We are excited to be part of this Book Study together with you. We invite you, before we meet, to share via this blog or in an email to us (Jennifer and Cathie) a sense of what you hope these sessions will hold for you in terms of your professional learning. Here are a few questions to guide that reflection but do not feel bound to respond to each or even any of them. This really is your forum designed to suit and respond to you!
- Why are you interested in Assessment?
- How do you see your role in supporting Assessment at your school
- For yourself?
- With teachers?
- With Administration?
- How involved are you in co-planning Evaluations (CPTs for example) with teachers?
- What are you hoping to learn from this book study that can assist you when you co-plan with teachers?
Hi Cathie! Thanks so much to you and Jennifer for setting this process up. A great way to experience 21st Century Learning. During the Subject Council meeting this week we discussed the Evaluation Process at length and as Teacher Librarians deciphered what role we play in the evaluation process. For the most part, as a TL, my role for both students and teachers is to Assess FOR learning. When students come to the library and are preparing and taking part in the research process, for instance, it is my role as the TL to teach the skills needed and promote the learning necessary. In addition, in providing a library work period I am able to observe and determine for the teacher and students where students are in there learning and where they need to go. I am also able to provide students with a great deal of feedback so they can continue their learning process.
ReplyDeleteAs Hume says, "a simple exchange about assessment practices instantly raises the temperature" amoung a group of teachers. I have witnessed this firsthand this year. I would like to have the vocabulary to be able to participate in a dialogue and the skills to be able to subtly guide colleagues to examine their own beliefs and practices -- or at least support those who are.
ReplyDeleteScan the book:
One question: Ok, reading this book is not going to be a problem for me, but how am I going to make a change in my practice -- and make it stick?
One observation: There are lots of cartoons in the book -- I like that.
One surprise: The author was a teacher-librarian!
If we begin with the conviction that all students need to take responsibility for their learning, then it becomes incumbent upon us to afford them the opportunity to partner with their teachers, when it comes to their education. They need to be part of the process: the planning, the learning and the on-going assessment. They need to be involved in the process of designing it and assessing it.
ReplyDeleteImportant to this realm of student learning is their connection, their participation and their own response to the assessment. Co-constructing rubrics and providing descriptive feedback are two research-based high-yield instructional strategies that affect student learning. However, what students do with the feedback provided by their teachers and their peers pales by comparison to what THEY CAN DO with the self-assessment opportunities in which we invite them to participate.
I believe that the metacognitive component of assessment is the most influential piece of the puzzle. This allows students to analyze, synthesis, and respond to their own learning. The actions they decide to take… or not, are indicators of where they are along the journey. It is our obligation, as teachers, to ensure that the opportunities to engage in metacognitve practice are made available to them, and that we are there to support them along the way. Equipping them with the tools and the skills to be able to engage in higher order thinking about their learning is critical to helping students become life-long learners.
In the ideal classroom, it should be difficult to distinguish between when instruction ends and when assessment begins. We must reduce the divide between instruction and assessment and we must underscore that the purpose of assessment is to improve student learning.
I look forward to our on-going conversations regarding assessment, evaluation and reporting.
I offer this prayer, as we begin our journey together:
May God bless us with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, superficial relationships,
So that we can live deeply within our hearts.
May God bless us with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
So that our work is for justice, equity, and peace..
And may God bless us with the foolishness to think that we can make a difference in the world,
So that we can keep doing the things others tell us cannot be done.
Amen
One Question:
ReplyDelete"How can we make student interests, student readiness and student learning preferences DRIVE curriculum, rather than RESPOND to it?"
One Surprise:
"Karen Hume's decision on the order of the chapters in her book...She starts with TEACHER...then the STUDENT...followed by the PLANNING...and finally the TEACHING AND LEARNING."
One Observation:
"The deliberate use of the term in place of the terms to demonstrate that there is more then just reporting on the 'degree' of learning that needs to be taken into account when dealing with student learning."
Thank you for your postings! Despite the fact that this topic can easily "raise temperatures" among educators, this book study group shares a desire to work alongside teachers with a cool head, clearer focus and common vocabulary when talking assessment, evaluation, and reporting. I would venture to say that we share a "growth mindset" (Carol Dweck, 20006)in relation to these concepts. This keeps us hopeful that our professional dialogue will bring to the forefront the nuances of various assessment types and their power in generating a relevant, rigorous curriculum that is appropriately challenging for our students.
ReplyDeleteFantastic first session...the excitement in the room was contagious! Great things to come! Thanx :)
ReplyDeleteFirst, I just want to thank you for including Administrators as part of this wondering learning opportunity. I'm just sorry that I missed such a fabulous session on Tuesday. Here's my two cents worth...
ReplyDeleteI began to wonder more about assessment practices when I realized what a "high stakes" place the classroom was becoming. By this I mean that we seemed to evaluating more and giving fewer opportunities to practice and for the mastery of skill. I think that a lot of this is rooted in the pressure that teachers feels to quantify what they are doing in the classroom, in some weird quest to justify the "integrity of courses". I think that some of the pressure is definitely external and some self-imposed as well. Damien Cooper writes a lot about how the pressure to quantify learning gets in the way of good teaching and it seems to worsen as students advance in their years at school. I think he's got a good point... (I found a fabulous video clip of him speaking to this point so if you don't mind, I'd love to post it on the blog...)
At the heart of my personal philosophy about teaching is the belief that ALL kids can learn, given the appropriate challenge and the opportunity to express that learning in a variety of ways. I think the focusing on good assessment practices emphasize that what we do in classrooms is both an art (the fun, engaging, creative stuff) as well as a science (the data-generating stuff - and by data, I don't mean grades, rather, observations about what we are noticing about how or if kids are learning).
In my new role as a VP, I see myself supporting assessment in the school by being a resource or at least helping teachers to find materials that will enhance their current practices. I've been fortunate to have been approached by a few teachers on staff in the creation of new learning activities, primarily with web-based technologies. I've had great conversations with them about the fact that this work doesn't necessarily need to be marked but it could lead up a rich-performance task that will more likely result in success for a greater number of kids and I think the response has been pretty good. I think I have a role to play in the re-culturing (gradually, mind you) of what we all think about assessment.
Thanks, Chris. Please post the Damien Cooper video. From your description, it sounds like it will speak to our discussion, Tuesday, about the assessment/instruction relationship: symbiotic? reciprocal? strained? dysfunctional? It will touch on our over-arching premise that Lori re-iterates in her post: the purpose of assessment is to improve student learning
ReplyDelete