Sunday, 10 April 2016

Module 5 Assessment

Module 5 Assessment

Chapter 1. Assessment: An Overview

5 things I believe about assessment: 

  1. Assessment should happen often and throughout my teaching to check for understanding, and to cater content for individuals depending on what level of understanding they are at.
  2. I should attempt to create an environment where the students feel safe, so they are not stressed when undergoing this continual assessment, and they feel that they can take risks and get the answer wrong.
  3. I should give feedback on their answers in a timely fashion for them to adjust the information in their heads.
  4. The ability to self-assess is an important and useful for students.
  5. There are tests that students need to take at an endpoint of their learning. National tests that students sit in school can be accesses through the ACARA (2016) website.

5 things I want to know about assessment:

  1. Ways for doing this in my classroom (including ways that my mentor has tried and can show me that work)?
  2. Are the national tests that all students sit also called standardised tests? And are these the exams that they need to do?
  3. "Planning informs assessment and assessment informs planning" (J. Egli, personal communication, April 6, 2016). (This is my sister who is a teacher- not my own initials). How does this translate in my classroom?
  4. Term planner- what do I want them to know a the end of this term? How do I make assessment authentic e.g.. give them the same test at the start and end, to see their progress?
  5. Tracking assessment- how do I track their improvement and progress, what works for them?
What has changed about what I originally believed about assessment after reading: Principals for Assessment (VCAA, 2016)?
  1. I didn't write down the primary reason for assessment which is: to improve student performance. 
  2.  I didn't write that it is a way of measuring that they know the valuable information.
  3. Students should be given opportunities to see and assess their own progress.
  4. Assessment makes us able to report student progress to parents.
  5. Good assessment requires clarity of purpose, goals, standards and criteria.
  6. I did talk about one type of feedback, but all assessment should involve feedback and reflection. 

Chapter 2. Assessment for, of and as learning

Useful resources I have found for: Assessment for learning

  • http://syllabus.bostes.nsw.edu.au/support-materials/assessment-for-as-and-of-learning/ Including links at the bottom of the page:
  • http://www.assessmentforlearning.edu.au/professional_learning/modules/intro_to_afl/introduction_landing_page.html
    This webpage has a section for resources including DVD's, publications and other websites for further information on assessment for learning.
The 3 most important ideas I have learnt about assessment in this section
  1. My lesson sequence is developed to cover the material students need to know to complete the national assessment.
  2. I need to constantly be assessing students in a range of different ways to teach them depth and breadth of the knowledge, so that it is not just facts that they know, but knowledge that they can apply.
  3. I need to develop strategies in the classroom for students to self assess so that they can see their progress, and manage their own learning to a point.

Chapter 3. Assessment Strategies

Some of the most useful assessment strategies from the BOSTES (2016) and VCAA (2016) websites

BOSTES

Collaborative activities
  • evaluating and challenging views through group discussions
    Ofcourse I already knew about this strategy, but I.m looking forwward to practisitng till it's a very effective tool for me.
  • cooperative group work, team assignments and investigations, including the allocation of specific roles and responsibilities
    I find groupwork at university frusterating, because 1 or 2 people inevitably end up doing all the work. I would like to be able to set this up so that the students make each other accountable, not all the work is left to the most studious students, and that their mark doesen't rely highly on others work.
  • group-prepared presentations on a range of topics for a variety of purposes and audiences
    This sounds like it would be good, if I could set up the lessons well, so that they would have fun for this assessment.
  • student question/answer sets, including students creating their own content in Learning Management Systems
  • student response partners, such as offering constructive feedback about student work in relation to criteria.
Peer and Self-Assessment
  • self-assessment of progress towards achieving outcomes during a series of activities or at different stages of an activity
  • peer evaluation of a performance
  • evaluating the contributions of individuals to a group task
  • individual goal and target setting, including the use of learning logs and journals where students track thoughts, questions, activities and any revisions made over the term
  • reflections on the learning processes used, including portfolios, learning logs, blogs and journals
(I liked all of these strategies as they teach the student to self-manage their learning and progress).

Teacher observations
  • listening and viewing tasks
  • teacher/student discussions or conferences
  • student participation in practical activities and demonstrations
  • active involvement in cooperative activities
  • observation of students as they participate in and engage during learning activities, such as listening to students’ use of language and application of skills to new contexts and the integration of ICT
  • strategic questioning to determine individual level of understanding
  • manipulation of materials to demonstrate conceptual understanding of key concepts.
(I also liked all of these ones, because I need to practise all of them to become better at it, as I suppose in the beginning I may be more concerned about my own performance teaching.)

VCAA

Graphic organisers - tools to visually represent thoughts, ideas, knowledge and concepts. They help to organise thoughts and to promote understanding. This section contains sample graphic organisers and some examples of how they were successfully used by schools for various purposes.
Review and reflection tools - enable students to review and reflect on their knowledge, progress, and what they have learnt and achieved during a unit, topic or project. Some tools are specifically designed for early years students.
Feedback tools  - enable students to provide feedback on their work and performance. It also includes strategies for teachers to increase the wait time when asking questions in class.
Rubrics - printed sets of criteria for assessing knowledge, performance or product and for giving feedback.
Three of the assessment strategies suggested for Geography in the BOSTES website
Inquiry-based research provides students with opportunities to investigate places, communities and environments, to develop skills to undertake the processes of geographical inquiry, and to communicate their understanding of Geography. Three assessment strategies to gauge students skills in this area are:
  • inquiry and design projects (eg personal interest projects and investigations involving teamwork)
  • designing and/or producing visual representations of geographic phenomena-
    This could be done digitally or manually constructed to show geographic phenonema caused by tectonics.
  • game-based learning opportunities
    I love the idea of using games to teach about Geography- especially in secondary school! Learning shoul    d be fun sometimes.

Chapter 4. Feedback

The 3 most important aspects of giving later years students feedback based on my reading

  1. It needs to be specific and constructive (La Trobe LMS, 2016).
  2. Feedback needs to be goal related. The student has a goal in their learning, and the feedback should aim to help them achieve that goal, tell them if what they are doing is working, or what they should change.
  3. Ongoing and consistent.


References

Acara. (2016). Home: Welcome. Retrieved from http://www.acara.edu.au/default.asp

 ASCD (2012). 7 keys to effective feedback. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept12/vol70/num01/Seven-Keys-to-Effective-Feedback.aspx

 BOSTES. (2016). Years 7-10 assessment strategies. http://syllabus.bostes.nsw.edu.au/support-materials/7-10-assessment-strategies/
            La Trobe LMS. (2016, April 10). 1 81 Feedback on learning Dylan William learning and teaching [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzDuiqaGqAY

VCAA. (2016). Assessment advice. Retrieved from http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/support/Pages/advice.aspx

 VCAA. (2016). Assessment tools. Retrieved from http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/support/Pages/tools.aspx
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