Jessica Wiedemann

Jessica Wiedemann March 3, 2020

Looking Forward

Moving into my three-week block where I will be teaching every day in a high school classroom. I am excited but there are some concerns I have regarding assessment when I get into the classroom. The most concerning thoughts and questions that come to my mind when thinking about assessment are: how do I make sure an assessment is fair to all types of learners and for those less skilled in this type of assessment, how do I make my assessments transparent but at the same time challenging enough for students, and is there ever too much formative assessment? I want to create my classroom as a space where assessment is not scary or doesn’t mean anything. I want to know how to engage students with a want to learn rather than just a sense that they only need to try when it ‘matters’.

Why am I concerned?

These are concerns in going into my three-week block because I am unsure of the best ways to go about assessment when there is an atmosphere of “is this for marks” in classrooms today, not only in high schools. I know that is much how the students in my high school classes were. We wouldn’t do something if it was just ‘for practice’. We didn’t actually try unless we knew it was going to affect the grades our parents saw on powerschool. Some of the students would do the classwork because they were told to but there were others who knew it wouldn’t affect their grades if they didn’t do anything, the only way it would affect them is they wouldn’t have the practice behind them before the summative assessment. At that point in our lives at the time we couldn’t see that far into the future and the connection between the practice and the test of our skills.

I am excited to get into the classroom and pick the brain of my co-op teacher in my three-week block as well as in my internship. I want to ask as many questions as I possibly can and get the most out of the experience. Questions I want to ask my co-op teacher are: 1) How do you formatively assess and how often do you do it? Are you required to have lots of formative assessments? 2) What are your favorite types of assessment and why? 3) How do you work around the atmosphere for students only doing work that is ‘for marks’? these questions are important to me because I have not had a lot of explanation about assessment in my other university classes. Gaining knowledge from an in-service teacher would change my current practice as a pre-service teacher and my future practice when I get into the profession.

Seeing Assessment Differently

After seeing presentations of different ways of assessing learning during class today, some of my concerns seemed to be less worrisome. There were a lot of different types of assessment presented that pushed how I see assessment in a different direction. Integrating 21^st century literacies into assessments gives the students and the teacher more options for assessment. One of the presentations really resonated with me because they had woven science and music together using a Makey Makey toy to take about music as well as what conducts electricity. This type of cross-curricular activity makes learning more fun and gives students a memorable experience to link to the knowledge they gained. I am looking at assessment differently in this sense because linking two subjects together can make for better learning in both areas as well as creating fun in the classroom.

Looking Forward

Looking even more forward into my internship in the fall, I am seeing assessment differently in how I want to set up my class when it starts in September. Creating assessment with other subjects and cross-curricular connections in mind, I can see more options and more fun ways to assess students learning.

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
Walt Disney

Jessica Wiedemann

Jessica is a student at University of Regina. Her passion for helping others and advocacy for the prevention of bullying in schools has lead her to a career in education. She is a dog lover, photographer, and a food lover.

Make sure to comment below and follow her on social media, she loves to reach out and connect with you!

Jessica Wiedemann February 25, 2020

Differentiation

In moving deeper into my teacher’s education, differentiation is more on my mind than ever. I grew up with a brother who has an exceptionality. I was so much younger than him that I was not aware of the struggles that my parents and he had during his schooling. After my first summer working for a summer camp for children and youth with special needs, I saw more of the struggles that students with exceptionalities have during their education and in their lives after school ends. Differentiation in a school and in a classroom can make or break a student’s education and their confidence in a subject or learning all together. Tomlinson and Moon (2013) explain that differentiation is not to be singled out in the classroom as just creating multiple learning options for individuals with different needs. They call on five elements of the classroom, “learning environment, curriculum, assessment, instruction, and classroom leadership and management,” that flow into each other as well as enhances each other (p. 1). Taking all these into account when thinking about differentiation in the classroom,

Differentiation as a Learning Environment

Differentiation in a classroom takes more than making different learning options, it requires a shift in the environment of the classroom. One of my goals as a teacher is to create a positive classroom environment in both the physical sense and in the atmospheric sense. Part of creating this environment in my future classroom is the integration of differentiation without calling attention to it in a blunt fashion that calls out specific students. “In a differentiated classroom, the teacher’s aim is to make the classroom work for each student who is obliged to spend time there” (Tomlinson & Moon, 2013, p. 4). With this goal in mind teachers need to embody “hallmarks” like belief, invitation, investment, opportunity, persistence, and reflection (p. 4). The way a teacher conducts themselves with the students is a big part in the development of the environment and the atmosphere in a classroom.

