Blog Entry 1:
My assessment experiences as a student in elementary and secondary school certainly influenced my beliefs about assessment. Until I started at this Brock Teachers College Program, I always thought that assessment and evaluation were the same thing. Boy was I wrong! I was always very anxious in school as a student, and would sometimes cry before tests and quizzes. As a student, I did not recognize that I was being assessed during activities, assignments, and just by being involved in the classroom. When I got a grade on a report card, I would assume it was based solely on my tests. But, in fact, assessment goes on for all 194 days of the school year. To me, assessment and test evaluation coincided, and I am pleased to now finally understand that assessment is so much more than that.
I have already learned that assessment is a process. I have learned that we need to plan for assessment, gather evidence for learning, and apply professional judgement. Assessment is certainly not just test marks. In fact, there is assessment of, for, and as learning. Also, while evaulation is a grade or level, assessment is a way for teachers to observe and explore how are students and growing and improving in all subject areas throughout the year. We can even assess just by sitting beside a student. Furthermore, there are a variety of different assessment tools we can use in the classroom. These can include rubrics, checklists, running scores, and anecdotal records. When assessing, it is important to follow the 7 fundamental principles in the Growing Success Text and to also take the 6 learning skills into consideration. I will refer back to this post when I start filling in my Brock Lesson Plan Templates in order to maximize how assessment can be used in my lessons.
I believe that assessment in elementary school classrooms have improved over the last century. We have learned as educators that there are many ways to assess students and that only using tests is not the right answer. We have been introduced to the fact that we need assessment to be continuous throughout the year, and that sometimes we need to give constructive feedback without a grade. In order to see how effective our teaching strategies are, we can also assess students to decide whether or not our teaching strategies are working.
On anther note, assessment as learning is an assessment strategy that needs to be used in the classroom. We need children to understand that they can self-assess themselves and also monitor their own learning. If we can improve on self-assessment, students can learn to self-reflect in post-secondary, and they would benefit from this. I hope that I can model to my students that assessment has a positive connotation and that it is an opportunity for them to show me what they understand and what they have learned.
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Blog Entry 2:
Since I have been introduced to the Growing Success Document in my Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting course at Brock University, my beliefs about assessment have changed dramatically. Now, it is fair for me to say that I believe that assessment means much more than just grades, and that assessment is valid, reliable, and effective. Below are 9 points that the Growing Success document has taught me. These 9 reasons are what have led me to my new and improved belief about assessment:
1. An assessment task is made up of 3 purposes: for, of, and as. Before I used to believe that there was only assessment of learning, meaning that the sole purpose of assessment was evaluation and grading. Now, I believe that assessment is also continuous throughout the year and can include constructive feedback (assessment for learning) and that assessment can include students monitoring their own learning (assessment as learning).
2. An assessment task is made up of 3 natures: diagnostic, formative, and summative. Before I used to believe that assessment was only summative, but now I believe that assessment can also be done before learning as well as during learning! Assessment is an ongoing process that is used from beginning, middle, to end.
3. Next, the 7 Growing Success fundamental principles make me believe that assessment is a legitimate policy/program. For example, one principle is that procedures are fair and equitable for all students. These 7 principles ensure that assessment is designed to show how ALL students can improve.
4. Furthermore, learning skills and work habits are a crucial part of assessment! I used to believe that learning skills and work habits were not important to assessment, but now I believe that a MAJOR part of assessment is including learning skills and work habits in evaluation. I believe that responsibility, organization, independent work, collaboration, initiative, and self-regulation are a crucial part in the success of a student's learning potential. It is also important to note that learning skills are not just marked by a YES/NO checklist, but in fact on a scale from excellent, good, satisfactory, and needs improvement.
5. Growing Success has also made me believe that assessment is appropriately "rated" by including and using 4 levels of achievement. I have grown to understand that a level 3 is the "goal" and that level 3 is nothing short of failure. In fact, it is the provincial standard for achievement. I believe that these 4 levels allow teachers to show student improvement over time and are an effective way of evaluating summatives/products.
6. Assessment is based on the Achievement Chart which includes knowledge and understanding, thinking, communicating, and application. This reinforces my belief that assessment is composed of much more than just grades.
7. Evaluation is made up of more than just tests. A teacher can evaluate based on 3 things: observation, conversation, and product. This is a reason as to why I believe that assessment is more than just grades. More importantly, it is about finding alternate ways to evaluate student progress and allows for a variety of different students to strive in completing an assignment/activity because the evaluation is not the same every single time.
8. Assessment can vary depending on the student. When assessing students with ELL's or IEP's, accommodations and modifications are taken into consideration during evaluation because the Success Criteria may vary across students. This relates to my belief that assessment is effective because when assessing, it is crucial that teachers take student variability into consideration.
9. Furthermore, teachers comments on students strengths and weaknesses is a crucial part to assessment. In order for students to improve, next steps must be something that is regarded, whether it is for an A student or a D student. IT IS MORE THAN JUST THE FINAL GRADES.
Once again, it is clear that Growing Success has encouraged me to believe that assessment is more than just grades, and that assessment is valid, reliable, and effective. Once I saw that Growing Success was a 168 page text, I had a feeling that there was more to assessment than my original belief! This will definitely be a text that I hold on to throughout my teaching career.
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AER Strategy Form:
Here is my AER Strategy form sheet. This chart explains my learning goals for each major chapter in the Growing Success Document.
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Instructional Planner #2: Independent Task:
Here is my instructional planner. This chart shows my understanding of how to use assessment in a real life lesson activity! Here, I decided to look at a math lesson on measurement and decided to perform assessment for learning as the main purpose. Here you will see my lesson plan as well as a matched assessment tool.
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