Category: Week 4 – Assessment

Assessment to me is a very effective self reflection tool. But the key is it is more for reflection. The idea behind assessment is to help perform a self-check on how much you have been able to grasp and refine your understanding incrementally. Two characteristics of  humans have helped to create “The Grading Monster”. I am not […]

Don’t Fall Asleep. Sometimes I feel like grades aren’t measuring our academic abilities as much as they are measuring our ability to stay awake. Maybe this feeling is a bit unfair or maybe it’s showing my … Continue reading →

Honestly, I don’t blame students that asks their teachers if the material is going to be on the test or not. For all my life, I focused on getting good grades so I can continue my education journey, secure acceptance in college and higher education, an…

I recall back to the TED talk from Ken Robinson (“How to Escape Education’s Death Valley”), how we do need some agreed upon notions or what is generally good or bad (cholesterol was the given example). This isn’t meant to exclude the need for individualization, but it does indicate the use for standardization at some … Continue reading Assessment as a Single Tool Among a Mixed Toolbox

Earlier in May, during a commencement speech former president George W. Bush said to the graduating students: “To those of you who are graduating this afternoon with high honors, awards and distinctions, I say, ‘Well done.’ And as I like to tell the C students: You too, can be president.” (See video) This blog is … Continue reading “C Students: You too, can be president”

There are a number of puzzle pieces to learning, which isn’t solely the assessment instrument, but also academic standards, specific state standards, Common Core ideas, essential questions, and instructional strategies. The common problem in K-12 is that the curriculum does not align with the Standards of Learning (SOLs). Different types of assessment instruments provide information for various decisions, but not every assessment procedure is applicable or serve some types of decisions effectively. Preparation for learning begins with lucid learning objectives, learning goals, and expectations in which is the foundation to assessment and instruction. Assessment and instruction are synchronized with three key concepts, behavior (classroom demeanor), motivation (student effort in application), and learning (student achievement/understanding/performance).

The question posed, is how do we engage on each key concept, while aligning with the SOLs without impeding on creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving? After viewing the Dan Pink video, I realized that engagement begins with self-direction, exploration, reasoning, questioning, and discovery. As Dan Pink shared a narrow focus restricts possibilities, but possibly increasing rigor on assessments will permit teachers the pathway to provide students with different possibilities as well as allowing students to construct their meaning and interpretations in the specific subject area to demonstrate their mastery and autonomy. Currently in some subjects, assessments are narrow to some extent, and mostly offer students multiple choice options, instead of options for students to demonstrate their mastery in the subject area. 

Classroom climate, instruction, coordination, and collaboration alignment provides a basis for valid assessment in understanding the relationship with learner and content. Its a system that works holistically relevant to both individual students (learning decisions) and about groups of students (teaching/instructional decisions). The cliche is “Assessment should not be for the sake of assessing”, but to add to the heavily used cliche, looking at the results/reporting to improve upon as well as a reinforcement tool for measuring students understanding. Students’ benefit as well from assessment in making informed decision(s) about their learning in which is contingent upon the teacher integrating feedback into the instructional process that provides students with stages of progress as well as providing students with the skill set in self-assessing their learning. 

Ultimately, being aware of various assessments and how it relates or align with learner performance on those particular assessments is vital as well as taking in consideration state standards and ensuring that learning objectives and student assessments align with selected standards. My personal opinion is that go assessments benefits the learner and the assessor in various ways.

The readings of this week at #gedivt remind me the work of two brazilian scholars and educators: Cipriano Luckesi and Jussara Hoffman. I will present here some of their ideas. Examining and classifying are extremely useful when we really aim to select students. But when the goal is evaluating the learning process, merely examining is […]

I feel I’ve been resonating a lot with the topic motivation. Last week I was pondering on the talk by  Mike Wesch, Cathy Davidson, and Randy Bass  that later evolved into a discussion about how to motivate students. This week Dan Pink gives me an unusual understanding of motivation. He convinced us that what motivates us depends on … Continue reading About motivation – thoughts on Dan Pink’s talk

As a student within the STEM field, I can see the need for some form of assessment. Due to the nature of the subject matter, having dealt with theorems, applicable concepts and a large volume of information that has to be know as a basis to “invent the future”, its hard to determine if a … Continue reading A personal take on assessments →

I am sure any number of individuals in this class will tackle the testing, the GPA, the grading – I much prefer to watch that particular battle play out among those more committed to a side than I. I will sneak in with my commentary and cry havoc, Sith style, and slip away undetected. In […]