Differentiation and Assessment

Assessment’s connection to differentiation have more to do with the understanding of the self for students rather than the marks they are worth. Tomlinson and Moon link the differentiation in a classroom and the assessment to the meaning of the grade received on an assessment. They explain that the goal of the teacher is to “increase reliability and validity and to reduce error and teacher bias” in the classroom (p. 124). The results of an assessment should not decrease the want to learn for the student. School is a place where the concept of where one fits in socially is beginning to be formed and grades can play a huge role in this definition for some students. this is where the interplay between assessment and differentiation is very important in the classroom. Tomlinson and Moon highlight nine principles of effective grading practice that take differentiation into account. Of these, one of the most important one in keeping students’ understanding of self in mind is “Use Grades That Are Criterion Based, Not Comparative or Norm Based” (p.129). This is not comparing students with one another and keeping competition out of the equation. The idea here is that students should eb competing with themselves rather than with other students who may have different levels of skills or learning abilities than them. Competition is healthy but in the right place; the classroom is a place for learning rather than competition.

The goal of differentiation in the classroom is an important one to keep in mind when moving through a teacher’s education because there are lots of lessons within thinking about this concept. How exactly does a beginning teacher move toward this goal without causing more harm than good? Tomlinson, Brimijoin, and Naraez (2008) raise ways to initiate deep change toward a differentiated classroom in their book Differentiated School. One of the most compelling points in the first section of this book is the idea that differentiation is for every student not just those with labels. While knowing these labels is important if teachers to be aware of but it is not only those students who would benefit from differentiation in the classroom.

In my preparation for teaching in my field placements and further into my career, one of my goals is to understand more about how differentiation fits into my classroom and how to create an atmosphere where students are able to learn without comparing themselves to others.

“Differentiation is simply a teacher attending to the learning needs of a particular student or small groups of students, rather than teaching a class as though all individuals in it were basically alike.”
Carol Ann Tomlinson

References

Tomlinson, C. A., Brimijoin, K., & Narvaez, L. (2008). The differentiated school: Making revolutionary changes in teaching and learning. ASCD.

Tomlinson, C. A., & Moon, T. R. (2013). Assessment and student success in a differentiated classroom. ASCD.

Jessica Wiedemann

Jessica is a student at University of Regina. Her passion for helping others and advocacy for the prevention of bullying in schools has lead her to a career in education. She is a dog lover, photographer, and a food lover.

Make sure to comment below and follow her on social media, she loves to reach out and connect with you!

Jessica Wiedemann February 11, 2020

Struggling with Assessment as a Learner

In order to become a teacher, I had to be a learner. In my own k-12 experiences, in my university classrooms and in the pre-service teaching field experiences I was influenced by the experiences I had and learned more than just content. In relation to assessment, what I experienced in these different learning spaces, will affect how I conduct assessment and what form assessment will be in my own classroom.

My Struggles

Looking back on the types of assessment that I was exposed to in my schooling, there was a lot of testing, review questions, homework, and presentations in front of the class. Many of the testing, review questions and homework situations showed up in Science, Math, and Social Studies classes. The presentations tended to be in English classrooms. I was a student who had a lot of anxiety around tests which could have been attributed to the social anxiety I had outside the classroom due to bullying. In my grade 12 math class, I was more than capable of completing the problems at home doing homework questions and I understood what was happening during class time. In exams, I completely blanked and couldn’t understand what was being asked of me. I had no idea what I was doing. My parents and teacher were just as confused as I was about this situation. Thinking about what was going through my head at the time, I wanted to do well so I could have more choices of universities and programs after I graduated. From this I understand how much pressure students can put on themselves to do well. That’s not to say that I won’t ever give a test in my future classroom. Tests do have a purpose and there are certain subjects that lend more to testing at the end of a unit than others. remembering this experience, I will try to structure my examinations and tests to reduce anxiety for students. I will make sure there are no surprises as to what is expected of them and the type of questions that will be on the test.

