Friday, 26 July 2013 - 11:30 AM EDT

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Assessment is an evaluation of the quality and ability of someone or something. Both students and teachers should be assessed. Teachers should assess students so that the teacher can become aware of how well the student understands the material provided by the teacher. Students should assess themselves so they can be aware of concepts and/or behaviors they should work harder to improve upon.  The teacher should be assessed so that he or she can become aware of what strategies he or she implements effectively and what he or she should do differently in order to better facilitate an effective learning environment. Teacher evaluation should be done by the students periodically throughout the school year and by the teacher after during and after each class period. The ability to effectively reflect during and after a class is an important quality of a teacher. All of these assessments, no matter who is being assessed, can be reported via internal and/or external reflection as well as a paper or computer based question and answer format.

During my undergrad I had a professor pass out a teacher evaluation form half way through the course. This was effective because the teacher was able to know what strategies to continue using to teach the class but also what content the class was struggling to understand. After the evaluation the teacher realized she had to spend some class time explaining a particular concept with a different and more detailed approach before moving on to new material. In contrast, assessments during my undergrad that were semi-official wastes o’time were the end of semester evaluations every single professor gave. These are effective assessments so that the teacher can know what to keep or change for the next semester, but they did nothing to make my experience with the teacher any better. 

Saturday, 27 July 2013 - 4:53 PM EDT

I believe that it is important to assess student knowledge each day in order to determine whether the students learned the material from that class. This can be done through formative assessments, or ongoing checks to monitor student progress, which can take the form of questioning, peer assessment, or feedback through grading. These assessments are just as important as summative assessments, which provide an overview of previous learning. Summative assessments, such as projects and exams, certify the completion of tasks.

The most successful assessments are projects that enable students to incorporate their creativity and interests into the assignment. One project that stands out to me is from my high school AP literature class. For our final project on existentialism, we had the opportunity to make a creative work that related to one element of existentialism. I created a sculpture that was inspired by Jean-Paul Sartre’s idea of The Gaze from "Being and Nothingness." In this art piece, two eyeballs faced each other, which were supported by their optical nerves. This demonstrated the idea that people have the ability to look at themselves objectively. In addition to the creative piece, we also wrote a paper that explained the existential concept and how our project related to this idea. This project was an ideal example of using multiple intelligences because the students could create something based on their strengths, from a poem, to a poster, or even an interpretive dance. This is a worthwhile exercise because each person was impacted by existentialism in a different way, and they were able to express those interpretations in the mode that made sense to them. Not only would the alternative of everyone creating the same poster of their concept be boring, but it would also alienate students who express themselves in different ways.

One of my philosophies of education, which impacts my philosophy of assessment, is that my goal as a teacher is to teach students how to think for themselves. My goal as an English teacher isn’t to get every student in my class to fall in love with Shakespeare—that just isn’t going to happen. Instead, I want students to be able to discover something about themselves and to use that knowledge for their benefit.

Monday, 29 July 2013 - 8:37 AM EDT

The ultimate goal of my assessments will be to make sure that my students' writing/thinking skills and understanding of text is developing properly. To this end, I would use a lot of written assignments, such as essays, to test these abilities. Smaller versions of these assessments would be given very frequently, as well (at least once every 1-2 weeks). This would not only enable me to get a fuller understanding of how their abilities in the class are progressing, but it would also help my students get used to writing frequently and not be so nervous when it comes time to complete bigger versions of these assessments. 

Given that my goal as an English teacher is to help students think like literary critics, many of my assessments will be traditional text analysis assignments. This does not mean that they will be cut-and-dry (aka boring) assignments. I would always try to give my students a variety of questions to answer in assessments, whether it be a choice of essay questions or simply ask questions that look at a text from a variety of angles over the course of a unit. I would also try to assign other types of writing assignments that encourage students to write using a wide variety of writing styles whenever possible. For example, I could ask students to write a poem or short story in the same style as Poe or have them write a letter or journal entry as one of the unit novel's characters to help them explore character motivation in a fun, creative way. I may also include the odd verbal presentation or debate to help improve students' verbal skills.

In terms of grading, I would use either a check system, point system, or some sort of rubric, depending on the type of assessment. I would always give the students the grading criteria when assigning the assessment, though, so that they know what my exact expectations are when completing the assignment. I would also always give the students a tangible grade that makes the most sense to them so that they can understand their progress and make the necessary changes to their future work in order to improve. 

