6.

3 Field Experiences
Unstructured Field Experience with Cobb County SLOs


Reflection Questions:

1. This was an unstructured field experience log I created after working with other
teachers in the county to develop SLOs (Student Learning Objectives) for AP
Government class. I was able to meet and collaborate with teachers for a total of
30 hours during the summer. During our collaboration we created a formative
assessment for the entire county. I contributed my expertise in content matter as
well as question structure to the group.
2. This one question may need to be several paragraphs long to address all of the
items on the rubric. As our county attempts to create SLOs for the first time,
there are plenty of opportunities to get out and help. An email was sent out to all
social studies department chairs asking them to find master teachers to serve on a
SlOs committee. I was asked my by department chair and agreed to volunteer.
There are plenty of opportunities to volunteer for field experiences within my
school on a yearly basis, but this was a unique opportunity to get a field
experience with teachers outside of our school. After engaging in this field
experience, I was able to go back and engage in more unstructured field
experiences by sharing my knowledge on the SlOs process.
3. I learned a ton of information from this experience. I was able to refine my test
making skills during this process. I was also able to learn the rationale behind
creating student learning objectives. After the experience, I was much more at
ease in giving a SLO assessment in my classroom. One thing I would do
differently would be to enter the situation with an open mind. I was highly
skeptical of the SLOs process before I arrived, however, after hearing from
district leaders and then actually creating the test, there was nothing to fear. The
test is a fair way to measure what AP government teachers are teaching their
students. There are no tricks and we arent looking to get rid of teachers. The
SLO truly is all about student assessment.
4. This experience opened my eyes to how tests are written. I had no idea great tests
were data driven. From making sure distractors are plausible to keeping the same
sentence structure, all tests are data driven. This experience will help me create
better tests for my students while at the same time coaching up my peers when
they write tests. This impact can be assessed by comparing and contrasting scores
of poorly written tests and data driven tests.