Now that you have had three learning experiences involving assessment for learning practices you should be able to try out a few ideas within your practicum. Your overall purpose is to design opportunities within your instructional design that will allow you to check on students' understanding throughout the lesson. Then you can provide opportunities for students to move forward with their learning while you or a support person takes a small group to target instruction more intensely to clarify meaning for others. Community of learners, as Jessa says, is a critical component to keeping the flow of learning going. It will be difficult to manage the diversity of learners within the classroom if they don't have guidelines and understanding of what learning should look, sound and feel like. See what you can manage to do in consultation with your sponsor teacher or perhaps your support teacher, counsellor, speech and language pathologist or educational assistant. As professionals we are trying to work more as a collaborative team in taking collective responsibility for learning in the classroom. Every school and classroom is different so you will have to check out what the possibilities are in your location. Good luck on your practicums and happy learning! If you have a great idea to share and want to tell us how it goes, feel free to blog away.
