During this week’s class and Learning circle, we went over chapters 7 & 8 from the Making Classroom Assessment Work textbook. We also got to do another Poll Guru about highlighting aspects from the chapters and from our Learning Circles, which is always a plus in my books. Chapter 7 was about Using assessment to guide instruction. There was a useful acronym called W.E.T which stands for W- working together, E- everything in its place, T- thinking and acting safely. (Davies, 2020, p. 64). Even though I have never heard of this acronym before, I have believed in the components ever since I started working with other people in my environment and those who work with me. It is important to instill these goals and ideas when students are working with their peers and even with themselves to provide a healthy, organized, and successful work period. This is why my symbol for this week in the W.E.T. acronym. Chapter 8 was about collecting, organizing, and presenting evidence. 

We were given an example of what to do for a future assignment, the sample given was a great way to highlight key points given from a previous chapter (4)(Davies, 2020, p. 33) which is also from the Making Classroom Assessment Work textbook . We were given a full video, which followed with descriptions of what worked well during that assignment- this gave us criteria to base our own assignments off of, which was another perspective/ way to see how to perform the assignment.

During the Poll Guru, we are usually asked questions about our own thoughts on how we were doing, how our peers are doing, and what we think about multiple topics and ideas. This relates to the topics of self assessment and student involvement during the chapters we went over “Engaging students in assessment in the service of learning results in students both learning and learning how to learn”(Davies, 2020, p. 63). This is a great way of applying the W.E.T. acronym, the idea of working together as a group for our own assessment and opinions where everyone is coming from in a safe space way. 

During the Learning Circle this week, there were only four of us in the group, compared to our usual seven. However, the conversation flowed just as smoothly and effortlessly. This week some of us had to do a repeat job, which worked out as a benefit as we already had experience in those positions. We used the topics and outlines of the two chapters to guide conversation, however, we went on the path of talking about personal experiences. Usually we talk about our thoughts on the ideas or strategies at hand and why we think so, and then talk about it in reference to being in a classroom. However, I found that we primarily talked about personal moments and had a lot in common, to then reflect on it as a group. One big idea that was brought up was “rewriting tests”. We look at this point from the side of us as students, and us now as (future) educators. Many of us struggle with math. We all found that rewrites are a useful way to adapt existing testing models in a way that can be beneficial to all learners. We found that having the safety net of a rewrite helped with our anxious performances. We also found that when we did have to take the retest, it was usually in a different space where there were less students, and more opportunities and feelings of safety to ask for help.

Without consciously applying the W.E.T. method to our conversation, we still did! We worked together on figuring out why we as students might have felt a certain way, while also figuring out why we as teachers may still use or may not use certain methods. We concluded our thoughts in a safe space created by working together as a group and seeing that everything is in its place and whether or not it should be moved. 

Thank you for reading!

Best, Baylee

This is a photo I took of page 64 of the Making Classroom Assessment Work textbook of the W.E.T acronym symbol for this week (Davies, 2020, p. 64).

Davies, A. (2020). Making Classroom Assessment Work (4th ed.). connect2learning. 

During this week’s class, we went over chapters 5 & 6 from the Making Classroom Assessment Work textbook by Anne Davies. In these two chapters, some highlighted topics were about evidence, observation, triangulation, self-assessment, and feedback. My symbol for this week’s summary blog to represent the class is shapes- more specifically a triangle. I learned about a new strategy of Triangulation which is when evidence collected from 3 different sources over time, trends and patterns becoming apparent, and reliability validity of our classroom assessment is increased (Davies, 2020, p.47). We also dove into an example where we wrote a rubric of assessment for math students in grade five when they look at a square and rectangle with square grids inside. 

Creating the rubric took about an hour and a half (roughly) where my group was given the task to try and create a rubric of assessment from the perspective of a student in the fifth Grade, then we elevated it based off of the curriculum, to then compare it to the the rubrics of the true assessment piece set for that assignment/outcome. This gave me a different outlook and perspective on how to assess students and applying different expectations on students- this also gave me intel on grade curriculums for those in grade 5, which was extremely new to me as I am in University for early elementary and I have no experience working with students of those ages. 

The chapters this week were on the shorter side, however, they had the same amount of importance and intel. I would say that this section of chapters was one of my favourites, however, I am learning a plethora of new knowledge/ strategies/ and ideas from the textbook thus far. 

During the learning circle, I was the recorder! Having this role this week, I found that I became even more attentive to my peers and was calculating my own thoughts more so before speaking them. This gave me another perspective on myself where I should be always acting and performing as if my thoughts and voice can be rewinded and played back to me. 