Ultimately, what exactly I give students as an assignment would entirely depend on what material we would be covering in a given unit. No matter what the assignment was, however, I would always strive for it to be meaningful, not too tedious for the student to complete (or for me to grade) and help the student grow and develop as a literary-minded reader, writer, and speaker. 

Monday, 29 July 2013 - 3:23 PM EDT

    Last year I had a professor for a writing class that did not grade: we received no letter grades on any of our work, only comments on how to improve our writing.  In a way this was meant to be a formative assessment for both student and teacher—he got an idea of how well he was teaching his class and, through his comments, I was able to figure out where I needed to improve to meet his standards. Our final portfolio was the only graded portion of the class, but everyone was pretty much guaranteed an A as long as they went to class and showed improvement in their work.

    In the same semester I had a professor who gave graded quizzes every day simply to check that we had read the text for that day. These quizzes were populated with questions such as “What color car did Dan drive?” and “In what city does the story take place?” that did not assess our understanding or critical thinking on the text, nor did they provide comments on how to further our understanding of the texts. These quizzes, which were merely reading checks, counted for 30% of our final grade. The final, which contributed 40% to our grade, was mostly questions taken from these quizzes. In other words, about 70% of our final grade assessed only our acquisition of content and knowledge.

    With these examples I hope to convey two diametrically opposed approaches to assessment and grading. On the one hand, assessment should inform both the student and teacher on how well the material is being learned, where the student can improve, and how the teacher can better adapt their classes to their students. This formative assessment can be graded, but as a student I’ve found that it is more helpful when grades are left by the wayside and the teacher instead provides individual and thoughtful comments for the students. On the other hand some teachers favor grades that are directly linked to certain knowledge and understandings that the student should have learned in class.

    As with almost everything in education there is no best method of assessment and, therefore, a teacher should rely on many different forms of assessment in their classroom. Leaving thoughtful comments for students can have a huge positive impact on their writing; however, it is time-consuming and gives students little motivation to do other work (I skipped many readings for the class in the first example because I was never quizzed on them). Assessing students only on content knowledge and relying heavily on short multiple choice quizzes gives motivation to do homework but does not give the teacher an idea of how well the class is learning, what they are learning, or if they are reaching any critical understandings in class. Had these two teachers combined their very different styles of assessment I believe they would have both created a more accurate and informative description of what students were getting out of their classes. In my classroom I hope to differentiate methods of assessment so that a more accurate measurement of my students’ learning can be made.

    I just proofread this post and I have to apologize for taking up a lot of space to say a whole lot of nothing. In short, assessment of learning must be as diversified as learning; a deficit in one will restrict the other. 

Monday, 29 July 2013 - 4:32 PM EDT

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Formal assessment is a very complicated aspect of education. By formal assessment I mean scheduled exams, quizzes, or essays that loom on the horizon of the classroom. The issue is that it is inherently necessary as a means of evaluation; its a way for educators to judge whether students have understood elements of content. However, it is also used in a way that creates an uncomfortable, seemingly consequential learning environment. The threat of a looming assessment can be distracting because it causes anxiety. Assessment can act as a distraction to the actual learning process because students may start wondering, “will this be on the test?” Or, “I don’t understand this and I’m going to fail the test, so why should I bother paying attention?” The moment a student begins worrying about assessment in this manner, they are no longer fully engaged in actually learning the content. This is a large issue.

A friend of mine goes to medical school at Brown University and none of his classes are graded. Everything, aside from the Med Boards, is done pass/fail. The argument is that Doctors need to work as a team in the hospital, so the nature of competition for grades and GPA rankings is in direct opposition to that teamwork mentality. This initially worried me because if I go to the hospital, I would like to make sure that my Doctor actually knows what he/she learned in Emergency Room Care 101 (note: not an actual course!) However, after talking to my friend about it his argument changed my mind. He argued that instead of worrying about where he and his peers stood in the rankings, they focused on working together to learn all the content. Instead of buying every text book for a class so no one else could keep up, (actually happens apparently) students work together and share books, in essence building that team-centric mentality. This is more important than GPA rankings. Consider a Doctor who has gotten straight A’s in school, but then in the hospital, instead of asking for other opinions, he ignores the other doctors because by asking for help he might seem less capable. This is a much larger issue than a doctor who isn’t sure what is happening, but is willing to find as much help as he/she can, to find a solution.

