Online Dilemmas: Summaries and Resources
Dilemma One: Proactive and Productive Communication with Parents and Families Completed 12/2006
Dilemma Two: Assessment: Meaningful (or
Messy?) Completed 2/2007
Dilemma Three: Differentiated Instruction Completed 5/2007
Dilemma Four: Classroom Management Completed 6/2007
Dilemma Two: Assessment: Meaningful (or Messy?)
ASSESSMENT is the topic of our next Tapped In discussion, beginning today. It commences with an assessment 'warmup', a link to an online video interview, and a specified response format.First of all, as a way to say 'hello' and learn a little about each other, when you first log in make a quick list of six nouns, or more, which describe you and your relationship to assessment/testing. These nouns can have both past and current meaning for you, and no need to explain further unless you choose to do so. For myself, for example, several words come to mind: all nighter, memorization, enlightenment, panic, shame, pride, bluebook. Each of those words has a mini-story attached. So, as you log in send us the key words, with stories if you like, that come to mind for you.
Next, listen to/watch/read the Grant Wiggins assessment interview via attached link. The interview is comprised of seven assessment-related questions. Wiggins' responses are succinct, but contain substantial food for thought, which you may or may not agree with. This interview is our introductory 'reading'.
http://www.edutopia.org/grant-wiggins-assessment
While listening to the assessment interview, make notes (written or mental) in relation to these three prompts: 1. FIRST THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS TOPIC; 2. NEW THOUGHTS/LEARNINGS ABOUT THIS TOPIC; 3. QUESTIONS THAT COME TO MIND. Post your comments. In this way we'll begin to explore assessment from our various viewpoints and seek to find a meaningful focus.
Please note that there are more interviews and assessment-related resources via this same link. (edutopia) Read on, log on, send on your responses. We greatly value your voice, your participation. Thank you.
Grant Wiggins
talks about snapshots in relation to assessment. What are the ways
that we take evaluative snapshots throughout our teaching day/ week
that contribute to our knowing how/what a student is learning?
Indeed, it lets us teachers know how we're doing in conveying the
learning!
Participants in our recent assessment conversation have expressed
particular interest in two common areas that corroborate Wiggins'
point:
1. The use of rubrics.
2. Defining desired outcome, and proceeding to design assessment before/with initial long range planning.
I'll post
additional resources and links related to these ideas over the next
few of days. I invite mentors and new teacher participants to share
a practice, a tool, a source of information that works for you, and
that would fit this closing focus on integrating assessment up
front, and the use of rubrics.
Please let us know what further information would be helpful, and
especially if you have practices &/or materials to share with
your group. No need to reinvent the wheel for every project.
Listed below are previously posted and new resources that seem to
fit. Edutopia, obviously, is a rich resource. The two links here
will get you started, but there is much more to discover. The
School Discovery site provides information and many rubric samples
that are ready to use. There are a number of excellent rubric sites
if you wish to explore further.
- Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by Design. Association for School Curriculum and Development: Alexandria, VA.
- Silver, H. F., Strong, R. W., Perini, M. J. (2001). Tools for Promoting Active, In-Depth Learning. Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ: Thoughtful Education Press.
http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/assess.html
Thank you, and let us know what sorts of 'snapshots' you're taking.
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[Another summary post from first discussion.]
Hello again.
Participants in our recent assessment discussion indicated directly
and indirectly their understanding that including formative
assessment in all planning is essential. Accomplishing it routinely
can be challenging.
Listed below are a few ideas that might complement what you've
already started. This is the tip of the iceberg so to speak, but
perhaps these will inspire thinking and further preparation in this
area. A few online sources have been posted as part of this
discussion already, an additional rubric site is included below.
Please contact me or your mentor if you'd like to know more
about any of these ideas. We can embellish a little, perhaps help
you find a way to bring formative assessment planning to
fruition.
1. Silver, Strong and Perini remind us of essential assessment
practice: Assessment systems must help students learn to
use criteria to assess their own work before, during, and after the
performance or the creation of the product. Whenever you
introduce a task, make sure you first explain the criteria for
assessment clearly. Or, work with students to cooperatively develop
criteria that the class feels will best assess the particular type
of work the students are doing.
Several of their questions, such as the following, can be powerful
guidelines for students and teachers when evaluating student
work:
Choice: Does the student's product reflect careful and sound
decision-making processes and skills?
Craftsmanship: Does the student's work reflect care,
craftsmanship, and high quality?
Completion: Did the student complete work in a timely and
responsible manner?
