Over the last six weeks we have covered many types of assessments with class discussion, reading articles and activities. We learned about traditional, student centered, open-ended, portfolios, conversation, self, peer, formative, and summative.
Traditional assessments is the type of assessment I only knew about before teaching. This type of assessment consists of tests and quizzes. It is an easy cut and paste assessment, the student is either right or wrong and showing all their work on the document shows their understanding. Now, tests and quizzes are not bad but there are many other types of assessment that provide teachers with a deeper understanding to their students and a richer experience for the students.
Student-centered assessment was a new type of assessment for me to really think about. I understood it to be inquiry based, where the students are working to answer their own questions on the material. The teacher is able to see where the students are at with their understanding. Student centered classrooms provides the students with opportunity to be engaged and motivated to work on their work. I still want to look into student-centered assessments more because there are parts that don't make 100% sense but I think this also comes with time and working with the material more.
Open-ended assessments are awesome in my opinion because they are authentic and provide the students with opportunities to communicate their understanding. Communication proves mastery of the concept, if a student can clearly justify and explain their work (that is done correctly) they are on the way to mastery...but I will mention that again in a few paragraphs..when talking about assessment using conversations! When we give students problems that can be answered a variety of ways we are letting them use problem solving as well. The students can see the multiple ways, or later learn about the other ways, and pick which they think is best or which they can do best. Starting the open-ended assessments at a young age helps students build that confidence needed. This really makes the lesson rich and interesting for the students.
Portfolios are also wonderful tools. I think they take a lot of work but are reasonable. Again, as we work with the material more we can build these great templates for portfolios to use year after year. I think it provides the teacher a wonderful group of work to see where the students started and ended, whether we are using it as a unit, a lesson, a quarter, etc. I also love the idea of having students reflect on their own work. Even at younger ages this will provide students with another wonderful opportunity to build their understanding and communication skills.
Conversation is obviously one that I really like but it also can be found in any part of the day, activity, other types of assessment. Teachers can have one-on-one conversations and hear what a student thinks is a good justification or just to identify what the student is thinking. Teachers can allow group conversation and through observation the teacher can hear where the students are at, how they are problem solving, and thinking through the project. The teacher can also have whole class discussions which will help her assess where the students are and what work needs to be taught better or more in depth. Again, conversation helps students work on being able to communicate what they are thinking and practice justifying their work.
Self-assessment is nice because it gives students the opportunity to reflect on their own work. Having done it myself in this class, it's nice to go back, take ideas learned in class, and fix what we want to. It is also a good skill to have in students because they always need to check their work before turning it in. Self-assessments provide opportunities for the students to motivate themselves and strive to give their best work.
Peer-assessment is also nice when we did it in class. Again, we are provided with ideas we might not have thought about. We talked about how this is hard for students at younger levels because the teacher is going to have to go back and re-assess the work if it is a formal assessment such as a quiz. This type of assessment can be done in pairs where the students work together to make their work better.
Formative and Summative assessments will be used. Formative is on-going and regular used, such as through class discussion. Summative assessment would be the tests, quizzes, etc. that provide a grade. It is important to have the formal and informal assessments. Teachers need to make their observations to help justify a student's grade.
As teachers we will be using assessments constantly. It's important for us to remember the variety of options we have to assess our students and the strengths and weaknesses of each. I hope to always provide rich experiences for my students and opportunities to provide and show their growth and development.
Traditional assessments is the type of assessment I only knew about before teaching. This type of assessment consists of tests and quizzes. It is an easy cut and paste assessment, the student is either right or wrong and showing all their work on the document shows their understanding. Now, tests and quizzes are not bad but there are many other types of assessment that provide teachers with a deeper understanding to their students and a richer experience for the students.
Student-centered assessment was a new type of assessment for me to really think about. I understood it to be inquiry based, where the students are working to answer their own questions on the material. The teacher is able to see where the students are at with their understanding. Student centered classrooms provides the students with opportunity to be engaged and motivated to work on their work. I still want to look into student-centered assessments more because there are parts that don't make 100% sense but I think this also comes with time and working with the material more.
Open-ended assessments are awesome in my opinion because they are authentic and provide the students with opportunities to communicate their understanding. Communication proves mastery of the concept, if a student can clearly justify and explain their work (that is done correctly) they are on the way to mastery...but I will mention that again in a few paragraphs..when talking about assessment using conversations! When we give students problems that can be answered a variety of ways we are letting them use problem solving as well. The students can see the multiple ways, or later learn about the other ways, and pick which they think is best or which they can do best. Starting the open-ended assessments at a young age helps students build that confidence needed. This really makes the lesson rich and interesting for the students.
Portfolios are also wonderful tools. I think they take a lot of work but are reasonable. Again, as we work with the material more we can build these great templates for portfolios to use year after year. I think it provides the teacher a wonderful group of work to see where the students started and ended, whether we are using it as a unit, a lesson, a quarter, etc. I also love the idea of having students reflect on their own work. Even at younger ages this will provide students with another wonderful opportunity to build their understanding and communication skills.
Conversation is obviously one that I really like but it also can be found in any part of the day, activity, other types of assessment. Teachers can have one-on-one conversations and hear what a student thinks is a good justification or just to identify what the student is thinking. Teachers can allow group conversation and through observation the teacher can hear where the students are at, how they are problem solving, and thinking through the project. The teacher can also have whole class discussions which will help her assess where the students are and what work needs to be taught better or more in depth. Again, conversation helps students work on being able to communicate what they are thinking and practice justifying their work.
Self-assessment is nice because it gives students the opportunity to reflect on their own work. Having done it myself in this class, it's nice to go back, take ideas learned in class, and fix what we want to. It is also a good skill to have in students because they always need to check their work before turning it in. Self-assessments provide opportunities for the students to motivate themselves and strive to give their best work.
Peer-assessment is also nice when we did it in class. Again, we are provided with ideas we might not have thought about. We talked about how this is hard for students at younger levels because the teacher is going to have to go back and re-assess the work if it is a formal assessment such as a quiz. This type of assessment can be done in pairs where the students work together to make their work better.
Formative and Summative assessments will be used. Formative is on-going and regular used, such as through class discussion. Summative assessment would be the tests, quizzes, etc. that provide a grade. It is important to have the formal and informal assessments. Teachers need to make their observations to help justify a student's grade.
As teachers we will be using assessments constantly. It's important for us to remember the variety of options we have to assess our students and the strengths and weaknesses of each. I hope to always provide rich experiences for my students and opportunities to provide and show their growth and development.
Very thorough:) Thanks Sarah!
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