Now, high school English is not Med School, and the very process of getting into Brown Med School requires graded assessment from high school and college so there is no getting around the issue here. Pass/fail is not the answer for high school simply based on how the system is arranged. What can change though is how we assess, and by changing the perception of A’s, B’s, and C’s. I would argue that multiple attempts at assessment is key. By that I mean the ability to revise essays, or retake exams, etc. Assessment should be a gauge of whether or not a student understands the content, not “did they get the question right on a specific day?” Until assessment becomes more fluid and dynamic, I believe it will be forever assessing the wrong skills. 

Tuesday, 30 July 2013 - 3:39 PM EDT

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Assessments are effective ways to inform classroom instruction and gage how well a student is reaching the objectives of the class.  It is also a good way for a student to reflect on her or his learning in the class.  Therefore, all students in a class should be assessed as well as the teacher and the teaching techniques utilized.  

Students should be assessed by their teachers and they should also be responsible for assessing their performance in the class. Teachers need to assess students because they are tasked with implementing the content standards set out by the state and their local districts.  They know best what material students have been exposed to and what way a student was taught.   Students should also be tasked with periodically assessing their own learning.  This should be done in a meaningful way either at the end of a school quarter, when a student could be asked to track their progress in an essay or it can be done at the end of an assignment to assess a student’s understanding of an assignment completed before grading as well as after grading.  These assessments can go beyond mere reflections if they are structured with guided questions.  Through teacher assessment and self-assessments students can better understand how they learn and how well they learn, and teachers can use this information to shape their lessons and create evaluations for a lesson. 

Teachers should also be subject to similar types of assessment.  Teachers are often hired to accomplish specific things in the classroom, so their hiring body should assess how well they are meeting the demands of their position.  Also, since teaching is a day in and out endeavor with results that vary each day it is important that teachers assess their performance and the quality of the content of their lesson for the student body it was created for.  A teacher’s self-assessment is probably most critical because there is ample experience to learn from and adapt for future success.

Finally it is beneficial to report assessments both as an enumerated report as well as a succinct value that could be in a number form or a word form.  The first kind of report can provide very concrete examples of things a teacher or student is good at and things that need improvement.  It also allows room for suggestions of how to improve, and it allows for a qualified understanding of one's performance.   For example, a teacher might need to improve how a lesson is delivered, but specifically she or he only needs to improve the volume of her or his voice.  A detailed assessment report can convey that message more effectively than an assessment report that focuses on giving a single letter or numeric value of a performance.  However, there is also value in assessments that give a grade or number value to performance.   They allow comparison between a large number of people and they assume a common standard for many people.   For example, tests such as the SAT or Act, however, biased they might be allow students to understand how their knowledge is viewed in contrast to their peers in that specific medium.   It is also one way to compare and contrast a large number of students.   This is also effective in the classroom to distinguish the work produced by students as well their performance in the other assessed aspects of a class.

Overall assessments are useful to students and teachers. Every aspect of education, even the ones not mentioned above can benefit from assessments to help them stay on task as well as improve. 

Tuesday, 30 July 2013 - 4:06 PM EDT

I believe assessment is something that is constantly occurring amongst teachers and students both formally and informally.  Teachers and students (often) self-assess the quality of their final product and effort exuded to reach said outcome.  Of course formal assessments are given by teachers to ensure students can demonstrate understanding of skills and/or knowledge.

The difference between student and teacher self-assessment is that a teacher (should) be concerned with how they are presenting information and even formal assessments themselves.  While information can be clearly “understood” it may not be so clearly explained.  This is why teachers make unit/lesson plans to outline what they want students to be able to demonstrate an understanding of.  Sometimes after lessons an informal assessment of simply asking if everyone understands information is not enough.  This is a part where as a student should be allowed to assess the way their teacher taught in/effectively taught rather than waiting for one “summative assessment” at the end of the year (like college), this gives teachers more opportunities to evaluate their method of instruction and improve weaknesses and be aware of strengths.

