Areas that can be evaluated by the teacher are are written tests, writings and classroom participation observation. All students are different and their learning types will reflect their success in the area evaluated. Even the same concept can be evaluated through tests, writing and a class discussion and a student could show understanding through one type evaluation, but not through another. For example, I am a history student and I succeed at essay evaluations of my understandings, but when I have to write a multiple choice test on the same history subject I will not be as successful.
I think that letter grade evaluations are problematic because subjects that are subjective will vary from teacher to teacher and feedback from just a letter grade is difficult to provide enough motivation for a student to do better. When grading is different from teacher to teacher students can focus on what will get them a good grade by that teachers standards rather than doing their best and reflecting on themselves and how hard and improve on their performance. As Mamchur discusses in her six traps of evaluation, specific feedback is important for teachers to put more of a focus on feedback rather than marking. For myself as a student when I receive a letter grade back on an essay it is a validation of my work, but it does not show me how I can improve on my essay writing skills so that in the future I can achieve a better letter grade.
As Mamchur discusses the type of specific feedback is very important because each student will react differently. Making sure to be specific to each students needs will help them foster and grow as students.
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Feedback and assessment are important to help students learn and further build on their ideas and knowledge. At times students may receive instantaneous feedback which can be seen as pointless or not very thoughtful. Instant feedback is sometimes not as helpful as if teachers, educators, and peers were to take some extra time to let information/ students' work to sit for a while before allowing for oneself to critique and give feedback and comments to students' work. I feel that allowing ourselves extra time, our ideas and observations become more detailed and helpful to student. Assessment such as grading alone as a form of feedback can be seen as pointless as it does not tell the student much about his or her work. I agree with Kyleigh that it is important to note that different ways of assessment are beneficial to students, as students learn through various ways using their multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1983).
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