Week 10
November 3, 2010
I would say that I rely a lot on informal assessment, where I give individual attention to student throughout the class to see where they are. This can be done by questioning (blooms taxonomy) and other ways like white boards. I rarely am surprised by a formal assessment because I have good informal assessment practices.
I use rubrics for assessments that are more subjective to keep myself from arbitrarily grading. They keep grading fair especially when you get to the 150th assignment and it just so happens to be that student that rubbed your the wrong way that day. Don’t lie, it happens.
I feel as though our current assessments do not cater to divergent thinkers. In fact, our current educational system is stifiling student’s creativity. Alternate assessments allow for us to accurately assess students in much more meaningful methods for the students. I tend to be pretty progressive and student centered in my educational philosophy, therefore it is no surprise that my primary goal is meeting the needs of the individual student…. Don’t even get me started on standardized testing. Sorry essentialists.
In the blog post by Barry Joesph, he says. “One approach to empowering youth to be more in charge of their learning…” I think this is key. We have trained our kids to accept that education is what we tell them that it is. The result is information being shoved their way that is totally irrelevant in their lives. Learning can’t and will not happen that way. Education will, learning will not. When the student’s take ownership ( control we have to be willing to yield), true learning will take place for the individual student.
