How do I assess student learning? How do I involve students in the assessment process?
I don't think I do enough to involve students in the assessment process, and I really could do a LOT more, particularly since I have very small classes. I could involve them in creating rubrics and criteria, as well as using checklists for tracking their progress and the criteria for their work to keep them on track.
I currently do a lot of informal formative assessment, based on classroom activities and the work I see produced on writng samples as students are drafting, or as students are responding to reading aloud in class and discussing the readings.
I also use quizzes and tests. I don't really like them.
Often I use projects instead of tests to assess skill development in writing. I will look for particular sentence structures, grammar usage, or format of paragraphs or essays to assess skills in applying that learning to end product. After all, the purpose of the activities is to have the skills show up in actual products for me and in other classes.
SO......the unit I am creating is an extension and expansion of that concept. I do need to find ways to help students be more a part of the process of assessment and self-monitor their work to improve quality and have an goal or standard of higher expectations.
I think the activities for this unit increase the authenticity of student work and as a result may also increase the quality, since work will be for a wider audience than just the teacher (me) or even just the class. I have already seen this with a story project we just completed. Students did some of their best work and were concerned about correctness and appeal to their readers.
I have also heard students talking about feeling proud in their work and supporting each other's efforts. This is huge for all students, but particularly for ESOL student who sometimes are so far behind peers in the development of writing and reading skills. The more public the work in the future, the more I may see this increase in concern for quality, at least in most students. I am very happy I now have learned several ways to make student work public in rather unique ways (WIKI and Blogs and webpages).
Thanks for your thoughts. There should be ongoing formative assessment throughout a unit. Making the projects and assessments as authentic as possible usually helps increase the quality of the work as you noted.
ReplyDeleteI also think I need to involve my students more in the assessment process. Its just hard for me sometimes with 2nd graders. I don't think they truly understand the outcome of assessment but I am trying to get them there. I also agree with making the assessments more authentic. I really do believe it makes the work result so much better. It does for me when I am acted anyway.
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel. Do we, as teachers, ever get to a point where we feel we're doing everything we can to the best of our abilities? I also think I could do more to encourage the students' involvement in assessment. I give out rubrics to act as a kind of checklist and so they know what is expected, but many of my high school students do not look at them, much use them as they are working.
ReplyDeleteI like your ideas on product-based assessment. I also think this is probably one of the most effective assessment methods we can use. It makes the work more meaningful to the students I think. I'm glad you're seeing good things come from it. That's always encouraging and helpful to us when we're planning future assignments.