Kayla Brown

Assessment Philosophy Assessment is an extremely important component of education. Assessment drives instruction and should never be used for the sake of testing. Though I would love to go the route of Alfie Kohn and disregard all grading in general, it is an ideal our education system does not accept at this time. Instead, I choose to see assessment as an open dialogue between the teacher and their students. If the goal of assessment is to have an understanding of student learning, including students in every step of the process can make both sides accountable, and it creating a safe and open learning environment for students to thrive. Every student has the potential to be successful, and we as educators need to make sure that we do not discourage this with the use of grades. We should congratulate all successes and mistakes, because mistakes are how we learn. This kind of learning environment is possible with frequent, positive and constructive feedback, and as few letter/number grades as possible. The three main components of assessment, preassessment, formative assessment, and summative assessment, are dependent on each other. Without one, the others would be irrelevant. Pre-assessment is a useful diagnostic tool for teachers to not only see what level each student is at, but also to get an idea of their strengths, weaknesses, and interests. Without preassessment, the teacher will begin the lesson on the assumption that one size fits all. Not only does pre-assessment identify those students who have difficulties, it also identifies those who can benefit from enrichment. Pre-assessment should be invisible to the students; they should not realize they are being evaluated. I would do this through activities such as entrance cards, predicting outcomes, and concept maps. I believe that pre-assessment is most valuable when students are engaged and actively participating in what they are learning. Formative assessment is the best way to evaluate students because it gives teachers the opportunity to monitor progress throughout a lesson and adjust accordingly. Formative assessment is informal, every day assessment in a variety of activities, including observations, checklists, exit cards, think-pair-shares, self-assessments, and many others. A good teacher is always checking for understanding and engagement and then re-shaping lessons as needed. In order for teachers to be flexible while teaching, it is necessary to know as much as possible about their students. Formative assessment should encourage students and give them control of their own learning. When students are able to monitor their progress through self-assessments and teacher feedback, we are encouraging them to continually improve for their own fulfilment, not for grades. A lot of work goes into preparing, organizing, and accessing these evaluations, but when done efficiently, they are an invaluable tool to measure students learning without assigning grades. When we remove quantifiable grades during on-going assessments, we give students motivation to improve and eliminate competition amongst their classmates. This narrows the gap between high and low achievers, allowing students to see themselves as learners, not as label of A or C student.

Kayla Brown

Summative assessment is often viewed negatively by some teachers, who view it as a necessary evil. I think summative assessment can be compelling and useful to teachers if done the right way. It is extremely important to gauge and assess students understanding after the completion of a unit, especially if the learning outcomes are necessary for the next step in the learning process. I would prefer my summative assessments to be void of quantifiable grades, but unfortunately this is not always realistic. Instead, I think it is important to foster a safe environment for students to express their knowledge. Students should have an avenue to demonstrate their learning in the mode most comfortable to them. Because of this, summative testing should not be restricting. As long as students get to the correct answer, they should be able to use whatever methods they need to get there. Learners should be able to convey their knowledge in the form of presentations, creative writing, choice assignments, and group projects, avoiding the traditional route plagued with tests. When students are able to actively participate in their assessment, they no longer need to feel anxious, and should be comfortable enough to take risks and express themselves in a way that relates to them. Assessment should be fair to all students, even if this means differentiating the methods to meet the needs to each individual student. In order for assessment to be fair, it needs to be appropriate to the topic, and give students an opportunity to show what they know in the way that suits them best. Evaluations and tests should never be to trick students or draw attention to their weaknesses. They should be used to highlight what students know, and what they need to improve on. There is always room for improvement, and students should always know there is nothing wrong with having to work harder at a particular subject. Even if the assessment takes the student out of their comfort zone, they should never feel like a failure just because they are not as strong in that particular medium. This means that the assessment needs to focus on what the student knows, not how he/she presents it. For example, if I had to do an assignment that required me to paint a landscape from New Brunswick, I would probably have a mass of colours in an attempt to depict small mountains and hills covered in trees. An effective teacher evaluating this work would not focus on the fact that my painting was mediocre at best, rather he/she would focus on the fact that I understood the basic learning outcomes. It would be extremely discouraging to receive a rubric on individual work that had a low grade, just because I may not be a good painter. When assigning and grading summative assessments, it is important to keep in mind that not all children can master every task, and we should not expect them to do so. As Mel Levine states: Its taken for granted in adult society that we cannot all be generalists skilled in every area of learning and mastery. Nevertheless, we apply tremendous pressure to our children to be good at everything. They are expected to shine in math, reading, writing, speaking, spelling, memorization, comprehension, problem solving, socialization, athletics and following verbal directions. Few children can master all of these trades. And none of us adults can. (A Mind at a Time, 23)

Kayla Brown

This quote will be something that I keep in mind when I plan summative assessments, as I feel it is something that teachers need to be aware of. We are expected to have all curriculum outcomes covered while teaching students a myriad of social, emotional and physical skills. While it is great to expose students to different ways of expressing themselves, be it orally, written, or pictorially, we also need to be aware that we cannot mark students lower just because they are not able to master every medium. We are not able to effectively teach without some sort of assessment, whether it be formal or informal. I choose to be a teacher that promotes excitement for learning by allowing students to take risks and encourage them to make mistakes. In order to do so, I will strive to create a positive and safe classroom environment in which students know that their work will be assessed fairly and in a way that is informative for them. I believe that with a little bit of encouragement, and a lot of hard work, teachers can inspire students to be life-long learners who strive to do their very best in everything they achieve.

Kayla Brown

References Dodge, Judith. Differentiation in Action. New York: Scholastic, 2005. 10-26. Print. Fleenor, Andy, et al. "The grades game." Principal Leadership 11.6 (2011): 48-52. Kohn, Alfie. "The case against grades." Educational Leadership 69.3 (2011): 28-33. Levine, Melvin D. A Mind at a Time. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002. Print.