maria leblanc
Statement of Assessment Philosophy & Practice
Introduction
As I have learned through my Bachelor of Education, we, as teachers, have a duty to know our students to be able to teach our students. We have a responsibility to be culturally responsive to our students, to create classroom communities that are universally designed for all students to learn, and to engage students in learning through dynamic and varied teaching practices. Yet how can a teacher create these conditions for learning day after day and have a grasp on how much students are learning? I believe the key to that is through integrating assessment into the classroom routine.
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According to Black and Wiliam, assessment is the activities performed by the teacher, or sometimes the student, that provide feedback to modify teaching and learning activities (Black & Wiliam, 1998). Traditionally, many may think of assessment as a quiz, test or paper that is marked by the teacher and returned to the student with a grade. This style of assessment was often practiced by all or most teachers in the 13 years of schooling that a student might encounter in their school years which unfortunately would not always be a good form of understanding how much a student knows. Bloom`s Revised Taxonomy highlights that to understand if a student knows something, we need to move away from lower-order thinking such as remembering, understanding, and applying, and move towards higher-order thinking such as analyzing, evaluating, and creating (Anderson et. al, 2001). When a teacher is assessing if students are using higher-order thinking, the assessment practices should align (Anderson et. al, 2001).
My Philosophy
I believe that all students come to the classroom with inherent knowledge. As a teacher, it is my job to take this knowledge and build upon it to have students be successful in meeting curricular outcomes. For me to understand if my students are being successful, I need to be actively assessing their knowledge and creating assessment opportunities that allow students to reach metacognition. I do not need to stand alone in creating opportunities for assessment. I can invite the students to co-create assessment opportunities (Davies, 2007). I see this as a moment to draw upon the inherent knowledge of the students and allow them to own their learning. Through the co-creation of such assessments, students have the opportunity to gain a clear understanding of the verbs and the goal needed to meet the curriculum outcomes.
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By having the student's success at the center of my focus, I see my teaching style moving away from the traditional way of teaching to a constructivist approach. The constructivist approach is student-centered and focuses on how a student thinks. It involves a collaboration between students and teachers to construct environments where students can take away deep learning in their own unique way (Drake, Reid, Kolohon, 2014). The constructivist approach keeps students at the center of the learning and allows for choice, flexibility, and collaboration for the students to showcase their learning. This style of teaching leaves lots of room for formative assessment, creating many different opportunities for students to showcase what they know.
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While having a constructivist style of teaching, I believe I will use Backwards Design theory to design my daily lessons. Backwards Design is the practice of designing lessons starting with the end goal in mind, then designing the evidence and assessment strategies, then finally ending with planning learning experiences (McTighe & Wiggins, 2016). Through Backwards Design Theory I will be able to design my lessons with an understanding of where I want the students to end up. Through this lesson design, I will also be able to create opportunities for formative and summative assessment (McTighe & Wiggins, 2016).
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I see the need for both formative and summative forms of assessment in the classroom. Assessment needs to happen at every moment of the class, from before the students enter the classroom until they leave. We still live in a world where we need a mark to represent learning therefore there needs to be an amount of summative assessment in my teaching practice. We also live in a world where there is research to support the idea that a mark alone does not represent the full picture of what a student knows. Through formative assessment practices, such as observations and conversations with students, we can get a deeper understanding of what the student knows. The use of both forms of assessment is necessary, but with more time being spent on formative assessment.
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I will feel confident in my assessment of my students' learning when I have observations, conversations, and products that can highlight their learning. This approach is also known as triangulation (Anderson et. al, 2001). By having a varied repertoire of assessments on a student, I will be able to confidently assign a mark or grade in line with their level of knowledge. In order to keep my assessment authentic, the assessment opportunities need to be in alignment with the curricular goals (Anderson et. al, 2001). From a practical standpoint, this also gives me evidence to support my teaching and my grades if I need to conference with a student or a parent. Through having a triangulated approach, I will be able to coach students or observe skills that might represent the student knowing the concept that might not otherwise be reflected in a test or quiz.
