What I am about to say is obvious, any teacher knows the importance of assessments. Assessments are an integral part of education. They have value in that they provide a probing into performance and progression. Evaluations allow us as teachers, to understand how well we did at facilitating a lesson as much as they demonstrate the acuity of our students. Assessments are necessary for so many reasons: They validate growth, expose deficiencies and make evident the needs of our students. They can be formal like a multiple-choice test or informal like a 1-minute check-in, both of which will indicate the need for enrichment or remediation. Assessments of course, are also formative, monitoring growth consistently throughout a unit of study with consistent feedback or summative, like a final exam or end of unit project. Either way, they are a component we can not displace or ignore. They are tools we need to use for more than just calculating a grade. They need to be a part of the process of learning as well as, the advancement of thought and a mechanism of change.
How can we as teachers make assessments a mechanism of change? We need to begin to get creative with our assessments for one. See them as much as a collaborative event as they are an individual component of learning. Secondly, we need to focus not on the data but the implications of that data. In my class, we have grade level quizzes and tests which are aligned. They are used to collect data and to design tier lessons for remediation or differentiation for enrichment. Each TEK/standard is broken down in order for us to check for understanding of the content. We look at a group of students as a whole: 75% got this question right or 90% got this one wrong, now let's go re-teach. Very cut and dry. To me this is effective to a certain degree, I mean you know who is doing well and who isn't, right? But, do you know why?
It is through informal appraisal that I personally can make a difference. Every week for at least one minute, one on one, I look every student in the eye and ask them questions. I make sure they are not confused about anything in the unit and that they feel ready for any grade level assessment that will be given. I also do a lot of different types of assessments: debates, skits, panels, interviews, pod casts and collaborative graffiti walls. I love to have students work together to problem-solve. This not only strengthens their communication skills but also helps them remember the information in a more creative way rather than just memorizing notes. We play games and write parodies of songs about science, I try to make it as interactive as possible. I find the less stress involved the more they commit. The data I collect from these various measurements of growth, what seem to NOT be assessments, gives me an enormous amount of data, more useful data and this I use in one minute check-ins to monitor and tutor my students.
Assessments are very stressful for students. Pencil and paper tests are very cut and dry. They give you a snapshot of an individual students mindset and learning. They are one dimensional. Having students run and play and interact with fellow students and design skits and other creative ways to demonstrate their knowledge, is less stressful for students. Rather than a quick peak into their comprehension we get to see them process and apply their knowledge. The lens is widened and they get to see the big picture and we as teachers get to see them paint it. Broad strokes of information, gelling and congealing into a beautiful mosaic or portrait of their journey. The final touches not coming from our brush but from theirs. They choose the color, the lighting, the subject. We get to sit in anticipation for the cover to be removed and the masterpiece to be revealed. Not on paper but on canvas an ever changing, fluid canvas.
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