During one of my field placements, I was able to see what my co-op teacher did in her classroom before a unit test. I was in a grade 6 classroom where I was to start teaching for the next unit. I was able to see that my co-op teacher gave her classes review questions that were short answer to longer answer, requiring a paragraph answer. This review was taken in for a summative mark and would also serve as a mandatory way to make the students study the material for their test. Another practice I was able to see my co-op do in her classroom was giving the students choice in when their test was. She gave the class three options of days in which they could write their test. She was thinking about the students and what else they had going on their lives like sports, or other extra-curricular activities. I could see that she cared about the mental health of the students in her classroom when she did this. Students have more going on in their lives than just school. In my own experiences in junior high and high school, I played competitive soccer where I was practicing 4-5 times a week and had at least one game a week. The choice in when an exam could be would have saved me a lot of stress in high school. For this reason, I want to integrate these types of practices into my future classroom.

One of my most hated experiences that I remember from my schooling was reading a part Shakespeare in front of the class in grade 12. I had just switched schools and was the new kid in school. I was already nervous enough about being new and then I had to read a huge part of a play that I could barely understand let alone read out loud. By the end of the short scene I had seat through my t-shirt and my hoodie I was so nervous. I could tell while I was reading that it was painful for the whole room not just me. What I hated most about this part of our assessment was that I didn’t have the choice to perform this part of my assessment in a different way. Looking back, I am not totally sure what was being assessed, if it was the ability to read Shakespearean English or our public speaking skills. remembering this experience, it is going to transfer into my pedagogy in that I will give more choice to students who have a lot of anxiety around public speaking.

Struggles to Strength

My past experiences in classrooms and in my pre-service practice will transfer into my own practice as a teacher. I have more understanding for students who want more choice in their assessments and be more flexible in how assessments can be completed. Going through the negative experiences I did in high school creates more understanding of students in my future classrooms. Although I had to be uncomfortable and did not know how those experiences would impact my future at the time, I am thankful that I will be able to use these experiences to better my future classroom and teaching practice.

“Turn your wounds into wisdom.”
Oprah Winfrey

Jessica Wiedemann

Jessica is a student at University of Regina. Her passion for helping others and advocacy for the prevention of bullying in schools has lead her to a career in education. She is a dog lover, photographer, and a food lover.

Make sure to comment below and follow her on social media, she loves to reach out and connect with you!

Jessica Wiedemann February 4, 2020

What Principles Underline Assessment?

“Even though there are no ways of knowing for sure, there are ways of knowing for pretty sure.”
Lemony Snicket

What does it mean to ‘know’ and how do we know we ‘know’?

The concept of’ knowing’, what it is that we ‘know’, and how we know we ‘know’ brings about questions when looking at this idea through the lens of a teacher. As outlined in Chapter Three of Finding Freedom in the Classroom: a Practical Introduction to Critical Theory by Patricia Hinchey, the concept of knowing can be looked at from two points of view, positivist or constructivist epistemology. Hinchey defines epistemology as “the branch of philosophy that seeks to define “knowledge”, that seeks to explain what it means to “know” something” (p. 35). Epistemology is important to consider in the classroom because the teacher-student relationship is rooted in the understanding of what ‘knowing’ something means.

Looking at knowledge as a positivist, knowledge is in a way a thing that can be grasped and found in the world. As Hinchey puts it “[k]nowledge is there, waiting for us to find it” (p. 36). Bringing positivism epistemology into the classroom connects to the vessel philosophy of learning in that students are empty vessels for students to fill with knowledge, as it is seen as a physical thing that can be attained. While this philosophy created harsh boundaries around what can be done in the classroom by both the teacher and the students, there is more to the positivistic point of view of what it is to ‘know’ something. When looking at the world as something that can be tested gives rise to different opinions of how the world works. Concepts and theories can be explored through inquiry and the scientific method. Positivism lends more to a scientific approach to learning and knowing while constructivism gives rise to more opinion based learning and knowing.

The constructivist epistemology looks at ‘knowing’ and learning as more of a link to the meaning of what is known. Hinchey defines it as something that “comes into being only when a human examines the data” (p. 41). This view of knowledge gives the power to the human race rather than to the surrounding world. This philosophy in the classroom gives more power to the students to suggest meaning out of the data that is collected. This does also play into the scientific way of thinking in the post data collection phase of the scientific method.

