At the start of the class, I could not even differentiate assessment from evaluation. I thought the words were used interchangeably, but they are not. Moreover, I thought quizzes were assessments and exams were evaluations. Little did I know that they were both evaluations since they both produce marks and are used as basis data. Furthermore, I extremely lacked knowledge of the types of assessments. All I knew was, as I stated, quizzes and exams. However, there is so much more to that.
Here are my 5 Big Ideas from the ECS401 class:
1. Having a Growth Mindset makes me more susceptible to changes.
- This is the class where I realized that I have a growth mindset from doing the survey. I feel proud because I always see myself as someone who wants to explore different things. I know for sure that trying new things does not always go perfectly. However, I also know that if I do not try new things then I will not gain the experience and knowledge from trying. This class taught me so many assessment strategies that I have never heard of or seen before. It opened my mind to certain things that I could do in my classroom. My pre-internship made me experience having to prepare for adaptation to meet unique needs. This will not be achieved without a growth mindset. Moreover, having a growth mindset means I am willing to take feedback from others and myself and work with that feedback to better myself either as a person or as a teacher. Having few experiences in assessment while having a growth mindset helps me absorb information from seasoned individuals and incorporate their teachings with my own philosophy and teaching practice in the future. Overall, a growth mindset is already embedded in my identity but ECS 401 emphasized that identity and nourished it more.
2. The Basics of Assessment are as simple as asking these 3 questions:
- Where am I going? This is as simple as co-constructing criteria with the students. I really liked the idea of collaborating with students with their learning. After all, we are doing this job for the students and not for ourselves. It is such an interesting concept that I wish more teachers in the field use it more often. I cannot blame the teachers, however, because there are a lot of things associated with teaching. They may find co-constructing criteria time-consuming where they could just create the rubric and present it with the students. I think a pre-service teacher or a new teacher will benefit a lot in constructing criteria with the students because they could these criteria in the future and modify them along the way based on student demographics.
- How am I doing? This is as simple as assessments for students learning. Having the students self-assess themselves as they continue with their learning helps the teacher so much by taking out that extra load of work of taking in homework and marking it. I really liked the idea of poll guru and survey software to ask students about their ongoing learning. This is something that I will use in the future. We are living in a digital world and the results are instant and no need to sit down after school or at home and mark things.
- Where to next? Since we have been co-constructing criteria and giving the students the job of self-assessing, it is only a matter of time until students know where they are headed with their learning. Moreover, it also informs us teachers where they are headed. Everything is easier if teachers will follow these 3 questions when creating a lesson. I am really happy to learn this topic because it takes things into perspective on how assessments should be in a general sense.
3. Self-assessment and Peer-assessments could be represented in various ways.
- I got to learn so many self-assessment strategies in this class as well as the strategies proposed in Anne Davie’s book. Some assessments that I will use in the future are 1. the two stars and one wish; 2. co-constructing criteria and assessing oneself and others based on it; 3. journal entries/blogs; 4. recorded videos or speech; 5. surveys like poll guru and curious Karen; 6. portfolios (digital or physical); and 7. student-led conferences.
4. Culture impacts student performance and teacher assessment.
- This course taught me about my individual cultural perspectives versus the classroom culture. I think being culturally literate helps me as a teacher to think of adaptation as my student population becomes more and more diverse. If this happens, I have to adapt as a teacher so that the students are meeting the learning outcomes. This course introduced me to some assessment strategies that I could use so that my diverse population of students can show me their learning in some unique ways. As a Filipino, I migrated to Canada in 2016. I was accustomed to a culture different from Canada’s. My teachers adapted to my needs as a student so that I could improve as a student as well as show my learning in several different ways. I liked the list of assessment strategies. I will make sure to refer to it in the future.
5. Knowing the difference between the types of assessments (of, as, for) is crucial.
- Learning the types of assessments is one thing, learning how to implement them is another thing. I appreciate having to know the different assessment types such as assessment of learning, assessment as learning, and assessment for learning. It makes things much easier as a pre-service teacher with little knowledge about assessments at the start of this class. When planning a lesson, I could just come up with assessments that connect to the outcome that I am teaching, but what am I assessing exactly? and how do I make sure that students are also assessing themselves as I teach and as they learn? These are the things that were clouding my mind before I learned about the types of assessments.