Assessment, Evaluation and Differentiation

Of all the pedagogical ideas I have been exposed to during the course of my education, the idea of assessment and evaluation is the one I struggle with the most. In my 402 midterm evaluation I listed assessment strategies and evaluation as an area of growth that I need to work on. I mentioned that I wanted to explore how evaluatin can be used to access the different learning styles and hence needs to the student. I feel that I still need to read and integrate the differentiated tenants into my teaching philosophy. To that end I have Tomlinson's book The Differentiated Classroom ready for my free time in August.

In reading the blissfully short article on traps of evaluation, I was surprised to feel myself nodding as I could readily think of examples and teachers in my past who I feel fell into these traps. The most damaging I think is ineffective feedback as it does little to increase needed skills, does not build self evaluation skills of students, and I think curtails student engagement with the subject. I feel that one of the most important skills I have been taught in my school career is the need for rubrics as assessment tools. Ideally, they should be developed with the students so that the standards are internalized, are clear and meaningful. Learning in class should be about building student responsibility and an engagement with life not merely giving teachers back the information they want to hear in quizzes, tests, and essays.

The discussion on this topic has been very informative and helpful as investigating the practical issues of class dynamics was the reason I took this course as my elective. I appreciate the classroom descriptions that have been provided in the blogs as they offer a case study basis as a counterpoint to a decidedly theoretical perspective. Helen provided a essential list of observed learning differences that can incorporated by a teacher in a differentiated classroom framework. Clover brings up an interesting point about early academics and competion for young children. One wonders how full day kindergarten has impacted the desire of parents for their children to excell academically. I think that we expect children to be mini adults and over schedule them in the name of creating successful learners. Especially in the primary grades the learning timelines and emotional maturity of children differ so greatly I think that promoting academic success is often damaging. I feel instead we need to focus on engaging learners and on personal growth. This I think is why the ancedotal comments on report cards are more important for parents to read than the checklist of skills.

I have been fortunate to have taken the Designs for learning LA course this summer with Katrina(Fabulous Instructor - Kellie Buis). The text that she mentions is the 6+1 Traits of Writing by Ruth Culham and it is a book worth its weight in gold!! Culham sets out an easy to follow rubric of evaluation strategies and corresponding mini lessons that teach all 6+1 traits of writing: ideas, sentence fluency, organization, word choice, voice, conventions, plus presentation. The core of the theory is that writing is a process that needs constructive, meaningful feedback presented as a scaffold to encourage successful growth. Personally I have found the assignment of writing a narrative story transformational. Originally I was a reluctant writer but through the process of writing and revision have arrived at a narrative story that is a personal touchstone. I have a great resource now for facilitating the writing of students, and the book also points to the need for assessing with rubrics in a systematic and impartial manner. The teaching of this rubric to students is of paramount importance - Student self - evaluation and teacher evaluation need to work together to ultimately foster student self directed learning.

Assessment and evaluation are something I still struggle with. Assessment is the observations of student demonstrated learning and needs to be on-going in the classroom - reading and writing conferences, asiignments and quizzes, projects, and presentations. Evaluation is primarily for reporting purposes and is the student's proficiency at meeting the IRP grade level goals. The tricky part will be transitioning from assessment information to evaluation mode!