Oral+Language

** Purpose of Assessment ** The purpose of this assessment was to observe the oral development of students as a whole, and one individual student. As teachers, it is important to observe children’s talk in different settings and situations because then you will be able to identify the learning context in which they need the most support. It is crucial that students are in rich, safe, purposeful, social, communal, expertise classroom so that talk and language are challenged but comfortable.

At Cambridge Elementary School, I observed an individual student from a Kindergarten classroom. Kaitlyn, the student being observed, began her assessment by retelling a story that was previously read to her. Kaitlyn was able to retell each event in the story when given the guidance of beginning, middle, and end. The teacher, Ms. Kamm, explained that her students have become very familiar with retelling events from a unit taught in the beginning of the school year. Students in the classroom are always using oral language, between peers, the teacher, and during direct instruction given by the teacher. They start off the day in Morning meeting, where they all, including the teacher, gather at the carpet to share stories and retell events, while other students can comment and ask questions on what they shared. Unlike many classrooms, Ms. Kamm gives one student the leadership role of leading the entire morning meeting on the Smart Board. From this role, each student develops a better understanding of the content being discussed and they become more comfortable with technology.
 * Introduction of Child and Setting**

In math, the teacher will give a mini lesson on the Smart Board, facilitating discussions and modeling the problem. Students will be given the opportunity to show their understanding on the Smart Board by solving the problem and explaining their answer. After the lesson, students are placed into collaborative groups, where they can talk about the content being taught. This allows the teacher to work one-on-one with students that are struggling with the concept. Ms. Kamm also uses the daily five in her classroom. This model gives students the independence to choose what center they would like work at each day.

The methodology behind this assessment began with a fiction retelling assessment, where Kaitlyn read the book, “Katy and the Big Snow.” This assessment gave me further incite on her ability to retell events and her oral language functions. After this assessment, Kailtyn joined the rest of the class in Morning meeting, while I observed her interactions with the students and teacher during direct instruction. After completion of the assessment, I was able to interview my cooperating teacher about her teaching strategies and additional comments regarding the oral language functions of the class or the individual student.
 * Methodology**

Kaitlyn has several strengths in oral language as she shares stories during morning meeting and reading/writing workshop. It is evident that Ms. Kamm makes leadership a priority in her classroom as she explains, “the students confidence and leadership has really improved since I incorporated the Smart Board in January.” Each day a classroom helper will be chosen and they are expected to run the morning meeting on the Smart Board, take the lunch count to the office, along with any other responsibilities that the teacher would need. Kaitlyn will talk confidently when she is given a leadership role in the classroom and she enjoys interacting with the other students.
 * Description of findings**

“ Kaitlyn has average oral language functions, ” Ms. Kamm explained — she shares stories, takes leadership, builds collaborative relations, expresses points of view, and even expresses literacy knowledge. These oral language functions are also present within the entire classroom, which makes me believe that the students should be given more challenging tasks or roles, because they are all excelling as Kindergartener ’ s and will thrive as incoming first grader ’ s with their new teacher.
 * How to use these findings**

Ways to manage children's talk in the classroom. By labeling students talk by number you are reducing the amount of negative words said to your students.