Assessment isn't always about paper/pencil. In our ever-changing world, we've need to find different ways of instructing and assessing our students to prepare them for the 21st century. I'm not saying that paper/pencil should go away like the dodo bird. It will always have an essential place in most classrooms. However, there are other ways that we as teachers can have a better view of how our class understands the concepts being taught. I enjoyed the speaker who talked about giving 3 grades for all students based on the three Ps. 1/3 of a student's grade should be based on performance which is grades what the student knows. 1/3 of a student's grade should be based on process which is a measure of how hard the student tried, habits, and how persistent the student was in attempting to learn. The final third is based on progress. Progress in how far a student has come from the beginning of the grading period until the end. I believe most of us use a grading scale similar to this but it was interesting to hear that maybe they should be equal when giving a student a grade. I know in my classroom, I tend to reward performance much more heavily than the other two.
Pre-assessment is also important and I believe teachers sometimes believes this means a pencil/paper pre-test. I don't give pre-tests during the school year (except at the very beginning) but I do converse with my students how much they know about a particular concept. Entrance and exit cards is also something I've experimented with in the past. I did find some interesting resources that may help me have a better understanding whether my students understand what I'm teaching.
Pre-assessment is also important and I believe teachers sometimes believes this means a pencil/paper pre-test. I don't give pre-tests during the school year (except at the very beginning) but I do converse with my students how much they know about a particular concept. Entrance and exit cards is also something I've experimented with in the past. I did find some interesting resources that may help me have a better understanding whether my students understand what I'm teaching.
I've taught long enough to know that graphic organizers work. I love having these resources to use as templates
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/learning/lr1grorg.htm http://www.educationoasis.com/curriculum/graphic_organizers.htm |
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Jack Black using music to check for understanding during math class. A really funny scene. I wish I had his skills. |