Assessment fever
Is anyone else getting sick of hearing about assessments. I feel as though I am again trapped in Caroline's class. Do not get me wrong, I understand the importance of making valid and reliable assessment. I understand the benifits and varieties of formative assessments, but I am sick of hearing hacks like Williams discussing their inexperienced opinions of what an assessment should cover, or where an assessment derives from. I am sick of the government's propaganda about the importance of "THE TEST" and teaching to "THE TEST." I mean, give me a break. I do, however, think Spandel is on to something. How could you rightfully disagree with someone who acknowledges how "THE TEST" wastes the teacher's time (six weeks), and that such tests need to change to fit the learners.
Out of all the gold that comes from Spandel's Midas like fingertips, I thought that the best portion was her three things that must be included to be assessed in the world of writing (94-96). She claims that the three components are as follows: the assessment must be perspective, the assessment must be compassionate, and the assessment must be usefull. Sure, your first response is, "NO DUH!?!" yet, these three practices are not often taught directly to us, nor are they practiced in the world. As for perspective, she claims that not all answers have a definate correct response, thus the teacher needs to closely and open-mindedly read a piece of writing in order to derive what the writer is trying to convey. As for the compassionate assessments, this I found to be the most widely forgotten principle. The assessment is there to help the students, and to help the lesson. They are not to point out or create failure, but rather to motivate and focus on all of the students' success. The final, and most important is that the assessment should be useful to the students, therefore lets make tests that are relevant and help identify the students needs to help advance their abilities.
OK, there is all I have left to say about assessments, now feel free to eityher grade this with a check, rubric, or include it on the final exam to assess me!!! ;-)
here is a web site that is drowning in rubric formats that can easily be used or addapted.
http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/assess.html
Comments
I agree with you Aaron. All we hear about is assesments all the time in this program while we ourselves are assesed constantly. It all gets a bit tiring. I think that there is no one way to do assesments "right." I think more than anything assessments depends on the students. You have to know the right assessment to use for the group of students you have. I think a lot of what we talk about in this program comes down to knowing your students really well. By the way I give you a passing grade on your post.
Posted by: LeShon | February 22, 2007 12:54 AM