Yes, I took two weeks off from my blog for a much needed spring break. Honestly, I did miss it. I have realized just how much my blog has offered me as a person. It has been my personal place to vent, learn, and explore about how I am feeling about specific topics within literacy education. This blog has been a special place for me because the writing can be informal therefore I feel my writing has a more natural flow here than anywhere else. I have truly been able to reflect on my thoughts and generate new ideas because of it. I love it! I really hope this is something I can keep up in the future, especially for when I finally have my own classroom. I think it would be really cool to be able to reflect about my experiences in my school and to use it as a way to communicate with my family about what I have been up to. (I already do the communicate with my family part, hi family! It has been really nice to be able to put my thoughts in a light where they can understand all the things I am learning about in terms of literacy education).
Back to the point of this post....
The quote/ title of the blog I chose this week may seem similar to the quotes I have chosen in the past but this one is actually a little more unique. This quote from Carl Anderson is actually from a text I am reading for my Literacy Learning and Teaching III class called, Assessing Writers. I'll admit, my inner education nerd came out as soon as I saw we where reading this book. It was because I am actually very intrigued about the idea of assessing writing... it can be SO controversial! How in the world are teachers supposed to fairly assess every student in the class on their writing?! I have no idea and frankly the idea scares me. So far in my teacher education program I have learned that writing is supposed to be a time for a student to learn and grow. I feel like when teachers want students to have an experience such as this one you cannot put a grade on that. Each student is an individual with their own thoughts and ideas they want to express. How can I say that someones ideas are not as good as someone else's? Or that one student missed the idea of what the paper was supposed to be about while another student hit it right on? That seems so unfair. (Even though I have had teachers do the same to me in my early schooling, especially middle school... no wonder I struggled so much in my early years of writing).
The quote I titled my blog with was "Ultimately, assessment helps us figure out answers to what may be the most critical question we can ask ourselves: What do I teach this child?"(Anderson, page 3).
Think about that. Assessment is not about producing grades. Assessment is about learning where our students are at and thinking about how we can help them move on from there and continue to grow in the direction they are heading. Teachers should be using assessment for good, not for evil. Assessment shouldn't bring someone down... it should be what builds them up and guides them to the next point in their learning experience.
I guess this is where I realize that it is so much easier for an educator to want to do these things than to actually be doing these things.
Something I especially enjoy about this quote was the exact quote was a more general statement about assessment. Yes, it was in a book and in the context of writing but when I pull the quote out and have it alone it is just a quote about education. I feel like this quote represents one of the most essential things I have learned as a teacher education program student. Assessment is made to be apart of a learning plan for a student.
The word assessment according to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary (www.merriam-webster.com) assessment is defined in this way...
Assessment
1. The act of making a judgement about something: the act of assessing something
2. An idea or opinion about something
3. An amount that a person is officially required to pay especially as a tax
I find this incredibly interesting (minus the third definition which is not applicable to this context). The word assessment literally means to make judgment about something and to have an opinion about something. Isn't that how teachers plan their 'next move' in terms of teaching? Isn't that why we teach...To think about where our students are at, making a judgment about it, and plan the next move?
My Literacy Learning and Teaching III (along with Literacy Learning and Teaching I and II) class has taught me that in terms of reading and writing, teachers are supposed to help students find their places in these subjects. Teachers are supposed to help students find their interests and passions for reading and writing. Never once have I had a Literacy Learning and Teaching professor who told me that I need to be worried about the grade I am giving my student because truly that is not what assessment is about.
Assessment can be beneficial to both the student and teacher. The student because now the student has an idea of where they can go now. They won't progress in their learning unless a teacher provides them a direction and gives them quality, meaningful feedback. Assessment can be beneficial to the teacher because it is a point for them to reflect on what they are teaching, how they are teaching it, and most importantly, why they are teaching it. This is a life long lesson I have learned while becoming a teacher in my Literacy Learning and Teaching classes.
In my future classroom I plan to use assessment in terms of writing based on growth. I would want my students to leave my classroom a better writer than when they came into it. I do not believe I can give more of a description other than that because I do not know my students yet! I would look at each student as an individual and consider where they are and figure out where they personally need to go. The grade I would need to put down in the grade book would be based on growth with some effort. As long as I can see the student trying to explore and move on from the point they are currently at, while taking in some of the feedback and advice from myself and their peers.... that's an A in my book. What more can a teacher ask for?
Assessment will always be that buzz word in education that can bring up so many controversial ideas. It's also something every educator will need to deal with along with every student, parent, principal, resource teacher, superintendent, etc. School is based around the idea of being taught something and then being assessed on it to prove the students competency on that specific topic. It will be up to that teacher of those students to decide the best and most productive way to assess their students.
I believe as long as I keep my students growth in the fore-front of my mind, I'll make it through this crazy, complicated world of assessment within education.
Assessment
1. The act of making a judgement about something: the act of assessing something
2. An idea or opinion about something
3. An amount that a person is officially required to pay especially as a tax
I find this incredibly interesting (minus the third definition which is not applicable to this context). The word assessment literally means to make judgment about something and to have an opinion about something. Isn't that how teachers plan their 'next move' in terms of teaching? Isn't that why we teach...To think about where our students are at, making a judgment about it, and plan the next move?
My Literacy Learning and Teaching III (along with Literacy Learning and Teaching I and II) class has taught me that in terms of reading and writing, teachers are supposed to help students find their places in these subjects. Teachers are supposed to help students find their interests and passions for reading and writing. Never once have I had a Literacy Learning and Teaching professor who told me that I need to be worried about the grade I am giving my student because truly that is not what assessment is about.
Assessment can be beneficial to both the student and teacher. The student because now the student has an idea of where they can go now. They won't progress in their learning unless a teacher provides them a direction and gives them quality, meaningful feedback. Assessment can be beneficial to the teacher because it is a point for them to reflect on what they are teaching, how they are teaching it, and most importantly, why they are teaching it. This is a life long lesson I have learned while becoming a teacher in my Literacy Learning and Teaching classes.
In my future classroom I plan to use assessment in terms of writing based on growth. I would want my students to leave my classroom a better writer than when they came into it. I do not believe I can give more of a description other than that because I do not know my students yet! I would look at each student as an individual and consider where they are and figure out where they personally need to go. The grade I would need to put down in the grade book would be based on growth with some effort. As long as I can see the student trying to explore and move on from the point they are currently at, while taking in some of the feedback and advice from myself and their peers.... that's an A in my book. What more can a teacher ask for?
Assessment will always be that buzz word in education that can bring up so many controversial ideas. It's also something every educator will need to deal with along with every student, parent, principal, resource teacher, superintendent, etc. School is based around the idea of being taught something and then being assessed on it to prove the students competency on that specific topic. It will be up to that teacher of those students to decide the best and most productive way to assess their students.
I believe as long as I keep my students growth in the fore-front of my mind, I'll make it through this crazy, complicated world of assessment within education.
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