Assessment reminds me of those annoying 12 people at my high school who were vying for valedictorian-ship, as if that was the most important thing they were ever going to accomplish in their entire lives. It made me angry, because I never thought grades were very important. My records from high school and my bachelor's degree are appalling. I really genuinely liked school, though, and I thought most of my subjects were really interesting, and somehow it didn't ever occur to me to worry if I had an A or not, and slavishly study away accordingly. Besides, in the words of my father, "Of course you can get an A if you study. The hard thing is to get an A without studying." Thanks, Bill.
Assessment really scares me, and I'm not really sure how to use it. I always hated testing in English classes, because tests were so frequently multiple choice and true/false, followed by a short answer section. Any idiot could look up the names of the cast of A Streetcar Named Desire and memorize them -- the tests really rewarded the 12 valedictorian wackadoos and didn't do much for people who were awful with names but who genuinely "got" something out of the reading. I feel like most assessment is just a way for the 12 v.w.'s of the school to prove how obsessive they are about their studies and for the kids who don't care to just slide by. However, I don't really want to become one of those "everyone's special" teachers who has no standards. I realize we can't really get by -- the way the system is set up -- without grades. But there must be some medium.
When I was in high school, I thought making a portfolio was really satisfying. I wonder if everyone else just thought it was stupid? It motivated me to not write garbage, becaues when I was a sophomore, I looked back at my crappy freshman work and thought, wow, I can do better than this.
I really think that there must be some way to motivate students to do their best work besides traditional assessment, and I think part of the answer is the quote one of the other poster's used, about making what students learn relevant to their own lives. If you don't feel like what you're learning is important, worth your while, and has something to offer you, then what's the point?
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4 comments:
i agree with your point about multiple choice tests, they are easy to memorize answers for a short period of time and then walk away without any actual knowledge. Even though that simplicity is exactly what a lot of teachers like about those kinds of test, student don't really learn anything. But i think with language arts it's easier to apply the knowledge we teach. Almost any sort of profession will require some sort of reading, writing, or vocabulary ability and we can show that to our students by teaching different genres.
i like this post christine. i think portfolios sound so neat! i had a couple classes that did a portfolio, but only for that class, that specific semester. that sounds great. how did they organize them freshman to senior year, and every single class? was is just English or other things to?
I agree with your idea about portfolios-infact that is what I wrote about :) This class is the first time that I was introduced to the idea of using a portfolio as a way to assess student's knowledge-I never encountered that in my education!
And I think it would be nice not have to worry about grades, but it just isn't possible. I had a teacher at OJHS who kept telling me that the points didn't matter nor did the letter grade. I just kept thinking that she was an idiot b/c if I didn't worry about my grade or stress about the points then I wouldn't pass. So, yeah I think it would be nice if the students didn't worry about the grade and just focused on the work but I guess I was one of "those students" b/c I worried and I know most students will-the points and letter grade is what tells the student if they are going to go to the next grade level or even graduate. Not ideal but its just the way it is :(
When i was in high school we had tests in english and they were ridiculous. EIther they were easy to study for and pointless like you said, or they were so specific to like one line in a book that it didn't actually test in comprehension of the story and it's meaning. I think you could test but it would have to be an essay exam that tests how much they have learned. Anyway i like portfolios and your dad, he sounds awesome.
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