As a future educator, I had not really thought about what it meant to ‘know’ something. In my education experiences before coming to university and more so in university, ‘knowing something had to do with what and how much someone could remember and regurgitate onto an exam. The addition of this type of schooling and my home environment, which was full of science and math based conversation, the positivist understanding of what it is to ‘know’ something makes the most sense to me. The combination of my schooling and home environment may have been a catalyst in my gravitation towards the sciences and looking at things in a scientific fashion. Bringing these philosophies of what ‘knowing’ something means into the classroom re-orientates me as a teacher to seeing different possible ways of assessing students and creating learning moments.

Theories of Assessment

The relationship between assessment and learning is an important relationship to keep in mind as a teacher in order to know better how students learn and how to assess what they ‘know’. In James’ 2006 article Assessment, Teachering and Theories of Learning, she speaks about the alignment of assessment and learning, examples of assessment practices in the classroom, and three theories of learning. These theories include Behaviourist, Constructivist, and Socio-cultural.

The in behaviourist theory, learning comes from the “[r]ewards and punishments” and “[p]raise may be part of such a reward system” (James, 2006, p. 7). The implications of using this teaching and learning style int h classroom are that the teacher creates an atmosphere where the human consciousness is disregarded and there is no acknowledgement of the mind or intelligence (p. 7). This theory connects in a way to the positivist theory touched upon above in that it relies on students being correct or incorrect. The student knows something if they are able to give the ‘correct’ answer back to the teacher. The use of behaviourism as a teaching strategy causes assessment to look like timed tests and success is measured by correctness. The behaviourist approach limits the options of the teacher in the ways to assess students learning and understanding.

In Constructivist theory, which is a derivative of positivism, behaviourism, rationalism, and humanism, there is an emphasis on the students cognitive processes and there is a higher importance placed on the ‘understanding’ of the student. This theory calls for more “active engagement of learners and is determined by what goes on in people’s heads” (James, 2006, p.8). Bringing this type of teaching strategy into the classroom brings about more engagement in the students as well as potential for self-guided inquiry. The student plays a bigger role in their learning and in their assessment in that they are more active participants in the learning process. Assessment for this type fo theory looks more like self-reflection and opinion-based answers rather than straight regurgitation of content.

The socio-cultural theory is the interaction between the student and the social environment around them. James classifies thinking in this theory as being “constructed through actions that alter the situation and the situation changes the thinking” (p. 10). The thinking and the environment are constantly changing. James goes on to say that “it is difficult to judge an individual as acquired knowledge” under this theory (p. 10). In regard to assessment, this leaves the teacher in an awkward position in the classroom when there is a requirement of grades and some sort of record of the students knowledge or what they have learned.

Translation Into My Classroom

As a future teacher, these philosophies and theories impact my educational and assessment philosophy in how I look at students and the how they understand, my teaching, and how I will assess. There is no single theory that is best to use practically as a teacher, rather a mixing of the theories or a progression of one to another is needed to teach students and assess if they have actually learned anything. Positivism can be applied in the sense that there is adventure involved in the learning process. Society is on an adventure to find out more about the world and discovery answers to questions and educational institutions are attempting to given students the tools to venture forth to find out “why” and “how”. Once the data and information is found, the question is what does it mean? This is where the constructivist theory comes in. Applying meaning and context to the information that is gathered is important to finding out the answers to the questions that we have about the world around us. The teacher cannot rely on one process of assessing how a student knows something, we cannot be that narrow minded. Finding a middle ground or mixture of the way a teacher assess students keeps both the teacher and the students on their toes to see where both parties are at.

References

Hinchey, P. H. (2010). Finding freedom in the classroom: A practical introduction to critical theory (Vol. 24). Peter Lang.

James, M. (2006). Assessment, teaching and theories of learning. Assessment and learning, 47, 60.

References

Hinchey, P. (2010). CHAPTER THREE: Rethinking What We Know: Positivist and Constructivist Epistemology. Counterpoints,24, 33-55. Retrieved February 7, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/42976884

James, Mary. (2006). Assessment, Teaching and Theories of Learning. 10.13140/2.1.5090.8960.

Jessica Wiedemann

Jessica is a student at University of Regina. Her passion for helping others and advocacy for the prevention of bullying in schools has lead her to a career in education. She is a dog lover, photographer, and a food lover.