- Silver, H. F., Strong, R. W., Perini, M. J. (2000). So Each May Learn,
Integrating Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences. Silver, Strong & Associates, Inc.
3. Provide checklists that help guide students through the strategy and then self-evaluation if appropriate.
3. Anecdotal records. Make a seating chart with a square for each student's names and room for notes. Use it with a clipboard to make anecdotal notes throughout the day (or, use it one or two hours a week). Some teachers reserve upper, lower, left and right corners of each grid for noting particular behaviors and devise shorthand codes that are efficient and meaningful. This is a good way to periodically assess student academic behaviors, but it can be cumbersome in a busy classroom. Limit to a few students each day or week if necessary, or develop the habit of walking through with clipboard in hand several times daily or weekly, dating and noting behaviors that are not easily measured in other ways.
4. Portfolios. A portfolio is a purposeful collection of student work that can be used to describe their efforts, progress, or achievement in a subject area. Students participate in selecting portfolio content which includes guidelines for selection of pieces, criteria for judging learning, and student reflections. The basic aim of collecting students' work into portfolios is to support instruction and learning; without this link to instruction and learning portfolios can be a waste of time.
5. Looking formally at student work. Santa Cruz New Teacher Center at UC California has developed a formal routine for analyzing student work that is a powerful assessment (and differentiation) tool. Teachers sort and analyze student work, identify patterns and trends, areas of concern and success, plan for what is needed next for each group of students.
Looking at student work in this formal way is a profound awakening for some teachers about how students are actually performing on daily tasks and projects. It is a snapshot of performance that moves way beyond marking a page and assigning a grade. It is a little time-consuming the first time through the process (45 minutes or so), but well worth the effort to know what can be discovered about our students' learning via this process. It is a tool to use routinely, but not necessarily for assessing all student work, all of the time.
Please let me know if you'd like more information about this. Your mentors have knowledge of this tool as well.
So, a few more ideas to get you thinking about your own assessment practice. If you have something to add to this basic resource list, please do so. Share with us what works for you in relation to a cohesive assessment practice.
**********************************************
[A third summary post from first discussion.]
The following
article offers a point of view and some ideas about the dilemma of
assessment and grading young children. I think it's worth posting
in relation to our recent assessment discussion.
Resources - Primary Education
Author: Kathy Davis
For me, one of the most exciting changes to come with the
standards movement is the way we grade children. I had been
frustrated for a long time as a teacher and a parent myself over
the way grades were identified and reported. What does an A really
mean? I found that it could be very different from teacher to
teacher. So many elements were considered: performance on a
specific task, behavior in class, homework, tasks done with other
students. It became clearer to me that I needed to communicate
exactly what I meant by a grade.
My first attempt to change the way I graded was to write a long
narrative report on the skills and understandings of each student.
Hours of work followed, and I was writing comments such as,
“Drew is beginning to organize his writing for an audience.
Additional experiences with vocabulary will help him expand his
word choice while writing.” How wonderful, I thought. Now the
parents will know exactly which areas are weak and which are
strong. Imagine my surprise when the parents were less than
enthusiastic! They just wanted to know whether their children were
better than average, just average, or below average. They believed
that the letter grades were giving them that information. Back to
the drawing board; since then, adding pluses, checkmarks, or
minuses to the report cards has made the parents feel better about
the grading system, but we still have some distance to go before we
are all on the same page. What is average in one class, or in one
school or in one area of the country, may not be in another.
So how do we grade students? Grades should reflect the degree to
which children have displayed skills or understanding. With
primary-age children it can be challenging to collect evidence;
their writing skills are not developed enough for us to measure
what they truly know. So, what’s a teacher to do?
Checklists can be created to match the standards that will be
reported to parents and administrators. When we have class
discussions or individual interviews with children, we use the
checklist to document skills we observe. Anecdotal notes taken
during small group reading instruction are transferred to the
standards checklist. Children can draw what they know and dictate
explanations, to be written verbatim. These become part of the
evidence of understanding that allows us to grade and report at the
end of the term. We still have to make sure we are collecting
evidence of the skills and concepts we will mark as graded on the
report card.
