Assessing Ourselves to Death

Assessing ourselves to death

One article that interested me was actually an article focused on elementary school assessment! The article was Improving Learning through Classroom Assessment by Anne Davies. Although the focus was elementary school assessment, a lot of the forms of assessment mentioned in the article can be used for all ages and contents. I agree with the author that it is important to allow students to be actively engaged by presenting goals at the beginning – when presenting an assignment. Overall, Davies believes that if students have a good idea of what the end result of the assignment should be, they can reach any target. I’ve always been a fan of rubrics from a student standpoint, because you know exactly what the assignment entails, and how your work will be assessed. During my internship, I used them with all writing assignments and noticed a positive response from students. Although I didn’t compare students’ final grades to an assignment in which I didn’t use rubrics, I still believe the students benefited from it.

Another assessment concept Davies mentioned that I found to be interesting was a section about feedback. As an English teacher, the only feedback I typically focus on includes leaving feedback about students’ writing. A lot of times teachers focus on negative comments or comments that are meant to help the student revise their writing. I think it’s important to also include positive feedback. The author suggests reading examples of student work aloud, so students get an idea of great writing and powerful language. I know you English teachers can remember how it felt when the teacher chose your paper to read aloud to the class. Well I thought it was an honor anyway, and from a teacher standpoint, it shows other students an example of the aspects you look for in their writing.

Finally, I want to talk a little about Dr. Benson’s statement about portfolio assessment. My action research project focused on using journals to document student progress in writing. I believe portfolios would serve that same purpose over a longer period of time. I definitely think it’s an effective form of assessment. Overall, most of the articles provided various types of assessment and explained why they work, but as growing teachers, we have to continuously develop and utilize forms of assessment that we find most beneficial.