Comments on: Practicing what I Preach http://ideasandthoughts.org/2007/08/17/practicing-what-i-preach/ I'm here to learn, join me Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:08:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Jane Delmage http://ideasandthoughts.org/2007/08/17/practicing-what-i-preach/comment-page-1/#comment-27240 Jane Delmage Thu, 23 Aug 2007 03:23:34 +0000 http://ideasandthoughts.org/2007/08/17/practicing-what-i-preach/#comment-27240 Patrick Lewis, one of my education professors at the university is a big advocate for personal assessment. He really taught us their importance. One thing that I feel can show through on a personal assessment is the effort that a learner put in. Although they maybe didn't do a project as well as someone else, or they did not score a 100% on a test, they put in a lot of effort. Through personal assessment, I believe that the assessor can gain an authentic sense of how much effort the learner put in. The amount of effort put in should also be used as a measurment when assessing learners. Patrick Lewis, one of my education professors at the university is a big advocate for personal assessment. He really taught us their importance.
One thing that I feel can show through on a personal assessment is the effort that a learner put in. Although they maybe didn’t do a project as well as someone else, or they did not score a 100% on a test, they put in a lot of effort. Through personal assessment, I believe that the assessor can gain an authentic sense of how much effort the learner put in. The amount of effort put in should also be used as a measurment when assessing learners.

]]> By: Colette Cassinelli http://ideasandthoughts.org/2007/08/17/practicing-what-i-preach/comment-page-1/#comment-27193 Colette Cassinelli Sun, 19 Aug 2007 13:44:32 +0000 http://ideasandthoughts.org/2007/08/17/practicing-what-i-preach/#comment-27193 Thanks for sharing your assessment ideas. At the beginning of the year I read a lot of blogs that comment on which tools they are going to use in the coming year and why. Assessment is such a critical component of what we do and needs to well thought out as we plan our curriculum. Thanks for bringing to the forefront. I also snooped on your district website and found some gems. :) Thanks for sharing your assessment ideas. At the beginning of the year I read a lot of blogs that comment on which tools they are going to use in the coming year and why. Assessment is such a critical component of what we do and needs to well thought out as we plan our curriculum. Thanks for bringing to the forefront.

I also snooped on your district website and found some gems. :)

]]> By: Kathy Cassidy http://ideasandthoughts.org/2007/08/17/practicing-what-i-preach/comment-page-1/#comment-27177 Kathy Cassidy Fri, 17 Aug 2007 16:52:38 +0000 http://ideasandthoughts.org/2007/08/17/practicing-what-i-preach/#comment-27177 As I said in our chat conversation earlier this week, allowing students to do self-assessment has been a challenging thing for me. I want my six-year-olds to all feel good about themselves. It has been interesting for me to see that as I give them more ownership of their learning by telling them about the expectations of our class and curriculum, they have been able to respond and often articulate very clearly what they still have to learn, even at such a young age. Of course, there are always a couple of students who think they can already do addition because they can tell you that 1+1=2, or read because they have memorized a favourite book. For the most part, though, they are reflective and honest about where they are and where they would like to be. When they have achieved their goal, they are very proud of what they have done, and have a more authentic sense of satisfaction. As I said in our chat conversation earlier this week, allowing students to do self-assessment has been a challenging thing for me. I want my six-year-olds to all feel good about themselves. It has been interesting for me to see that as I give them more ownership of their learning by telling them about the expectations of our class and curriculum, they have been able to respond and often articulate very clearly what they still have to learn, even at such a young age. Of course, there are always a couple of students who think they can already do addition because they can tell you that 1+1=2, or read because they have memorized a favourite book. For the most part, though, they are reflective and honest about where they are and where they would like to be. When they have achieved their goal, they are very proud of what they have done, and have a more authentic sense of satisfaction.