The dialogue facilitator left plenty of space for us to build off of their questions, instead of a simple yes or no. We dove deeper into the concepts of observation and how we personally feel about the process of it and Triangulation. We also talked about how we felt and children/ students when we knew we were being observed and our assignments were products and not conversation. We also touched back on a phrase I mentioned in my previous summary of “keeping the end in mind” (Davies, 2020, p.25). We are starting to piece together how all of these seemingly small aspects that go into assessment and evaluation all play their own big and important role in the process of learning, observing, and assessing. 

Another topic that played a large role in our learning circle was that of self-assessment and its process. We discussed how it is extremely important to have students involved in classroom assessment and their assessment for learning. We discussed that all children/students have important input on the goals, criteria, quality, and details being imparted to them, and how in order to give themselves feedback, we have to provide guidelines and structure while having them be part of their own teaching/ learning process. 

Overall, this week’s class and learning circle gave a different outlook on what we have been covering and learning in this class. There are multiple shapes that learning can take depending on the steps we take as educators, and how we involve the students in their own learning. 

Davies, A. (2020). Making Classroom Assessment Work (4th ed.). connect2learning.

Google Photo Shapes

During this week’s class, we went over concepts and ideas based off of chapter 3 & 4 from the Making Classroom Assessment Work textbook. We connected this to the ideas of “keeping the end in mind” (Davies, 2020, p.25). With this, as a future educator, we learned that it is a good idea to look at all segments of learning and teaching. We should give students and ourselves a space where we understand what is being asked of us, therefore, we should provide samples. Which leads me to my symbol for this week: samples! 

When I think of samples, I think of sampling treats at Costco- which is true. Samples can mean snacks, testing something new in small or staring out increments, or providing samples as guidelines/inspiration. 

One specific “toolbox”/ organizing learning objectives that we went over is the Blooms Taxonomy Tool **see video below**. The video goes into detail on how we use each of the learning objectives to assess our knowledge and learning in different ways; remember, understand, apply what we know, analyze, evaluate, and create. Following the video, the class was placed in breakout rooms to configure what we believe each learning objective was used during each question.

Through these past few classes, I have been sampling all of the new tips, tricks, and samples being provided by my textbook, peers, and instructor. I have also been testing out and sampling my own ways of learning as well. We have used the poll guru a few times during this class (as well as previous classes)- this is my favourite way of participating, I do not feel highlighted, yet I am able to put my answer out for all. I have learned that I have a few weaknesses and forms of learning that are not my personal preferences through sampling: by being chosen at random to answer a question in front of the whole zoom class, I have learned that I feel like a deer caught in the headlights feeling and all my thoughts get thrown out of the window. Zoom to me is also a hard platform to grow comfortable with, where it is difficult to be personable with my peers in one on one conversations- I am more comfortable in bigger groups. These are all different learning techniques that I get to sample and can look at the pros and cons of them, even when I might struggle to want to openly participate in all forms. However, that is part of my personal growth and is a great learning curve to understand that not all students will like everything that I do in the future. 

One of my favourite new weekly tasks are the Learning Circles. I really enjoy the dynamic of learning and growing with my larger group of individuals who have different personalities, wisdoms, and experiences- this leads us to even more meaningful and insightful conversation! This week I asked to be the dialogue facilitator for conversation, this was beneficial to me in multiple ways as I was able to practice my own critical thinking while trying my best to create questions to provoke different kinds of critical thinking for my peers. Big topics that were elaborated on were the ideas of teachers keeping the end in mind- using backwards by design methods and giving students (and yourself as the educator) an idea of where they are going so that they are more likely to achieve success for their own goals and for what is asked of them. 

Overall, this week we were looking into some of the key elements that go into samples, learning, understanding what we know and how to use our knowledge and apply it to what is being asked, and looking into future aspects to see how we efficiently fill in the space in between.

Thank you for reading!

Best, Baylee

Davies, A. (2020). Making Classroom Assessment Work (4th ed.). connect2learning.

Video referenced earlier in the blog:

Bloom’s Taxonomy: Structuring The Learning Journey

This is my created picture for my symbol “sample” – the original photo is from Costco Samples on Google

           When it comes to assessment, my initial skills and knowledge are that I understand the premise of assessing and I tend to be a person who observes her environment and the elements in it. When I think of assessment, I believe that all factors should be taken into account in any way, shape, or form. When we assess, we should be putting aside any personal biases and should look at the whole picture before we try inflicting our knowledge- we need to understand that it is important to have a good base of knowledge, however, we should listen to all parties before implementing one set of beliefs. To me, assessment is a crucial part of education, but also life- which brings me to my broader learning goal of wanting to understand the differences between informal and formal assessment and well and personal and professional assessment. I want to strengthen and grow my understanding of assessment by breaking it down and analyzing different forms of assessment. I want to strengthen and challenge myself by having to learn, unlearn, and relearn what I already affiliate with assessment. I believe it is important to put aside ego and personal biases and start from a square one position, a place where I can learn for myself and create a clearer picture of what each chunk of assessment means. This will benefit myself and what I take from life’s moments, as well as benefiting anyone who crosses my path and comes into my life: peers, friends, family, students, parents, anyone! This is a new goal/ tool on my roster that does not have to have an end- there will be milestones and checkpoints, however, it is important to note that I do not want to put and end date on this goal as I believe this will be a newly motivating skill that can always be growing and evolving. It is important to understand that with a goal like this, there will always be room for improvement and learning. 

