My assessment experiences as a student in elementary and secondary school were all relatively normal. Depending on the class certain projects, assignments, group work, tests and quizzes would be assigned. Looking back to elementary school, assessment practices seemed rather simple for myself, but probably difficult for my teachers. An elementary school teacher has to be an expert in numerous subjects. He or she has to assess their 27-31 students in 10 or more subjects with varrying activties. Whereas in high school, a teacher has 3 classes of 17-31 students and usually they are an expert in their teachables.
From my elementary days assessment for me included alot of memorization. I would memorize my study notes for the various unit tests and quizzes because I knew the questions would be strictly knowledge based. Therefore, I would be answering fill in the blanks with a word box, easy multiple choice questions, true and false questions and matching questions on every test. I loved these sorts of tests because I could remember my study notes with ease. As well, I found projects in elementary school to be very fun because they entailed us to make different things. Projects to me were like art class and I loved art. Whether it was creating a diorama to represent a certain type of habitat for my social studies class, or a model of a castle to culminate my Middle Ages unit, or a hand written diary to describe a book I read for my book talk or a life size insect I created for my science class, I loved almost every project and assessment that we were handed. The one thing I was not fond of and I am still not particularly fond of is group work. Assessments that were strictly focused on group work were not my favourite, simply because I always felt like I had to do the work on my own in order to get the grade I wanted. Thus, my views of assessments in elementary school were light hearted and fun.
Furthermore, as I progressed into highschool my assessment experiences started to change. I struggled with my math tests and trying to find the one right answer. I still dreaded group work and the tests got relatively harder. Instead of strictly knowledge based questions and memorization I had to start to learn more about critical thinking and making connections between what I was studying to the outside world. Thinking, Communication and Application were stressed over Knowledge and Understanding. Thus, I had to change my study habits to fit the style of tests and assignments I was given. However, as I entered grade 11 and grade 12 I was taking all the classes I enjoyed, history. I took every history class that was offered at my highschool and as a result I had zero spares in grade 12. I was completeing essays and assignments worth bigger percents of my marks and I loved it. Once I found my niche, history I was set. The assessments we had in my history classes such as: essays, debates, re-enactments and field trips were assessments I was thriving off of because I loved the subject. Therefore, I found that the level of difficulty and critical evaluation went up in my highschool classes but so too did my love for learning.
Moreover, as a result of my past experiences I have some interesting beliefs about assessment. I believe that it is important to assess your students in order for you to understand if they are comprehending the curriculum. However, I feel that students should have a few choices when it comes to assessment. For example, once students enter the junior and intermediate grades in elementary school they should be given a choice between three ways that they can be assessed in regards to a certain subject. Now, in order to keep the teacher's life relatively simple, this choice should not be granted to every subject. If it is, students will take advantage of this and become bored in no time. Thus, the teacher should pick three subjects that they want to have open assessments for. The teacher could pick from anything: religion, english, social studies, science, history, art, drama, music or math. Once the teacher chooses the three subjecs for open assessmets they should choose three methods in which the students can choose from. For example, to culminate the end of a history unit in a grade 8 class that focused on Canadian Prime Ministers, the students could have the option to: 1) Choose a Prime Minister- research Who, What Where When Why and How the individual shaped/changed Canada. Present the project to the class on a poster board. 2) Choose a Prime Minister and create a re-enactment of a famous event from their time as Prime Minister of Canada and state how it impacted Canada. 3) Write 3 diary entries as a Prime Minister of your choosing during their time in office. Create a physical journal and hand it in to your teacher. Therefore, above are three ideas that students who learn in various ways could all choose from to create their project and be assessed by their teacher. As well, when choice is thrown into the mix the teacher is not forced to mark the same thing 30 times in a row. This idea keeps the teacher interested in the various ways his or her students could demonstrate their knowledge of the history unit. Consequently, I believe choice is an excellent tool for when we are assessing our students.
Similarly, I believe in certain scenarios students should have the choice to work in groups or not. There is a time and a place for group work and it definitely needs to be assessed in the elementary grades. However, too much of it can cause issues and therefore I believe students should be given the opportunity to work in groups or work solo depending on the activity. Lastly, I believe some students, especially in elementary school get nervous when writing tests or have to transfer their thoughts to paper in constricted periods of time. I feel it could be beneficial for some students to have oral quizzes in which they can speak one on one with the teacher to assess their knowledge of a topic. I think this could be a great idea for shy students as well because it would encourage them to speak up and improve upon their social skills with their teachers. This type of assessment is rather time consuming therefore it should only be used for certain simple actitivies.
In conclusion, assessment styles are always changing, what might work for one teacher could be a total flop for another. The same goes for students. That is why I believe in a healthy balance of choice for the students and for the teacher. As well, I believe creative tasks such as creating something for a child's assessment can promote tremendous growth in creativity and the imagination. It is key to have a balance regardless of how many students you have and how many assessments you are giving. I know parents are constantly fixated on marks and feeback as well. It is important to remind the parent that it is not always about your child's grade that matters. The growth that a child has from the beginning of the year to the end and the skills they develop over that year to take with them to the next is what's important. There is a time and a place for grades but it is not what assessement is solely about. Assessement for the teacher is learning how his or her students operate and what they need to focus on in order to help their students improve and reach above their potential. As a future educator I would create an environment that promotes choice for students when it comes to assessment. After all, teaching is all about learning how to better our students and help them to succeed in life beyond our classroom doors.
Courtney Helt
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