Instructional Planner
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Sunday, 27 November 2016
Thursday, 24 November 2016
Reflections
1.
I can use the assessment page of my digital portfolio to
report on my experiences during my first teaching block. I could blog daily, weekly or after the block
is finished. Weekly would probably be the best strategy to use since it would
be an adequate enough timeframe to offer varied experiences from which to ‘report
on’. At the same time, it would be a
relatively frequent period of reporting which would enhance the accuracy and
credibility of the reporting. It would act like an anecdotal record of my
teaching experience and I could use it to reflect on my experience as an ‘assessment
as learning’ tool to reflect on and afford me the opportunity to notice what
worked well, what didn’t and to think of how I can improve on what didn’t work
well.
I could also use the assessment page as a digital file
folder to curate assessment resources. It
could contain links, images or videos related to assessment practices or tools
like rubrics along with my reflections on why I think the items can be useful
in my practice as a teaching candidate. Adding these items to the digital
portfolio would be a good way to store them for myself but also for others to access
if they come upon my blog since all of these resources will be in one
spot.
2.
The resource from my math class was a rubric that evaluated
a 10 minute mini-lesson that I had to lead our class through. This rubric would address the seven
fundamental principles of Growing Success.
It is a fair, transparent and equitable tool since all students were
evaluated using the same tool and it clearly outlined the success criteria in
an objective way. The bottom of the
rubric contained a section for comments which allow the teacher to give
specific feedback to improve student learning.
The rubric was clearly planned to reflect our learning goals while at
the same time could be individualized for specific feedback. The feedback
provided was clear and descriptive with points reflecting what we did well and
what we could do to improve. The rubric was provided at the beginning of the
assignment so that all students had a fair chance to develop their presentation
in a way that met the success criteria. Finally, each presenting student was evaluated
by 2 other students in the class. This allowed students to develop their
self-assessment skills by providing multiple perspectives on their presentation
from which to reflect on themselves. These
multiple perspectives allowed students to acknowledge the consistency of
constructive feedback and provided a basis for setting future goals related to
areas of needed improvement.
Monday, 21 November 2016
Beliefs About Assessment as Impacted by Growing Success
After encountering Growing Success, I would say my beliefs about assessment have evolved. Previously my beliefs were based on my experience being assessed, however, taking the perspective of the assessor has somewhat altered my beliefs about assessment.
In my original post, the most prominent example of assessment I could think of was completing written tests. The idea seemed simple, you were fed information and being able to regurgitate it back in the written form proved that you learned the material. At this point in my learning and practice teaching, there has been much to support the idea that this may not be the most superior way to demonstrate learning. For one, a test can be considered a performance rather than a demonstration of learning since other factors can go into performing well on a test. For example, performing well on a test can be a demonstration of memorization rather than learning. Less than valid questions can lend themselves to triggering recognition rather than a demonstration of knowledge. Who hasn't experienced test anxiety? Under-performing on a test doesn't necessarily mean that you don't know the material. Perhaps there are life events affecting your ability to perform at that very moment or you experienced a level of test anxiety/pressure that acted as a roadblock to your recall of what you know, while any other day when you weren't on the clock or under the gun is no problem to demonstrate your knowledge. I could go on but I'll sum it up by saying that there are other (better?) ways to assess than by test.
Much like learning and instruction, assessment can be differentiated. With a focus on inquiry based learning and more attention being paid to individualization in education, there seems to be a growing acceptance that learning and knowledge are not as one dimensional as they appear to have been presented as in the past. If educators accept the ideas of individual learning styles/preferences and differentiated instructional strategies, why should a differentiated approach to assessment of learning be any less accepted? Imagine if you asked a Spanish-speaking person, in English, what 5+5 equaled. If they knew it was 10 but couldn't reflect that to you in English, does that mean they don't know it? Offering a choice to students on how to reflect their learning makes for a more accurate demonstration of their learning. Someone with a more visual inclination will more accurately represent their learning to you through a visual mode of communication. This is one of the benefits to finding other ways of assessing.