Make sure to comment below and follow her on social media, she loves to reach out and connect with you!

Jessica Wiedemann January 28, 2020

Feedback in the Classroom

What Does it Look Like?

In Peer Feedback in the Classroom: Empowering Students to Be the Experts by Starr Sackstein, a discourse is opened about the use of feedback in the classroom. Sackstein talks about what meaningful feedback looks like in the class room and explains that there is a need for creating a “feedback-rich environment,” in taking opportunities to give feedback in a face-to-face manner (41). Giving feedback in this way sets students up for better interactions with others during difficult conversations and for receiving feedback in the future. The ability to give and, more importantly, receive feedback in a face-to-face situation develops confidence as well as exercising one’s self-esteem in a healthy way. Although creating an environment where both positive and constructive feedback is normal and the discourse of those types of conversations is open and flowing, it is important to teach students good ways to receive this feedback and how to apply it to what they are trying to achieve. Sackstein stresses the importance of customizing feedback for each student due to the potential of some students refusing the feedback that teacher gives (49). This connects to the need to see each student as an individual. A teacher should not to see a classroom as a collective but rather a collection of individuals.

Along with paying attention to assessment and feedback teachers need to be aware of the application of that feedback in the classroom. Sackstein identifies a connection between knowing students’ strengths and weaknesses and feedback (59-60). Reflection of feedback and self identify things that one does well and things to improve on gives students a safe place to practice self reflection and also allows them to ‘brag’ about what they do well. The acknowledgement of what one does well is looked down upon in social situations if it is done too much. Giving students a space where they can see their strengths and talk about them with others boosts confidence in their abilities which positively translates to more confidence in themselves and in their learning in the classroom.

Tools for Feedback

On the EduGAINS website there is a section dedicated to Descriptive Feedback with a video library of informative videos.

The video “Feedback – The Most Powerful Tool” talks about the benefits of feedback in the classroom and the importance for teachers to know how to give feedback to students in order for them to learn better and improve their learning. Teachers assess students’ progress and skills in a subject or class and therefore they know what the learning goals are for an assignment or for the class as a whole. The use of formative assessment, or ‘assessment for learning’, in the classroom gives students more opportunity to learn rather than to simply be assessed. As teachers look deeper into the meaning of assessment, students need practice of the with the skill they are learning before assessing the scope of what the student can do.

Using feedback in the classroom as a teaching tool creates more teachable moments in the context of getting feedback and using it. Feedback can be used to show students where they are at with their learning as well as which direction they need to move towards.

Student Involvement

Students involvement in their own learning is important for students to become more invested and engaged in what is being taught. When there are clear channels of communication between students and their teacher and more communication in general between the two, there is better understanding and less confusion. Anne Davies (2001) explains both short-term and long-term benefits to students communication about their own learning. She goes on to explain that “[s]tudent-involved communications rise from classrooms which students are involved in the classroom assessment process – they do not flourish in teacher-centered classrooms” (p. 50). Involving the students in the assessment process creates the chance for students to peer and self-assess which gives them opportunities to see their works through someone else’s eyes other than the teachers. This practice takes away some of the bias in assessment in teacher-centered classrooms.

Bringing peer-feedback and self-assessment into the classroom challenges students to look at what they have created or what other have created through a more critical lens. This emulates more real-world scenarios outside the classroom in the adult world and starts to give students practice in the proper way to give feedback to others. Peer-assessment and self-assessment is needed in the classroom to help create learners who can give constructive and meaningful feedback.

“We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.”
Bill Gates

References

EduGAINS. http://www.edugains.ca/newsite/HOME/index.html

Sackstein, S. (2017). Peer feedback in the classroom: Empowering students to be the experts. ASCD.

Jessica Wiedemann

Jessica is a student at University of Regina. Her passion for helping others and advocacy for the prevention of bullying in schools has lead her to a career in education. She is a dog lover, photographer, and a food lover.

Make sure to comment below and follow her on social media, she loves to reach out and connect with you!

Jessica Wiedemann January 21, 2020

Assessment in the 21st Century: Why Can We No Longer Rely on Traditional Forms of Assessment?

As society and technology become more advanced and sophisticated there are kore ways in which the forms of assessment need to evolve alongside them. Students are becoming more skilled in the use of newer technology because it is becoming integrated into their lives and becoming the main way of communication.

