Sunday, July 11, 2010
Assessment Tools
Pamela Gustafson (Gold shirt) and son Elliot Anderson(suit and yellow tie) Greet the President.
This week I had to opportunity to hear the president speak and was lucky to shake his hand. When I was telling, maybe bragging, to a woman in the airport, she said "I voted for him, but I am so disappointed" Her assessment of Obama's presidency is that it is not working. I really haven't formulated a complete assessment of the Obama presidency, because I am still elated that the former president and his regime are gone. And besides with an almost 50/50 split in this nation, there are at least two different rubrics (probably more) used to assess any president. If I were looking at the president through the teacher lens only I would have to say I am disappointed he hasn't dismantled the testing that came with No Child Left Behind, and listened to his advisor Linda Darling-Hammond who advocates performance assessment in one of the readings for this module. My rubric, when I do assess the president, will extend beyond educational issues.
A lot of politicians (including the president) rely on surveys or polls to assess their jobs and the "pulse" of the nation. A survey is one of the online tools we studied this week. Surveys and polls are great ways to get information quickly from our students and to assess what they are interested in. Then teachers can design motivating lessons. Maybe, like politicians, we should use them more frequently to assess our student's attitudes and thought about the classroom. I used the survey tool in Moodle to assess student opinion over ancient Roman laws (fair or unfair) and then used the survey results, in bar graph form, to discuss the laws with the students. Powerful tool creating almost as many opinions as the debates before the president's election!
Reflection tools were another tool highlighted in this week's module. These tools help students to write and reflect upon their learning, and the teacher looks for a more in depth understanding of the content covered. Rubrics guide the student's thinking and they can assess themselves before turning the paper or project over to their teacher. They go beyond just checking the "pulse" of the students and try to find out what the student is thinking.
Online quizzes also can also assess the "pulse" of the students and depending on the construction of the question, can also check in depth understanding. Some of the required standardized tests do attempt to test at a higher level with well-designed multiple choice questions and some constructed response items. But since they are only an annual event and a teacher has to wait 4 to 5 months to get the results, they are of very little use to the teaching/assessment cycle. Can you imagine if a presidential candidate had to wait months to find out the results of their assessment ? They sometimes know within 12 hours of an election their results. Students deserve timely feedback too!
During this module we were able to cover a lot of different assessment tools because each member of the class researched and summarized a tool. While there was some overlap of information, it was an effective way to process a lot of information. The president also jigsaws asking his advisors and cabinet to find and summarize the information he needs to do his work!
It was a good week and I have lots of ideas as to how I am going to use these assessment tools and the jigsaw technique in my classroom this fall. I also will never forget meeting the president!
# posted by pamelag @ 3:36 PM 
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