Assessment needs to go hand in hand with feedback. Through descriptive, timely feedback, students can adjust their thinking and understand their own learning (Davies, 2007). I will try to avoid feedback that is emotional in nature and try to give feedback that allows the student to specifically identify what they can do to improve upon their learning. As a teacher, I can give feedback in diverse forms such as student conferencing, using clear and well-designed rubrics, and through providing opportunities for peer and self-assessment (Davies, 2007). Through the use of triangulation, feedback for the students naturally occurs because of the number of conversations and observations that occur.
Putting it in Practice
As an example of how I would apply these assessment practices in my future teaching career, I will use a sample of a Science 10 lesson focused on modeling elements. The verbs used in the SCO are “Investigate and Collaborate” so I chose to align my assessment activity with these verbs in creating an opportunity where students can organize and compare details and work together to achieve success.
This lesson would incorporate an element of direct instruction. Using an “I Do, We Do, You Do” approach, I would teach the first methods of drawing the elements, then ask the students to engage in trying to draw a few of the elements in small groups. While the students are working together in their small groups, I will be observing that everyone is working together to come up with the solution and I will also be probing with questions to gain an understanding of the students' thinking. I would engage in assessment for learning by asking questions of the students to get them to explain their choices of why they arranged the elections in a certain pattern, how they chose the number of neutrons to include in the nucleus, and how they came to that conclusion.
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Once I have made it to all groups to have conversations, I would get the students to engage in some assessment as learning and have a discussion in their small group to self-assess how their table is feeling about grasping their new skill. They would hold up their fingers 1-5 to indicate their comfort level. For any table that holds up a 3 or less, I will revisit the lesson and we will try again as a small group.
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Once we have 75% of the groups indicating they are a 4 or 5, we will move on to trying to draw a model individually. I will keep in mind the other 25% of students who still may need support and complete more frequent check-ins as the class moves along. I will ask the students to draw a model and then share it with a partner for feedback. I will end the class with an exit slip of having everyone in the class draw the same element. I will get the students to accurately draw out the element with the correct number and placement of protons, neutrons and electrons along with the calculations that go along. The students will again self-assess their knowledge by placing their exit slip in one of three piles labelled: I understand, I think I understand, and I need some more time. By having the students complete this exit slip in this way, they are engaging in assessment as learning and assessment of learning. I will be able to take away a visual cue of how many students put their slip in each pile so I can reflect and adjust my teaching for the next day. Also, it gives me a product that I can look at to see where students may or may not need support in learning.
Conclusion
When it comes to practices of assessment, everyone in the classroom has a role. My role will be to keep students at the center of my classroom, understanding where they are on their learning journey and where they have the opportunity to go. Using evidence-based assessment practices and captivating lessons I hope to support my students in their role of engaging in the curriculum and feeling empowered to challenge their learning.
References Anderson, L.W., Krathwohl, D.R., Airasian, P.W., Cruikshank, K.A., Mayer, R.E., Pintrich, P.R., Raths, J., & Wittrock, M.C. (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: A revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of educational objectives. Longman. Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Inside the black box. School of Education, King's College London. Davies, A. (2007). Making classroom assessment work. Connections Press Drake, S. Reid, J. & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving curriculum and classroom assessment: Engaging the 21st century learner. Oxford Press. McTighe, J., & Wiggins, G. P. (2016). Understanding by design framework. ASCD. Retrieved from https://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/siteASCD/publications/UbD_WhitePaper0312.pdf
Artist Statement
As I have learned through my Bachelor of Education, we, as teachers, have a duty to know our students to be able to teach our students. We have a responsibility to be culturally responsive to our students, to create classroom communities that are universally designed for all students to learn, and to engage students in learning through dynamic and varied teaching practices. But how can a teacher create these conditions for learning day after day and have a grasp on how much students are learning? I believe the key to that is through integrating assessment into the classroom routine. This paper is a summation of my philosophy and practices of assessment in the classroom.