New ways of Communicating

Communication is being fed through technology more and more as there are more advancement in hardware and software. Socially there is a huge amount of transmission of information because of the technology we use; this does not exclude the communication in the classroom. Teachers and students alike are becoming more integrated into technology and the multiple modes of communication that the next technology brings. Traditional forms of assessment fall short in the next society of technology when these ways that we communicate have changed. Roswell and Walsh outline how new literacies affect the classroom and assessment in saying these new literacies require different modalities. They go on to say that “Multiliteracies as a pedagogy simultaneously accounts for linguistic diversity and the use of multimodalities in communication” (p. 56). Communication of information and knowledge has been shifting and assessment needs to shift as well. As society shifts toward multimodal forms of communication, education practices and assessment must also shift in the same direction. In order to properly prepare students for lifelong learning in an ever-changing society, they need to learn to adapt to change and adapt to the different modes of communication emerging in our world. Educational practices have been shifting slowly to accommodate differing learning styles and with the addition of changing technology there needs to be acknowledgment of the changing ways people communicate. Along with that acknowledgement through changing teaching practices, the assessment of learning needs to shift to become truer to the type of communication. The traditional forms of assessment fall short in integrating newer technological forms of communication.

Assessment to Teach

Assessment is not only used for the evaluation of learning, but it is also a tool for learning. When teaching these new literacies to students, an effective way of teaching is through an assessment or through an activity where students teach themselves. As the learning environment changes with the addition of technology to the classroom and to the communication style of the students, assessment changes along with this change in communication. Dochy and McDowell (1997) explain that as technology changes, the modes of teaching and education will change along with it. They go one to say that the role of the teacher in the classroom changes as well with the change in modes of communication. “In the future some of these tasks will be carded out by new highly specialized professionals such as the item-bank manager, electronic course-materials developer, multi-media development expert or study counselor” (p. 283).

Where Do We Go From Here?

The exponential change of technology cannot go unnoticed in the classroom. Rather than pushing these types of changes in technology away, teachers can enlist them as tools for learning and assessment. Seeing the great change that has occurred in communication even in the last ten years, there is bound to be more change to happen in the next ten years as well, and students need to be ready to take on this change. Teachers need to prepare them for a society that today, we know nothing about. Keeping students at the forefront of the knowledge of new ways to communicate gives rise to even greater changes in technology. in order for students to be put at this forefront, teachers need to be alongside students in learning new literacies. Although this is opposite to the traditional sense of what a teacher is (that they are the experts in the room), the process of teaching requires learning. With this positioning of teachers as learners alongside students, there is more opportunity of learning and teaching to happen for both parties. In the spirit of education, for the students to learn from the teacher, the teacher needs to also learn from the students.

“If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow.”
John Dewey

References

Dochy, F. J., & McDowell, L. (1997). Introduction: Assessment as a Tool for Learning. Studies in educational evaluation, 23(4), 279-98.

Rowsell, J., & Walsh, M. (2011). Rethinking literacy education in new times: Multimodality, multiliteracies, & new literacies. Brock Education: A Journal of Educational Research and Practice, 21(1).

Jessica Wiedemann

Jessica is a student at University of Regina. Her passion for helping others and advocacy for the prevention of bullying in schools has lead her to a career in education. She is a dog lover, photographer, and a food lover.

Make sure to comment below and follow her on social media, she loves to reach out and connect with you!

Jessica Wiedemann January 14, 2020

Why are We Assessing? What is it For?

On the surface, the reason teachers assess students and their learning is to evaluate where the students are in regard to what they have absorbed from their classes and assignments. There is an underlying reason why teachers assess students that goes a little deeper than simply seeing what students know. Brown, Race, and Smith offer a list of values, reasons for assessing, a checklist and much more in their book 500 Tips on Assessment from 2004.

Values of Assessment

In their list of values of assessment, the values of assessment being incremental, demanding, and motivate students to learn jumped out the most. In the classroom, assessment should be occurring on a regular basis. Keeping assessment consistent allows students to know what is expected and level at which they should be reviewing the material. Brown, Race, and Smith highlight that making assessment incremental, takes away the surprise out of assessment (p. 4). A consistent assessment creates an atmosphere of consistency in the classroom which also shows the students the importance of reviewing material outside class time on a regular basis rather than cramming everything they can possibly fit in their heads the night before the exam. This practice keeps the teacher accountable for their assessment and teaches student how to study rather than cram. The teacher is kept accountable when assessment is consistent because when assessing students, the teacher is also assessing their teaching.

