Idea or learning
Chapter 13, Assessing Learning with Technology, was a good review for me, since I just finished an assessment class. From the reading, I am taking the importance of differentiating assessment. Different concepts and units require a different type of assessment method. In addition, just like students have varying learning styles, they may feel more comfortable with a variety of assessment strategies as well. As a teacher, one needs to make sure the assessment is measuring what the students know, not what they can make good guesses on. An idea that struck me was that “teachers must prepare for assessment as seriously and consciously as they do for instruction” (Niess, Lee, Kajder, 2007, p. 284). By putting in time and effort on the assessment piece, it should be reliable and worthwhile, giving the teacher data they can use to determine the next step.
New idea for integrating technology
There are many types of formative and summative assessments. One type of assessment method I would like to utilize more is performance-based assessment, which could be done using technology. According to the text, “performance-based assessments allow direct observation of what students know and are able to do” (p. 288). This is an alternative assessment to paper and pencil, but teachers can still measure if students are understanding the concepts. I feel that paper and pencil tasks are over done sometimes. My students would benefit and enjoy having more performance-based assessments.
Concern
My concern is putting all these great assessment ideas into practice. I know it is important to pretest, but I do not currently pretest in all my subject areas. I pretest in spelling and math, but that is it. Pretesting has a lot of benefits and gives the teacher a view of what students already know. By pretesting, teachers can direct and differentiate their instruction based on the needs of their students. Another great assessment tool is rubrics. I frequently use rubrics in writing, but not a lot in other subjects. My students are responding to the rubrics, so I need to be using them in other areas as well.
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Differentiated assessment is a great thing in the classroom. I try to do that as much as possible. My tech lesson for the course is going to be teaching my kids how to use Windows Movie Maker, editing videos, how to add titles, credits, and transitions. By having them do this, we can progress to a series of interviews with US veterans, which will be a lead in to a lesson down the road. So students will be graded initially on just simple editing skills, followed by an actual small documentary that will be due later in the year. A number of students seem rather enthused, so even they are excited about alternative assessment, even though they may not have a clue what the term means!
ReplyDeleteYour statement regarding preparation for assessment reminded me of a piece of advice that a mentor of mine gave me when I began teaching. She suggested that I begin unit planning with the assessment, whether it be pencil/paper or a performance/project-based assessment. This has proven to be great advice for me...
ReplyDeletedave
Great comments by everyone to Jennifer's reflection! Every teacher has a lot to share concerning assessment! Thank you for your ideas.Joan
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