1) "...the kind of instruction that seems furthest from the test--what your teacher calls literacy for the 21st century and a flat world--does prepare stuents for the standardized test. Students who are able to comprehend on the literal, inferential, and critical levels will probably be able to figure out just what the test is asking..." (260)
2) "...assessment is always a means to an end, never an end unto itself." (261)
3) "It seems to me taht the most useful way to think about assessmen to support instruction is by asking, from the outset, two important questions: What is it I want my students to know and be able to do? and What would serve as evidence that students know and can do those things?" (266)
4) "Assessment is about the process and the product." (268)
Based on these thoughts, here are some questions to think about...
- How are our classroom assessments preparing students for both the real-world and standardized tests?
- How are we, as teachers, planning backwards--how do we start with a picture of what the end should look like and then figure out how they will get there?
- How are we assessing both the process and the product in our classes?
Enjoy your holidays!
5 comments:
I think that the problem might be that standardized testing is what is driving our classroom instruction. We have gotten so bogged down on how students are achieving in standardized test that it is hard for teachers to develop their own curriculum and assessments.
I do not think that enough teachers are planning backwards. I thin kthat might be one of the hardest ways for a teacher to plan. it has the best outcomes, but I do not think that teachers fell comfortable planning in this way. I think that you have to look at what you want your students to learn (is it the material or the process) The process can be the main point of the lesson. It is having the students think outside of their comfort zone that can sometimes lead to the best outcomes.
I will be honest and say that I am just learning to plan backwards. Until recently, it never occurred to me to do so. I know that when teachers plan backwards, the assessments are better and match exactly what was taught. I'll agree with Ashlie here, though, and point out that most of what our school does is aimed at those state tests. All we ever seem to hear about is standardized testing and the scores and how it shows improvement or doesn't. I still don't understand how a test that can be guessed through can be an accurate portrayal of what a student knows.
When I did my It Happened to Nancy unit before Christmas, Meg and I sat down and planned out our unit and actually gave the students a calendar. We planned out the focus questions we wanted the students to work on for each reading assignment. We planned what types of writing activities we wanted for our quizzes and our final unit test. It was so much easier on us during the teaching (the planning itself was horrible and long).
I think the students better understood what I expected from them because I better understood exactly what I was teaching them.
I struggle with the idea of planning backwards. Ashlie said it best when she said it "hardest way to plan" and that she didn't think "teachers feel comfortable planning this way"...I don't! I've changed content 3 times in 4 years and to not have the confidence in my own knowledge - this year I'm learning the standards and most of the content as I go along. I think you have to have an expertise in the content, materials, standards, etc to successfully plan backwards.
I think Ash is right about getting bogged down on the standardized tests. I know that the US teachers are struggling to cover the material in such a way that the kids are ready for the EOC. Doesn't seem fair to the content, the kids, or the teacher. Most of us didn't take EOCs and we turned out fine. Exit Exams have not been around forever and most people who didn't take them turned out well.
Just seems to me that there is too much pressure that is associated with these tests and not enough long term learning [like the kind where 30+ years down the road you still remember the Great Lakes as "HOMES"]
I cannot wait for the day that PS does not have an EOC! The amount of pressure that we are put under to get our kids to pass these tests is incredible....report card, report card, report card! Even though we are told to just do the best we can, we know that they are looking over our shoulder!....I think that we give our "clientele" too many standarized tests! Life is not a series of MC question tests. If it was than most of the time we would be selecting C as our answers to all the problems in life!
Benchmarks, MAP, HSAP, EOC..all back to back in some cases. When we get our scores back for the EOC we have no idea what our students did well with or not well with. How can I adjust and modify if I don't know what to modify and adjust?
I know my what my students are supposed to be able to master for each strand...but sometimes I can't get to it all...so how can I expect my students to be able to answer those questions?
I always tell all of the my students that they probably will not ask the question the same what that I would ask, but if you can answer mine then you should be able to answer theirs.
I like the quote "the one who is doing is the one who is learning"... so true for science labs!
1.)Classroom assessments will have the impact of preparing learner for the real world and standarized testing when academic disciplines are not taught in islolation of each other. When these disciplines integrate, and assessments reflect the integration, I feel students will perform better.Standardrized test preparation is a task within itself alos. Simply teaching to the test to me is not "global learning"
2.)I like to apply Covey's habit of : "Begin wtih the end in mind" when preparing for instructio of a unit and the assessment. Going backwards has helped me deliver and assess better. It took alot of "forward" teaching for me to understand the benefit of going backwards. When I critically concentrate on what knowledge I want my studens to retain----really retain---not memorize----assessments are better!
3.)I feel the process is the most improtant aspect. Finding out prior knowledge.interest, likes, dislikes of a learner regarding the topic of instruction will yield a better product. Again I like to refer to my thought of global learning. This means global leraning on the instructor's behalf of what the learner bring to the class.
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