The idea of assessment being demanding may cause anxiety in students when describing it that way, but what is being demanded is the effort and attention of the students. Assessment should be demanding, meaning it should not be something that does not require attention. Students should not be able to simply brush assignments off and be able to complete them without thinking. There are going to be some students who seem to do this with assignments, but that should not be the case for all the students in the class. Brown, Race and Smith explain that “[p]assing an assessment or test should not be automatic”. Further, “a good assessment system system should permit all students considered capable of undertaking a course of study to have a chance of succeeding in the assessment” (p. 4). In some cases, like a science class or math class, there will be some pieces of information that should be things that do not require thought. For example, the function of the heart in the body being to pump blood to the organs and limbs, should be a ‘no brainer’ for students by the end of the body systems unit.

Although it seems that assessment is to judge the learning that has already occurred, assessment should also create a want to learn in students. Brown, Race, and Smith explain that “Assessment should help them to structure their learning continuously during their studies, not just in a few critical weeks before particular assessment climaxes” (p. 3). This is saying that an assessment should create a foundation for students to build off of and learn more. Assessments are not there to weigh down the learning but rather to help it to fly farther. With motivating assessment, students would be able to assess themselves and see where they are at in their learning as well as understand how they learn best. The goal of teachers is to create lifelong learners and making assignments and assessments that encourage learning aids in this synthesis of learners.

Principles of Assessment

Assessment needs to take these values and the others highlighted by Brown, Race, and Smith into account as well as other principles to guide the teacher in creating effective assessment. Louis Volante suggests such principles in Principles of Effective Classroom Assessment from 2006. Volante highlights student-centered assessment being more important than teacher-centered assessment. Assessment that bring the student into the learning and assessment process gives the students tools to move further into learning when the structure of the classroom is no longer there. Volante argues that “assessment is student-centered, aligned with clear learning targets, based on multiple methods, able to account for a variety of student skills, aimed at reducing bias, reliable and valid, and efficient” (p.144). Students should be able to see the targets of the class and know how to work towards them. Assessment cannot only be in one form, there needs to be variability for students to keep them engaged as well as to create adaptable learners. Students are expected to have many skills so the assessment should be varied to account for those different skills that they require to learn the content. Creating assessment that reduces the bias of the teacher gives all students the opportunity to show their skills and what they have learned without any pre-determining factors that go outside the realm of what is being learned. The creation of assessments in a classroom that take all these things into account takes time and planning on the teacher’s part. Flexibility of the teacher is a necessity for assessments to evolve into good assessments that motivate students to want to learn.

“To assess the quality of thoughts of people, don’t listen to their words, but watch their actions”
Amit Kalantri

References

Brown, S., Race, P., & Smith, B. (2004). 500 tips on assessment. Routledge.

Volante, L. Principles for Effective Classroom Assessment Des Lignes Directrices pour Une Évaluation Efficace en Salle de Classe.

Jessica Wiedemann

Jessica is a student at University of Regina. Her passion for helping others and advocacy for the prevention of bullying in schools has lead her to a career in education. She is a dog lover, photographer, and a food lover.

Make sure to comment below and follow her on social media, she loves to reach out and connect with you!

Jessica Wiedemann January 7, 2020

Assessment Philosophy

What is Assessment? What is its Aim?

Assessment, in the theoretical sense, , is the evaluation of something or someone’s abilities. It can also be thought of as the degree in which someone or something fulfills its purpose. In the practical sense, assessment is what the teacher decides is a just presentation of evidence of learning. This can take any form the teacher wishes. Due to the decisions being made by the teachers, there is a lot of possibility for bias to cloud the judgement of the teacher. The theoretical must influence the practical in order for the assessment to be logical and a reliable determination of learning. The aim of assessment is to quantify abilities or work into a figure that is easier to see in relation to others’ work or abilities. There needs to be some sort of quantifier of the evidence of learning in order to know how close or far a student is from hitting the goal of the lesson or the outcome in the curriculum.

