BLOG 3:
June 8, 2018
Assessment Practices:
How do you typically
assess your students? your teaching? other learners (e.g. teachers)? How have
your assessment practices changed over the years? How have they changed in your
school? District?
I typically use
formative and summative assessment in my classroom; the former through feedback
and the latter through tests. With assessment for learning (formative), I
use practices such as providing comments and suggestions for improvements of
students’ essays, for example - with the option of them revising and editing to
hand back in to boost their mark and reinforce their learning. When doing
assessment of learning (summative), I typically go over the expectations on the
quiz a day or two before, going over each question in class that I am expecting
them to know and understand, or sometimes merely the main concepts, depending
on the type of test and the expectations. We do brainstorming at this
time and students provide several possible solutions to the outcomes. I mainly assess my teaching through
self-reflection and student feedback, either oral or written. I look for indicators of “grow and glow” and
adapt my teaching practices accordingly to fit the needs of each specific class.
I assess other teachers informally through dialogue, conversations,
stories, and sometimes emails. When I
first started teaching, I probably over-assessed my students, as I took in
virtually everything for marks. Now I do
much more assessment for learning and assessment as learning along the
way. My school’s assessment practices
have remained quite consistent throughout the years, for example, we have
decided as a staff long ago how much to weigh final exams, assignments, tests,
etc.
What research do you
use to support your assessment practices? What evidence do you have that
indicates that your
assessment practices help students achieve and be successful? What have been
the challenges in changing your assessment practices?
My assessment
practices mainly fall under the research of Drake, Reid, & Kolohon, in
their book Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment, of 2014.
Melissa and I presented the topic of assessment based on their book and I
learned that much of my practices are in alignment with chapter 3 in regard to
backward design. The authors emphasized the importance of the “know, do,
and be,” creating rich performance tasks, creating assessment tasks and tools,
using assessment for learning, and the advocacy of using rubrics. I have
been much more aware and knowledgeable about these practices and how to
implement them in my classroom in the recent past. I have seen better engagement and learning
from students when I assess for learning and provide an assessment tool at the
beginning of the task, for example, a rubric. The rewards speak for
themselves in terms of engagement and learning for students; the challenge for
me as a teacher is to remember to start with the end in mind and create the
assessment tool before I assign the task.
Although rubrics take more planning to create, they do make marking more
efficient and clear. Creating a rich performance task can be challenging,
but for a project like a novel study, for example, I find it can also be quite
enjoyable for me to create ideas for relevant assignments and tasks
because I know my students and what may appeal to them. It takes more
time and thought, but in the end, it is worth it.
What work do we still
have to do as instructional leaders in this area to ensure that students are
receiving the best assessment practices in our buildings/districts?
