accomplishediii, which is the case of a couple of twins who were transferred to another
school.

2. Besides that, I have observed that she aims her assessment practices to meet certain
performance standards, which she keeps in mind every lesson she presents and what I
think is very useful is that she lets her students know those standards, perhaps not in a
way that is difficult for them to understand, but with simple words. The only difference I
find regarding this observation and my own practice in my school, is that in Holmes M.
School content standards are based or stated in terms of content rather than
performance, which is the contrary in my school. The point here is that it has called my
attention, because according to J. Michael O’Malley and Lorraine Valdez Pierce in their
book “Authentic Assessment for English Language Learners, Practical Approaches for
teachers”, a content standard declares knowledge and procedural knowledge specific to
a content, while a performance standard is more specific in terms of activities on which
the content and procedural knowledge can be demonstratediv, but even when it is not
stated in the objectives presented to the students, as I explained before, they know
exactly what they are doing, what they are learning, and they understand the why the
performance of all the activities lead them to reach the goal stated at the beginning of
the class.
Apart from that, I had the chance to observe another class; it was regular seventh grade
and they had a reading comprehension that day. I was glad to see that the assessment
was similar to the ones we practice in my school, because it included a vocabulary
section and the words were not evaluated only by their definitions, but also used in
context, and the reading comprehension included questions that related the book to the
students’ experience. At the end, they exchanged their papers for peer correction, which
is something we often do too, and I think the good thing about this practice is that
students can provide each other with feedback.v
Finally, I would like to add that I observe a dictation practice by my mentor teacher and
she had her students self-assess, which takes off the pressure of getting a good grade
form students; this among with other practices I observed and commented earlier, I
think, helps both teachers and students become aware of students’ attitudes, strengths,
and weaknesses, as J. Michael O’Malley and Lorraine Valdez Pierce mention vi, to
promote a positive change, which is at the end, the purpose of assessment.

4. i
J. Michael O’Malley/Lorraine Valdez Pierce. Authentic Assessment for English Language Learners, Practical Approaches
for teachers. Pg. 14
ii
J. Michael O’Malley/Lorraine Valdez Pierce. Authentic Assessment for English Language Learners, Practical Approaches
for teachers. Pg. 14
iii
J. Michael O’Malley/Lorraine Valdez Pierce. Authentic Assessment for English Language Learners, Practical Approaches
for teachers. Pgs. 37-38
iv
J. Michael O’Malley/Lorraine Valdez Pierce. Authentic Assessment for English Language Learners, Practical Approaches
for teachers. Pg. 26
v
J. Michael O’Malley/Lorraine Valdez Pierce. Authentic Assessment for English Language Learners, Practical Approaches
for teachers. Pg. 102
vi
J. Michael O’Malley/Lorraine Valdez Pierce. Authentic Assessment for English Language Learners, Practical Approaches
for teachers. Pg. 100