Lesson 2
Traditional assessments vs Alternative assessments is a topic for debate. Many educators know the traditional method (scientific- measurement models) has not been working. Yet we don't know how to (or are afraid to) implement better or different forms of assessment. There is a gap between educators, students, parents, and administration. Which reminded me of a book I read The Teaching Gap. With judgmental assessments we are putting the responsibility of learning more on the students and less on the teachers to teach to a test or some other traditional method. I enjoyed reading the article by Beomkya Choi & Michael Young about playful assessments. Last semester in my MTH 680 Functions class, we played games a lot. It really taught me a new way of looking at teaching. By doing different activities we learned about all the different functions of families. Imagine how my family reacted when I came home with a friendship bracelet I had made in class. Why can't learning be playful? As long as it is meaningful and has a purpose. I've liked a lot of the methods we have been using for the Take Aways, but I wasn't a fan of the flipboard because we couldn't make comments, which I enjoy reading. There is so much to learn, I need to pace myself better.
Hi Tami,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate you voicing apprehension about implementing differing assessments. I find that I have been "thinking about" my classroom assessments since beginning this course but it does feel a bit overwhelming as to where to start and I think much of that stems for feeling "frozen" in not knowing what would be "best." I am trying to wrap my mind around trying one new assessment method per semester. One advantage for me is that in teaching two sections of the same course, I really have an easy way to compare outcomes when implementing differing assessments. I agree about "play" assessment! Where along the line did learning become work as opposed to fun?
Robin
Tami-
ReplyDeleteI too have been questioning the assessments that I have been implementing into my classroom. This is a new school, and subject for year and since the state of Michigan did not approve the C3 standards for Social Studies, I have a lot of uncertainty in my subject. So, playing around with different assessments has helped me figure out what I like and what my students like. Yes, they have told me that they liked certain assessments. However, I have not called them "assessments" and that is key. They absolutely loved the Flipgrid that I used the other week in class!
Hi! Thank you for your post. Learning should be playful! I like to ask my students for feedback after activities/assessments and love to hear their thoughts. Learning should be fun!
ReplyDeleteI need to pace myself better too :)
Hi Tami- I really enjoy the idea of playful assessment as well. I think it's a human nature that we learn while we are involved, especially in a fun way. This is particularly obvious in elementary levels where student engagement is the key to effective learning. I can see a lot of technology tools are designed like games so they achieve the same goal as traditional assessment, they collect data faster, and they are fun for students to play with.
ReplyDelete