What is the Relationship between Assessment, Classroom Environment, and Instructional Practices?

Assessment, classroom environment, and instructional practices are closely related because they are all centred around the student-teacher relationship. Assessment is linked to classroom environment in that it plays into the social structure of the classroom and imposes a nearly invisible social order that can dictate the manner in which the classroom functions. The type of assessment affects the way students respond to class work which can create deviations between students will different strengths, depending on the type of assessment. Further, assessment is almost one with the instructional practices of a teacher because there is an interdependence of both on the other. This mutual impact that assessment has on instructional practices and vice versa gives the teacher the ability to manipulate the classroom environment and its social order. As well, the classroom environment affects the instructional practices and the assessment being used in the classroom. The students affect the environment of the classroom as much if not more than the teacher does. This goes outside the fact that the teacher is outnumbered by the students. The students participate in an isolated society within the classroom which in some ways excludes the teacher because of the authority difference as well as a the generational difference. The interpersonal relationships between students can affect the instructional practices depending on whether the social interactions between students are positive or negative. An example would be the use of group work or partner work. If there is a student who is excluded from the collective group of the classroom, because of other students or themselves, there is potential for further exclusion is there is group work imposed as an assignment. This situation affects assessment as well due to the social aspect of a group project or partner work.

What is Important to Keep in Mind When Designing Assessment in the Classroom?

As touched upon above, there are multiple aspects of the classroom that are linked to assessment and as such, the teacher needs to be aware of what is going on socially in the classroom when designing assessment. Mainly the things that need to be kept in the mind of the teacher when creating assessment are consistency, transparency, and redeem-ability of assessment. An assessment should be consistent in that it has the same level of expectations of the students in relation to the demands on the students, not that there should be the same type of assessment over and over. Transparency in this context translates into the teachers openness about what is expected by the assessment. Giving students the tools for success in their assignments and learning gives them more agency in their learning. Along with transparency, the need for redeem-ability in assessment in order to give students the option and opportunity to redeem failures. This quality shows students that there isn’t just one shot at assignments and there are options.

Assessment in the classroom needs to be evidence of learning that accurately documents what was attempted to be taught in that lesson or that unit. The teacher needs to be aware of their own biases, their own experiences and understandings of what assessment means and how it can be done in the classroom.

“Education is not to be viewed as something like filling a vessel with water but, rather, assisting a flower to grow in its own way”
Bertrand Russell

Jessica Wiedemann

Jessica is a student at University of Regina. Her passion for helping others and advocacy for the prevention of bullying in schools has lead her to a career in education. She is a dog lover, photographer, and a food lover.

Make sure to comment below and follow her on social media, she loves to reach out and connect with you!

Jessica Wiedemann April 14, 2018

Digital Summary of Learning

This is my digital summary of learning for ECS 210.

The photo in the featured image was taken by me.

Jessica Wiedemann

Jessica is a student at University of Regina. Her passion for helping others and advocacy for the prevention of bullying in schools has lead her to a career in education. She is a dog lover, photographer, and a food lover.

Make sure to comment below and follow her on social media, she loves to reach out and connect with you!

Jessica Wiedemann April 4, 2018

The Principles of Principals

On the last lecture of ECS 200, we talked about what it means to be a principal and what the responsibilities of the position are. For an activity, we were given scenarios and asked to discuss how we would tackle them as a principal.

The role of the principal is more than directing teachers and being the head of the discipline for students. A principal is responsible for maintaining the relationship that the school has with the community surrounding the school and with the parents of the students on top of being the head of the school and making tough decisions when it comes to problems that pop up within the school.

In going through the scenarios I realized that being in the position of the principal is more difficult than I had ever realized. There are hard decisions to make and sometimes those decisions do not make you popular with everyone. There are times when making the right decision for the moment may turn out to be wrong, and being the principal means that it falls on you to make that decision, and take responsibility for the result of that decision. Being the head of a school is a big job to deal with. As of right now, I am not sure I am the person for that position, however, that could be subject to change in the future.

Featured photo by Ben White on Unsplash.

Jessica Wiedemann

Jessica is a student at University of Regina. Her passion for helping others and advocacy for the prevention of bullying in schools has lead her to a career in education. She is a dog lover, photographer, and a food lover.

Make sure to comment below and follow her on social media, she loves to reach out and connect with you!