Determining Acceptable Evidence of Students Understanding

Self Reflection

What did I learn from this session about assessment (evidence of students learning)?

I have learnt that in order to plan effectively for assessment one has to think about what they will accept as reasonable evidence of students learning and how to measure to what extent students learn, before planning for instruction. Mctighe and Wiggins (2004) ,cited various methods that can be used to collect data about students’ performance. These include informal checks for understanding such as using questioning, observation, quizzes/test, and conferencing and performance task such as projects. I have also learnt that any assessment methods used must reflect the objectives in the curriculum. Assessment used should cater to the three types of curriculum. Assessments should be varied to capture students’ differences in learning styles and interest.

What ideas do I have for changing the ways I assess for understanding?(graded or non-graded).What will I use?

With added knowledge and ongoing reflections on various assessment methods and their effectiveness, I am now better able to effectively use various assessment methods and tailor each to fit students’ level of cognitive development and their interest. I am also going to make conscious efforts to ensure that assessment strategies I used will cater to varying learning styles and capture students’ interest as oppose to the quizzes i normally used.  I will also strive to use a balance of both formative and summative assessment to gather information prior to and during instruction. I will now practice using the information generated from students to guide further instructions. In order to gather more information on students’ reaction to the background design process I plan to carry out an experiment to see to what extent this technique can improve learning when compared to the traditional way of planning.

How can you make these manageable?

Before students are given task they will be sensitized as to what is expected from them while performing the tasks. I will also walk students through the rubric that they will be assess against so they have an idea of the quality work that is expected from them and work to meet the criteria. I will also exercise the use of differentiated instruction in the form of preparing task with varying complexity level for students to work their way up blooms taxonomy.