Attached is a Personal Learning Plan template given by the instructor for this ECS 401 class, filled out by me! Enjoy!

Best, Baylee!

Click this link to view the photos of the Personal Learning Plan through google drive!

        During this class, we really started to dive into what each class will look like over time as well as the expectations that come with it. After a brief class beginning, myself and my classmates went into the Learning Circles! My symbol for this week is a cycle– constantly flowing set of stages. 

*One thing to note as we move forward along his journey; I do not intend on using anyones specific names or genders as I did not ask for anyone’s consent specifically to be put on this blog which is accessible by anyone who looks up this website. If I happened to seem vague or quick on certain details, this could be a small atonement as for why. I take consent and confidentiality very seriously*

This was the very first learning circle, the group I am in has a plethora of different wisdoms and experiences that is expelled by all of those in the group. Remembe  ring that time was an element we had to keep track of, we got to business. We quickly went over our interpretations and expectations of each job and their role, we know that everyone will have to have a turn with each job so we had those who wanted to have a role- have the role they would like to start off this monthly process. I wrote down each of our names in my notebook therefore we would all be able to remember who does what- I plan on using the same page for future circles as well. As we continue with the cycling learning circles, we all made an agreement to read the chapter and come ready to participate. We made sure that everyone gave consent to having our voices recorded to be sent back out to the rest of us- our recorder did so and has already sent the recording out to us. Our time keeper put on timers set by the group to make sure we made time for all the topics at hand. Our Dialogue Facilitator was quick on their feet to think up questions to carry along conversation, we talked about: presenting- the fears and pressure that can follow that as well as ways that educators can adapt those types of projects to make them less scary, parachute activity- from the textbook (Making Classroom Assessment Work by Anne Davies) on page two where it talks about when to evaluate and what to evaluate when giving an activity, parent involvement- how it can be nerve racking to involve the grown ups in a child’s life and how it is extremely important to take in all roles and sides when coming to an agreement on goals and communication. Overall, the group was efficient, and everyone participated- We made very good use of the time we had and I believe that this conversation could have gone on all day.

The class has a cycle of its own- we learn and talk about the content and what we feel about the content, but then we do so in an anonymous way which gives everyone a safe space to say what they really feel. We always come back to Poll Guru. We also went along a journey of self goal setting and questioning where we could see where we stand on assessing student learning. Another piece brought into the cycle is the touching back on the rubric andthe expectations of the activities that take place throughout the semester. We cycle back to the cycle of the medicine wheel: Belonging, Mastery, Independence, and Generosity. Our Instructor referenced the course symbol which talks about our own constantly growing and evolving journeys- Where am I going? How am I doing? & Where to next? This is a beautiful view of not only educational assessment, but for self assessments, life assessments, assessing certain choices, and the list goes on. This is a beautiful way to layout and look back on my personal growth and use it towards my future role as an educator, someone who wants to continue this cycle and have students be able to use their own self assessments to further their journey as their best selves.

Thank you for reading!

Best Baylee

Google Photo Link

        This was the very first beginning class for my ECS 401 Course! We did some anonymous introductions in a very fun way where my fellow classmates were not highlighted or forced to share everything about themselves with those we have just met- while being on a zoom platform. We used Poll Guru which was set up by the instructor. I quite enjoyed using that online platform, which was anonymous while sharing information about myself. We were also able to answer more in depth questions asked about ourselves and our point of views on different topics, one of them being assessment and evaluation; while listing what those terms mean to us. We got into breakout groups to go over the assignments chunks of the syllabus and then re-explained each part per group while creating an open space for questions. Furthermore, we did a personal growth answer sheet, assessment sheet quiz, and a multiple intelligence quiz. Not only did I learn more about the course, my classmates, and the instructor, but I learned a few things about myself. My highest score for the Multiple intelligence score was for music, very cool. One highlight/ symbol to reference this first class is the idea of a growing graph- this will further make me remember our starting point as we all grow throughout the semester while gaining new knowledge and skills to take into our future careers and lifestyles.

 

Hello Everyone!

In this sub section, there will be a plethora of content uploaded during this Winter 2023 semester! Follow along my journey to see personal growth, hopefully I can provide take aways for anyone who comes along.

Enjoy!

Best, Baylee