]]> By: Dean Shareski http://ideasandthoughts.org/2007/08/17/practicing-what-i-preach/comment-page-1/#comment-27176 Dean Shareski Fri, 17 Aug 2007 16:32:19 +0000 http://ideasandthoughts.org/2007/08/17/practicing-what-i-preach/#comment-27176 Damian, As you are aware, this battle rages on everywhere. I agree that the A-F scale is better and yet I would prefer to avoid rankings whenever possible. There are fewer kids motivated by grades and even those that are, shouldn't they be motivated simply to learn? We talk about life long learning as being a primary goal in education but do damage to that belief via rankings. Ewan's link and work in Scotland begins to get at this idea. Thanks for chatting. I'm going to be paying close attention to Christian as he embarks on all this with fresh eyes. Damian,

As you are aware, this battle rages on everywhere. I agree that the A-F scale is better and yet I would prefer to avoid rankings whenever possible. There are fewer kids motivated by grades and even those that are, shouldn’t they be motivated simply to learn? We talk about life long learning as being a primary goal in education but do damage to that belief via rankings.

Ewan’s link and work in Scotland begins to get at this idea.

Thanks for chatting.

I’m going to be paying close attention to Christian as he embarks on all this with fresh eyes.

]]> By: Damian http://ideasandthoughts.org/2007/08/17/practicing-what-i-preach/comment-page-1/#comment-27175 Damian Fri, 17 Aug 2007 13:52:38 +0000 http://ideasandthoughts.org/2007/08/17/practicing-what-i-preach/#comment-27175 Dean, I can identify with many of the sentiments you express here. As I move to make my teaching more social, interactive, and self-directed, the part with which I struggle most is assessment. I think that for me, the biggest issue is that I have a hard time transferring how the assessment looks in my mind to a traditional 100-pt, A-F scale. So far, the more holistic A-F approach has been more or less manageable, but then I have to deal with questions of grade inflation ("What do you mean they all got As and Bs? That's not a well distributed curve!"), and I confess, I'm having a hard time breaking myself of that mindset, too. Number grades are an unfortunate fact of public school teaching, at least where I am - the push is on for data, data, data across the board, which is not in and of itself a bad thing. What I find difficult is translating the evidence of learning to a valid number grade, which I'm required to do. It'll be the part of my job with which I struggle most this coming year; thanks for sharing your reflections on this issue. Dean, I can identify with many of the sentiments you express here. As I move to make my teaching more social, interactive, and self-directed, the part with which I struggle most is assessment. I think that for me, the biggest issue is that I have a hard time transferring how the assessment looks in my mind to a traditional 100-pt, A-F scale. So far, the more holistic A-F approach has been more or less manageable, but then I have to deal with questions of grade inflation (“What do you mean they all got As and Bs? That’s not a well distributed curve!”), and I confess, I’m having a hard time breaking myself of that mindset, too.

Number grades are an unfortunate fact of public school teaching, at least where I am – the push is on for data, data, data across the board, which is not in and of itself a bad thing. What I find difficult is translating the evidence of learning to a valid number grade, which I’m required to do. It’ll be the part of my job with which I struggle most this coming year; thanks for sharing your reflections on this issue.

]]> By: Christian Long http://ideasandthoughts.org/2007/08/17/practicing-what-i-preach/comment-page-1/#comment-27173 Christian Long Fri, 17 Aug 2007 12:21:51 +0000 http://ideasandthoughts.org/2007/08/17/practicing-what-i-preach/#comment-27173 Much appreciate the sentiments woven throughout this post as I prepare to embark upon this new (yet familiar) journey with my kids starting this coming Wednesday. Been a few years since I've had to rigorously contemplate the relationship between learning and assessment. A great post to wake up to this morning, my friend! Thanks! Much appreciate the sentiments woven throughout this post as I prepare to embark upon this new (yet familiar) journey with my kids starting this coming Wednesday. Been a few years since I’ve had to rigorously contemplate the relationship between learning and assessment. A great post to wake up to this morning, my friend! Thanks!

]]> By: Ewan McIntosh http://ideasandthoughts.org/2007/08/17/practicing-what-i-preach/comment-page-1/#comment-27170 Ewan McIntosh Fri, 17 Aug 2007 09:37:16 +0000 http://ideasandthoughts.org/2007/08/17/practicing-what-i-preach/#comment-27170 And now, if you're up for something a little different to stretch yourself: Assessment As Learning: http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/assess/as/index.asp And now, if you’re up for something a little different to stretch yourself: Assessment As Learning: http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/assess/as/index.asp

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