Episode Six: Comments and reflections

[Daniel Pier]

Hello colleagues,

Creating and implementing assessments that measure, among other things, students' critical thinking abilities can be challenging. It is relatively efficient to measure knowledge banked with multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank quizzes and tests, but assessing and providing feedback on essays, projects, portfolios, etc., while offering a much richer understanding of a student's learning and progress, can be time consuming. How do you balance the two? Have you used rubrics before? If so, do you have tips for first-time users of rubrics? If not, will you now use one in class, and what questions do you have?

I hope you enjoyed this episode.

Cheers,

Dan

[Macian Moreen Lloyd]

This has been exciting! It is a mixture of what I know and what I have learned. The Socratic seminar is a means I have used but the term "Socratic seminar" was very new to me! Additionally, I use journals quite often but I do not make proper use of Rubrics and now I understand the importance of rubrics to help my students get a clear idea of what is expected. Giving the assignment is just not enough.

Additionally, because we are so exam driven and exam oriented, and the school calendar is so rigid, this makes it more difficult for critical thinking assessment activities.

Nonetheless, this is a great opportunity to encourage my colleagues to utilize critical thinking activities in their lesson planning and for me to use this in my lessons as well.

Regards

Macian

[Irvin Smith]

I gained an appreciation for alternative forms of assessment when I was taken out of the traditional classroom to teach physical education, Information and Communication Technology and Special Needs. I started to use checklists, rubrics and portfolios out of necessity :). 

If I were to be placed into the classroom it would require planning in advance. Most times teachers use projects in the second term since we are required to engage in continuous assessment - this is a good time for a teacher who would like to transition to use rubrics, portfolios checklists etc. 

I would encourage the adventurous souls among us to search for rubrics and other assessment tools created by others and tweak it to suit their needs. This should take some of the time out of the process. We are in an era where people share everything and may not have to reinvent the wheel at all. :) Happy googling.  

[Irvin Smith]

A ha, ha moment - do not judge :)

I just realized I used a rubric a few times and never gave it to the students in advance nor discuss it with them. I simply used it to guide my grading and to give my colleague a template to grade the students.

lol. I will make the adjustment this time around for sure!

[Evelyn Aguirre]

Hello all! Ley me tell you about episode 6. I learned the importance and difference between assessment and evaluation. These are two important and essential elements and measuring tools in the process of teaching. The assessment is an interactive process between students and teacher to make changes in education. It identifies areas for improvement and helps students learn from each other. Instead evaluation focuses on scores. Is used to make a judgment about the quality of students learning. This audio also allowed me to push myself to use a rubric for activities. It gives to students what do the teacher espects, criteria. The benefits of using rubrics are to make clear what we are scoring so students prepare more according on what is graded. We can recognize strengthes and weaknessess and we can assess or evaluate. I also like the idea of the portfolio so mu syudents demonstrate in it what they have learned. I would like to know about more instruments to assess..if someone wants to share... thanks!

[Macian Moreen Lloyd]

Yes Irvin! I can identify! Although I may have used rubrics in the past, I did not readily share them with students! Surely, having the Rubric will help guide students' work and give them a better understanding of the scope of the assignment and what it should entail and how it is going to be graded.

[Glenda Morales de Duchicela]

I used both types of assessments. Two formal tests  per semester with multiple choice questions, fill in the blanks, etc; and informal or direct evaluation (oral presentations, listening activities, group work on reading comprehension, dialogues, workbook and on-line activities, etc). It is a regulation from the Ministry of Educacion and students at the end of the semester will also grade us. Sometimes we get overwhelmed of the amount of activitites we need to assess and sometimes we dont know how to connect the activities and get one grade.

An idea  that I use and work for me: My students work on independent  weekly listenings from a website. They choose the  topic, answer the multiple choice questions and at the end the program scores the activity. I also ask the students to write a   comments about the activity. (I usually change the topic), could be "how well did you listen the audio this time? which problems did you find?, What was the problem and how did you solve it?, Was it an authentic conversation?  Was it a nice a topic, which was the interesting part?. In this way I am evaluating their progress on  listening proficiency, writing , grammar, punctuation. When they handed in the activity, I write individual comments how well they are doing and which basic mistakes they need to check for the next time.

For formal assessments, I use fill in the blanks, multiple choice, True or False,  and usually my last one is an open-question? a comment  of a discussion from class o from a reading.  Usually, we  are not permitted to have this type of questions, but I attached a basic rubric. 

[Glenda Morales de Duchicela]

Rubrics make work easier and I think students feel confident with comments. I have been using rubrics for the last couple of years but I would like to make them better.

THIS IS MY QUESTION

DO ALL RUBRICS NEED TO BE ALIGNED TO LEARNING OBJECTIVES?

[Glenda Morales de Duchicela]

Irvin Smith said:

A ha, ha moment - do not judge :)

I just realized I used a rubric a few times and never gave it to the students in advance nor discuss it with them. I simply used it to guide my grading and to give my colleague a template to grade the students.

lol. I will make the adjustment this time around for sure!

[Glenda Morales de Duchicela]

Irvin hello. the same happens to me. I have used rubrics but now I will use better as an approach to motivate my students to do better and as assessement. all these interaction with all of you and the audios have helped us a lot!!

Glenda Morales de Duchicela said:

Irvin Smith said:

A ha, ha moment - do not judge :)

I just realized I used a rubric a few times and never gave it to the students in advance nor discuss it with them. I simply used it to guide my grading and to give my colleague a template to grade the students.

lol. I will make the adjustment this time around for sure!

[Macian Moreen Lloyd]

No judgement Irvin! I dare say most, if not all of us can identify!

Irvin Smith said:

A ha, ha moment - do not judge :)

I just realized I used a rubric a few times and never gave it to the students in advance nor discuss it with them. I simply used it to guide my grading and to give my colleague a template to grade the students.

lol. I will make the adjustment this time around for sure!

[Macian Moreen Lloyd]

Hey Glenda, I'm hoping others will comment... but I believe the rubric should be aligned to the assignment and the assignment would be in keeping with the learning objectives. So in essence, everything is tied in and there is a sense of continuance.  
Glenda Morales de Duchicela said:

Rubrics make work easier and I think students feel confident with comments. I have been using rubrics for the last couple of years but I would like to make them better.

THIS IS MY QUESTION

DO ALL RUBRICS NEED TO BE ALIGNED TO LEARNING OBJECTIVES?

[Glenda Morales de Duchicela]

Great thanks Macian for your answer. You are right every step is tied and knowledge is complete.