Events, names, and places are vital to understanding our history and learning and improving upon it.  However, assessments focusing solely/primarily on minute facts miss the bigger picture.  Formal assessments should stress the importance of people, places, and things, but when that focus becomes the only thing students realize is necessary to get a good grade to pass the class they begin to lose sight of how important morals, virtues, ethics are as affordances of truth.  Assessing knowledge requires focus on the strength of an individual’s demonstration of creative, persuasive, and inventive abilities, because these are the intangibles that will determine progress.

Tuesday, 30 July 2013 - 8:00 PM EDT

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I believe assessment is the prerequisite on which efficiency is predicated.  Also, without assessment accurate calibration is virtually unattainable.  If a classroom is to become a place of progress, a state of multi-dimensional assessment must be created.  A teacher must continually assess the present state of the student’s understanding, comprehension and behavior in order to construct a productive learning environment.  Reciprocally, teachers also need to be assessed in order to adjust and produce a curriculum which provides the students with what they need to progress. 

I feel that no one particular type of assessment is superior, however, if a teacher is able to conduct accurate formative assessments of his/her students, great things can happen.  The most prolific experiences I have had, as a student in the classroom, were abundant in assessment.  During these experiences, an emphasis was placed on bettering oneself, as a person, rather than focusing on manipulating a grade, exclusively as a means to an end.  I found that many of my A’s were a false positive, as my long-term memory is void of much of the content covered in many of the classes I received such grade.  Some assessments must be reported in order to ensure that the teacher is conducting a classroom with efficiency and care.  Therein lies the existence of grades.  I truly believe that the most critical form of assessment is in-between the grades.  If a teacher “Integrates assessment through the instructional process”, ideally, that teacher can adjust the lesson to ensure the student not only attains enough information to get a good grade, but also takes away lasting knowledge (Burke 50).   

Teachers also need to be assessed.  How and by whom I do not know.  What I do know is that in order to achieve success at anything in life, a person must be able to assess him or herself.  While assessing a student it should be natural to simultaneously assess oneself.  The road to making any situation better in life must begin by asking the question, "How could I change?" or "What could I do?"  By modeling self-assessment, intrinsic motivation can be fostered in students, granting them the wherewithal to self-assess.  That can make a lasting impression.

[Burke, Jim. The English Teacher’s Companion.  Heinemann: Portsmouth, NH, 2010. Print.] 

Tuesday, 30 July 2013 - 9:29 PM EDT

I think assessments are an important part of teaching. They serve as a way to gauge a student's understanding of and grip on what was just taught. English is one of the content areas that is graced with the oppertunity to assess many different areas. As teachers, we can assess vocabulary understanding through multiple choice tests and understanding of the theme of a novel by either an exam, paper, or presentation. We have many different modes of assessing our students.

It is important for every student to be assessed in the class, though (especially as we learn about differentiated instruction) maybe not in the same way. Teachers should be using these assessments as a tool to see what students know or what they have retained from a lesson. Without them, there would be no real way to find out how much the students have learned or if anything in the lesson was unclear.  

Tuesday, 30 July 2013 - 10:46 PM EDT

It is without a doubt essential to implement assessments into lesson planning. As teachers assess students, students should be able to do the same for themselves. Teachers use assessments as a means to check for the students understanding. The professional then reflects on the students' outcome to find different strategies to approach the students, whether it is to help the disadvantaged students or challenge the gifted ones. Students, on the other hand, should be able to reflect on their work to see areas where they need to work more on. As for those who need a challenge, reflecting also aids the students to create questions based on their knowledge of the material and research ways to answer them effectively. Essentially, both types of students will be able to learn better skills and become independent learners. As an educator, it is important to acknowledge that every student has the potential to be an independent, skilled learner, and it is only fair that the teacher uses assessments in order to help students achieve this goal.

Tuesday, 30 July 2013 - 11:00 PM EDT

(I posted my blog post too early. Here is the second half. Sorry.)

 I think that as an English teacher, it is easy to jump to essay prompts for assessments. It is important for teachers to check students' knowledge of the content, but meanwhile through this form teachers can check for students' writing skills. Multiple choice and short answer-type questions can also be used in an English class to help students recall information from the content.

 Thinking back on my experience in school, I found essay format to be my strong-point in English, while multiple choice and short answer were perfect for history, math, and science. In those last three particular subject areas, I have grown way too accustomed to recalling information and not actually using it for anything more than basic knowledge. However, English causes me to actually think and express myself using the knowledge I have obtained through reading.