Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Assessment

Although we had an entire class on Assessment, I still had a hard time when I was actually marking my student's work. Today's class made me realize why that is: In my grade 11 class, I did not make the learning outcomes clear until the last two weeks of our time together. Near the end, I started asking the question "Why did we read this story? What did we learn?" So, when I was marking their work, I often was  not sure what I was marking for. Of course, I had an idea of what I wanted them to product but I didn't make it very clear to both them and myself what I wanted them to demonstrate to me that they had actually learned from class.

When it came to my grade 9 class, I had assessment down pat:
1. Students chose what their final project would be out of 4 choices
2. Students got in to their groups and created a rubric as to what they would be marked on. Then, students were told to go to their 'second' choice and add to the rubric that the first group had started. The teacher then made an official rubric for each project and handed them out to the students.
3. Every week they were required to hand in 1 page of their final assignment so the teacher could make helpful comments on it. The comments were under a column marked 'Done very well' and the other was 'Needs more work'. (Assessment For Learning)
4. In the 4th week students peer edited their final page for their assignment (so the teacher didn't give feedback, students did). Students based their feedback on the rubrics that had been decided in the beginning. (Assessment As Learning)
5. Students did a self-evaluation on their work before handing it in for their final mark. (Assessment As Learning)
6. Students then handed in their final assignment for marks. (Assessment Of Learning)


Each time I marked my grade 9's work I knew what I was looking for and so did they. However, when it came to my grade 11's, I did give them the KUDs of what I expected them to learn, other than, having vocabulary words that they needed to know and how to apply them to their reading/writing.

One thing UDL and DI has taught me is to make sure that I let my students know why they are learning the things they are learning and how it applies to them and life. I love English because it teaches students how to express themselves in a way that others will be able to understand clearly. I also love English because it teaches students about perception- how to understand their own and respect that of others. Therefore, I now know I need to link back every lesson to these two things so that I can provide a basis for their learning and so that they know why and how the things I am teaching relates to them in everyday life.

I should have made it more clear to my Grade 11s what I was assessing them on and, most importantly, WHY I was assessing them, not just relying on the 6 point writing rubric that the school had come up with and that each English teacher should mark from. The first step is making sure that I  know what I am assessing and then let them know before I give out the assignment. 

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