Assessment Philosophy
One of my favorite quotes is, “The best thing to spend on children, is time.” I think this idea ties strongly into assessment, in that formative and summative assessment should be methodically formulated and re-examined by group collaboration amongst teachers. These assessments should showcase essential learnings and be driven by the four driving questions of a professional learning community, which are, “What do we want our students to learn? How will be know they have learned it? How do we respond if some students do not learn it?” and finally, “What do we do to extend or enrich the learning for those who have learned it?” (Dufour 2015). We, as teachers, must come away from these meetings with the tools needed to provide next steps in instructional teaching that are appropriate for each of the students learning needs.
Formative assessment is a great way for teachers to “check in” with their students. There should be a continuous open dialogue between teachers and students about where each student is in their learning. Once the teacher has gathered this information, she/he is able to move forward in instruction and differentiate accordingly (Wormelli 2006). This differentiation should encompass both remediation and enrichment. Remediation should occur within a week of monitoring a child’s progress, this is based off of the methods used in Finland’s education system, who have some of the highest achievement levels in the world (Popa 2015). When the teacher is implementing formative assessment in the classroom, students should not be feeling fearful of this process. Instilling the idea that the formative assessment is a way for students to communicate with me, as the teacher. Developing success criteria based off essential learnings, also communicating with classmates to promote classroom collaboration and community have all been put into practise thus far in my career as a teacher. Showing the students through my instruction, the merits of formative assessment has been proven to be greatly successful. Summative assessment should be implemented when a teacher wants to test the knowledge of their students in order to formulate a grade for each student. I think that re-tests are something that should be applied to all summative assessments in that most students are somewhat fearful of summative assessments. I want students to know they have a second chance and that the learnings that they did do well on will be taken to account, and the learnings they are needing remediation in will be re-tested (Wormelli 2011). This process enables all students to achieve at a higher level, and isn’t that what we want for our children? To build up their confidence in their learnings in order to facilitate achievement and the intrinsic motivation to become better (Wormelli 2014)? Summative assessment should show the teacher what knowledge and understanding the students have acquired up to the point of being tested. Redos and retakes are set in place to be a second chance for students to show what they have learned and the growth they have made since their first test. Intrinsic motivation is a key component in student learning. I feel like this ties strongly into assessment as well. When it comes to motivation there is both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation can be “fleeting”. For example, “You got your star! Now let’s move onto a new subject to churn out another star.” Intrinsic motivation is an internal motivation that runs deep within an individual. For example, you decide to do extra readings on the bird you learned about in ornithology class because you thought it was so fascinating. I hope to facilitate intrinsic motivation in my class through guiding my teaching according to the needs of each student. This will be made possible through formative assessment in that I will be informed of what the students are questioning and unfamiliar with in regards to essential learnings. I try to encourage this questioning and in order to open doors to broaden their overall knowledge. Alfie Kohn speaks of offering “autonomy support” to students where we as teachers facilitate learning through allowing for voice and choice (Kohn 2010). There are steps to take in order to improve achievement in students and we as teachers must ensure we have a strong foundation of a professional learning community to produce common forms of assessment which adhere to the essential learnings. These assessments then drive where we take our teaching for each student. When teaching is catered to each of the students’ needs this then enables students to succeed both on an academic and psychological level. When students are not set up to fail, but encouraged and fostered with their learning by their teacher, the students become intrinsically motivated. Intrinsic motivation is my main goal when it comes to teaching. I want my students to want to come to school. I want my students to want to learn. Passing on my love for academia and having a resounding positive influence on the futures of these children is something I try to integrate into my teaching practise each day. References: DuFour R., DuFour R., Eaker R, Many T. (2006). Learning By Doing, A handbook for Professional Learning Committees at Work. Bloomington, IN. Solution Tree Press. Second Edition. Kohn A. (2010). How to Create Nonreaders: Reflections on Motivation, Learning, and Sharing Power.English Journal: In Focus. Volume 100. Issue 1. pg. 16-22 Popa C., Laurian S., Fitzgerald C. (2015). The 6th International Conference Edu World 2014 “Education Facing Contemporary World Issues”, 7th - 9th November 2014 An insight perspective of Finland’s educational system. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences.Volume 180 pg 104-112 doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.02.092 Wormelli R. (2006). Accountability: Teaching through assessment and feedback, not grading. American Secondary Education.Volume 34 Issue 3. pg 14-21 Wormelli R. (2011). Redos and Retakes Done Right. Educational Leadership. Volume 69 Issue 3. pg. 22-26 Wormelli R. (2014). Motivating Young Adolescents. Educational Leadership. Volume 72 Issue 1. pg. 26-31 |
|