A sentiment that really resonates with my own views on teaching is when Anne Davies, in the article “Involving Students in Communicating About Their Learning” writes, “Student involved communications arise from classrooms in which students are involved in the classroom assessment process – they do not flourish in teacher-centered classrooms” (50). As explained here, students need to be included in their learning and their assessments of that learning. In order to make assessment more meaningful for the students, they need to communicate their understandings of the assignment and engage in communication around the assessment process. It is simply not enough for students to be given a test to complete as a form of assessment. Students must be involved in the assessment process as much as possible. This could be done through the co-creation of a rubric, individualized projects, or assessments that require opinions and demonstrations of knowledge. Students should feel meaningfully engaged in the assessment process as the assessment process is also a way that they can learn and grow. Assessment is not just for the purpose of giving each student a grade and a bit of feedback. Rather, assessment is a part of the teaching and learning process and should aim to involved students as much as possible. As a teacher, I plan to incorporate student-centered learning approaches rather than teacher-centered approaches. I think that student-centered approaches are a lot more meaningful and impactful to the students in your classroom, especially when it comes to learning strategies and different forms of assessment. I will do this by creating rubrics as a class, allowing for flexibility with assignments, and ensuring that students are engaged with the assessments that are given.
Parental involvement is also critical when it comes to learning, which is something I knew a little bit about, but not to its full extent. According to Davies, “Research indicates that when parents are involved in talking about learning with their children, the children achieve more” (48). This need for parental support of learning is critical. Students that experience little to no parental involvement often struggle with assessment and learning as they don’t understand the purpose and they don’t feel supported in their efforts. Regardless of parental support in a student’s life, it is important as the teacher to be involved and supportive in the learning of every student. Every student needs at least one person cheering them on and supporting them throughout their assessments and learning. Not all students will have the same opportunities or support as others. Some students have difficult home lives and face challenges on a day to day basis. As such, I plan to be a supportive teacher to all my students. I want my students to be able to succeed in assessments and in their future learning. As a teacher, it is my responsibility to give students the support that I can in order to better motivate and foster the learning of my students.
Feedback is also an incredibly important aspect of assessment and student success. In order for students to be successful, they must receive meaningful feedback that can help them to grow and develop as learners. Providing good feedback is critical and is a skill that all teachers must develop. As Sackstein writes, “effective feedback is specific, timely, and delivered in a way that works for the receiver” (39). In other words, feedback should not be given months after an assignment. If that were the case, students would no longer care about the feedback of the assignment and the feedback would not be used to help students improve future assignments, which is ultimately the goal. In addition, if students prefer receiving oral feedback to written feedback, it is important to try to make this possible. Feedback is only worth the effort if students are actually taking in the feedback and using it to improve. Feedback is especially important when it comes to formative assessment as it gives students an understanding of what they need to work on before the summative assessment.
During my 3 Week Block I plan to incorporate effective feedback to the best of my abilities. While I may not know the students to the same depth as my cooperating teacher, I will be able to establish somewhat of a relationship over the three weeks. As such, I will use the knowledge of feedback that I have gained from this reading to further my development of meaningful feedback and improve my assessment skills. While some students may present a challenge when it comes to feedback, I will work to build better relationships with those students. Some students may not accept feedback or may not wish to grow or develop as learners. It is thus my job as a teacher to support those students to the best of my abilities in order to help them become successful learners. Overall, these readings have encouraged me to become a better assessor and have reminded me that meaningful assessment requires a lot of relationship building.
Resources:
Davies, A. (2001). “Involving Students in Communicating about their Learning”. National Association of Secondary School Principals, Vol 86, pp. 47-52. https://urcourses.uregina.ca/pluginfile.php/1946140/mod_resource/content/1/Davies.pdf
Sackstein. “Peer Feedback in the Classroom”, pp. 37-74. https://urcourses.uregina.ca/pluginfile.php/1987986/mod_resource/content/1/Sackstein.pdf