Reflection - Assessment
Assessment plays a pivotal role in teaching as a tool to help access the prior knowledge of the learner (assessment for learning), to teach metacognition (assessment as learning) or to evaluate a student’s progress (Growing Success, 2010). In the examples provided below, I wish to reflect on how I have used different types of assessment to meet aspects of the Standards of Practice in the Teaching Profession and the B.Ed. Learner document under the Program Theme of "Assessment".
Assessment for Learning: Responding to Student Needs
During in-class work time in the Grade 12 Calculus and Vectors course, I circulated about the classroom offering help to the students and doing an informal assessment. One predominant observation was that many students had difficulty understanding what was being asked in the optimization problems. They were stuck at the first step – how to represent the question in a diagram. In response to this discovery, I decided to devote the next class to the practice of this skill. I compiled an extensive set of problems from various sources and had the students set up the diagrams. To get them involved in the process, I had them take turns sharing their answers with the rest of the class.
Learnings and goals
What I found was that instead of going through all the problem set-ups, which they had agreed was their biggest problem, students were overly concerned with putting up the wrong diagrams on the board and would do the entire problem to completion to check them against the final answer which was provided. This had the negative effect that we could not get through as many problems. What I would do next time would be to provide the final answers only at the end of the class.
Assessment as Learning: Using self-correction
While marking a question I had given the Grade 12 Calculus and Vectors class as an exit card, I noticed that many students were not having trouble so much with differentiation itself, but with algebra, something that I later learned was quite common (Scofield, 2003). I decided that instead of correcting their mistakes, it would be a more valuable learning tool if they could figure out for themselves what they had done wrong. I indicated the problem area and had the students make the necessary corrections.
Learnings and goalsAlthough I am certain that the students got more out of correcting their own mistakes, some students still repeated them. In a subsequent quiz, I made sure to include a question where they had to detect an error. To further help students, I could follow up the correction task by assigning them some drills in class to allow them to practice working on those specific issues.
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Assessment of Learning: Independent Study Project “ Isotope Project”
In the Grade 9 Science class that I taught, students were given an independent study project to provide them with the opportunity to connect their learning to Science, Technology, Society and the Environment. Students were to choose an isotope from several I had provided or to come up with one of their own to research. The aim of the project was to create a poster, presentation, video or letter which both demonstrated their understanding of the uses of this isotope and gave an evaluation of its benefits and/or harms to society and the environment and to draw their conclusions from this analysis.
In addition to instructions, students were also provided with an exemplar and rubric which made the expectations for the project clear and the marking scheme transparent. Having a sign-up sheet and making the project outline chart due the week prior to the project due date helped scaffold the process of organizing the project. It would also give me an opportunity to ensure they were on the right track or provide guidance if required. All of these elements were put into place to ensure success for all students.
In addition to instructions, students were also provided with an exemplar and rubric which made the expectations for the project clear and the marking scheme transparent. Having a sign-up sheet and making the project outline chart due the week prior to the project due date helped scaffold the process of organizing the project. It would also give me an opportunity to ensure they were on the right track or provide guidance if required. All of these elements were put into place to ensure success for all students.
Learnings and goalsI felt that this was a wonderful opportunity for students that were more artistically inclined to show off their talents and was very impressed with the results (see heading image and Figures 2-4).
Because the main purpose of the midpoint check chart was to encourage students to manage their time better, I did not assign a mark to it. As a result, several students did not hand in their charts. Had they done so, I would have caught issues in the sources they used. As it is common for students to indiscriminately cite online sources and to rely too heavily on Wikipedia, this would have been a perfect opportunity to teach them about using a variety of sources and the concept of peer-reviewed journals available through reliable sources such as PubMed. |
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Resources
Growing Success: Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting in Ontario Schools. Toronto: Ontario Ministry of Education, 2010.
Scofield, T. L. (2003). Top Algebra Errors Made by Calculus Students.
Scofield, T. L. (2003). Top Algebra Errors Made by Calculus Students.