What have we eliminated? Lengthy and time-consuming narratives are
not needed if the checklist of skills is specific. We have also
discovered that anytime we use a worksheet from a publisher, we
must identify for ourselves the exact skills that will be recorded
on our evidence sheets. This can be tricky, as some worksheets
address several concepts or skills. How do we report a grade when
the items missed are all in the area of comprehension and all the
vocabulary items are answered correctly? Instead of a generic grade
that does not clearly define strengths and weaknesses, we may
decide that one skill in particular will be the focus of
today’s evidence. In this case we might have predetermined
that the worksheet was well designed to measure vocabulary, but
there are not enough comprehension items to measure that skill
accurately. In the end, whatever we decide, and however we collect
evidence of learning, we must clearly share our method with those
who receive the grades. Only then will our grading system make
sense and be truly useful.
Kathy Davis began her professional journey in
social studies but became intrigued with elementary school as her
three boys went through the educational system. After teaching
elementary students and watching some of them struggle, she added
coursework in exceptional education, early-childhood education, and
reading. Teaching first grade taught her a valuable lesson -- begin
even earlier, in kindergarten -- so she began looping from
kindergarten to first grade with her students. A year as an
exchange teacher in the United Kingdom provided insight into
international education issues along with many rich and humorous
experiences. National board certified as an early childhood
generalist, she now teaches at Florida State University, remaining
active in local classrooms and collaborating with the Florida
Center for Reading Research. Although she frequently travels to
work with teachers around the country on Big Ideas and curriculum
development, she sets aside time each year to travel for pure
pleasure, taking along no cell phones, computers, children, or
pets.
[The following section summarizes a separate UW TEP graduate discussion.]
The summary below is based upon the lesson design principles of Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins summarized in the book: Understanding by Design. The basic approach of "backward design" is that you start with the end in mind, by identifying the big ideas and then determine the curriculum based on the evidence of learning (i.e., assessment). The process includes three stages:
Stage one: Identify the desired results.
This stage includes identifying the big ideas, understandings, and essential questions by examining your goals, standards, and curriculum expectations.
Questions to be considered:
- What should students know, understand and be able to do?
What is worthy of understanding?
What "enduring" understandings are desired?
This stage consists of determining the collection of assessment evidence that is necessary to document that the learning has been achieved. Assessment should include several methods. Performance assessment should anchor the unit, because it allows students to demonstrate enduring understanding of the essential questions of the unit. Tests, quizzes, and prompts add value by rounding out the picture and should be used for assessing knowledge and skills. Assessment can also include student self-assessment or peer assessment.
Stage three: Plan learning experiences and instruction.
This stage consists of planning instructional activities to reinforce the desired results identified in stage one.
Key questions to be considered:
- What enabling knowledge (facts, concepts, and principles) and skills will students need to perform effectively and achieve desired results?
What activities will equip students with the needed knowledge and skills?
What will need to be taught and coached and should it best be taught in light of performance goals?
What materials and resources are best suited to accomplish these goals?
Is the overall design coherent and effective?
Good overview:
http://www.ltag.education.tas.gov.au/planning/models/princbackdesign.htm
Good explanation of process:
http://digitalliteracy.mwg.org/curriculum/process.html
Backward design template:
http://digitalliteracy.mwg.org/curriculum/template.html
[The following section summarizes a third separate UW TEP graduate discussion.]
Thank you all for sharing your insights and frustrations with assessment in your classrooms.
Some very insightful key ideas emerged from your conversations:
1) Assessment is used to inform and guide your own teaching. It gives you an idea of what needs to be re-taught.
2) Assessment allows you to pace your instruction.
You are beginning to realize that some skills need to be practiced and practiced and revisited. One of you noted that you are relieved to know that certain math skills in the curriculum are revisited several times throughout the year. This allows students more than one chance to comprehend and apply a new skill.
3) One of you shared that you are not worrying this year about designing authentic assessment, you are concentrating on authentic learning. You have learned that children will learn, if they are engaged!
4) Several suggestions arose for assessing your students:
a. Using digital cameras for both video filming and for taking photos. One of you has used this in both group work and in individual work. The beauty of digital videos is that they can be shown at parent conferences and they really capture evidence of student learning.
b. Many of you use informal assessment frequently in your classroom: these include the use of classroom grids, quizzes, student self checks, and mini assessments consisting of a single question.
There was some discussion as to how not to teach to a test, especially the WASL. This is an excellent question. Any answers???????
All of the above ideas and thoughts on assessment show tremendous growth in you as teachers. Assessment is vital to driving instruction for our students. Assessment is an on-going journey in our professional development. Collecting the best information on student learning takes time to design and experience in the classroom.
Some of you had time to look at backward by design planning and believe that it will enhance your teaching and your assessment. The Understanding by Design Professional Development Workbook
Continue to share with us your thoughts on assessments and successes you have had in your classrooms.