What evidence can show that students have achieved the desired results?
The chapter starts with this and other interesting questions that challenges our minds to find the answers to the matter. In fact, the author points out that assessment is the evidence implied by the outcome sought and not a mean for generating grades.
As agents of change we should start asking about these issues among our colleagues in order to implement a backward design of planning. The expected outcomes become the core of our planning.
However, it takes a great deal of time and agreement among colleagues to establish this evidence for each level. There must be a consensus and also coherence between the kind of activities done in class, the kind of practice carried out inside the classroom, and the way all this process is going to be assessed. This aspect becomes particularly difficult to be done since teachers have different points of view and different beliefs that one way or another are going to determine their decision-making.
There is also a need to prepare teachers in this process, since we have not been trained enough on how to develop critical thinking, or how to effectively develop the big ideas and ask those essential questions. Universities do not give the necessary tools to be promoters of all these changes. The fact of reading chapters and article about teaching for understanding is just the first step, but we lack the practice on how to do it in everyday classroom situations, it is just something we, teachers are not used to.
On the other hand, the design and implementation of appealing projects is not enough to catch our students’ attention, as the author says, they should not be empty tasks with no real context. Now, the implementation requires a real commitment of all the members of the community involved, not only teachers, but also head of departments and the competent authorities as well as parents, who, most of the time are more interested in grades that real learning.
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Hi Marianella!
ReplyDeleteYes, I think that soemimes the problem is that undoubtly, assessing "the old, traditional way" is much easier and faster and does not requiere all the mental effort that assessment for learning demands.And since before being teachers we are human beings, laziness takes over our minds and we take the easy way, or sometimes, very often I would say, time goes by so fast that we don't have time to reflect on assessment...but you know what I do when that happens to me? I think on my students, I try to visualize some of them and see that just like us, before being students, part of a mass called "my class" they are human beings and I was trusted with their educations, in that way laziness seems to vanish for a while, maybe for the guilt that I feel! but It does help me...
Anyway...
Let's take the taugh way...
Thanks!
Vicky
Hi dear Marianella!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you my dear friend that time goes against us when doing our job as teachers. It is not only our own good practice when teaching but also the rest of our colleagues’ practice. Probably with all this information now we are aware of the proper procedures we should follow, but what about those colleagues older than us and who do not know that much about these processes and adequate procedures we all should follow and finally achieve the right aims of teaching? It is complex but also crucial to let them know the right way we should perform in order to improve the whole teaching process which should benefit our students, colleagues and ourselves.
Marianella:
ReplyDeleteAs a matter of fact, there are many issues in assessment that have to be change in our system if our objective is to achieve understanding. It is also true that teachers are the agents who can allow this change. The problem arises because teachers are used to complain about and give points of view without theoretical background. Understanding by design has been a contribution to the educational field. It has provided us with a wealth of ideas and strategies to change our knowledge- based education. The first step to follow is to encourage teachers to train in methodological issues in order to start a discussion about our beliefs and experience which can enable us to have a new beginning.
Dear Marianella,
ReplyDeleteI think you're absolutely right when you mention how difficult is for us to become this kind of ideal teacher described in the chapters we've been reading so far. Because to make these deep changes in education we need to work hand in hand with our colleagues, so that students feel really involved in the process. We need motivated teachers, willing to work in teams, with enough time to prepare encouraging activities and then as a result, the necessary time to assess those activities.
Probably that's the problem, today we don't have the conditions to become that 'perfect teacher' who thinks like an assessor, we don't have the time, neither the support of our colleagues. Sad but true...
My dear,
ReplyDeleteI think you wisely summarise every single aspect we need to take into account.
One of the criterion used by the national accreditation agency was to ask for concrete evidence of students learning, and I think most universities have failed in providing that.
At least, we can expect that the new generations of teachers will be asked to develop that in their courses, and follow the model given by their teacher trainers.
On the other hand, even though gathering that evidence every one is expecting is not easy considering a poor lesson plan and it is time consuming, it becomes meaningless if teachers do not know what to do with tons of papers spread on the floor. For instance, portfolios are a good idea to keep students' records of achievement and organize what it has been done and gained at the end of a unit or at the end of the year.
Students can also reflect on their own progress by reading what they have done. However, this has to be guided at the beginning providing a list of questions to guide the discussion, and reach honest and meaningful reflection.
I know it is more work for the teacher, and everyone complains about time contraints; however, if it is done once succesfully, a second time isn't that hard to carry out.
This can be done in teams, with our colleagues... after persuading them about the benefits that this means. I guess it implies brainwashing not only for them, but also for us...
You are right when you say that the system is not designed to achieve those goals in education, because as you mentioned, the training that teachers receive doe not point to the study and development of tasks which lead students to extract a real understanding from them. Moreover we are neither aware about whether our teachings practices are based on the real situations or in abstract ones. Therefore it is extremely difficult to change the approach that Chilean education has without a uniformity and equality in terms of working for a unique purpose, because all the teachers have different beliefs and in most of the cases they are not aware of those educational practices, what in some way would explain the diversity existing related to qualities of education.
ReplyDeleteMy dear,
ReplyDeleteThis was one of the most interesting issues I found in this chapter:
“The author points out that assessment is the evidence implied by the outcome sought and not a mean for generating grades”. I’m not sure but I think there is a huge contradiction with this statement and our educational system, I mean, everything has to do with measure “understanding” (and even knowledge) by the system of number/scores/marks; and I think we see it every day in our classrooms when our students are only worried about “the mark” “the NEM” they will obtain to assure their future entrance to superior education. So, we have to go deeper in the issue of thinking like an assessor and all the things it means. Hard task, isn’t it?
Hugs
You have mentioned an essential point, which is that universities have failed in giving the necessary tools to be promoters of all these changes.
ReplyDeleteI said in one of my comments that we are neither used to think like assessors nor to put the theory into practice.
My point is that I thought what was the problem, but I didn't consider its origin.
How can we reach an agreement on evidence with our colleagues if there is a lack of training regarding this issue??????????
Hello Marianella,
ReplyDeleteIn relation to 'the assessment is the evidence implied by the outcome sought and not a mean for generating marks'.I think marks are just the formal evidence,the record of an activity done by teachers in order to fulfill the requirements of the school.On the other hand, they are evidence too, the most traditional and used of all.Although we use rubrics and any kind of assessment intrument, we'll always have marks.
The thing is what we can do to record those marks in a way they really reflect real understanding and learning.
All these reading we do every week will help us to find possible answers to i.e. What kind of evidence do we need.....??????
Hi Marianella,
ReplyDeleteI also feel that English teachers have been trained little in such a modern type of design as Backward design. So how come we can be aware of the existence of essential questions or big ideas? More importantly, nobody told us during our undergraduate traning that being assessors was as important as being activity designers. This realization if made, although late, it can help us find a way to solve our curriculum problems. Therefore, high chances are that we succeed if we adopt the Backward design by Wiggins. It is a good starting point to read this book, and then, the change is up tu us.