Let's get to the different purposes of assessment - for, as and of learning. This speaks to the importance of continuous assessment, which has been reinforced throughout this course so far and in Growing Success. The only way we can monitor learning is through continuous assessment. Much like accounting/financial statements provide feedback about the financial status of a company, assessment does the same about our learning. Teachers need to take a diagnostic snapshot of where students are at in order to effectively lead them where they need to be. At the same time, students can monitor their own learning through formative assessment (self reflection, peer assessment, etc.). Finally, summative assessment will reflect the purpose of assessment of learning. This is important and can be used as further feedback on how well a student is able to grasp a concept and reflect their learning through tangible/observable products.
In the case of students with special needs, the approach to assessment slightly changes depending on their level of need. Students who require accomodations can be assessed according to the standard curriculum with supports as needed. In the case of students who require modifications, their assessment must proceed against whatever modified curriculum has been decided for them. In the case of special needs students, continual assessment is especially important in order to monitor their progress and level of continued need.
The achievement chart is something that gauges level of achievement of the curriculum. It can be considered at what level of success they are meeting the curricular expectations. These must be individualized for the type of learning task and can be expressed/delivered in the form of a rubric, checkbric, cheklist and anecdotal records.
Growing Success is a helpful document that sheds light on the various purposes of assessment, approaches to assessment and considerations for the assessment of students with special needs. It is an effective resource for teachers of all levels as it provides direction and contains important principles associated with the practice of assessment
In my original post, the most prominent example of assessment I could think of was completing written tests. The idea seemed simple, you were fed information and being able to regurgitate it back in the written form proved that you learned the material. At this point in my learning and practice teaching, there has been much to support the idea that this may not be the most superior way to demonstrate learning. For one, a test can be considered a performance rather than a demonstration of learning since other factors can go into performing well on a test. For example, performing well on a test can be a demonstration of memorization rather than learning. Less than valid questions can lend themselves to triggering recognition rather than a demonstration of knowledge. Who hasn't experienced test anxiety? Under-performing on a test doesn't necessarily mean that you don't know the material. Perhaps there are life events affecting your ability to perform at that very moment or you experienced a level of test anxiety/pressure that acted as a roadblock to your recall of what you know, while any other day when you weren't on the clock or under the gun is no problem to demonstrate your knowledge. I could go on but I'll sum it up by saying that there are other (better?) ways to assess than by test.
Much like learning and instruction, assessment can be differentiated. With a focus on inquiry based learning and more attention being paid to individualization in education, there seems to be a growing acceptance that learning and knowledge are not as one dimensional as they appear to have been presented as in the past. If educators accept the ideas of individual learning styles/preferences and differentiated instructional strategies, why should a differentiated approach to assessment of learning be any less accepted? Imagine if you asked a Spanish-speaking person, in English, what 5+5 equaled. If they knew it was 10 but couldn't reflect that to you in English, does that mean they don't know it? Offering a choice to students on how to reflect their learning makes for a more accurate demonstration of their learning. Someone with a more visual inclination will more accurately represent their learning to you through a visual mode of communication. This is one of the benefits to finding other ways of assessing.
Let's get to the different purposes of assessment - for, as and of learning. This speaks to the importance of continuous assessment, which has been reinforced throughout this course so far and in Growing Success. The only way we can monitor learning is through continuous assessment. Much like accounting/financial statements provide feedback about the financial status of a company, assessment does the same about our learning. Teachers need to take a diagnostic snapshot of where students are at in order to effectively lead them where they need to be. At the same time, students can monitor their own learning through formative assessment (self reflection, peer assessment, etc.). Finally, summative assessment will reflect the purpose of assessment of learning. This is important and can be used as further feedback on how well a student is able to grasp a concept and reflect their learning through tangible/observable products.
In the case of students with special needs, the approach to assessment slightly changes depending on their level of need. Students who require accomodations can be assessed according to the standard curriculum with supports as needed. In the case of students who require modifications, their assessment must proceed against whatever modified curriculum has been decided for them. In the case of special needs students, continual assessment is especially important in order to monitor their progress and level of continued need.
The achievement chart is something that gauges level of achievement of the curriculum. It can be considered at what level of success they are meeting the curricular expectations. These must be individualized for the type of learning task and can be expressed/delivered in the form of a rubric, checkbric, cheklist and anecdotal records.
Growing Success is a helpful document that sheds light on the various purposes of assessment, approaches to assessment and considerations for the assessment of students with special needs. It is an effective resource for teachers of all levels as it provides direction and contains important principles associated with the practice of assessment
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